Predicting The Next 10 WWE Champions

10. Baron Corbin (Battleground 2017)

The WWE Championship’s immediate future looks relatively clear. Reports suggest that Jinder Mahal will successfully defend the strap against Randy Orton at Money In The Bank, before moving into a program with John Cena, who returns on July 4th. The first pay-per-view after that is Battleground on the 23rd, which is where they’ll likely meet.

It’s quite conceivable that WWE would put the strap back on John at that point, given how SmackDown’s ratings have gone since Jinder hindered them. Battleground feels like too small a stage for Cena’s record-breaking 17th world title, however, and pulling the trigger there would feel anticlimactic.

It therefore makes sense for Mahal to retain, probably through shenanigans. Extending his reign feels counterproductive, mind, making this a perfect spot for the MITB winner to strike. Baron Corbin is the odds-on favourite at the moment, and while this cash-in would mean rare heel-on-heel violence, it plays to Baron’s opportunistic character, and would squash Mahal’s reign of error. WWE clearly likes ‘The Lone Wolf,’ and given the main event scene’s recent chaos, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him grab the gold by summer’s end.