WWE Royal Rumble 2012 Results: The Top 7 Challengers for the Heavyweight Title

After successfully defending his title at last night's Royal Rumble, Daniel Bryan is still the World Heavyweight Champion.

He may not want to get too comfortable with that belt around his waist, though.

Bryan still has a huge target on his back as the holder of the top title on Smackdown, and there is certainly no shortage of challengers looking to take it from him.

In fact, with Elimination Chamber right around the corner, he better be prepared to see a number of WWE stars gunning to do just that.

Here are the top seven challengers for Daniel Bryan's World Heavyweight Championship.

7. Brodus Clay

Brodus Clay's gimmick certainly doesn't scream "main event material," but the gigantic superstar certainly has a few things working in his favor.

For starters, he seems to be one of those stars who can work on both the Raw and Smackdown brands without any explanation, meaning that he's not relegated to challenging for just the World Heavyweight Championship.

It also helps that Clay is getting a pretty big push as a baby face and that it at least looks like the WWE has big plans in store for him if he can ever be taken more seriously.

Finally, Daniel Bryan only has a couple of other options that make sense as challengers for his title.

Bryan has already feuded with Big Show, Mark Henry, Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett, and I don't see him feuding with Henry, Rhodes or Barrett if they all remain heels (and Bryan does, too).

Therefore, with a limited number of options for Bryan's challengers, Clay might be a surprise No. 1 contender in the near future.  

6. Wade Barrett

Wade Barrett has been on quite the roll over the past several months, but he hit a major snag last night.

Pegged by many as a dark-horse candidate to win the Royal Rumble match, Barrett's performance was completely forgettable.

He didn't enter until No. 26, eliminated only one competitor and lasted just a few minutes before being eliminated by Randy Orton.

It looks like Barrett's feud with Orton will continue, which will be his top priority for the foreseeable future. But these two are basically shoo-ins for Smackdown's Elimination Chamber match (if there is one).

I honestly have no idea what the creative team plans to do with its major feuds going forward, but given that Daniel Bryan's playing more of a heel role and that Barrett's obviously a heel himself, I wouldn't bet on these two feuding in the near future, unless other superstars are involved as well.

5. Mark Henry

Mark Henry is not 100 percent, and it's really starting to show.

After wreaking havoc on Smackdown throughout much of 2011, Henry just hasn't been the same Henry in 2012, and he was basically a non-factor in the World Heavyweight title match at the Royal Rumble.

He is legitimately injured, which is the main reason why he hasn't been booked all that strongly as of late. But when healthy, he's definitely a threat to Daniel Bryan and the World Heavyweight Championship.

There is a lot of history between Henry and Bryan, dating back to when Bryan "cashed in" on Henry on Smackdown and seemingly won the title, only to have the decision reversed.

I'd expect to see these two cross paths in the near future again, assuming Henry is able to get back to 100 percent soon.

4. The Big Show

The Big Show has made a really bad habit out of not capitalizing on his World Heavyweight Championship opportunities.

His title match against Mark Henry at Vengeance ended in a draw, he lost to Henry at Survivor Series, he was the victim of Daniel Bryan's cash-in at WWE TLC and so on and so forth.

Although Big Show has been around the World Heavyweight title for several months now, he's only held it for 45 seconds, and his time to recapture it is running out.

Given that he just lost to Bryan at the Royal Rumble last night, I would usually say he deserves to go to the back of the line.

But he did eliminate four young stars from the Royal Rumble match in less than a minute, so perhaps that was the creative team's way of of rebuilding his momentum after it took such a huge hit earlier in the night.

My guess is that Big Show will hover around the World title for another month or so but be completely out of the title picture by WrestleMania.

3. Randy Orton

Randy Orton didn't win the Royal Rumble match and didn't last very long, either.

But he still managed to have an impressive performance that should put him ahead of a number of Smackdown stars on the No. 1 contender's list.

Orton eliminated three other wrestlers (Jey Uso, Wade Barrett and Big Show), and he did so in a very short span.

Unfortunately for Orton, he was not able to live up to the lofty expectations that come along with being the Royal Rumble favorite, so he might have to earn his way back up the ladder by winning Smackdown's Elimination Chamber at next month's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.

If he can do that, then he may be the new No. 1 contender for Daniel Bryan's World Heavyweight Championship or perhaps even the champ himself.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's what happens because plenty of wrestling fans want to see Orton vs. Bryan at WrestleMania 28.

2. Cody Rhodes

Cody Rhodes had arguably the best performance of any Royal Rumble entrant.

He entered the match early on at No. 4, lasted until the final six competitors and eliminated more superstars (six) than any other wrestler.

Rhodes was in pure beast-mode last night, and he established himself as a huge threat on the Smackdown brand.

While the fact that Rhodes is still holding the Intercontinental Championship might prevent him from actually challenging Daniel Bryan for the World Heavyweight title in the near future, his great Royal Rumble performance should make him one of the favorites to become Bryan's next challenger.

Rhodes is definitely on the rise. The only thing we don't know is how high he will go. 

1. Sheamus

Sheamus is your 2012 Royal Rumble winner, and thus, he holds the key to both the WWE and World Heavyweight Championship pictures.

Given that the Great White is on Smackdown and that Daniel Bryan is basically a heel (while CM Punk isn't), it seems much more likely that he's going to challenge for Bryan's World Heavyweight title.

That could be really interesting.

Bryan and Sheamus actually faced each other at WrestleMania 27, but things were way different a year ago.

They were actually relegated to the pre-show dark match rather than the main card, the United States title was on the line and the roles were completely reversed, with Bryan as the baby face challenger and Sheamus as the heel champion.

If this feud does indeed go down again, it will show how much the WWE truly has changed in just a 365-day span.