Ranking the WWE World Cup competitors from least to most likely to win

WWE’s World Cup is featured component of the upcoming Crown Jewel show. While there’s little in the way of clear stakes attached to winning one’s way through the bracket, the roster of stars who have won their way into the tournament is nonetheless pretty star-studded.

Everyone involved is a former world champion and a presumptive eventual Hall of Famer (besides Kurt Angle, who was already inducted). Moreover, the guys featured are the types of talents who, for the most part, even relatively casual fans would be familiar with.

But who will actually win the tournament? One of the benefits of the ill-defined stakes and the fact that a number of current top tier stars are involved in other matches like the two world title bouts is that it is relatively difficult to predict who is going to come out on top. This article ranks the field of eight competitors from least to most likely to emerge victoriously.

#8 Jeff Hardy

The timing is all wrong for Jeff Hardy to pose a threat in the World Cup.

Though Jeff Hardy is a former world champion, he’s toward the bottom of the guys listed when it comes to having a true main event career in WWE, having spent much more of his tenure in the tag team ranks or in the mid-card. Yes, Hardy is charismatic, innovative, and talented.

But even in his prime, he wasn’t exactly WWE’s go-to guy to represent the brand. Moreover, he’s past his prime at this point—his body broken down from not only his years in the ring but his tendency to take all of the biggest bumps available to him.

It’s not impossible that Hardy could win here, but the odds are his most recent United States Championship run marked his last reign with a singles title in WWE. He’s a guy with the name recognition not to feel out of place in this tournament, but he’s nonetheless unlikely to escape the first round of the bracket, let alone win the whole thing.

#7 Dolph Ziggler

Dolph Ziggler has an outside chance of winning, but it would mean WWE has very specific (and unlikely) plans for him.

Dolph Ziggler stands alongside Jeff Hardy as the next least established main event guy in this tournament. He’s been part of the foundation of WWE for a decade now and there’s an argument to be made that, out of the tournament field, only Seth Rollins is better in the ring than him at this moment in time.

Just the same, he has only enjoyed the briefest of world title reigns and has spent most of his career in mid-card title pictures and as a gatekeeper to talents on their way up the card.

Ziggler has a bit more of a chance than Hardy of winning the tournament, both because he has been adjacent to the main event spotlight lately for his feud with Rollins and partnership with Drew Mcintyre, and because WWE could conceivably give this workhorse the win as an unofficial lifetime achievement award.

Moreover, in terms of cardiovascular conditioning, he may be the best-equipped competitor to go three rounds. At the end of the day, though, don’t hold your breath on Ziggler winning a match in this stacked tournament.

#6 Kurt Angle

Kurt Angle is a dark horse to win, if for no other reason than his age.

In his prime, there’s a very real argument to be made that Kurt Angle is the best all-around performer booked for this tournament. Unfortunately, we’re years removed from peak Angle.

While he is still a more than competent wrestler and looks particularly good for a guy pushing 50, he’s nonetheless not someone who should be working three full contact matches in a single night at this point in his career, nor is he someone it makes much sense for WWE to push with a tournament win at this stage.

Maybe Baron Corbin interferes to cost Angle an opening round match in the tournament, or maybe Angle dark horses his way into the second round, or even the finals. As a part-time legend likely to work WrestleMania, and potentially other big four PPVs along the way, we can expect the Olympic hero to be protected in his defeat.

In the end, though, unless WWE is planning on him working full time and getting a huge push in the process, he’s one of the least logical choices to go all the way in the World Cup.

#5 Seth Rollins

Seth Rollins could win, but that probably doesn't fit WWE's immediate plans for him.

There’s a sense in which Seth Rollins ought to be the favourite to win this tournament. Most critics would agree that he’s the best all-around performer in the tournament field at this point, and in particular the best from an in-ring perspective. He’s also the guy most fans would agree is actively in his prime right now, and someone WWE could believably transition into a world title picture whenever it pleases.

It’s far from outside the question that Rollins could win this tournament. However, at least for the immediate future, Rollins is playing Roman Reigns' sidekick in the Shield. The King Slayer is the Intercontinental Champion and looks to be either tag teaming or feuding with Dean Ambrose for the foreseeable future, neither of which make him altogether compelling to win this tournament (more so, Ambrose costing him a tournament match seems likely).

Unless WWE means to transition to a Shield three-way feud, or otherwise move more quickly than it would appear in getting Rollins back to the main event, he probably isn’t going over here.

#4 Randy Orton

Randy Orton has a real shot at emerging victorious.

Randy Orton is that oddball talent in this tournament who is both one of the biggest names of his generation and still not far from his prime, and not out of the question for a legitimate main event run in the near future. Orton has been particularly successful in his new heel gimmick, hating on guys who came from the indies or wrestle an indie style, and working a particularly brutal style of offence.

For Orton, a World Cup win would probably mark his entry point back into the main event picture and probably challenging AJ Styles (or Daniel Bryan) for the WWE Championship as we get deeper into the fall. It’s not the most exciting possibility to hardcore fans, but it’s also not an unrealistic one, particularly given WWE seeming to be perpetually high on Orton’s talents.

While a segment of fans tend to lament Orton’s sometimes plodding, chin lock intensive style in the ring, that approach to wrestling is actually a strong fit to go the distance in a tournament. Orton could go all the way.

#3 Rey Mysterio

Rey Mysterio could ride his comeback momentum all the way to a very big win at Crown Jewel.

Rey Mysterio is certainly an underdog in the World Cup bracket. As per usual, he’s the smallest competitor in the field. On top of that, the injury issues that have plagued him in recent years mean that he probably shouldn’t be booked to have to work three featured matches in the same night.

For all of these limitations, Mysterio is a legendary figure with the buzz having just staged his WWE comeback. While it’s difficult to predict another world title reign for Mysterio at this stage of his career, if WWE did want to put him in the WWE Championship picture to work with the likes of AJ Styles or Daniel Bryan in the months ahead, it could produce a hardcore fans’ dream match—albeit the better part of a decade past when most of us would have most liked to have seen it.

Mysterio’s not the favourite, and I’ll openly concede I’m probably overrating him here. Still, for the novelty of his new WWE run and being a guy who could yield a logical, direct benefit from the title win, he finds himself in the number three spot.

#2 The Miz

The Miz is one of the guys who could more logically benefit from a tournament win.

Out of the guys involved in this tournament, The Miz has the least distinguished record as an in-ring performer. He, also, however, stands alongside Seth Rollins as the two guys who are quite arguably in the prime of their careers, and wouldn’t be entirely out of place in world title programs come WrestleMania season.

Though Miz is seemingly always climbing the hill of the credibility gap established when he got too much main event attention too soon back in 2010-2011. Fast forward to the last three years, and there are few greater beneficiaries of the brand split than Miz, who owned the mic on SmackDown, accomplished the unlikely when he rose from the pack on Raw, and picked up where he left off when he moved back to the blue brand, and particularly in his feud with Daniel Bryan.

One scenario pundits have pegged for WrestleMania 35 would see Bryan and The Miz blowing off their long rivalry once and for all with the WWE Championship on the line, probably with Miz coming in as champ. There are still a lot of steps required for that to materialize, but Miz winning this tournament would be a step toward planting him back at the main event level.

#1 John Cena

A World Cup win could add one last honour to John Cena's resume.

In recent appearances, WWE has gone out of its way to tout John Cena as the greatest Superstar of all time. It’s an arbitrary distinction, and one most fans baulk it when comparing Cena to in-ring performers like Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, and Randy Savage or draw like Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and The Rock.

Just the same, for longevity, consistency, evolving as a performer, and a willingness to do whatever is asked of him, Cena does make a case for himself.

Cena certainly doesn’t need this tournament victory, but in a competition without stakes, to be held in front of an international audience that wants to cheer all-time greats, there’s also no harm in adding this extra feather to Cena’s cap and furthering the narrative that he’s the best ever.

Perhaps most importantly, Cena got squashed at WrestleMania, and his wins at the preceding two international stadium shows were pretty inconsequential. Picking up this victory would be a reinforcement that Cena is still a threat to beat anyone at any time.