1. Batista
Trust me, I don't like it any more than you do. Batista came back just before the Royal Rumble in January. His reception was lukewarm, to put it mildly. That reception turned ice cold when he won the Rumble match to earn a spot in the main event of 'Mania. In the time since, he had a feud with Alberto Del Rio that went down like a lead zeppelin, and was ultimately unsuccessful at Wrestlemania. A lot have fans have also commented on his obvious ring rust. Big Dave is 45 years old (or at least that's what it says on Wikipedia), he doesn't have anywhere near the power that he used to, and if he's in the ring longer than ten minutes, he starts huffing and gasping for air. So why on earth is he the most likely to beat Bryan for the championship?? Four words: Guardians Of The Galaxy. You see, when Batista left the WWE a few years back after throwing his toys out of the pram, he began a career in Hollywood. A lot of the time, he appeared in direct-to-video releases, but in 2013, he was cast in the upcoming Guardians Of The Galaxy as Drax The Destroyer. For those who don't know, Guardians Of The Galaxy is a comic owned by Marvel about a team of spacefaring superheroes, which will now become a movie and part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe alongside Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers. You can probably hazard a guess at how much money it's going to make. Likewise, you can probably picture the dollar signs in Vince McMahon's eyes when he imagines the words "Movie Star and WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Batista!" Wrestling is a niche audience, people, you don't need me to tell you that. The majority of the human race, they never take a glance into our little world. But when celebrities are involved with the product, the amount of casual viewers watching wrestling jumps up, and so does the money that the company makes. As well as this, Vince McMahon has never had a great deal of luck with his wrestlers and films coexisting. The biggest movie that an active wrestler starred in was probably The Mummy Returns starring The Rock. But if the MCU's box office numbers are anything to go by, Guardians Of The Galaxy is going to be huge, and it'd be mad not to assume that Vince is going to make Batista the champion in time for it's release in August. This was probably the plan for Wrestlemania, and he would have got away with it too, if it wasn't for us meddling kids and Daniel Bryan. Guardians Of The Galaxy is scheduled for release on August 1st. Summerslam is August 17th. If Batista is anywhere near the title picture come Summerslam, I suggest you find a bookmakers that takes bets on wrestling and check the odds, because you could be in the money. Thanks for reading, let me know your thoughts in the comments, and for instant updates on new articles, add me on twitter at @IAMMARZI