5 Smackdown superstars who could beat Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship

After eleven years of grinding, Kofi Kingston is finally the WWE Champion. He won the title in an incredible match against Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania, the best moment on the show. It was possibly even one of the greatest moments in WrestleMania history.

With his New Day brothers by his side, Kofi achieved the dream of a lifetime, a dream that did not seem like a possibility until mid-February.

But now that the moment is out of the way, it is time to get to work. Kofi's reign has just begun and the future is filled with uncertainty of what is in store for him. Honestly, though, it does not matter how his reign goes. This was all about the moment, much like Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania 22 and Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 30. Anything beyond this would be a bonus, as Kofi will look to take on all comers.

Smackdown gained a lot of talent during the Superstar Shakeup and the roster now looks stronger than ever. There is no real indication for who will step up to the new WWE Champion. We don't even know who will take the title from Kofi and when it would happen, but there are a few options. Some popular ones and some, which aren't so.

Here are five candidates who could unseat Kofi Kingston to become the next WWE Champion.

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#5 Big E

Big E is currently dealing with a torn meniscus and will be out for a month or two. In the meantime, it seems like the New Day will be going without him. This Tuesday on Smackdown, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were accompanied by Kevin Owens, who took on various initiation challenges to be part of the group.

The absolute worst case scenario is if Big E returns from injury and turns on his brothers for replacing him. It would be a compelling story, but there is no way it should happen.

WWE must know better than to ever break up the New Day. Kofi, Xavier and Big E are the most tightly-knit trio in sports entertainment today and it would be an absolute travesty if they are ever separated. However, WWE does like to swerve us and that makes a turn a real possibility. Big E certainly has the tools and ability to become WWE Champion and he should win the title in the future; it just should not come at the expense of friendship.

#4 Daniel Bryan

Every great and heroic story needs a fantastic villain. And in recent times, there have been few better than Daniel Bryan. He was fantastic in his role as the heel champion for Kofi to overcome. Bryan turned heel to win the WWE Championship in November and since then, went on one of the greatest runs of his illustrious career. The change in material to the WWE title was also a great addition to his character, as was the return of Rowan to be by his side.

The former champion suffered some sort of undisclosed injury at WrestleMania. We all desperately hope that it isn't serious at all and that he could return to action in the near future.

It must be worth noting that had KofiMania not become such a big thing, Daniel Bryan might still be the WWE Champion today. It wouldn't be the worst thing to see the ultimate villain regain his WWE title and continue his dastardly ways as the top champion in the company.

#3 Lars Sullivan

Lars Sullivan debuted on the WWE main roster on the night after WrestleMania and has been attacking legends ever since then. His list of victims so far has Kurt Angle, the Hardy Boyz, Rey Mysterio and R-Truth.

This is pretty impressive and is reminiscent of the way Brock Lesnar jumped onto the scene in 2002. He just went around, destroying people left, right and centre. This level of dominance from Sullivan could certainly match Lesnar's mean streak, especially if WWE goes all out with him.

The Beast won the WWE Championship at SummerSlam 2002, five months after debuting on WWE TV. It may be a stretch, but WWE could book the Freak in a similar way. Sullivan could be the one to dethrone Kofi Kingston and become a world champion in extremely short order.

It would be an extremely unpopular decision with the fans, but that would be a good thing to give him even more heat. It certainly isn't out of the question, considering that the original plans for Lars Sullivan at WrestleMania 35 were for him to beat John Cena.

#2 Roman Reigns

Ever since the Superstar Shakeup ended, the entire WWE Universe has been fearing the sight of Roman Reigns beating Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship. It might be a stretch because both of them are babyfaces.

Surely management would not throw away all the goodwill that Reigns has garnered over the past six months. He is still getting cheered and will continue to be, as long as WWE keeps him away from Kofi Kingston's WWE Championship reign.

If Reigns does win the title from Kofi, he will likely get booed even worse than he has up to this point. And he has had it bad in the past. It seems pretty obvious that the Big Dog will become the WWE Champion by the time Smackdown goes to FOX, it is just a matter of who he beats. But as long as he is healthy and on the roster, Roman Reigns will always instantly be one of the frontrunners to be the next world champion. This situation is no different.

#1 Kevin Owens

Kevin Owens joining the New Day, which was mentioned earlier, was one of the more fun things to happen on WWE programming this year so far. It is just a real shame that it could end terribly for Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods.

Owens has a history of stabbing his best friends in the back, as he did with Sami Zayn on his first night in NXT and later, Chris Jericho during the Festival of Friendship. He could always turn heel on the New Day in the near future - it is like a ticking time bomb.

The question is how, whether it would be in the general course of events or through a possible cash-in. Whichever way it goes, the outcome should be Kevin Owens beating Kofi Kingston to win the WWE Championship.

He was originally supposed to face Daniel Bryan for the WWE title at WrestleMania 35, but the support for Kofi got to the point that WWE had to change plans. Owens got his title match a month earlier at Fastlane, along with Ali in a triple threat match.

This kind of bitterness would have motivated Owens to join Kofi and Xavier in the New Day and gain their trust, before stabbing them in the back as he has so heartlessly done in the past. Kevin Owens as the WWE Champion would be incredible, especially if management can right the wrongs of his Universal Championship run back in 2016.