Analyzing the top 5 contenders for Jeff Hardy's United States Championship

#1 Samoa Joe

The Samoan Submission Machine vs The Charismatic Enigma?

It is but obvious that Samoa Joe is a main event player. There is no reason why he should fight for the secondary championship on Smackdown Live, especially after his recent promos against Roman Reigns. He is one of the best on the mic and one of the best in-ring. However, the WWE Title seems to be heading into a long term AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura direction. With Daniel Bryan entering a feud with either The Miz or Big Cass, this is one of the best options for Joe in the interim.

It is high time that Joe gets the monster Strowman push, and it lines up perfectly that he gets said push on Smackdown Live. Using Jeff Hardy as his first foe is one of the best directions that the company can go in.

Joe can be shown as this unstoppable machine that wants gold around his waist. That can be perfectly portrayed if they show him on a relentless pursuit of the United States Championship. He can choke Hardy out to win it, and continue that dominance in his title defenses. Hardy is an essentially bulletproof commodity for WWE, and rebuilding him after this won't be an issue.

Starting Joe's new tenure on Smackdown Live like this would be the perfect situation, as Seth Rollins and Finn Balor have proved that fighting for a midcard title is not a demotion if you can generate the buzz required. Samoa Joe is money, and he will make this title money.