Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!
Jey Uso just proved himself to truly be a “main event” star with his victory over Bron Breakker last night on Monday Night Raw, wherein he won the Intercontinental Championship—his first singles title in WWE.
While I’m hoping he has a decently long, majorly successful title reign (even though I’m disappointed that didn’t happen with Bron Breakker as well), one of my favorite things to do whenever a new champion is crowned is to try to look as far ahead as possible and see if I can guess who the next champion will be.
Again, this isn’t a matter of wishing we could just skip straight to the finish line, but more so, seeing if I can map something out that either is correct in a prediction, or something I’m satisfied with for my own creative juices. So I invite you to do the same.
My question for you today is “Who do you think should and/or will dethrone Jey Uso to become the next intercontinental champion?”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
As I mentioned, I do feel disappointed Breakker didn’t get a longer run. Therefore, I can’t help but to have an immediate reaction of “I hope he wins the title back.” However, I’m not a big fan of the hot potato situation, particularly when I like the new champion as I do with Jey Uso. That puts me in a tough position where I do want Breakker to be holding that again and longer, but not at Uso’s expense. Since I don’t want this to be another short reign, and I don’t want them to feud forever just to come back full circle months from now, I’m not sure how even I would go about reverting to Breakker. I think we’d probably need a buffer or two to transition from Uso to someone else, then to Breakker.
Any new champion around this time of the year, in particular, makes me wonder if they’re holding the belt until WrestleMania. I don’t think I want that to happen. In the grand scheme of things, I’d rather see Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa drop the WWE Tag Team Championships to The Usos with Jey and Jimmy reunited than for Jey to be intercontinental champion and lose it to Solo Sikoa or Jacob Fatu. Those are still options, mind you, if for some reason Jimmy isn’t able to go. It is a bit odd that Rikishi had asked for prayers for him. Hopefully, he isn’t in a rough spot in any way, and we’ll see him back in time for WarGames, as well as beyond.
Since The Bloodline is on SmackDown, I’m going to just nix them from my view with this. That might be foolish in the long run, but I’m focusing on Raw, as it still is statistically more likely someone on the red brand will beat Jey for the title than for there to be any brand swapping or trades, considering the WWE Draft shouldn’t be until after WrestleMania in 2025.
Ignoring Breakker, as well, the only people who stand out to me as potential options are Drew McIntyre, Bronson Reed, Ludwig Kaiser, Dominik Mysterio, Chad Gable, Xavier Woods, and MAYBE Karrion Kross. I don’t see Pete Dunne or anyone else getting this title any time soon, nor any babyfaces.
For the most part, take Kross off the list. He’s not consistently pushed in any meaningful way. I think McIntyre would be taking a step down, so probably not him, but it’d be a good way to keep him busy. Kaiser would be a fine option, but he’s always Gunther’s #2, so that makes him look lesser. Woods is going to be on a quest for a singles title, which would be interesting to see him check that off, but I think that they’re setting him up for failure.
That leaves Reed, Mysterio, Gable and the possibility of dropping it back to Breakker.
Ultimately, I think the time for Gable to be champion has passed. The momentum isn’t there anymore. I wouldn’t be opposed to it, but I think Reed and Mysterio have more energy to them that would carry the belt further.
Between the two, I think Reed can do more without the title, as just a monster who continues to roll through the roster. Cynically, I’m anticipating his big push is going to end once Seth Rollins is able to return, and they’ll just book Rollins to beat him and send Reed back into midcard hell. I don’t see those two feuding for the Intercontinental Championship, do you? For that matter, I still think we’re getting Rollins against CM Punk at WrestleMania, and I don’t think that will be for the title, either, nor do I picture Reed will be defending the belt against someone.
I’m not sure I fully expect Dirty Dom to win this belt, either, but I do think once Liv Morgan drops her Women’s World Championship, this could be the other method to keep the heat on him. He’s long overdue to win a singles title, given how great of a character he is. Plus, he doesn’t have to hold it long for it to still count and to go with his weasel gimmick. He could very easily be a transitional champion who wins the title later this year and drops it before WrestleMania within a one or two month reign to set up whatever else WWE has in mind for the big show.
With less than a few hours to think of this (as I’m writing this up very soon after Raw ended), and without knowing what WWE’s plans are for practically anything going forward, I would probably pitch Dominik takes it from Jey and drops it either to Sheamus or Damian Priest, who can then drop it back to Breakker at WrestleMania.
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!