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The post-Crown Jewel episode of Friday Night SmackDown was hampered by the traveling woes of WWE's roster, making it must-see TV just to see how the company would pull itself out of this hole. And boy, did they. It was a great show, thanks to the NXT roster showing up and that excellent main event between Adam Cole and Daniel Bryan.
SmackDown opened with WWE Champion Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman, who returned from Riyadh before the rest of the roster. Heyman essentially announced that the Beast was quitting SmackDown and going to RAW, so he can get his hands on Rey Mysterio without any restrictions.
This seems to be a permanent move, with the Blue brand's Bray Wyatt capturing the Universal Championship at Crown Jewel. With Lesnar returning to the Red brand, he has a whole host of names he could face once he is done with Mysterio. The best part is that Paul Heyman might have the liberty of handpicking Lesnar's opponents himself, as Executive Director of RAW.
Here are five Superstars on the Red brand who could challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE Title, once he is done with Rey Mysterio.
#5 Rusev
Rusev has been at the receiving end of one of WWE's most questionable storylines in recent memory, as his wife, Lana, is enjoying an on-screen relationship with Bobby Lashley. Hopefully, this rivalry with Lashley concludes in the coming weeks and the Bulgarian Brute can move on to better things.
Rusev has generally been given the short end of the stick in WWE, time and time again. So it would be nice to see him get a push towards WWE title contention. It is easy to forget that Rusev was actually challenging Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship when his program with Bobby Lashley began.
He can be a very effective babyface and is capable of hanging with Paul Heyman on the mike, and Brock Lesnar in the ring. A possible match with the WWE Champion would certainly be a hard-hitting affair. Anyway, do they celebrate Rusev Day in Suplex City?
#4 Randy Orton
Randy Orton is at that stage of his career where it does not matter if he is a face or a heel, he is beyond that. The 14-time world champion is still an excellent slimy heel, but he has become one of the most popular Superstars on the roster thanks to his legendary status. Whether or not he turns fully babyface, Orton will remain loved among the WWE Universe.
That brings us to the fact that he still needs his shot at vengeance against Brock Lesnar. Over three years ago, at SummerSlam 2016, Lesnar absolutely pummelled Randy Orton and busted his head wide open en route to a TKO victory for him and a concussion for the Viper. A match between the two now would certainly be an improvement from last time.
When they are motivated and on their game, Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton are among the greatest WWE Superstars of all time. And the good thing is that the story is there for them to be invested in. This would be a great big match for the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. Also, we are yet to see that F-5 to RKO reversal.
#3 Bobby Lashley
Having just spoken about Rusev, the same could be said about Bobby Lashley, who is also in the same boat. The storyline involving the two of them and Lana is not doing anyone any favors and it would be best to end it as soon as possible. But it could be Lashley who goes on to bigger and better things, as he should have done in the past one and a half years since his return to WWE.
The former ECW Champion has been very vocal about wanting to face Brock Lesnar in a match. With the Beast returning to RAW, there is a good chance that we see this match happen. Lashley has succeeded in MMA before, so this would certainly be a very interesting bout.
Lashley vs Lesnar may be one of the few 'big money' matches left for WWE to book so hopefully, they give us this absolute war of a match and it lives up to the hype. This may be one of the fiercest matches during Lesnar's current run with the company. There might even be the possibility of Paul Heyman turning on his client to align himself with the All-mighty.
#2 Aleister Black
Paul Heyman has been said to be a huge fan of Aleister Black and personally wanted him on the Monday Night RAW roster. This fills the WWE Universe with confidence that he will be used well on the Red brand. However, it will take a good few months to get the former NXT Champion to the main event level of the WWE Championship.
Black has been only wrestling enhancement matches for the time being and now that Crown Jewel is out of the way, WWE could begin to integrate him into storylines. Booking the Dutch Destroyer in a competitive program with an Andrade or a Buddy Murphy would really build him up well and give us some excellent matches.
After a few months of effective booking, Black would be a formidable opponent for Brock Lesnar. He could even be the one to take the title away from the Beast, in what would clearly be one of the best WWE Championship matches in the past few years. It is also well known that Lesnar's best matches usually come with smaller wrestlers, like Finn Balor and Daniel Bryan among others.
#1 Drew McIntyre
Ever since he made the jump back to Monday Night RAW, Drew McIntyre has looked like a main-event megastar almost all the time. His look, build, and charisma speak for themselves. McIntyre is also a fantastic wrestler and can have stellar matches against different types of opponents. It is a shame that he has not yet picked up a single world championship in WWE.
The Scottish Terminator recently made his return from injury and was part of Team Flair, who lost to Team Hogan at Crown Jewel, but he ended up looking great in the match. McIntyre also had a banger of a match against Ricochet a week or so ago on RAW. All of this certainly adds up to a main-event push for him. He certainly is ready for it and has been for over a year now.
McIntyre matching up to Brock Lesnar would certainly make for an impressive image. He can even do some damage to the Beast. The ensuing match between the two big men would certainly cause fireworks, more like Lesnar vs Joe and less like Lesnar vs Strowman.
It does seem like McIntyre could be the one to dethrone the Beast and win the WWE Championship. He would work really well as a badass face, as good as his current heel character. That's what makes Drew McIntyre the current front-runner to become the next world champion on RAW.
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