This past weekend at WrestleMania 42, Roman Reigns dethroned CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Night 2 to win his seventh world title in WWE. Reigns' victory on Sunday marks the first time he's held gold since his iconic 1316-day run as WWE Universal Champion (later as WWE Undisputed Champion), and despite revealing that he'll be a full-time star for the summer, another lengthy title reign is unlikely. At this point, the main event scene in WWE has many different challengers compared to the last time Reigns led the division two years ago, making the opponent that WWE will choose to eventually defeat him unpredictable.Whether the company decides to have Reigns defeated by a young up-and-coming star or a main event talent on "WWE Raw" today, the wrestler chosen should either need the victory over the "Tribal Chief" to elevate their career, or be worthy enough of beating him for the brand's top title. Therefore, in this edition ofBreaking Down The Belts, we have named one star who we believe WWE views as the nextWorld Heavyweight Champion, and another who should win the title instead.
It's been almost nine months since GUNTHER last held the World Heavyweight Championship, but now he's become the "Career Killer" and has yet to lose a singles match since. Winning back the title could be his next goal.In the last five months, GUNTHER has retired John Cena as well as AJ Styles, but his most recent victory came against Seth Rollins this past weekend at WrestleMania 42. After defeating three of the best that have ever stepped in a WWE ring, it's hard to imagine GUNTHER won't be inserted back into the title picture sometime soon, especially since he's owed a favor from one of the most powerful men in the industry.So far, the only creative direction that's been laid out for GUNTHER is an upcoming feud with LA Knight, and Paul Heyman being in his debt due to the events the preceded WrestleMania. Three weeks ago, GUNTHER saved Heyman from an angered Rollins, who was looking to get his revenge on "The Oracle" for The Vision's betrayal. In exchange, Heyman offered to repay GUNTHER with a favor, which is speculated to be a match against Brock Lesnar, but after "The Beast" seemingly retired at WrestleMania, the ECW legend could instead secure the Austrian star a world title match against his former client.GUNTHER vs. Reigns is one of the biggest matches WWE could book this year, and if they decide to schedule the first-time matchup, it's hard to imagine the company would sacrifice the streak of their most unbeatable star in order to further elevate Reigns. GUNTHER is one of the few realistic options to overcome the champion.
Although GUNTHER could be lined up to be the next World Heavyweight Champion, it would be wiser to strike while the iron is hot and have Oba Femi dethrone Reigns first.After defeating Lesnar at WrestleMania 42, Femi is one of the hottest performers in professional wrestling and has quickly become WWE's most promising young star. When Lesnar first broke into the wrestling business, he became world champion just eight months after making his WWE debut at 25 years of age, becoming the youngest star to win the title in history at the time. Although WWE has often waited to crown rising stars, such as Bron Breakker or Jacob Fatu, who have been on the main roster for two years but have received little to no world title opportunities, Femi would instantly be launched into superstardom if he were to defeat one of the company's most dominant performers to becomeWorld Heavyweight Champion.Overall, WWE could elect to wait until WrestleMania 43 to pull the trigger on Femi in order not to fast-track his trajectory, but doing so also means the company would need to have a year's worth of creative plans for "The Ruler" and keep his popularity from cooling off. SummerSlam could be a potential destination for Femi to become champion, as it would give Reigns three months with the title and allow WWE to properly capitalize on the 28-year-old's momentum at their second biggest show of the year.
