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AJ Styles has been a babyface since 2017

5 WWE Superstars who could be the next top heel on Raw

WrestleMania 35 featured more singles matches between full-time WWE Superstars than any ‘Mania event in recent memory, with the likes of Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre all breaking away from their makeshift alliance to return to one-on-one action in time for WWE’s biggest show of the year.

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While it cannot be denied that all three men have built up momentum during their time as heels on Raw over the last few months, it felt somewhat underwhelming when the trio remained on the red brand following the recent Superstar Shake-Up. After all, their alliance was built on their mutual dislike of rivals, as opposed to them having a strong bond, so why keep them together?

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Fortunately, even though Raw’s top three heels from 2019 so far will stay on Monday nights, WWE has shaken up the roster sufficiently enough to present plenty of other red brand Superstars with the chance to become the top heel on the show over the next year.

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In this article, looking at Superstars other than Corbin, Lashley and McIntyre, let’s run through the top five men who are most likely to take the spot as Raw’s top bad guy.

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#5 Samoa Joe

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Samoa Joe has been one of the most prominent heels on WWE television ever since he betrayed fellow Dusty Rhodes Classic winner Finn Balor on NXT in November 2015.

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“The Samoan Submission Machine” went on to become a two-time holder of the NXT Championship in 2016, defeating Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura for the coveted title, before he joined WWE’s main roster in January 2017 and immediately made his mark by attacking Seth Rollins.

Since then, Joe has been featured in several meaningful storylines, notably with Brock Lesnar and AJ Styles, but he has never been regarded as the main bad guy on either Raw or SmackDown Live, with the likes of Lesnar, Braun Strowman and Daniel Bryan often filling that role instead.

Now that the United States champion is back on the Raw brand following the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up, perhaps we will see him take his villainous tendencies to a whole new level and break out as the biggest heel on Monday nights.

#4 Braun Strowman

WWE received a lot of criticism in late 2018 for the number of face/heel turns that took place on Raw and SmackDown Live, with Braun Strowman’s August heel turn and October face turn among the booking decisions that came under the spotlight the most.

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In fairness to WWE, as soon as the news emerged that Roman Reigns would have to take time away from the company to battle leukemia, they were left with a huge void to fill on the babyface side of the red brand’s roster, which explains why high-profile names including Strowman and Elias suddenly became good guys on Raw.

Now that the Raw roster has undergone a refresh following the Superstar Shake-Up, with Seth Rollins and AJ Styles the top babyfaces on Monday nights, perhaps now would be the right time to switch Strowman back to being a heel.

Granted, WWE risks turning him into the next Big Show with yet another face/heel turn, but even the biggest supporters of “The Monster Among Men” would have to admit that he has lost a ton of momentum as a good guy over the last few months, so does he really have anything to lose by becoming a bad guy again?

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#3 Sami Zayn

Having missed 18 months of in-ring action over the last four years due to shoulder injuries, Sami Zayn’s WWE career has been hit-and-miss since he was called up to the main roster in May 2015.

When healthy, the former NXT champion has always appeared regularly on WWE programming but he has never been positioned as the top babyface or heel on either Raw or SmackDown Live, with his character often being overshadowed by multi-time champion – and on/off best friend – Kevin Owens.

Following the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up, Owens has become a heel again on SmackDown Live and started a rivalry with WWE champion Kofi Kingston, while Zayn has broken out on his own as a bad guy on Raw and he is currently delivering some of the best in-ring promos of his career.

Although he has only appeared in one televised match since his return, losing to Finn Balor, Zayn’s recent character work definitely bodes well for his future on Raw. The question is whether he will remain in the mid-card or if WWE is prepared to catapult him to the top of the card and make him a main-event heel.

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#2 Robert Roode

After a successful stint as a heel in NXT, Bobby Roode joined WWE’s main roster in August 2017 and immediately became one of the most prominent babyfaces on SmackDown Live.

The decision to have him switch to a good guy was understandable – the “Glorious” gimmick is just as well suited to a babyface as a heel – but it always felt like there was something missing from Roode’s good-guy persona during his time on SmackDown Live and his tag team run with Chad Gable on Raw.

Now sporting a mustache and going by the name Robert Roode, the former NXT champion is already more relevant now than he has been in several months, while his victory over Ricochet on last week’s Raw suggests that WWE has big plans for him as a heel singles competitor on Raw.

Moving forward, there will be plenty of opportunities for heels to stake their claim for a Universal Championship match throughout the year, especially now that the part-time Brock Lesnar is out of the title picture, so perhaps we could see Roode in that spot at some point in 2019.

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#1 AJ Styles

After initially joining WWE as a babyface, AJ Styles turned heel after WrestleMania 32 and he went on to become one of the most featured bad guys on WWE programming throughout 2016 during his rivalries with Roman Reigns, John Cena and Dean Ambrose.

Over time, fans recognized just how good Styles was at his job, both as an in-ring performer and as a character, and WWE was left with little choice but to turn him into a babyface following his match against Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 33.

Since then, “The Phenomenal One” has been involved in lengthy rivalries with some of the top heels in WWE, from Kevin Owens and Shinsuke Nakamura to Samoa Joe and Daniel Bryan. Although he retained the support of fans throughout that time, it cannot be denied that Styles has been gradually losing momentum following the end of his year-long WWE title reign in November 2018.

The Superstar Shake-Up has presented Styles with a new opportunity to freshen up his character on Raw, where he has already become the #1 contender for Seth Rollins’ Universal Championship.

Their upcoming match at Money In The Bank is built around respect, at least for now, but perhaps this babyface versus babyface rivalry could result in the two-time WWE champion returning to his villainous ways further down the line.

Meet the man who called CM Punk the softest man alive HERE

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Edited by
Vikshith R
 
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