WWE SmackDown, and the promotion as a whole, has been on a major roll for the better part of 2024. The Blue brand’s success can be attributed to its top champions.
That said, all things must end eventually, and that’s why we’re here to predict the next two champions for each title on WWE Friday Night SmackDown.
With all that in mind, let’s get right into it.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship – Current Holders: Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill
The team of Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill are currently in the midst of their second run as WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Both women have main event potential; sooner rather than later, they will move on to bigger and better things, whether gunning after a top singles prize or facing each other in a dream rivalry. That begs the question: who will dethrone them?
Our best bet would be Chelsea Green and Piper Niven.
All year, Chelsea Green has been consistently one of the most over WWE Superstars. While her popularity matches some of the top names in the division, it seems like WWE has no immediate plans to put a top solos title on her.
So, why not the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles instead? Sure, Niven and Green have been champions before. But, with Chelsea’s star rising with each passing week, it would be wise to capitalize on this and have them win the title in one of the biggest upsets of the year.
Now, who takes the title off of them? The answer is Nia Jax and Tiffany Stratton. Ms. Money in the Bank and the Queen of the Ring and WWE Women’s Champion have run roughshod over the division for a couple of months now.
What a sight would it be if these two held every piece of hardware that was available to them, effectively cementing their place atop the WWE SmackDown Women’s Division.
Apart from that, it also sets up quite an interesting introduction to another storyline, which leads us to the WWE Women’s Championship.
WWE Women’s Championship – Current Holder: Nia Jax
Nia Jax’s most recent run with the company since returning has been undoubtedly her best yet.
She’s won Queen of the Ring, and, as previously mentioned, she is the current WWE Women’s Champion at the time of writing. Apart from that, she has Ms. Money in the Bank as her close confidant…for now.
Tiffany Stratton, at some point, will obviously cash in her well-earned Money in the Bank championship opportunity. While there are still no apparent cracks in the friendship of Stratton and Jax, the quest for gold could ultimately be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Stratton has the opportunity to execute one of the best heists in WWE history and secure her first Women’s Title reign on the main roster whenever she chooses to do so. Unfortunately, it’ll be more than likely at the expense of her friend.
This current partnership between the two might end in betrayal, but the reaction of the WWE Universe will be legendary. Once Stratton becomes champion, it’s more than likely she will have a long run with it, considering how loved she is even as a heel.
But, who takes it off of her? This is extremely tough to predict. If we had to guess, it would be probably someone not on the main roster yet, and that woman is named Roxanne Perez. These two had killer matches during the NXT Women’s Breakout and Women’s Title Tournaments.
WWE can revisit this mini-feud and transform it into a full-fledged rivalry. On top of that, the roles will probably be reversed, with Stratton being the face and Perez being the dastardly heel, effectively making this a lot more interesting.
WWE Tag Team Championship: Current Holder: The Bloodline
It’s not a stretch to say but The Bloodline will probably hold on to the WWE Tag Team Titles for a little while longer, considering they’re one of the most dominant factions of the past two decades.
Tama Tonga, Jacob Fatu, and Tonga Loa are scary competitors that should not be trifled with.
However, there is one team that has a ton of history with the group: The Usos.
The clash between the original and new iteration of The Bloodline will undoubtedly go down soon, with most speculating it will be inside a War Games match at this year’s Survivor Series.
But the feud between these two warring sides will probably not end there. Both will most likely tear each other apart for the foreseeable future and what better way to land a deadly blow to the new Bloodline than by taking their hardware?
Sure, it’s hard to envision now, considering Jey Uso is on WWE Monday Night Raw, and Jimmy Uso hasn’t been seen on TV in a long time.
But if there’s a will there’s a way and this could be the capper to The Usos reunion most have been clamoring for.
Similar to the other potential champions discussed thus far, Jimmy and Jey will likely be champions for a while. We do have someone in mind that can potentially knock them off the perch once more.
If speculations are true, WWE will welcome a brand new team to the fold in the form of the Motor City Machine Guns.
The Usos have legitimately run through every conceivable team imaginable in WWE, both on WWE SmackDown and WWE Raw. Not MCMG though.
If WWE wants to capitalize on this potential monumental debut and to utilize the elder statesmen to their full potential, a series of matches between The Usos and the Motor City Machine Guns could be the best tag team feud the WWE Universe has seen in a very long time.
This rivalry could end with MCMG winning their first piece of WWE gold and eventually putting over a much younger team like Pretty Deadly or Angel and Berto.
United States Championship: – Current Holder: LA Knight
LA Knight achieved his biggest accolade in WWE to date when he defeated Logan Paul for the United States Championship at SummerSlam, and we would be hard-pressed to find somebody that will take the Red, White, and Blue mantle from the “Megastar.”
With that said, there are a few interesting names that could. The first is Carmelo Hayes. Knight and Hayes are both very similar.
Both are very charismatic and had meteoric rises. If anyone pries away the U.S. Championship from LA Knight, Melo, a future main eventer, could definitely be a slam dunk pick.
Another potential combatant for Knight is one Jacob Fatu. The “Samoan Werewolf” has future world champion written all over him.
As we are all aware, secondary titles like the United States and Intercontinental Championships are typically the stepping stones to something bigger, and the former could be the one for Fatu.
Undisputed WWE Championship – Current Holder: Cody Rhodes
The Undisputed WWE Championship is probably the hardest WWE SmackDown Championship to predict, and it’s because of two things.
First, Cody Rhodes is still so over with the WWE Universe, and is probably the babyface champion the promotion has been dreaming of since the days of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, John Cena, and Daniel Bryan.
On top of that, it seems like there’s already a story in place for the next holder of this prestigious award, which leads us to The Rock.
It’s not if, it’s when. The seeds were planted for a Cody/Rock clash at some point for the Undisputed WWE Championship one night from removed from WrestleMania XL. The Rock is probably the biggest threat to Cody’s title run right now.
It could happen as soon as the Royal Rumble, which most consider the official beginning of the “Road to WrestleMania,” with Rocky hoisting up his 9th WWE Championship at the end of that night.
That said, and if speculations are to go by, The Rock wants this to happen at WrestleMania 41. We think it should happen at the Royal Rumble.
“Why” you may ask. Because it leads to a main event that a lot of people have been clamoring for almost a decade; Roman Reigns vs. The Rock. The “People’s Champ” is not a full-time performer anymore, a lot of people can say the same thing for Reigns.
While true, The Rock has a lot more going for outside of WWE, making him less available than Roman Reigns. Moreover, the fans have been begging for a full-blown Roman Reigns face run. Another title reign for Roman, now as a hero, could be quite the compelling narrative.
Quite frankly, even if the factors mentioned were not in the equation, a matchup between these two could potentially be the biggest main event in the history of the “showcase of the immortals.”
A ton of birds with one big stone, or rock, if you prefer.
Who do you think will dethrone the top champions on WWE SmackDown?
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