3 opponents for Samoa Joe at WrestleMania 35

Samoa Joe has been crowned the US Champion on Smackdown Live this week.

This marks the Samoan Submission Machine's first ever championship victory in the WWE. Former Champion R-Truth issued an open challenge for the US Championship which was answered by Joe, Rey Mysterio, and Andrade.

In a fun match involving four very talented wrestlers, Joe pinned Andrade to win the title.

Samoa Joe has been due for a title run for quite some time and WWE finally decided to put the US Title on him.

After the victory, Joe sent out a strong message to any potential challengers. The message can be seen below.

Here are 3 possible opponents for Samoa Joe going into WrestleMania 35:

#1 John Cena

As can be seen in Joe's post-match interview, the first name that was mentioned is John Cena.

Cena who is mostly a part-timer now has been absent from WWE after suffering an ankle injury before the Royal Rumble. The injury led him to miss the multi-man match and he has not made an appearance since.

A feud involving Cena and Joe is going to be very interesting because it would be a clash between Superstars with different ideologies. With no disrespect to other champions, Cena can be said to be the last relevant US Champion.

The promos between the two can be very interesting with Cena being the guy who loves the WWE Universe while Joe doesn't care about them.

Rumors emerged last year that Joe and Cena were going to face each other but nothing came out of that. It remains to be seen whether the match between the two materializes this year.

John Cena was originally going to feud with Lars Sullivan but the latter suffered anxiety attacks and has not been seen since.

#2 Mustafa Ali

The high flying former 205 Live Superstar has been a revelation ever since the move to the blue brand.

Mustafa Ali was supposed to be in the Elimination Chamber match but an injury that he suffered last month robbed him of that chance. Kofi Kingston took his place in that match and has been riding a wave of momentum ever since. So much so that Kofi is in the main event scene right now and is a genuine threat to Daniel Bryan's WWE championship.

One can only feel for Ali but nothing can be done now. Mustafa made his comeback this week on SmackDown Live and made the save for Kevin Owens against Rowan and Bryan.

The main event scene is too crowded right now. A feud with the US Champion Samoa Joe would be the best way forward for Ali.

Samoa Joe and Mustafa Ali have had interactions before with Joe laying him out the first time and making him tap out the second time around. There is unfinished business between the two and this time there is also the added incentive of the US Championship.

#3 Kevin Owens

The Prizefighter returned from injury last week on SmackDown Live when Vince Mcmohan announced him to be Kofi's replacement at Fastlane.

Owens teamed with Kofi against the team of Bryan and Rowan last week and ultimately beat Bryan with a stunner. From rumors, Owens was WWE's first choice opponent for Bryan at WrestleMania. But due to Kofi's strong momentum, Owens might not be a shoo-in for that match right now. Also, it would be unwise on WWE's part to do two triple threat matches at WrestleMania.

The very reason Owens and Bryan's match is happening at Fastlane is because of the fact Kofi is probably going to face Bryan at WrestleMania. That would leave Owens without a match at WrestleMania. What better way for WWE to incorporate Owens in the WrestleMania card than have the Prizefighter face Samoa Joe.

Joe and Owens faced each other in their NXT days. But the two never got a chance to have a proper feud going at NXT due to Owens being called up to the main roster. This would be the perfect opportunity to rekindle the feud between the two.