WWE Over the Limit 2012 Results: Most Likely Opponents for Sheamus After Victory

As expected, Sheamus retained the World Heavyweight Championship on Sunday at Over the Limit in a Fatal Four-Way match against Chris Jericho, Randy Orton and Alberto Del Rio. He pinned Jericho after a thrilling encounter, but the real question now is where will Sheamus go from here now that he doesn't appear to be feuding with any single superstar.

The Fatal Four-Way was a great way to transition Sheamus out of his feud with Daniel Bryan, but it isn't something that tends to last for a long period of time. Jericho attacked Orton on RAW Monday night so it looks like those two will be starting a program of their own. That means that the list of potential candidates to challenge Sheamus is suddenly much smaller.

Here are the three likeliest superstars to challenge Sheamus for his title at No Way Out next month and beyond.

Alberto Del Rio

Prior to Jericho and Orton getting involved, it seemed like Sheamus and Del Rio were going to have a one-on-one match at Over the Limit. Del Rio cheated to beat Sheamus via disqualification several weeks earlier to receive a title shot, but he didn't really get a fair shake. Since Del Rio is the only one of the three challengers from the Fatal Four-Way match without anything to do, he would seem to be the most plausible choice to feud with Sheamus.

Del Rio can play the card that he deserves a one-on-one match rather than a bout with multiple competitors, so it shouldn't be too difficult to transition to such a rivalry. There are mixed feelings regarding Del Rio, but he is a fantastic in-ring competitor and I feel like his mic work is better than he is given credit for. Sheamus and Del Rio are both bigger guys who can put on good matches, so this would probably be the ideal fit.

Kane

There really aren't many main-event-level heels who are freed up to feud with Sheamus at the moment, but one guy with nothing much going on right now is Kane. He is still fresh off his feud with Orton and hasn't really gotten involved with anything else yet. He has had matches against CM Punk and Daniel Bryan to advance their feud and he also beat Zack Ryder on the Over the Limit pre-show, so he's looking for something more substantial.

I wouldn't necessarily love to see Kane back in the world title picture, but there are certainly worse options. He's a veteran who knows what to do in big feuds, he can still work well in the ring for a man his size and his dark, sadistic character would make for a nice test for The Great White. Sheamus is still trying to build momentum after beating Bryan for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania and beating a credible heel like Kane would be a big boost.

Tensai

It may seem out of place at this point, but the only other option for Sheamus at this point is Tensai. Apparently he lost his lordship on RAW and is now a mere commoner, but a feud with Sheamus could help him regain any momentum he once had. The creative team seems to have botched Tensai's debut because he went from scoring victories against John Cena and CM Punk to not even appearing on RAW last week or at Over the Limit. Even if he doesn't beat Sheamus, though, doing a program with him could help legitimize his character.

Tensai has really lost his way as of late, but he has a great look and could potentially have a good gimmick if it were to be developed a bit more. Also, since Tensai hasn't technically lost a match yet, it would look good if Sheamus were able to take him out. I would be all for a feud in which Tensai essentially gets the best of Sheamus at every turn until Sheamus overcomes Tensai in the match itself. It would make Tensai look like a tough customer, but Sheamus would still ultimately get the rub.

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