Four Possible Directions for the WWE Championship

As the saying goes, change is in the air, and it’s pretty obvious that will soon be the case for the WWE Championship.

AJ Styles has been a tremendous champion since the fall of 2017, but it’s getting time for the SmackDown brand to have a shake-up at the top of the card. Luckily for the blue brand, there are an abundance of options when it comes to who should be the next WWE Champion.

In fact, we’ll known a lot about WWE’s long term direction following Super Show-Down in Australia on October 6th. We’ll have a winner in the AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe feud, as well as a new number contender crowned between Daniel Bryan and The Miz. These two outcomes could provide us with some great material that, in some cases, could take us all the way to WrestleMania 35.

Let’s take a look at four possible scenarios that we could have coming out of Super Show-Down and where that could lead us in the coming months.

1. Styles Retains, The Miz Becomes #1 Contender

This is a very likely scenario. 

While Joe has been a great challenger for Styles, there are many who believe WWE just doesn’t see him as someone to hold the WWE Championship at this point in time. I’m not one of them, but this is a prevailing thought among some in the industry. 

So after a DQ finish at SummerSlam and a controversial finish at Hell In A Cell, perhaps the feud ends with Styles finally getting a dominate win over Joe at Super Show-Down or soon after. Styles then looks toward another heel challenger: The Miz.

The Miz has been on fire for two years and is easy to envision as a WWE Champion once again. Especially given the recent publicity from his reality show on the USA Network. If The Miz were to become champion, his reign would likely conclude in a match with Daniel Bryan, so that current feud would be drawn out to a climactic finish down the line.

The way I’d envision this scenario playing out: Styles retains title at Super Show-Down and dispatches of Joe permanently very soon (the longest that feud could possibly go would be Survivor Series). The Miz wins the title from Styles in the late fall or early winter, Bryan wins the Royal Rumble, and Daniel Bryan wins the WWE title from The Miz at WrestleMania 35.

This isn’t a bad scenario and I can easily see it happening. Personally, I’d rather see Bryan get his hands on the title earlier than WrestleMania, but his feud with The Miz has been good and we could certainly see it continue, off and on, until April.

Though this one is good and quite likely, there’s another scenario I like better. Read on. 

2. Styles Retains, Daniel Bryan Becomes #1 Contender

This story doesn’t have as many long term options built in as the previous scenario (or another one I’ll get to later), but it’s one that would be incredibly satisfying in the short term.

After dispatching of Samoa Joe, Styles takes on new number one contender Daniel Bryan in a WWE dream match in the not too distant future. Perhaps even at SmackDown 1000? And when I say dream match, yes, I am aware they wrestled on SmackDown earlier this year, but I’m talking about a high profile feud for the WWE championship versus a one-off. 

In this scenario, Bryan is the person to end Styles’ nearly one year title reign in a match that would undoubtedly be a match of the year contender. Who wouldn’t love this? Unfortunately, in this scenario The Miz is left out of the title picture for the time being. Though they could eventually build to Bryan vs. The Miz at WrestleMania. Perhaps Miz wins the Royal Rumble to get a shot, though I think the Bryan/Miz dynamic is better if Bryan is chasing a WWE Champion Miz. 

There is another scenario where we get Bryan vs. Styles for the title, but we don’t get it right out of the gate like we would here. In my alternate story, AJ vs. Bryan is on a much bigger stage further down the road with some other great matches mixed in prior to that big bout happening. 

Read on.

3. Samoa Joe Wins the Title, The Miz Becomes #1 Contender

I had to throw this in because it’s a possible scenario given the two matches heading into Super Show-Down.

That said, this really is only a possibility in one’s imagination. There’s no way they put the championship on a heel Samoa Joe only to have him feud with a heel Miz. It wouldn’t make much sense, and both men have been fully established as strong heels in the last couple of months. A babyface turn is not possible right now for either man.

Simply put, this just isn’t happening. At least right now. 

4. Samoa Joe Wins the Title, Daniel Bryan Becomes #1 Contender

This is, by far, my favorite scenario.

Samoa Joe is more than deserving of becoming the WWE Champion. Styles’ title reign has ran its course and it is time to do something fresh. While both Joe and Miz would be good heel champions for Styles to drop the title to, I think Joe is the guy at this moment in time. He’s doing some of the best work of his career, arguably the best on the microphone in the company. A heel Samoa Joe holding the WWE Championship could produce some really, really memorable segments. 

If Joe won the title, a great way to transition to his match with Bryan while keeping Styles out of the picture would be some sort of injury story to keep AJ off of television while a new babyface steps in to challenge him for the gold. Plus, a little time off would give Styles a ton of momentum when he does return. Plus, he’s been working at a break-neck pace for the last year and deserves it.

So if Joe were to become the champion and Bryan were to win the number one contender match, I’d think Joe’s reign would be short but also incredibly impactful in the long term. Joe would be cemented in as a main eventer for the rest of his WWE run, and we’d also get some great Bryan and Joe matches for the WWE title. This is a dream WWE championship storyline for many (yes, Joe and Bryan have wrestled, but not with these kind of stakes).

This scenario also saves our previous WWE championship dream match for a later date: Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles. That bout could be saved for a bigger show down the road, almost certainly WrestleMania. Imagine Daniel Bryan walking into Mania as the champion and defending against challenger AJ Styles and try not to get hyped. Just try. I’ll wait.

In essence, we’d be looking at Joe winning the title at Super Show-Down, Bryan winning the title from Joe at Survivor Series or Royal Rumble, and Styles vs. Bryan at WrestleMania. Yeah, I’d be more than okay with that.

What do you think? Leave us a message in the comments or drop me a line on Twitter @HistoricalRyan.