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Jeff Hardy picked up a surprise victory over Jinder Mahal on the Superstar Shake-Up episode of Monday Night Raw in April to win the WWE United States Championship for the first time in his career.
Since then, he lost to The Miz in a Money In The Bank qualifier and defeated Shelton Benjamin in a non-title match on SmackDown Live, while he successfully defended his championship against Jinder at the Greatest Royal Rumble and against Randy Orton at Backlash.
However, if recent history surrounding the United States Championship tells us anything – it has averaged one title change per month over the last year – there’s a high chance that Jeff’s 36-day reign with the title could soon be over.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at five realistic contenders who could win SmackDown Live’s secondary title from “The Charismatic Enigma” in the near future.
#5 Rusev
If the WWE Universe had their way, Rusev would be headlining PPV after PPV and he’d probably have won the WWE Championship by now.
In reality, though, it feels like WWE hasn’t fully capitalised on the Bulgarian’s ‘Rusev Day’ phenomenon and he has mostly remained a mid-card performer during his time on SmackDown Live.
Granted, he was involved in a casket match against The Undertaker and he defeated Daniel Bryan clean in a Money In The Bank qualifier, but can anybody really see him claiming the MITB briefcase or winning the WWE title any time soon?
Barring the greatest Rusev Day in history, Rusev will need a new direction after Money In The Bank, and a third United States Championship reign certainly isn’t out of the question.
#4 Killian Dain
It’s pretty clear from SAnitY’s booking during their last six months in NXT that Killian Dain is going to be the breakout star of the faction, but will WWE push him as a tag-team Superstar or a singles performer when he debuts on SmackDown Live?
If they go down the latter route, leaving Eric Young and Alexander Wolfe to take care of business in the tag division, he’d be a perfect heel opponent to win the US title from Jeff Hardy in the not-too-distant future.
The Northern Irishman, whose only previous main-roster appearance came in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33, has been hyped up in multiple promo videos since the Superstar Shake-Up, so what better way to make an impact than by defeating one of SmackDown’s most popular stars for the US title?
#3 Shelton Benjamin
When a WWE Superstar defeats a #1 contender in a singles match, it usually means they will be added to an upcoming title match or, better still, receive a one-on-one title match of their own.
In Shelton Benjamin’s case, he defeated the United States Championship #1 contender, Randy Orton, on the 24 April episode of SmackDown Live but he did not go on to receive an opportunity at the title against Jeff Hardy, who he previously lost to in a non-title match.
Benjamin defeating Jeff for the title would probably be seen as an underwhelming move by WWE, but there’s still some unfinished business between the former Team Angle member and the United States Championship, so it’s definitely a possibility.
#2 Big Cass
With so many United States Championship changes over the last year, perhaps WWE will finally stop playing hot potato with the title and allow Jeff Hardy to keep hold of it for a little while longer.
If that is the case, then that gives enough time for Cass – yet to win a championship in NXT or WWE – to finish up his rivalry with Daniel Bryan before moving on to a ready-made storyline with Jeff for the title.
Cass has targeted Bryan since his move to SmackDown Live in the Superstar Shake-Up, not just because he’s a ‘small guy’ but also because he stole the spotlight from the 7-footer by getting cleared to return from injury on the same day as him.
If you cast your minds back to WrestleMania 33, Cass and Enzo Amore were favourites to win the Raw Tag Team titles in a three-team ladder match, only for Jeff and Matt Hardy to return and steal the spotlight by winning the match. Maybe, just maybe, WWE could use that in a possible storyline – it was the biggest match of Cass’ career up until that point, after all.
#1 Andrade “Cien” Almas
Andrade “Cien” Almas made an impressive start to life on the main roster, defeating local talent Jake Constantinou in just 79 seconds on last week’s episode of SmackDown Live.
Unless WWE decides to have the Mexican compete in similar matches while he establishes himself on the blue brand, it wouldn’t be the worst idea to immediately insert him into a United States Championship storyline with Jeff Hardy.
Almas is one of the best in-ring performers in WWE right now and a match – and title win – against Jeff would certainly help solidify the former NXT champion as someone to be taken seriously on SmackDown Live.
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