Top Three Wrestlers Who Should Take the Undisputed WWE Championship from ‘The Best in the World’ in 2026
The main event title picture on SmackDown is packed with the blue brand’s top stars. Former main event champions like Gunther, Finn Balor, and Cody Rhodes are nipping at CM Punk’s heels for a chance at his Undisputed WWE Championship, especially because of the way he won it. Punk is a fighting champion, even defending his main event titles on television. Who’s really going to take the title off his shoulders, though? Here are the three wrestlers who should take the title from ‘The Best in the World’.
Kevin Owens
Punk’s most recent televised title defense occurred on last week’s episode of SmackDown in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Undisputed WWE Champion defended his belt against hometown favorite Kevin Owens, who won the Fatal Four-Way bout at SummerSlam to determine the next challenger for ‘The Best in the World’s’ Undisputed WWE Championship. The former Universal Champion made his long-awaited return inside the squared circle in nearly two years after recovering from neck surgery. We don’t know how much time he has in the ring, and the WWE Universe wants to see another Owens win one more main event title. He was fighting in front of his parents, with a shot at winning gold and beating his longtime enemy. The champ and ‘The Prizefighter’ were having a personal, hard-hitting match that fans were desperate to see the finish of, but the hometown hero would unfortunately get screwed over by another fellow Canadian. This could cause a legendary frenemy feud over the Undisputed WWE Championship.
Sami Zayn
Owens was screwed over by his long-time frenemy Sami Zayn. From their rivalry in Ring of Honor to their time in WWE, feuding over the NXT Championship, to befriending one another at various points on the main roster and winning the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania 39, their frenemy storyline is filled with rich history. For most of their time in WWE, Zayn has been the face, and Owens has been the heel. WWE has the opportunity to tell a story similar to the one they told in NXT, only with the roles reversed. No sane WWE fan is going to boo a returning ‘Prizefighter’ when he was uncertain of his in-ring career. ‘The Last Real Good Guy’ has slipped down a monster heel path after getting constantly screwed over by WWE onscreen management. From Raw general manager Adam Pearce booking the surprise title defense on Raw that saw Punk beat him for the Undisputed WWE Championship just nine days into his title reign to the surprise Fatal Four-Way that he and Bálor were blindsided by, Zayn believes that he deserves justice and that no one else deserves another shot at the title more than he does. His jealousy and lack of control in the blue brand’s main event title situation caused him to finally snap last week and continue this new mean streak on the last episode of SmackDown, where he hit ‘The Prizefighter’, ‘The Prince’, ‘The Best in the World’, and Gunther with the Undisputed WWE Championship to end the show. It makes the most sense for him or Owens to dethrone Punk and have their own long-term dedicated singles feud over WWE’s top prize. The Undisputed WWE Champion doesn’t need the title. His name alone sells tickets and carries a lot of weight within the wrestling universe; either Canadian would benefit greatly from a respectable title run. Should ‘The Last Real Good Guy’ and ‘The Prizefighter’ feud over SmackDown’s top prize, it makes perfect sense for their story to either climax or culminate inside Hell in a Cell later this year.
Randy Orton
Let’s say WWE doesn’t want either Canadian to win the gold. The other route that makes the most sense is for the winner of the Rhodes and Randy Orton match at Sunday Night’s Main Event to feud with Punk over his title. Either wrestling legend could walk out on top at September’s SNME. Should ‘The American Nightmare’ beat his former mentor in a couple of weeks, he should ultimately lose against ‘The Best in the World’ for the blue brand’s top prize. WWE has clearly teased some edgier, more heelish side to Rhodes’s character, and it seems like the payoff is an eventual Rhodes heel turn. Orton beating Rhodes at SNME and eventually beating Punk to win his 15th WWE Championship is the perfect reason for ‘The American Nightmare’ to turn heel or go further down a heelish path. It further proves that only the worst version of oneself gets whatever they want done. ‘The Viper’ has been trying to nail this lesson into his mentee’s head since returning at SummerSlam. He’s been slowly drawing out the worst version of Rhodes after every episode of SmackDown, and he should be the catalyst for the eventual Rhodes heel turn. WWE could also tell a long-term story of Orton chasing his arch-nemesis John Cena’s record 17 WWE Championships. He’s already mentioned his desire to break Cena’s record. With Ric Flair’s 16 WWE Championship reigns now the second-most WWE Championship reigns of all time, ‘The Legend Killer’ should at least work his way to tying one of his mentor’s records.
