Forecasting WWE’s Next 5 First-Time World Champions

WWE, oftentimes to its own detriment, relies heavily on a handful on proven stars to carry the company’s world titles. But that could be changing. Very soon.

Since 2020, only three stars have held the Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes, John Cena and Roman Reigns. The World Heavyweight Championship has had a little more variation during that span, with the likes of Gunther and Damian Priest winning that title for their first world title victory on the main roster.

In the women’s division, Tiffany Stratton is the best example of a rising star achieving her first world championship win in recent years. And with stars like Bianca Belair and Liv Morgan injured while Charlotte Flair is in the tag title scene and Becky Lynch is a midcard champion, that should, in theory, pave the way for even more new stars to rise into the world title picture.

The same is true on the men’s side, where Cena is set to retire, Reigns isn’t in the world title picture and Seth Rollins is out with a long-term injury. With WWE desperately needing to elevate new stars, these five names are the closest to winning their first-ever world championship on the main roster.

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Jacob Fatu

Jacob Fatu is currently sidelined with an injury that will keep him out of action for a month or two, and though that might temporarily delay his seemingly inevitable push, it won’t derail it altogether.

The former United States Champion had been positioned in a marquee rivalry with Drew McIntyre on SmackDown, one that would have served as a great vehicle to catapult him to the main event scene. While Fatu will have to wait a little longer to reignite his feud with McIntyre, the general consensus regarding the Samoan star is that he has an incredibly bright future.

One of WWE’s most well-rounded performers, Fatu has something many stars spend their entire careers trying to figure out: believability. From his promos to his in-ring performances to his character work, Fatu makes everything he does seem legitimate. In turn, that makes him easy to like as a babyface and easy to hate as a heel.

Though Fatu is now in the midst of his second extended TV hiatus, it’s clear every time he’s on WWE programming that the sky is the limit. If he isn’t a world champion within a year or two, WWE’s creative team needs to be reassessed.

Dominik Mysterio

Does a Dominik Mysterio WWE world title reign sound far-fetched? Well, maybe. But that depends upon how you look at it.

On one hand, Mysterio doesn’t fit the stereotypical world champion mold, at least not aesthetically. On the other hand, Mysterio is and has been arguably WWE’s most entertaining star over the past few years. What’s more, he’s gotten to the point of being such a beloved bad guy that he’s essentially become a cult favorite of sorts.

The bottom line is, Mysterio generates main event-level reactions, and more importantly, he does so consistently. Not only does he receive massive heat during his promos, but ironically enough, he’s become a beloved Eddie Guerrero-esque villain, who cheats to win in such entertaining ways that fans can’t help but love him.

As the driving force behind The Judgment Day, which has had a consistent presence on WWE TV for nearly half a decade, and the most reliable act on Raw, a world title win isn’t as far away as it seems.

Jade Cargill

Jade Cargill’s roughly two-year WWE run hasn’t been without its fair share of hiccups, but before she suffered an injury late last year, the creative team reportedly had plans in place to give her a world championship run before WrestleMania 41.

While a variety of circumstances ultimately led to that not happening, that certainly doesn’t mean her WWE career is dead in the water. Quite the contrary, in fact. Cargill still has a plethora of things going for her, including a strong fan base and a superstar aura that, quite simply, can’t be taught or manufactured.

WWE seemingly missed a great opportunity to put a world title on Cargill during her rivalry with Tiffany Stratton, or so it once seemed. In less than a week, Cargill will once again face Stratton for the WWE Women’s Championship, this time at Saturday Night’s Main Event after her much-needed and well-executed heel turn on last week’s SmackDown. Among stars who’ve never held a world title, she’s got the best chance of actually winning one and doing so within just a few days, too.

If Cargill doesn’t win at SNME, then WWE will have no choice but to go back to the drawing board.

Bron Breakker

WWE fans across the world were probably rolling their eyes when Raw General Manager Adam Pearce removed Bron Breakker from the No. 1 contender’s battle royal on this week’s Raw. That, however, is apparently all part of the plan.

According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlingNews.co), WWE indeed has a precise plan as to “how and when” the company wants to put a world title on Breakker for the first time. While the prevailing thought was that Seth Rollins’ recent injury and subsequent surgery would expedite that process, that is apparently not the case.

Still, it doesn’t take a genius to see that Breakker is the closest thing to a sure thing that WWE has right now. Though WWE’s booking of the second generation star has been far from perfect, Breakker has all the tools WWE could ever want out of a top-level talent. The lone area where he needs to make sizable strides in is the promo department, but even when it comes to working the microphone, he’s far from bad.

With the right storyline, Breakker is a surefire world champion in the making, and WWE will likely make that happen by the end of 2026 at the absolute latest.

Sami Zayn

If there is a true underdog story WWE can rely on for WrestleMania 42, it’s Sami Zayn climbing that once insurmountable mountain and winning his first world championship.

Zayn is widely considered to be one of the greatest performers to never win a world championship in WWE, a list that includes stars like Jake Roberts, Owen Hart and Roddy Piper. He has, however, proven to be the ideal prototypical underdog, as he was at WrestleMania 40 when he defeated Gunther to end that historic Intercontinental Championship reign.

As Zayn continues to rank among WWE’s most beloved stars and numerous other stars are busy in non-title storylines, this is the best window of opportunity WWE has ever had to give Zayn that elusive world title. The former IC Champion always delivers in big matches and moments, as exemplified but his brief-but-stellar United States title reign that featured a handful of epic matches over the course of the past two months.

Zayn’s undeniable consistency in the ring and as a character are two major reasons why it’s so mind-boggling that he hasn’t been a world champion yet. But this era of WWE typically features lengthy world title reigns, and that could be the lone thing that prevents Zayn from ever reaching the promised land.