With the King of the Ring tournament in full swing on WWE television, here are some unlikely challengers who should be slotted for a future WWE Universal Championship match against Seth Rollins.
For creativity’s sake, I chose to omit the obvious names in WWE like Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, and AJ Styles.
Roman Reigns is on SmackDown Live and should not face Seth Rollins until WrestleMania 36. Braun Strowman is in a thrown together tag team with Seth Rollins. It doesn’t take a genius to see that this tag team is bound to break up in a few weeks. Lastly, AJ Styles has competed multiple times for the WWE Universal Championship and as much as the match would be amazing, it has been done before.
I also chose not to include anyone in the King of the Ring Tournament due to that fact that a winner has not been crowned yet.
Cesaro
The WWE fans want to embrace the character of Cesaro. How perfect would it be to turn him heel in a personal feud with his travel mate and longtime friend, Seth Rollins?
If there is one flaw in Cesaro’s character, it would be that we don’t really know anything about the man. A feud with Seth Rollins is a perfect opportunity for the fans to learn what makes Cesaro tick.
Seth has been given every opportunity to run with the ball in WWE, while Cesaro has been pushed off to the background in tag teams. Cesaro’s recent loss to Samoa Joe was a great match, but left him at a dead end on television. A feud with Rollins would be the jolt Cesaro needs and what the fans are clamoring for
The feud would be easy for fans to get behind because it has worked a million times in WWE. The friend who was passed over dozens of times for opportunities that his friend received and jealousy consuming him until he cannot take it any longer.
Cesaro is in a long list of wrestlers who can benefit from a consistent feud with Seth Rollins.
Karl Anderson
In 2019, pro wrestling fans have more access to a Superstar’s pre-WWE work than ever. Fans know Karl Anderson as a great worker and a better promo. Fans have waited for Karl Anderson to be more than just a guy who walks around yelling “NERD” at people or poor segments with Dana Brooke
Now that The OC is in the middle of his first sustained push since his arrival in WWE, Anderson has shown the potential that fans know he has.
One of the bigger challenges with this potential feud is keeping Anderson a heel. It is clear as day that fans don’t want to boo AJ, Anderson, or Gallows.
The bright side for this feud is that WWE does such a poor job in defining a traditional babyface or heel. Anderson may not have to resort to multiple “heelish tactics” in order to keep the feud going strong.
Rollins and Anderson are capable of having incredible matches leading up to a PPV conclusion of this feud. A feud with Rollins that establishes Anderson as credible and well-rounded can keep Rollins strong, and show fans a new side of Karl Anderson.
Great WWE tag teams have always had “the workhorse” and “the heater”. Anderson has definitely shown that he can be a workhorse caliber wrestler. A feud that builds a new star in Karl Anderson, at the same time re-validates the fact that wrestlers should be wrestling for a chance at the WWE Universal Championship. It’s a win for Rollins and Anderson.
EC3
Understandably, this selection is not an easy sell. EC3 has not exactly set the WWE landscape on fire since his arrival in NXT.
During his time in NXT, it was clear that he was ready for the main roster. Now that he’s on the main roster, he has not achieved any level of success.
One of the more creative ideas in recent WWE television history was John Cena’s US Open Challenge. It was able to showcase talent such as Neville, Dean Ambrose, Sami Zayn, Cesaro and more.
WWE has enough talent on the current roster that you can make an enticing Pay Per View card with the wrestlers who were left off the show.
EC3 is the perfect wrestler that can benefit from such an opportunity. It can be the story of the arrogant heel who believes that he is entitled to a WWE Universal Championship match. Seth Rollins in one night can do more to establish the EC3 character than WWE has done with EC3 since he was signed to NXT
If Rollins truly wants to be the WWE Universal Champion who is there every week, then having up and coming wrestlers go after him on a weekly basis can accomplish two tasks. One, it lends credibility to a previously tarnished WWE Universal Championship. Two, it would also introduce new challengers to compete for the WWE Universal Championship, who can be “made” in the fans eyes by having great matches.