Predicting all of the next champions in WWE

Next Sunday’s Clash of Champions pay-per-view may only feature four of the WWE main roster’s nine championships, but with the year coming to a close very soon, it seems appropriate to talk about the future of all championships on both RAW and SmackDown.

Most of the current champions are likely to stay that way through the end of 2017, but there may be a couple of surprises left in the last few weeks of the year.

We’ll start from the bottom and make it to the top, as they say.

Cruiserweight Championship - Cedric Alexander

The current Cruiserweight Champion is the much-maligned Enzo Amore. After his inclusion in the division initially caused some pretty big buzz, it has mostly died down. It’s tough to say if that has more to do with Enzo’s perceived “star power” or WWE’s poor booking of the cruiserweights, but it’s surely a mixture of both.

When he beat Neville for the title earlier this year, people were fully expecting that Enzo would become a hugely hated champion, thus helping to turn the cruiserweight division around. He would make it all the way to WrestleMania as the despised leader of the division, allowing a hero to save the day at the Show of Shows.

I don’t believe that will be the case, but I’m not sold on the fact that the winner of the match this Monday between Drew Gulak and Rich Swann is going to go on to become the next Cruiserweight Champion. It’s going to be Cedric Alexander, who will continue to team with Swann and be his friend, especially after Rich fails to win the title from Enzo.

Cedric will win the title at the Royal Rumble after winning a multi-man match in which he pins Swann to earn the victory. It’s possible, but maybe not probable, that Cedric will turn heel on Swann, but it certainly could go the other way. I do believe that if they don’t do a huge multi-man crap fest involving the CW Title at ‘Mania, that it will be Swann vs. Alexander.

United States Championship - Bobby Roode

I may be acting a bit presumptuous here, but I fully believe that The Glorious One will be walking out of Clash of Champions as the new United States Champion. Maybe it’s because I feel like the Baron Corbin experiment is just not working out -- the guy gets zero reaction and just doesn’t look like he cares.

This time last year I was actually excited that he was rubbing elbows with the main event guys and tussling with AJ Styles with the WWE Championship not too far out of his grasp. It hasn’t been a good year for Corbin in many ways, and I think he’s going to end this year on another sour note, as he will be losing the US Title.

Bobby Roode is doing fine as a babyface, but the guy is a born heel. He’s going to have to work at it in order to keep the Glorious entrance but also get the crowd to hate him, but he’s a very talented veteran and with some decent booking behind him, I think he can make it.

The US Title win will be great for him to start off as a good, fighting champion, before he starts winning at all costs, cheats to win and runs away from fights. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. For now, let’s just say that your next United States Champion will be The Glorious Bobby Roode.

SmackDown Live Women’s Championship - Ruby Riott

It almost feels like it’s too obvious of a choice to make, but this is inevitable. Unless there’s a breakdown in the Riott Squad of some sort, Ruby, the de-facto leader, will eventually challenge and defeat Charlotte for the title.

If they’re going the short-game, then she might win it as early as the Royal Rumble before losing it (to Charlotte or another conquering babyface, maybe Becky Lynch) at WrestleMania.

If they go for the longer, slow burn, Ruby might end up taking it at ‘Mania along with Paige winning the RAW Women’s title. I’m fully convinced that the Riott Squad and Absolution are going to be revealed as one collective team.

Either way, Ruby will beat Charlotte to become the next Women’s Champion on the blue brand.

SmackDown Live Tag Team Championship - Rusev and Aiden English

This is going to be my boldest pick. The Usos and The New Day have been amazing over the last few months, having great matches and making the SmackDown Live Tag Team division look absolutely world class.

The New Day aren't going to become 5-time tag champs just yet, and even though it seems like Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable are getting built up as the next legitimate contenders, it’s not their time. The build for the team has been fairly weak in my estimation, and although they are good, they don’t feel like tag team champions.

Rusev and English earned their way into the 4-way title match by defeating The New Day this past week on SmackDown. They have been an extremely entertaining pair and the Rusev Day gimmick has been getting over big on TV.

I think it would be a huge shot in the arm for SmackDown to have these two as their tag champs. The show is okay, but the entertainment factor could go way up with a pair of guys like these on top. Plus, it opens things up for Breezango to get back into the mix.

They could have an extremely funny, and enjoyable, feud. SD Live has a really amazing tag team division with The Usos, New Day, Benjamin & Gable, Rusev & English, Breezango, The Bludgeon Brothers and The Ascension. That’s a heck of a lot of talent. Throw Orton & Nakamura and Owens & Zayn into the mix and it might be the best tag division WWE has ever had.

RAW Tag Team Championship - The Revival

Scott Dawson is reportedly on the mend and may be on his way back to the ring with his partner Dash Wilder as early as the next few weeks. When they first came on the scene upon their arrival to Monday Night RAW, the men made an immediate impact and looked like they were primed and ready to take the division by storm.

Injuries to both men at separate times have caused that path to be completely derailed, but with Sheamus’ injury and the possibility of the implosion of The Shield, it leaves an opening that Dash and Dawson are primed to fill.

The RAW tag division is not nearly as stacked as the group on SD Live. There’s The Bar (for now), Ambrose & Rollins (for now), Heath Slater & Rhyno and Gallows & Anderson. That’s an extremely weak division. I guess The Miztourage can be thrown in there, and maybe… Titus and Apollo?

Jeff Hardy is hurt and there’s no timeframe for his return, plus the “Woken” Matt Hardy angle has finally begun. If Dash & Dawson storm in and take out Sheamus & Cesaro and look dominant, the division can be built back up around trying to take them down.

RAW Women’s Championship - Asuka

Most people would probably put Paige in this spot, but I think Asuka is going to pull ahead and become the face of the division while Absolution tries to take things over.

The story is there, and I think a great way to add some depth to it would be to have Asuka keep Paige, Deville, and Rose at bay while she’s the Women’s Champion. Asuka would have to stave off the threat of Absolution and the rest of the women at the same time.

It could be even more interesting if Absolution and the Riott Squad do indeed turn out to be in collusion because then it could even lead to Asuka and Charlotte teaming up together, which could then lead to a feud between the two most dominant women in WWE today. That could produce some great TV for many months to come.

Intercontinental Championship - Samoa Joe

This appears to be the trajectory, and with Roman Reigns’ inevitable date with destiny, again, at WrestleMania to win the Universal Championship, it will most likely be the way they go. Samoa Joe wants the IC Title and Roman Reigns wants Samoa Joe.

Unless Jason Jordan somehow slips in and weasels his way into a match that sees him win the belt, Samoa Joe is the next champ.

It will be another step in the dissolution of The Shield, as all three men will be without championships and will all be looking to go in different directions. Samoa Joe, on the other hand, will be on top of the world with the IC Championship, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he kept a stranglehold on it for a very, very long time.

WWE Championship - Shinsuke Nakamura

Jinder Mahal is not going to come anywhere near the WWE Championship ever again. I think we can all agree upon that. Once he loses to AJ Styles next weekend at Clash of Champions, I would be surprised if he ever got another shot at the gold. It would not surprise me to see him eventually get the United States Title, but never the main prize.

That said, AJ Styles needs opponents. The rumour is that Shinsuke Nakamura is going to be the winner of the Royal Rumble coming up in January, and that WWE has been planning to do the AJ/Shinsuke match on a big platform ever since their electric confrontation in the Money in the Bank ladder match this past summer.

It wasn’t Nakamura’s time in the fall when he had his ill-fated feud with Mahal for the title, a feud that never should have happened in the first place. WrestleMania will be the 2-year anniversary of his NXT Takeover debut. He had a classic match with Sami Zayn that night in Dallas and I believe he is destined to have a classic with AJ Styles on April 8 in New Orleans.

Universal Championship - Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns is essentially just keeping the IC Title warm for Samoa Joe at the moment, while at the same time Brock Lesnar has been keeping the Universal Championship warm for Roman since the moment he won it last year at WrestleMania when he defeated Goldberg. It will be WWE’s second attempt in four years to have The Big Dog become The Guy at WrestleMania by winning the promotion’s top title.

It failed miserably two years ago in Dallas at WrestleMania 32, and in the opinion of most people, it will fail in New Orleans at WrestleMania 34 as well. It’s completely telegraphed, forced, obvious, and not what the people want.

But unless he gets injured (which I’m not wishing upon him, by any means, I’m just stating possibilities) or WWE wildly changes their outlook over the next couple of months, the next man to hold the Universal Championship over his head will be Roman Reigns. What happens after he wins? Your guess is just as good as mine.

I don’t think WWE knows exactly how Roman’s road to WrestleMania is going to look, and I guarantee that they have no idea what the aftermath will be. There’s one goal: get the red belt on Roman’s shoulder. Everything else, apparently, doesn’t matter. They’ll play it by ear.

Teddy Long snaps when Swerve Strickland's race is brought up HERE