The Best Contenders for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship After the 2023 WWE Draft

The 2023 WWE Draft is officially complete, solidifying the Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown rosters beginning on March 8. Raw’s main focus from that point on will be crowning the first World Heavyweight Champion, a title recently introduced by Paul Levesque as a new top prize for the company alongside Roman Reigns’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. And, as confirmed by Paul Heyman during Raw tonight, “The Tribal Chief” will not attempt to challenge for the title due to the reinforced brand split between the two shows. 

Early reports have already started to come in about who will be the first champion and it was confirmed tonight that a tournament will begin soon consisting of Raw’s biggest stars. But who will get the gold at Night of Champions on May 27 in Jeddah? Let’s break down the top contenders. 

Seth Rollins

Based on early reports and the promos he has cut on the past two episodes of Raw, Rollins is the obvious frontrunner to win the title. He’s the only one on this list who can claim Reigns failed to beat him, which goes a long way in helping this title not feel like a consolation prize. Plus, he’ll get a chance to finally redeem himself as a top babyface champion after the disastrous final months of his last reign back in 2019. 

Shinsuke Nakamura

“The King of Strong Style” recently returned to WWE TV and is reportedly viewed as one of the early favorites to win the tournament. That feels like Triple H wants to finally give Nakamura a legitimate push, something we haven’t seen since his infamous program with AJ Styles back in 2018. Crowning Shinsuke would give Raw’s main event scene a completely new look and would set up for some wild matches, so count us in. 

Finn Balor

There’s something wonderfully poetic about booking Rollins vs. Balor in the finals of the tournament, as it’s the same match we saw back in 2016 to crown the inaugural Universal Champion. But while The Judgement Day are staying united on Raw, Balor’s stock isn’t particularly strong right now as he’s only picked up one singles match win on TV since the start of the year and was on the losing end of his WrestleMania program with Edge (who honestly should have been kept on Raw to contend for this title). Let’s call it an outside chance.

Drew McIntyre

Between his current contract status and his recent absence from TV, it’s hard to gauge what the future holds for McIntyre. But his mission to finally win a championship in front of a live crowd after carrying Raw through the pandemic still lingers, which is a strong enough story to push him all the way through the tournament finals if he’s back on TV in time. And given how babyface-heavy the Raw roster currently is, he could also benefit from a heel turn.

Brock Lesnar

“The Beast” opted to remain a free agent during this year’s Draft. Between that and Vince McMahon’s alleged return to the booking team, there’s always a chance WWE could go this route. The one big thing that might deter WWE is that this championship is being intentionally positioned as one that will be defended consistently, which is the very antithesis of a Lesnar reign.

Gunther

When it comes to “The Ring General” becoming a world champion, the question is not “if” but “when.” However, it still looks like WWE wants him to break Honky Tonk Man’s record for the longest Intercontinental Championship reign first. And while there’s nothing that says he can’t pursue the other title as well, they’ll likely keep him away from this new championship until later on in the year.

Cody Rhodes

We’ve already talked at length about why this is a bad idea, but his name is going to keep getting brought up until he says something.