Who’s next? Several WWE Superstars need to join Seth Rollins in ending Championship droughts

Unlike pretty much every other sport in the world, winning Championships in professional wrestling is not the be-all and end-all for a performer. Is it everyone’s goal to day win the WWE Title? Of course. But you can still be wildly successful without racking up wins in the record book.

There may be no greater example of that the man who now holds the United States Championship - Seth “Freaking” Rollins. He may be a visionary. He may be a revolutionary. He may be one of the best professional wrestlers in the world. But for the better part of the last three years, Seth Rollins has been a loser... on the stat sheet.

He’s 64-135-1 since the start of 2020 according to Cagematch. You can double check my math, but that’s just above a 32% win percentage. Now, I’m not saying that wins and loses don’t or shouldn’t matter, but even as loses have piled up for Rollins, he continues to win.

Many consider Rollins to be on one of the best runs of his entire career, both from an in-ring and character stand point. His work with Cody Rhodes this year alone was nothing short of spectacular.

Eventually though, you expect someone the caliber of Seth Rollins to win the big one. Or at least a big one. This past Monday on Raw, Rollins defeated Bobby Lashley (with a big assist from Brock Lesnar) to capture the United States Championship. That ends a remarkable 952 day title drought for the Drip God. And he’s far from the only worker in the company with a streak like that needs to end sooner rather than later. Here are a few others:

Kevin Owens - 1906 days; Last held the United States Championship on July 25, 2017

I mean.... duh. Why even string this out and make you read to the bottom of the article to bring him up. Kevin Owens is an obvious answer here. It’s been over five years since the prize fighter has won a prize. It’s inexcusable.

Again, Championships aren’t everything in WWE. Facing Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 38 will probably mean more to KO than any title ever could or would, but it’s time. It’s long overdue for Kevin Owens to get another run on top.

The problem these days, comes down to timing. When do you take the WWE, Universal or both Championships off of Roman Reigns? And how? Is KO the guy to do it? Most likely not, but it’s impossible to tell at this point. There’s no clear cut favorite to dethrone the Tribal Chief, even though there’s a myriad of options available, including Cody Rhodes, Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins, and yes, Kevin Owens.

WWE reportedly has no plans to have Reigns drop his belts anytime soon with a match with The Rock at WrestleMania 39 hopefully in the cards. So for the time being, another world title run appears to be a no go for KO. So let’s just cut to the chase.

Eventually the Bloodline is going to throw Sami Zayn to the curb and we will all be sad, at least for a hot minute. The best thing going on TV will be no more, but it’ll also be the start of what should be a white hot babyface run for the Honorary Uce.

Assuming Reigns will have his hands busy with his cousin come WrestleMania season, his other cousins should be open for business. You know where I’m going with this. Life long friends Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens should reunite and defeat the Usos to capture the Undisputed Tag Team Championships. You want it. I want it. KO and Sami want it. Do the right thing WWE.

Baron Corbin - 1762 days; Last held the United States Championship on December 17, 2017

Don’t roll your eyes at me. I can feel the heat generating off of you just reading his name. Which is the point. Baron Corbin, King Corbin, Happy Corbin, what ever you want to call him — he’s very good at his job.

The man has been nothing short of a workhorse for WWE since coming up to the main roster in 2016. Staying true to his offensive lineman roots, Corbin has made a living off of doing to the tough dirty work for this company.

Need someone to be ridiculed and beat up by The Rock and Becky Lynch in front of four million people? Call Corbin. You want to hand cuff someone to a ring post and cover them in dog food? Call Corbin. Need a scape goat to berate and blame for low ratings on national television? Call Corbin.

All the guy does is show up to work and perform. No matter what’s asked of him, he does it with a smile on his face - metaphorically speaking. He also prides himself on being one of WWE’s most trusted and safe performers and he’s long overdue to be rewarded for his service.

Sure he’s been given a bone here or there. He retired Kurt Angle at WrestleMania. He won King of the Ring. He won the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. But let’s not forget how poorly that cash-in attempt on Jinder Mahal was executed.

I’ve long been a believer that Corbin can be one of the most dominant heels in the entire company, if just given the opportunity. We haven’t seen him on TV since he stepped into (presumably) JBL’s limo on SmackDown a few weeks back. Maybe the next version of Baron Corbin we see will be the one I’ve been waiting for and hopefully it ultimately leads to an end for his long Championship drought.

Edge - 4200 days; Last held the World Heavyweight Championship on April 15, 2011

Ok, I know what you’re thinking. Does he need it? Of course not. The 48-year-old Hall of Famer has accomplished everything there is to do in this business. And that was before his shocking retirement in 2011.

His miraculous, decade in the making return has always been about getting to end his career on his own terms. Fans would have been thrilled with just one more Spear. One more moment. One more match. But a nearly three year long run battling old rivals as well as dream opponents like Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Bryan Danielson, and Roman Reigns is more than anyone could have hoped for or even imaged was possible.

Making what used to be deemed as the impossible even more improbable, Edge has shown very little regression in the ring. He’s in the best shape of his life and is just as good as he was in his prime years - if not a little bit better.

I’m the first person to roll their eyes when an aging, or once retired, veteran comes in and goes over on the stars of today, but in the case of Edge it’s just different. He’s no glorified part timer. He is a star of today. One more than deserving to win Royal Rumbles, main event WrestleMania, and yes, win a Championship.

Edge has stated that his time in wrestling is winding down relatively soon, so his window to have one more run as the WWE or Universal Champion may be closed. Especially since it doesn’t look like Roman’s reign is ending anytime soon, but there’s still the United States and Intercontinental Titles. Or the tag team titles. I’m sure there’s a bevy of Superstars that would jump at the opportunity to have a run with one of the greatest tag team performers of all time.

Regardless of which ever belt he goes for, it would just feel wrong if Edge didn’t win one more championship to fully complete his comeback. Just my opinion. It’s ok if you feel differently.

Alexa Bliss - 861 days; Last held the Women’s Tag Team Titles on June 5 2020; Last held Women’s singles gold 1550 days ago

The curious case of Alexa Bliss, continues. The 5-time WWE Women’s Champion returned to TV earlier this year after missing the latter half of 2021 to undergo sinus surgery. WWE did week’s of therapy session segments leading up to her much anticipated and very successful return at Elimination Chamber.

On top of receiving one of the loudest pops of the night, Bliss put on one of the best in-ring performances of her career and nearly won the match. The path to a WrestleMania push seemed clear, but inexplicably, they benched her. WWE decided to keep her sidelined in creative purgatory for three months.

Even after she returned to Raw in May, it seemed like the creative team didn’t have much lined up for Alexa and that has carried over now into the new regime. In recent weeks she, along with Asuka, has been used as an accessory in Bianca Belair’s battle with Damage CTRL with no real story of her own.

That’s a far fall for the woman who once dominated the entire division, racking up five world title wins in two years. Granted, there have been some injury issues since then and the talent pool has only gotten deeper, but it’s been far too long since Bliss shined as a singles star. And no, her 24/7 Title win, a floundering Championship that’s been relegated to house show hijinks, does not count.

During a backstage interview on the July 4 episode of Monday Night Raw, Bliss made it quite clear that she had her sights set on Bianca Belair and her Raw Women’s Championship, but there really hasn’t been any follow up to those statements. My hunch is, you can chalk it up to, “plans change, pal.”

When Becky Lynch went down with a separated shoulder following her match at SummerSlam, someone had to step in to help even the odds for Bianca against Bayley, Dakota Kai and IYO SKY. Alexa Bliss was the next woman up, but the question remains. What happens when The Man comes back around?

Will the return of Becky Lynch allow Alexa to continue on whatever path she was on prior to Becky’s injury? Time will tell. Maybe a heel turn will put her on track to be the one that dethrones Bianca Belair. If not, it could be an even longer trek back to the gold than it already has been.

One thing’s for sure. Alexa Bliss is too good to keep playing sidekick for long.

Mustafa Ali - Never held a Championship in WWE

There’s really not much to say here, so I’ll be blunt. Forget Championships for a second, it’s borderline criminal that in 6 years WWE has yet to find anything of substance do to with Mustafa Ali.

Even ideas that had promise, like the SmackDown Hacker or RETRIBUTION (Yes, horrible execution aside, Retribution was a good concept on paper), fizzled out and went no where. Mustafa Ali continues to be one of the most underutilized talents in all of WWE.

All we can do is hope that the new regime will ultimately yield bigger and better things for Ali. He’s done waiting around and so are we. It’s time to pull the trigger.

Which brings this article full circle, back to the man I first spoke about. Two weeks ago Ali was laid out by Seth Rollins after an incredible match with Bobby Lashley. Let that Curb Stomp on the outside be the catalyst — please.

I’m not saying it has to happen today, tomorrow, next week or even next month, because this Seth Rollins United States Championship run has the potential to be money. But if I’m picking someone to eventually knock the Visionary off his pedestal, it’s Mustafa Ali.

What do you all think? Let us know in the comment section below. You can follow Rick Ucchino on Twitter and subscribe to the Bleav in Pro Wrestling Podcast Channel for more of his work.