Next Undisputed WWE Champion After Sami Zayn

WWE

Sami Zayn is the new Undisputed WWE Champion, defeating Cody Rhodes and GUNTHER at Night of Champions on Saturday.

The question now is, what will Zayn’s reign look like and who will be the man to end it?

Here are 11 potential next Undisputed WWE Champions after Sami Zayn.

11. Chad Gable

Perhaps the most optimistic option on this list, Chad Gable has been on a road to redemption in WWE over the past few weeks.

After unmasking as the Original El Grande Americano, Gable has returned to Raw and SmackDown as a babyface, looking to make amends for his actions as a heel throughout the last couple of years.

The crowd has very much been behind him in this endeavor, and with the reactions to Zayn as of late, they could be a perfect match, with Gable in the underdog babyface role looking to usurp Zayn.

However, despite everything he’s shown over the past 10 years, it still seems unlikely that WWE would propel Gable to world title level.

10. Jey Uso

World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns sent Jey Uso into the King of the Ring tournament in an effort to earn an Undisputed WWE Championship match at SummerSlam.

Uso made it to the tournament final, but was beaten by Oba Femi.

That doesn’t necessarily mean Uso’s pursuit of the title will end, especially with Zayn now champion instead of Cody Rhodes – someone he has plenty of history with stemming from their days together in the Bloodline.

Given how he performed as World Heavyweight Champion last year, it’s unlikely that WWE would put another world title on Jey Uso, but it can’t be ruled out.

9. Jacob Fatu

Jey Uso fell short in his attempt to earn a WWE Title shot via the King of the Ring, so perhaps Roman Reigns will send another Bloodline member after the title next.

The next best bet in the group would seem to be Jacob Fatu, who has fallen in line since losing to Reigns at Backlash and Clash In Italy.

Over the past year, Fatu has been thought of as one of the next potential WWE main eventers along with the likes of Bron Breakker.

There’s a chance he ends up being the one to put an end to Zayn’s reign while at the same time fulfilling Roman Reigns’ wish of both world titles being held by the Bloodline, and possibly setting up another big match between the two later down the line.

8. Drew McIntyre

Sami Zayn and Drew McIntyre have plenty of history, with Zayn never defeating McIntyre in his career.

McIntyre is also one of only five men to have held this version of the Undisputed WWE Title – an exclusive club that consists only of Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes three times, John Cena, McIntyre and now Zayn.

McIntyre has been off WWE TV since WrestleMania on movie duties, but when he comes back, he could look to regain the title he only held for a couple of months.

While his original reign didn’t go as planned due to WWE changing WrestleMania plans around and removing him from the main event, the company does clearly think highly enough of him to hold the title, which means a second reign is a possibility.

7. Randy Orton

Like Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton has been away from WWE since WrestleMania, where he lost the night one main event for the WWE Championship to Cody Rhodes.

It seems like the rivalry between Orton and Rhodes isn’t done, so when Orton returns, it’s likely there’ll be a big rematch on the way.

However, Orton might still want the title he was chasing Rhodes for in the first place – the Undisputed WWE Championship.

That title is now of course held by Sami Zayn, which means Orton could be the man to take it from him.

6. Cody Rhodes

Cody Rhodes has had a big problem with how Sami Zayn has been acting over the past few months.

Those problems are unlikely to end now that Zayn has taken Rhodes’ WWE Championship.

Rhodes has become the man most closely associated with the current version of the WWE Title, having already held it three times.

While it might be time to move Rhodes into something entirely different for a while, there’s always a possibility that he wins the title back from Zayn to become a four-time champion.

5. GUNTHER

The other man in the match at Night of Champions that saw Sami Zayn win the Undisputed WWE Title was GUNTHER.

As the man who retired John Cena at the end of last year, WWE will likely be keeping GUNTHER in the main event mix for a while to come.

His booking has cooled him off a little bit since then, his accolades over the past few years have included becoming the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion ever, a two-time World Heavyweight Champion, and retiring Cena, AJ Styles and Goldberg.

It wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see him as Undisputed WWE Champion after Zayn.

4. Kevin Owens

Kevin Owens has been back involved with WWE a little bit more as of late.

Owens has been working as a coach on WWE LFG (which was taped a few months ago), and was at the NXT Great American Bash show just last night.

There haven’t been any updates on how his neck injury has been doing, so the last thing that should happen is him rushing back before he’s ready.

But, in a perfect world, Owens vs Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Championship is absolutely a thing that should happen.

3. Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar and Sami Zayn have encountered each other a couple of times over the past few years – both times ending with Lesnar F5ing Zayn.

These encounters have come when Zayn has essentially been between Lesnar and someone else – Roman Reigns and John Cena.

However, now that Zayn is Undisputed WWE Champion in his own right, he could become the sole target of Lesnar.

In what would be an unfortunate Kofi Kingston-esque nightmare scenario, Lesnar could come in at any time and take the title from Zayn, and nobody would really be shocked about it.

2. Oba Femi

Oba Femi has a guaranteed world title match at WWE SummerSlam in just over a month thanks to his King of the Ring tournament win.

That alone immediately propels his chances of becoming the next Undisputed WWE Champion after Sami Zayn.

The question is whether Femi will even challenge Zayn, or if it’ll be World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns that he goes after instead.

Considering Seth Rollins has heavily targeted that World Title recently and just beat Bron Breakker at Night of Champions, it could be that Rollins challenges Reigns at SummerSlam in the match that was originally planned for WrestleMania earlier this year, which leaves Zayn for Femi.

1. CM Punk

CM Punk is another of WWE’s top stars that have been away since WrestleMania – only appearing on the Raw after in a confrontation with Cody Rhodes, where Punk hinted at coming after the Undisputed WWE Title in the future.

That title is of course now held by Zayn, which could make him Punk’s target when he returns.

The promos alone would make a Zayn vs Punk rivalry a very heated one, and certainly one capable of being for the top championship in WWE.

Punk winning the title from Zayn could lead into Punk’s eventual feud with Cody Rhodes, potentially at next year’s WrestleMania after it was originally supposed to happen this year.

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