Who will walk out of Survivor Series 2015 as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion?

Just this afternoon, news broke that WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins suffered an injury at a live event in Ireland last night. The injury took place during a No Holds Barred match with Kane and saw Rollins tear his ACL, MCL, and medial meniscus. This is something that will keep him out of action for 6-9 months and force him to surrender/be stripped of the WWE Title.

WWE has already announced all of this as well as the fact that in just one week at the Survivor Series PPV, a tournament will be held to crown a new WWE Champion. This has sparked a flurry of discussion on social media as to who will step up to the plate and take the crown as the champion of the largest sports entertainment company in the world. Being the mega-fan that I am, I formulated a few scenarios, each of which I will detail in this article. Many of the scenarios have the same basis as Roman Reigns has been viewed as the favorite to win the belt sometime during the next year, but there are truly a number of ways this could go and I don't think WWE is going to choose the most predictable route. None the less, here are just a few of the different things that I think could happen.

The first scenario that came to mind sees the return of the Beast Incarnate, Brock Lesnar, to compete in this tournament. You know that Brock is vying for a rematch for the title that he lost despite never being pinned. Plus, he undoubtedly deserves that chance once again especially after putting The Undertaker down for the second time. With star power being at a low with both John Cena, Randy Orton, and now Seth Rollins on the sidelines, the prospect of bringing Brock back to step into the spotlight is all the more possible. A WrestleMania rematch in the finals of the Survivor Series tournament between Brock Lesnar & Roman Reigns would almost be the perfect match to have. It's the two men that Rollins screwed over at Mania fighting for his prize with him out of the picture. Unfortunately for Reigns, if this happens, I could see Dean Ambrose coming into play and costing his former brother the World Championship. This sets up a comeback story for Reigns heading into WrestleMania as he deals with another betrayal and setback in the form of rivaling his former partner Dean Ambrose. Meanwhile, Brock Lesnar carries the star power for the WWE Title until Mania rolls around and we get the final match in the Brock/Reigns trilogy. This time, Roman Reigns slays the beast on his own in one hell of a fight and becomes WWE Champion after a year in the making. It's the perfect story and giving Reigns the title at Mania will set up nicely for Rollins return during the summer, building towards reigniting of their program from this fall.

As good as that first fantasy scenario may sound, I have several more, but the next one is less eventful. I personally had been leaning towards WWE giving Reigns the title and going over Rollins at Survivor Series so I would say that there's a good chance that we could see the plans staying the same in that regard if that was the original idea. Reigns fights through the field of contenders and wins the belt. It's a simple yet satisfying story however, I don't think it would feel as sweet therefore, I'd personally put a hold on him winning the title. The fans will see a Reigns victory coming next Sunday from a mile away and many of them will be ready to shit on his parade. Don't give them that luxury. Give them a story that will make them get behind Reigns. The one thing that MIGHT make this work is if Reigns goes against John Cena in the final and defeats him. Despite the epic sound of that match, I feel like a more intriguing idea would be better. One like what I detailed above or also, my personal dream scenario that I will go into below.

It's no secret that I've been a fan of Kevin Owens for a long time. Seeing him deliver in such a big way in the WWE is almost unbelievable and exciting to watch unfold. 2015 has been a huge year for him and since he's under Triple H's wing, why not cap the year off with Big Kev taking the crown as WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The crowd has lit up when Owens & Reigns have went face to face in tag matches & such during the past few weeks so putting them one on one in the finals for the title at Survivor Series sounds like a phenomenal choice. Much like with the Lesnar/Reigns scenario, I see Ambrose costing Reigns the title here. Ambrose/Reigns feud through the Road to WrestleMania. Owens defends against people like Cena and gets his wins back to build him up as the champ. Owens/Reigns at Mania for the title and Reigns finally wins the big one. Two young stars main eventing Mania sounds very unlikely though, especially when compared to the idea of the year in the making Lesnar/Reigns story so I'm not going to bet on this. It's nice to think about, though, right?

To keep things spiced up, I've been trying to give one hype-worthy idea followed by one more predictable idea. The last one would be a shocker so that means it's time for one that is quite predictable and will make fans roll their eyes. John Cena is in the midst of a break from WWE for unknown reasons, but apparently not because of injury. Now, we know when WWE is in need they will call for John, even when he's been out with injury in the past. So, that means having John return and make a run for this 16th World Championship is a VERY possible option. And now that I think about it, it sounds like a pretty wonderful story to be honest. A portion of the crowd may not like it however Cena gunning for his record breaking 16th World Title reign in a tournament for the vacant title and one of the historically known biggest shows of the year sounds like money, especially in Vince's eyes. Therefore, don't be surprised if this goes down! I don't think Cena will win the title, though, but I'll cover that later on.

The next idea while also sort of unpredictable is also one that will make many roll their eyes. While it may be a eye-roll worthy, it may be the best chance for WWE to take care of Sheamus and his Money in the Bank briefcase. I don't know if WWE sees him as a top level guy at this point however, I don't think many do. That doesn't mean they can't make him into one and I think Survivor Series could be the time to do it. As with every other idea I've had, I think Reigns will be in the finals and in this scenario, he wins. WHOO, Roman finally achieves his dream, but uh-oh, Wade Barrett & Rusev are on the attack. Sheamus' music hits as his newly found cohorts beat down the freshly crowned champion. Sheamus is ready to cash in, but HERE COMES DEAN AMBROSE! Reigns' friend and partner is here to have his back OR IS HE? Ambrose turns and drops Reigns with dirty deeds to the shock of everyone. Sheamus hands over his briefcase, nails Reigns with a Brogue Kick and pins him to become the new WWE Champion. The only thing I didn't like about my previous ideas involving an Ambrose heel turn is that the title match would have a screwy ending. With this, there's a clean finish and you put Sheamus & friends in a top slot while getting his briefcase story out of the way without having to rush it come next year. Plus, it's a perfect chain of momentous events with Reigns getting revenge over Ambrose then taking that and using it to redeem himself at WrestleMania by defeating Sheamus and finally becoming the WWE Champion and actually having a reign to follow that moment.

The last scenario I was going to discuss is one that I stopped writing about just as I began writing about it. Why? Because it's one created by a track record of moves by WWE and as I thought about it on it's own, it makes no sense. This scenario sees John Cena return and win the title. It IS WWE's safe option, but I really don't expect that to happen this go round. They need to start building towards WrestleMania and Cena winning doesn't really start building towards anything whereas Reigns being in the finals creates a number of different paths they could go down, many of which I detailed above. Beyond that, Reigns is rumored to be the guy they're building Mania around once again so it wouldn't make any sense at all for Cena to go over him in a title match. So sorry guys, no CENAWINSLOL this time. Then again, I've been wrong and with WWE in such a tough position, there's not much they can do that will surprise me from a dumb booking standpoint. The premise of Cena using this as a chance to pursue his 16th World Title is a bit intriguing though, but for that to work, he'd have to be given an edge to his character and we all know how redundant of a statement that is therefore this is one of the few times that I won't be putting my money on Cena.

However, what do you think? Like/dislike my ideas? Have some of your own? Comment or tweet me @ThePWTruth with your thoughts! Thanks for reading!