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The WWE Championship is the most prestigious prize in professional wrestling. The dream of every person who begins their career as a professional wrestler is to hold that famed belt at least once in their life.
Since its inception we have seen fifty superstars hold the WWE Championship. AJ Styles is the current holder of the championship after ending Jinder Mahal's six month reign of terror.
With all that said, lets look at five superstars who deserve to have a shot at the WWE Championship.
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#5 Dolph Ziggler
Dolph Ziggler, a person who started his WWE career as a member of 'The Spirit Squad', has slowly turned himself into a legitimate main eventer. He is a former two time World Heavyweight Champion, five time Intercontinental Champion and has also won the United States and Tag Team Championships.
A person with all those accolades is now being treated as enhancement talent and made to job to new NXT call-ups. Ziggler is more than a glorified jobber. He is still very good in the ring and is very much over with the crowd. A run with the WWE Championship will not only rejuvenate his career but also solidify himself as a top superstar on the WWE roster.
#4 Rusev
The Bulgarian brute was portrayed as a monster who would crush his opponents when he first debuted on the main roster. He had the looks and strength to do justice to his character.
Rusev is a former two time United States Champion and is worthy of the kind of push that Braun Strowman is receiving at Raw.
Furthermore, the matches he has had with the likes of Roman Reigns and John Cena clearly prove that he has all it takes to be the top dog on the Smackdown roster.
For all of these reasons, it is clear that he would be an excellent heel champion if Vince decides to put the title in his hands and when that happens, every day will be 'Rusev Day'!
#3 Bobby Roode
When we saw Bobby Roode sitting in the crowd at NXT TakeOver: Dallas, we all knew 'The Glorious One' had officially signed with the WWE. He defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to become the NXT Champion becoming the oldest person to have ever held the title.
He was then called up to the main roster and put in a rather underwhelming feud with Dolph Ziggler. Needless to say, this did not live up to the fans' expectations for Roode's main roster debut.
The best way to make his character work again is to turn him into a heel and put the WWE title on him. It is clear to me that this would make Smackdown go from being great to being absolutely 'glorious'!
#2 Kevin Owens
Kevin Owens was the hottest act of 2016 next to AJ Styles. No one saw it coming when Triple H helped Owens to win the Universal Championship. His story line friendship with Chris Jericho created a lot of feel good moments; certainly more than in the the recent history of the WWE.
However, all of that changed on November 2016, when Goldberg returned to the company. Owens's days as champion were numbered as he had to drop the title to the part timer. In consolation, he was given the United states championship and was drafted to Smackdown Live as part of the superstar shake up.
Kevin Owens went on to have a great series of matches with AJ Styles over the United states championship and main evented the 'Hell in a Cell' pay-per-view along with Shane McMahon.
Giving Owens the WWE Championship will naturally help fuel to his feud with Shane & Daniel Bryan and having the enigmatic Sami Zayn an his corner will only boost his popularity. No matter which way you look at it; it is readily apparent that Kevin Owens as WWE Champion would truly be the best thing for the business.
#1 Shinsuke Nakamura
Shinsuke Nakamura is arguably the most talented superstar, on par with only AJ Styles. The fans expected the 'King of Strong Style' to be involved in compelling storylines when he was called up to the main roster.
But somehow the WWE killed all the momentum he gained in NXT by booking him in lackluster feuds with Dolph Ziggler and Jinder Mahal. Regardless of this, he is very much adored by the WWE universe. The creative team should capitalize on this and should certainly not make him suffer the same fate as that of Bayley.
It might be a good idea to have Nakamura win the Royal Rumble and later have him go on to win the WWE Championship in a match against AJ Styles. We can almost hear the Mercedes Benz Superdome erupting in cheers as the 'King of Strong Style' lifts the WWE Championship for the very first time
