Published: 1 hour ago by Jamie Toolan | Last Updated: 1 hour ago by Jamie Toolan
Jamie has been covering the world of wrestling for four years and currently holds the position of Assistant Editor of WrestleTalk.com. During his time working for WrestleTalk.com he has written and published over 4,000 news and feature articles covering events and happenings from WWE, AEW, TNA and a variety of international and independent wrestling promotions.
WWE
LA Knight, Kevin Owens and Finn Balor; three stars that bring something very different to the table in WWE but share one distinct similarity: they always fall short when it truly matters and fail to win ‘the big one.’
Now, obviously, unlike LA Knight, Balor and Owens they actually have won ‘the big one,’ with both capturing the Universal Championship in 2016.
While it ended in disappointing fashion, Owens had a fairly lengthy run as champion; Balor on the other hand saw his only world title run end after a day due to injury and he has never been given the chance to run with the ball again since.
Whether it be Owens’ many wars with Roman Reigns, or more recently against CM Punk and Sami Zayn, there has been ample opportunity for WWE to pull the trigger but they haven’t. Finn Balor is the same, with his feud with Seth Rollins in 2023 being a time when it truly felt like he should have won the big one again.
Although not yet racking up as many high profile failures as Owens and Balor, LA Knight has been the bridesmaid on many occasions in WWE and fans are losing hope that the company will ever give him a shot at being world champion.
Money in the Bank on October 10 will be WWE’s opportunity to give him that, but even Knight himself said it on Raw: most people don’t actually believe he will topple ‘The OTC.’
Balor and Owens are both involved in what is the most open WWE world title picture in years on SmackDown, with several title changes and a seeming willingness from WWE to mix things up.
But will that lead to either Owens or Balor winning gold? Does LA Knight have more of a chance? Let’s rank all three by least likely to most likely to win a world title soon.
Least likely: Finn Balor
Finn Balor moved from WWE Raw to SmackDown in June 2026.
Finn Balor’s path to the WWE Championship is going to have to go through the Money in the Bank ladder match, the only problem is: he very well might not even qualify for that.
The Irishman will face CM Punk and GUNTHER in his qualifier on the September 25 episode of SmackDown; a quite frankly, unnecessarily stacked line-up for one match.
Balor and GUNTHER should have made the cut realistically given their ongoing feud and shared pursuit of the title, but out of the two of them it feels more likely WWE will go with ‘The Ring General.’
This would likely then put Balor at the back of the line and it would be very hard to see when he gets another opportunity.
LA Knight
LA Knight’s World Heavyweight Title match with Roman Reigns at Money in the Bank 2026 will be his first singles match with ‘The OTC’ since Crown Jewel 2023.
It’s hard to think of someone who’s absolutely needed a win in WWE more than LA Knight does at Money in the Bank.
A loss to Roman Reigns; and a clean one at that, could permanently damage his credibility as a world title contender and realistically it would squash any chance of him reaching the mountaintop at any point in the next year.
Oba Femi is waiting in the wings for his 2027 mega push, and will, in all likelihood be winning the World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania 43.
This is what makes Knight winning the gold seem so unlikely. Will WWE risk diminishing Femi’s triumph by having Reigns lose to someone else before ‘The Grandest Stage of Them All?’ I think not. That being said, WWE could recognise the urgency of Knight’s potential now or never situation and book a title change in New Orleans, just so they can say he had that moment.
Most likely: Kevin Owens
Kevin Owens returned after a 17 month injury layoff at WWE SummerSlam 2026.
Of the three, Kevin Owens absolutely feels like the likeliest next world champion given the frequent title changes on SmackDown lately, and his close proximity to the gold.
While he has fallen short in his last two attempts since returning to WWE, he is very much in the mix, and with Sami Zayn as champion, it would be only right for his best friend to be the one to take it from him.
It’s going to be hard to find a moment that would have been as special for KO personally than the August 21 episode of SmackDown in Toronto, but ‘The Prizefighter’ very well could get his moment before 2026 wraps up.
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