Predicting The Next 10 WWE Champions

8. Bobby Roode (Royal Rumble 2018)

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WWE.com

If AJ Styles holds the WWE Championship from SummerSlam to the Royal Rumble, he’ll be Champion for five months. That’s a perfect length for him, and should allow ‘The Phenomenal One’ to run through most of SmackDown’s top competition. He’ll likely be short on fresh challengers by January 2018, and that’s where Bobby Roode steps in.

The current NXT Champion will likely spend most of 2017 in developmental, but there’s little point in keeping him around once he loses the belt to a Roderick Strong or Aleister Black. Given his vast experience as a mainstream TV wrestler, Roode is primed and ready for a prominent role on the main roster, and will likely be hot-shotted to the top whenever he arrives.

He and Styles wrestled each other several times in TNA, with their last meeting taking place in May 2012. Their Royal Rumble 2018 bout would tell the classic story of a methodical heel wearing down the athletic babyface with his slow, grinding wrestling style en route to a major victory.

Whether clean or otherwise, unseating Styles as WWE Champion would immediately make Roode SmackDown’s biggest heel, and set him up for a major WrestleMania program.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for six years and is currently WhatCulture's Senior Wrestling Reporter. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.