Breaking Down The Belts: The Vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship

With Seth Rollins struck down by injury (for real this time), the WWE World Heavyweight Championship is vacant and will be on the line during this weekend's Saturday Night's Main Event between "Main Event" Jey Uso and CM Punk. While it was his former stablemate Bron Breakker who severed "The Visionary" from his Vision and paraded with the title belt until Adam Pearce told him to return it, Punk had already secured his opportunity, while Uso — the former World Heavyweight Champion who never got a one-on-one title rematch — won a battle royal from which Breakker and Bronson Reed had been banned, eliminating his own brother to get the win.

Having been red-taped out of the title picture, the shadow of Reed and Breakker and their potential interference looms over the weekend. But the expectation is that a new champion will be crowned, and for either Punk or Uso, it will be an opportunity to right the wrongs of their first reigns, however different they may have been. With that in mind, let's break down who likely will win the title when all is said and done — and who should.

CM Punk will surely be going into this weekend the favorite to win the title he held for couple of minutes at SummerSlam, having become one of the few people to defeat Gunther clean in the middle of the ring and landing his hands on a WWE title for the first time in a decade. Rollins, ironically returning from a feigned injury, cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Punk to take the title and begin his own ill-fated title reign. And Punk had earned his opportunity to face Rollins before things went awry for the defending champion. 

So it stands to reason that he would be the default option to continue things, especially considering his opponent this weekend was among the names Punk beat to secure his shot. That would leave the window open for him and Rollins to pick up where they left off should he be returning sooner rather than later, and it would continue the ongoing arc of Jey falling short in his journey to cement the "Main Event" moniker. There's also the looming question of whether Jey and Jimmy's issues will continue, with their tensions building as the Vision got the better of them and Roman Reigns, and although they seemed to make peace during this week's show it wouldn't be the first time their brotherly battles have cost Jey. 

Likewise, either of the Brons could be circling the situation this weekend, and although that may in itself beckon for a non-finish of some kind, there is also the chance that their potential interference hands the win to one opponent rather than the other. In any case, it would be a surprise if Punk didn't win the title by the final bell. 

While Punk may be the somewhat favorable option to take the title this weekend, it has to be said that there is a more deserving option considering the positions they're in at the current stage in time. 

If you were to say that Jey would have won the Intercontinental title, the men's Royal Rumble match, and the World Heavyweight Championship by submitting Gunther a few years back, there might have been more than a few to scoff and dismiss him as simply a great tag team guy. But all of that has since happened, and he is entering this weekend the underdog despite having proven time and time again that he belongs.

Gunther has lost to two men this year, and while Punk did so for the title more recently, it was still no small feat or expression of intent for Jey to do so at WrestleMania. When one looks at the personal arcs of the two championship challengers, Jey's really does make the case for being the more compelling; having jumped through all the hoops set before him by his cousin and "Tribal Chief" in Reigns, he wasn't met with the respect many thought he would have earned. 

Instead, Reigns had some more lessons for his "Right Hand Man" and that set forward the actions taken by Jey to secure his title opportunity. That all starts to lose weight if he loses, so it may be better if he crosses the line and turns heel to win the title, as he's been teasing. It would certainly go further to cement him as the main eventer his name declares him to be.