9. United States Championship – Riddle
Sheamus has faced Riddle four times since October 2020 and every time it gets better. Their match at WrestleMania was incredible with the two purely beating each other up. It looked so brutal and made it one to remember for both men.
Sheamus’ win came as a surprise for many but has created some interesting possibilities. Despite Riddle now losing to Sheamus twice over the past few weeks, one final rematch could be great.
Riddle looked strong in defeat and lost to a surprising (and incredible) Brogue Kick. On the road to WrestleMania Backlash, they can create a story that Sheamus had to give his all to win.
Either man could grab the win to finish the feud and go onto some other great rivalries.
8. Intercontinental Championship – Kevin Owens
One of the strangest decisions from this years WrestleMania was the partnership of Dabba-Kato and Apollo Crews.
Dabba-Kato, who hasn’t appeared since the end of Raw Underground, is reportedly about to become Commander Azeez. An interesting bodyguard for Crews who is fully embracing his Nigerian heritage.
Crews winning the Intercontinental Championship is a great decision as long as he gets some serious feuds for his serious character. With the Big E storyline feeling like it’s run its course, Owens could be perfect.
When Owens beat Rollins last year, it was the latter who got the title opportunity at the following pay-per-view. This year, WWE must capitalise on the momentum Owens has following his tremendous match and win against Sami Zayn.
The ‘fight everyone’ character of Owens would be perfect for the new alliance of Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez. Additionally, a long term rivalry could lead to another Kevin Owens Intercontinental title run with his last being exceptional.
7. Raw Tag Team Championship – The New Day
When AJ Styles and Omos challenged the New Day for a WrestleMania match, the result seemed clear. After months of pushing Omos to be this dominant figure, Kingston and Woods were easily defeated on the Grandest Stage.
Nevertheless, following on from this match there are very limited options for the new champs. Leading to ‘Mania, the New Day being unsure how to deal with Omos was the main story. Moving to WrestleMania Backlash, the New Day now have more experience and could challenge the 7’3″ giant.
This would not only create a longer and more engaging match but would give Omos a chance to shine. More to this, Big E’s loss could have him reunite with his former partners.
Other than Kofi and Xavier, there are very limited options for the new champions. A rematch would be a suitable option for a pay-per-view that focuses on the two ladder matches.
6. SmackDown Tag Team Championship – Rey and Dominik Mysterio
The Dirty Dawgs retaining the championship on SmackDown was a result not many expected. With three teams all deserving of becoming the new faces of the tag division, it came as a disappointment.
The Alpha Academy have had a fun run and the Street Profits have solidified themselves as one of the best tag teams in WWE currently. However, the team with the most to offer is the Mysterios.
With Dominik improving every week, the story of father and son winning a title together would be great. Rey is one of the greatest of all time and has already helped his son so much since his debut at SummerSlam.
While Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode are two tremendous talents, their team isn’t clicking. A silly name and the only reason for the pairing being they’re both flamboyant characters, a long title reign doesn’t sound too intriguing.
5. Women’s Tag Team Championship – IIconics
Female tag teams on the main roster are very minimal. Naomi and Lana or Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke are two teams that mean nothing. The Riott Squad has no momentum and Natalya & Tamina lost a title match at ‘Mania.
WWE is desperately in need of a team that actually means something and have a real connection… insert the IIconics.
There were many awful decisions in WWE in 2020, and splitting the IIconics was certainly up there with the worst. Neither woman, Peyton Royce in particular, went on to do anything despite the break-up.
They were one of the only women teams left and they had to split them. Nevertheless, WWE is desperate for a shakeup and moving one of these two to the other brand would be perfect.
Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler have had a long enough title reign and anything to do with the IIconics is gold.
4. Raw Women’s Championship – Naomi
Poor Asuka.
One of the worst title reigns in recent memory ending in her being handily defeated by Rhea Ripley. It’s devastating but the feud seems comfortably over with Ripley about to be on the biggest run yet.
There are not many NXT stars who got pushed to the top as fast as Ripley, but she’s done it. One of the best in-ring wrestlers in the whole company and she’s only 24 years old. She needs a great run taking on every competitor possible.
Every weakness of Asuka’s run needs to be changed and worked on. With the lack of women worthy of title shots on the roster, Naomi could be a great challenger.
Both exciting talents and a way for Ripley to gain her first successful title defence.
Note: Following developments on Raw, it looks like Ripley’s next defence will be a three-way against Asuka and Charlotte Flair.
3. SmackDown Women’s Championship – Liv Morgan
Following Becky Lynch’s title win at WrestleMania 35, her first feud was Lacey Evans. This, alongside the terrible build to that WrestleMania match, completely stopped a lot of momentum she had.
Belair vs Banks was absolutely incredible. One of the most monumental matches in WWE history for female and black wrestlers undoubtedly. They closed the show and they stole it with just under 20 minutes of gold from both athletes.
The most important thing for the EST of WWE is that this momentum remains. She needs a fun and exciting feud to start a hopefully great title run. The lack of women on SmackDown makes this difficult as all of the women on the brand are now in a meaningless tag team.
Nonetheless, Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott debuted nearly four years ago and have done near enough nothing. They lost most matches as the Riott Squad and then any hype for a Liv Morgan singles run ended very quickly.
Either woman would benefit profoundly from being Belair’s first opponent. The match would be so perfect for WrestleMania Backlash and would help to solidify this new title run.
Both banks and Bayley had incredible SmackDown Women’s Championship runs, therefore Belair has a lot of pressure.
Facing the best women on the roster is the way to go, with a possible Banks rematch at SummerSlam or WrestleMania 38 being a great option.
2. WWE Championship – Samoa Joe
The most surprising decision this weekend was Lashley retaining the WWE Championship. However. there’s no denying Lashley is on his best run in his WWE career.
Multiple talents could be the person to defeat Lashley. Drew McIntyre finally breaking out of the Hurt Lock and hitting the Claymore could be great. The Fiend going one on one with the CHO of the Hurt Business sounds mouth-watering.
There’s also Keith Lee who had tension building with Lashley prior to Elimination Chamber.
Multiple options that could be perfect down the line, but for now… there’s not many ptential challengers. We currently don’t know how bad Samoa Joe’s injuries still are, but how wonderful would this be.
The Samoan Submission Machine taking on the All Mighty WWE Champion sounds like money. It doesn’t appear that Brock Lesnar is returning any time soon, so why not move that dream feud to this. Build it similar and the match will be tremendous.
Note: Drew McIntyre is set to challenge Lashley at WrestleMania Backlash following this past Monday’s Raw.
1. Universal Championship – Cesaro
Similar to Bobby Lashley, many talents who could take on Roman Reigns should be saved for bigger shows. Edge and Daniel Bryan definitely both have cases for rematches but surely not on a B-show like WrestleMania Backlash.
Cesaro is someone who certainly could be the man to defeat Reigns. He finally got his singles match at ‘Mania and has more buzz around him than ever before. This needs to be capitalised on and would be a perfect opponent for The Tribal Chief.
While many believe Reigns should hold this title for a long time to come, Cesaro later winning Money In The Bank to eventually gain the title would be dreamy.
Following WrestleMania Backlash, a slow build to either Bryan or Edge at SummerSlam would be great to see. Both men weren’t easily defeated and needed the interference of Jey Uso to lose at WrestleMania
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