If one thing is certain in the wonderful world of pro wrestling, it’s that champions come and go. Some hold their title for years, and some only for minutes, but no matter what, titles change hands. Wrestlers can try as hard as they want to be as good as they can for as long as physically possible, but eventually they all hear the referee count the final three seconds of their reign.
Predicting When the Raw Championships Will Change Hands
The Tag Team Championships
Current Champions- The New Day
The team of Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods have been successfully defending their “W-W-E, Wooorld, Tag Team Championshiiiiiiips” since SummerSlam 2015. How long ago was that? So long ago that the tag teams they faced off against no longer exist. “Los Matadores” Diego and Fernando, have transformed back into Primo and Epico, calling themselves “The Shining Stars“. Kalisto is [being wasted] on SmackDown Live! and Sin Cara is part of Monday Night Raw’s CruiserWeight division, and the Prime Time Players, Titus O’Neil and Darren Young, split up and have terrible, terrible gimmicks.
They’ve been tag team champions for so long that only Demolition have had a longer championship reign, at 478 days. So when will The New Day demolish the record? They’ll officially pass Demolition on December 13th of this year… five days before the Raw exclusive pay per view, RoadBlock. Don’t be surprised if they take the belts off the New Day at the show, much like they did with Nikki Bella after she broke AJ Lee‘s record with the Diva’s Championship.
Who will defeat the New Day? Well, there are few options. It will either be the teams of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Enzo Amore and Big Cass, or Sheamus and Cesaro. My prediction? The WWE have completely dropped the ball with Gallows and Anderson, so it won’t be them. As for Enzo and Cass, they’re so over that they don’t really need the belts. They could definitely stretch the “odd couple” pairing of Sheamus and Cesaro for another month if they need to, and the former rivals could make entertaining tag team champs.
Prediction- Sheamus and Cesaro over The New Day at RoadBlock.
The WWE CruiserWeight Championship
Current Champion- Brian Kendrick
This one is a bit more complicated because the entire CruiserWeight division is up in the air, and not just because they’re doing flips. At the moment, the only storyline in the division is between Brian Kendrick and the former champion T.J. Perkins. Since it’s unlikely that they’ll put the belt right back on Perkins, it’ll have to be a babyface. Of the three babyface cruiserweights that have gotten airtime, Cedric Alexander and Rich Swann have easily been the most entertaining.
The new WWE Network show, “205 Live” will be all about the Cruiserweights, but the title shouldn’t change hands there. As exciting as it would be for a spontaneous title change to happen on the Network, like it did with Rusev and Sheamus, people just aren’t invested enough in the division yet. Fans are already indifferent about the division, and the thought of someone showing up on Raw with the belt that didn’t have it the week before feels very “WCW Monday Nitro“.
The WWE should let someone else wrestle Kendrick, and at some point, it should be for the title. The biggest pop the division has gotten on Raw was when Kendrick beat Perkins and thanks to shoddy advertising, the crowd thought he won the title.
Prediction- Cedric Alexander Over Brian Kendrick at a Random Monday Night Raw
The United States Championship
Current Champion- Roman Reigns
For those in the WWE Universe that dislike Roman Reigns, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Roman Reigns won’t be the United States Champion for too long. The bad news is that he’ll only drop the title right before he gets back into the main event scene. I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m saying that he loses it at the Royal Rumble to Braun Strowman. They want him to seem like a legitimate contender in the rumble, but if he gets eliminated, it’s excusable because he had a match earlier in the night.
I feel pretty good about the when, it’s the who that’s tough. It’s gotta be someone that the WWE Universe will boo against Reigns, but is also believable enough to beat him. On the Raw roster, that really just leaves Braun Strowman. Having Strowman become United States Champion will make whenever he gets eliminated later that night easier for the WWE Universe to handle
Prediction- Braun Strowman over Roman Reigns at the Royal Rumble.
The WWE Women’s Championship
Current Champion- Charlotte
This is difficult because this title changes hands like it’s the Hardcore Championship from the Attitude Era. The WWE Raw Women’s Championship is only seven months old and it has already changed hands four times. For comparison, the WWE World Championship has only changed hands three times over that span, and two of those changes happened on the same night. While four men have held that belt, the same two women have won the Women’s Championship. It’s only been Charlotte and Sasha Banks. Banks has won the title on Raw twice, only to fail to successfully defend it at the next pay per view.
Someone else has to get involved in the title picture and the only reasonable options are Bayley and Nia Jax. The curious thing about Charlotte is that she’s undefeated at pay per views so far in her career. It seems like the WWE want to keep building that streak, so frankly, Charlotte could lose the belt on any given Monday.
We’re going with Bayley over Charlotte at WrestleMania, and here’s why. If you’re going to end a streak, what better place than WrestleMania? There’s no shame in losing at Mania, just ask AJ Styles. And frankly, Nia Jax is scary, but she’s not really capable of having a WrestleMania worthy match yet. They’ve already started Bayley on the very same “ultimate underdog” track she took in NXT on her way to the championship, so why not?
Prediction- Bayley over Charlotte at WrestleMania 33
The WWE Universal Championship
Current Champion- Kevin Owens
This is a double prediction. I’m saying that during the Royal Rumble, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose start working together. They clean house until there’s only one number left. Ambrose, Rollins, and Roman Reigns stare at each other for a moment before Ambrose and Reigns throw Rollins out of the ring. Just because they’ve forgiven, that doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten. Reigns and Ambrose tussle for a moment before Reigns throws Ambrose over the top rope to a chorus of boos.
Reigns is standing tall in the middle of the ring… when Finn Bálor‘s music hits. The first ever Universal Champion is back, and he’s #30. Obviously, Bálor should eliminate Reigns and earn a shot at Kevin Owens at WrestleMania.
At the showcase of the immortals, the demon will defeat Kevin Owens. Bálor was going to be the face of Monday Night Raw before his injury, and technically he never lost his title. Just imagine, a Demon Bálor entrance in a WrestleMania sized venue. Considering Mania is taking place in Orlando, home of NXT, the “developmental” promotion that Bálor helped make so popular, it would be all too poetic.
Prediction- Finn Bálor over Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 33
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