This guy:
Next question.
But Matthew, there are three guys in that picture?
You know the one I mean.
...since CM Punk was defeated by The Rock, the WWE Title has changed hands nineteen times!
That number does not count the times someone won the title when it was in a state of vacancy, something which happened three times in the same span (and only nine times in the belt’s history).
So nineteen times the title has changed from one wrestler to another in the past half-decade, an average of almost four title-changes per year. Indeed, the title changed hands four times in both 2017 and 2016.
So it’s a good bet the belt’s gonna move around this year. The question is “to whose waist should it go?”
This isn’t about the WWE Title, however. That’s a belt that’s been passed around for fifty years. This is about the Universal Title, which has only been in existence for two years. As such, there hasn’t been enough time to see what kind of trends the weird, raw meat-colored belt will develop.
There have only been four men to wear the Universal Title, and though it’s not known how long Finn Balor was going to be champ, the fact that he had to vacate the belt a day after winning it kind of skews things a bit. So let’s pretend that the inaugural champ was Kevin Owens, who won the vacant title a week later in August of 2016.
After KO’s six-month reign, Goldberg took the belt and held it for a month before passing it to Brock Lesnar, who is inching his way toward a year-long reign. In fact he’ll exceed a year by the time WrestleMania comes around.
So three champs have run with the belt in two and a half years. That’s a long average but as said, it’s not been long enough for trends to develop.
So let’s look back at WWE’s other “other” Title.
Though most trace Big Gold’s lineage back to 1948 and the origins of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, WWE considers their version—which began with Triple H in 2002—as the start of a new lineage.
From that point there were forty-eight title changes in the belt’s eleven-year existence (that doesn’t count when “vacant” won the title or when someone defeated “vacant” to win, either). Forty-eight changes in eleven years works out to about four changes per year, which is surprising considering how, at the time, it was a common complaint that the WWE Title scene was stagnant while the WHC Title scene was too unsettled. Turns out both belts had the same sort of stability in recent history.
So assuming the Universal Title follows the same pattern as the others, we can expect more than a few couple title changes happening on Raw or Raw-branded shows this year. So... who should win the title in 2018?
This guy.
Yes, but who else?
Alright here’s a few guys ready to go...
ELIAS
Do it, if only to see how far he can go. Elias is a weird case where a guy came from NXT with little momentum and suddenly caught fire on the main-roster. That’s like the exact opposite thing that usually happens. There are so many more variables to contend with on Raw/SmackDown that aren’t obstacles in NXT that make it nigh impossible for a person who failed to make his gimmick click on Wednesday’s thrive on Monday or Tuesday.
And yet...Elias.
A guy who has captured the mainstream audience as well as he has, in as short a time frame as he has, means there’s a je ne sais quoi there that needs to be cultivated. You don’t need to understand it, just run with it. Put the belt on him for a month and see what happens; one month may turn into two or three or four.
SETH ROLLINS
Here’s a guy who wasn’t going to be on this list just two weeks ago but then he single-handedly took his already-great career to a new level last week. Let’s be honest, no matter how talented Rollins is, the past year or so has been a step below the high standard he set for himself during his run with the WWE Championship. Two factors played a big part in that: His terrible knee injury which slowed him a step, certainly early on post-recovery, and his creatively bankrupt babyface run.
Just when it looked like Seth was going to settle in as a perpetual upper-midcarder for life, he goes out and wrestles for an hour and reminds us all how skilled, charismatic and “rootable” he is between the ropes. With the right story, a babyface underdog Rollins chasing for and ultimately winning the Universal Title would make for some great Monday night drama.
THE MIZ
I continue to be amazed at how entirely Miz has won me over. As someone who thought he was the worst WWE Champion in a decade (and, at the time, he was) he has completely slipped past the realm of annoyance, past indifference, past mild interest, past amusement, past like, past love, to now it’s a near zen-like feeling when I think about the work he’s doing. And the reason is very simple:
Miz has yet to peak.
Think about it, has there ever been a year where he didn’t improve some aspect of his work over the year previous? He just continues climbing the mountain, reaching greater and greater heights. And though he’ll never reach the level of a Steve Austin or even a John Cena, that’s not really the mountain he’s climbing. He’s not scaling Mt. Hogan, he’s climbing Mt. Piper. And when it comes to smarmy heels you love to hate, no one is doing it better than Miz.
It’s often said “talent like that doesn’t need the belt.” But that’s funny because those people also say “the man makes the belt.” If you ask me, a talent like Miz deserves the Universal Title and the Universal Title would do well to wrap around his awesome waist.
CHRIS JERICHO
Nostalgia runs for the sake of them rarely work. Usually all you get out of them is the pop from the victory and maybe the heat from the loss. In between is usually a blur of mediocrity. Goldberg had a nostalgia run that is mostly forgotten except for his initial win (which brought more annoyance and eye-rolls than anything) and his loss (which was an admittedly fun hoss fight)...then again I don’t know if Goldberg actually did anything in between.
Remember when Hogan won the WWE Title in 2002? The pop from his win was special but by the time he dropped the belt in a stinker match with Undertaker, people could not care less (despite less than a month passing).
Jericho does not need a “nostalgia” run. But Jericho also would not “have” a nostalgia run because Jericho is not a nostalgia act. He’s a part-timer, but he’s not part-retired. As demonstrated in Tokyo last month, he still has “it” and is more than capable of co-carrying a title program.
One more run, not for old time’s sake, but because Jericho still deserves one more run, would be wonderful.
BRAUN STROWMAN
Here’s where I make my case for Braun Strowman...
Case closed.
There’s my list, Cagesiders. Who would you like to see win the Raw version of the World Title in 2018? Let us know in the comments below.