Seth Rollins' Best Challengers for WWE Title After WrestleMania 31 Victory

When WrestleMania 31 ended, Seth Rollins transformed from a scavenger to the hunted, from Mr. Money in the Bank to WWE world champ. He now has a Beast, a Juggernaut and a Viper in pursuit of him.

Rollins has made a surplus of enemies since breaking apart The Shield and joining The Authority. Finding men who want to rip his limbs from his body won't be hard.

WWE has set itself up well for Rollins' reign as there are a number of challengers for him in the coming months.

Who makes the most sense to step up to the No. 1 contender spot from a narrative standpoint? Who would deliver the best match and most engaging feud with Rollins? The following list answers those questions, taking chemistry, star power and storyline into consideration. 

Daniel Bryan and John Cena will be busy building up the midcard titles. That leaves five candidates to set loose on the champion.

5. Dean Ambrose

Dean Ambrose needs the most work of the candidates on this list to get into title contention. To go from losing bouts for the Intercontinental Championship and United States title to taking on Rollins is quite a jump.

The appeal of having The Lunatic Fringe rise to the rank of contender is how electric a feud with him and Rollins would be.

Their rivalry was one of the highlights of 2014 with a number of great matches including a memorable collision inside the Hell in a Cell. The writing team would have no trouble conjuring up more animosity between these two. Ambrose never really got his revenge last time around.

Matching them up again assures WWE of captivating buildup and excellence in the ring. 

Ambrose would need to get some big wins in a hurry, though. Several other potential challengers have had far better records as of late. 

4. Ryback

Lost in the debate about Roman Reigns' main event readiness is the fact that Ryback is experiencing a resurgence in popularity.

Fans are reacting to him more lately. He's starting to reclaim the momentum he had during his peak in 2012.

Pushing The Big Guy into title contention would require adding some significant wins to his resume, but it wouldn't be like the WWE has to start from scratch. Ryback has been on the winning side of many a recent battle.

Per CageMatch, he is 13-2 in his last 15 bouts, not counting the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Sitting on the periphery of the storyline of The Authority's tyranny makes it easy for Ryback to find himself in an angle with Rollins. After battling Kane and Big Show all this time, he could move on to Rollins.

Ryback's competition for No. 1 contender, though, features men with more stardom, more momentum and a better shot of delivering a top-notch match against the champ. 

3. Randy Orton

From a storyline perspective, Randy Orton has a strong argument that he deserves the first crack at Seth Rollins.

Not only did he defeat Rollins on the same night that The Architect became champion, but Orton is still waiting for his one-on-one title rematch after losing to Daniel Bryan at last year's WrestleMania.

Orton and Rollins are already deep into a feud with each other, one that could stand to get more intense and violent. With as badly as each man has beaten the other over the past few months, a Street Fight or steel cage match makes a lot of sense for their next meeting. With the gimmick-heavy Extreme Rules coming up, that makes The Viper a good fit.

He and the new WWE champ have had a number of quality matches together, and the company can be confident about pitting them against each other again.

Still, it feels like he's on the edge of the current narrative. It wasn't Orton whom Rollins robbed at WrestleMania 31; it wasn't Orton who Rollins set off on Monday's Raw.

2. Roman Reigns

Reigns is going to get at least one shot at Rollins. Because of Rollins' cash-in at WrestleMania, Reigns went from closing in on possibly dethroning Brock Lesnar to taking a boot to the back of the head and watching Rollins celebrate with the world title in hand.

WWE has never fully explored these enemies' hatred after The Shield broke up either.

There's a lot of material to work with going forward with these two. Making Reigns the cheated, angry predator and Rollins the crafty, slippery prey is basic wrestling storytelling. With their history as teammates added to the mix, the feud will benefit from multiple layers.

As for the in-ring action, these two have good chemistry. Some of Reigns' best singles work has been against Rollins.

Only the soaring popularity of the third man involved in the WWE title match at WrestleMania gives him a stronger claim to a title shot. 

1. Brock Lesnar

The case for Lesnar to get his hands on Rollins goes far beyond WWE usually offering a champion a rematch after losing the title.

When Lesnar went on his rampage on Monday's Raw, the crowd roared for him. It didn't matter what kind of dastardly deed he did, his approval rating continued to rise. As Jim Ross told Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, "People want to cheer him."

It would be easy to have Stephanie McMahon suspending him, which would lead to his turning babyface, morphing him into a monster of a vigilante. That sets up a Rollins-Lesnar bout filled with intrigue.

As we saw at the Royal Rumble, Rollins can thrive in the ring with The Beast Incarnate. And should he somehow escape Lesnar's wrath with the title in hand, it will boost his perception like no other victory could.

Lesnar is the bigger, more established star than Reigns. He is the hotter attraction than Ryback or Orton. WWE may wait until SummerSlam to go this route, but having Lesnar dig his claws into Rollins is a no-brainer.