Superstars Who Should Win Their First Championship Before WrestleMania 35

Shinsuke Nakamura
Shinsuke Nakamura Photo Credit: Courtney Rose-Under Creative Commons License

With Summerslam in sight, we’re roughly halfway through the WWE calendar. WWE has about eight months after Summerslam to crown some new, deserving champions who have never won a championship on the main roster before or at WrestleMania (WM).

Here are my top five superstars (plus a few honorable mentions) who should win their first main roster championship before WM 35.

Honorable Mentions

Sami Zayn

While putting this list together, the number one spot was always going to be Sami Zayn. But after the former NXT champion was sidelined until after WM with injury, it seems as though that won’t happen.

Ruby Riott

As for Ruby Riott, the leader of the Riott Squad debuted in November with her stable. Fans would love to see Riott dethrone Alexa Bliss on Raw.

5. Breezango

With the number of years Fandango has been in the WWE, you would think that he’d be given a championship at some point. As for Tyler Breeze, the former NXT superstar hasn’t held a championship since his days in FCW. With the two now a team on Raw, they’ve been No.1 contenders but still haven’t gained the evasive tag titles.

Although the duo has been a comedy act as of late, how great would it be to see them upset a rival team and score those titles? Even though they were both singles competitors at one point, I don’t see them winning their first championships without each other.

4. Shinsuke Nakamura

Shinsuke debuted on the main roster on the SmackDown Live after WM 33. Since then, he’s had plenty of title opportunities, but no wins. Coming off the championship program with AJ Styles, the rumors are that he’ll head into a feud with Jeff Hardy and take the United States Championship from him.

For someone who achieved so much success and championships in New Japan Pro Wrestling, it’s about time Nakamura experience some of that in the WWE.

3. Elias

As of late, it seems “The Drifter” has been drifting from one feud to another. It was surprising to see Elias not take the Intercontinental Championship from Seth Rollins at Money In The Bank. The last championship Elias won was in 2013 for a promotion called International Wrestling Cartel. Elias could make a great IC champion or even a great world champion. If he were to win either title, it would be deserved.

2. Asuka

When Asuka faced Charlotte at WM 34 for the SmackDown Women’s Championship, the entire world assumed that Asuka would be victorious and claim her first main roster championship. She lost, though, and since then has been on a downslope, even losing to Carmella at Money In The Bank. Asuka will get another shot before WM 35, guaranteed.

When Asuka’s eventual rematch comes for the championship, WWE has to pull the trigger and do what they should have done all along and respect the Empress.

1. Hideo Itami

When Itami was in NXT, he was a contender for the championship and could have held it at some point, if he stayed healthy. However, Hideo was hindered by numerous injuries, keeping him out of action for years at a time.

Itami eventually made his main roster debut in December of last year and joined the 205 Live division.  Now that Itami is healthy, WWE should have Itami win the Cruiserweight Championship immediately and hold it for a great deal of time. Itami will be a great champion eventually and no one will be able to say he doesn’t deserve it.