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WWE began airing vignettes in November 2018 to promote the arrival of Lars Sullivan on the main roster.
The former NXT Superstar then reportedly suffered an anxiety attack before what was supposed to be his debut in January 2019, so his first appearance was delayed until he showed up on Raw the night after WrestleMania 35.
Since then, “The Freak” has wreaked havoc on both Raw and SmackDown Live, attacking Kurt Angle, The Hardy Boyz, Rey Mysterio and R-Truth over the last week, while he was officially confirmed as a new recruit to SmackDown Live following the Superstar Shake-Up.
Writing on Instagram this week, Sullivan made a bold prediction regarding how much he will achieve early on in his WWE career. Answering a fan who asked when he will win the WWE Championship, he replied: “Within 18 months is my realistic goal.”
Given that Sullivan is yet to even compete in a main-roster match, the comment has been met with plenty of skepticism by fans on social media, but is it really too far-fetched to believe that his goal will be accomplished in that short amount of time?
Let’s take a look at four hints which suggest that the 330-pounder could become the WWE champion in the not-too-distant future.
#4 Triple H said he ‘could change everything’
In December 2014, NXT held the memorable TakeOver: R Evolution event. Triple H, the patriarch of the brand, was no doubt a busy man that night, with Kevin Owens’ debut, Neville vs. Sami Zayn and a total of six matches to oversee.
Despite everything else that was going on, he still found the time to tweet a cryptic picture comparing the size of his hand to somebody else’s, accompanied by a caption which boldly claimed, “This fist could change everything.”
At the time, it was unclear who Triple H was referring to. Three years later, he revealed after Lars Sullivan’s victory against Kassius Ohno at TakeOver: WarGames in November 2017 that the fist belonged to Sullivan.
Does this mean “The Freak” is on course to win the WWE title? Not necessarily, but it certainly helps that one of the most influential people in the company has had his back from the early stages of his career.
#3 WWE based the NXT call-up vignettes around him
One of the most surprising moments from the 2018 Survivor Series pay-per-view came when a montage of Lars Sullivan’s best NXT moments were shown during a short video package. WWE did not reveal which brand he would appear on or exactly when he would debut on the main roster, but the video ominously ended with the words, “Coming soon.”
Fast forward one month to December 2018, the night after the TLC pay-per-view, and WWE confirmed that several new faces – Lacey Evans, Nikki Cross, Heavy Machinery and EC3 – would join Sullivan in making the switch from NXT to the main roster.
As it turned out, they all debuted before Sullivan, as did fellow NXT Superstars Aleister Black, Ricochet, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, while the future of “The Freak” remained uncertain after his debut-that-never-was in January 2019.
Although it took an extra few months for Sullivan to appear, it is still noteworthy that WWE chose him as the standout Superstar who the NXT vignettes were built around, starting with his solo montages in November and when he featured last in the vignettes with multiple Superstars in December and January.
That, along with reports that he was originally supposed to face John Cena at WrestleMania 35, suggests that WWE has big plans for him.
#2 Brock Lesnar-esque impact
After months of waiting, WWE fans finally caught a glimpse of what Lars Sullivan can do when he viciously attacked the retiring Kurt Angle on the episode of Raw after WrestleMania 35.
He then went on to make another big impression the next night on SmackDown Live by attacking both Hardy Boyz after their SmackDown Tag Team title victory, while he also destroyed fellow veterans Rey Mysterio and R-Truth during the Superstar Shake-Up this week.
Why are those names significant? Well, when Brock Lesnar burst onto the WWE scene after WrestleMania X8 in 2002, he immediately targeted some of the most popular names in WWE at the time (The Hardy Boyz, Rob Van Dam etc) before he defeated The Rock for the Undisputed Championship just four months after his debut at SummerSlam 2002.
In Sullivan’s case, it is too early to say whether he will be in WWE Championship contention as early as SummerSlam 2019, but his start to life on the main roster so far is not too dissimilar to how Lesnar began in 2002. If he keeps up the momentum he has right now, it is not inconceivable that his career could take a similar path to Lesnar's over the next four months.
#1 Lack of SmackDown Live heels
The results of the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up are a lot more interesting than past Shake-Ups, with major names including AJ Styles, Finn Balor and Roman Reigns swapping brands over the last few days.
In terms of roster depth, one of the biggest problems to emerge from the Shake-Up is the lack of heels on SmackDown Live who can realistically challenge Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship in the not-too-distant future.
The top four heels on the blue brand right now are Daniel Bryan (reportedly injured), Randy Orton (lost twice to Kingston recently), Samoa Joe (reportedly moving to Raw) and Elias (seemingly feuding with Reigns). That leaves The Bar, Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura as possible bad-guy challengers for Kingston, but would a match with any of them really feel big enough to be WWE title-worthy?
Looking through that roster, it is difficult to see Lars Sullivan not getting involved in the WWE title picture at some point in the next six months, never mind 18 months. It is just a question of whether WWE sees him as a champion just yet.
