Finn Balor, Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler and More from the Diversity Mailbag

WWE's New Era is underway, and with the underdogs on top (Dolph Ziggler, Dean Ambrose), a new direction is in place. Still, as the top matches of SummerSlam take form, there appears to be a theme. Randy Orton? Brock Lesnar? Finn Balor? Seth Rollins? Dolph Ziggler? Dean Ambrose?

Diversity in the main event would be a bigger breath of fresh air than any new concept WWE could roll out. This hasn't been the case, especially with Samoan standout Roman Reigns seemingly falling out of favor.

Don't get me wrong—these figure to be good matches, but Shelton Benjamin can't return soon enough.  

Question of the Week: Finn Like Flynn?

Although it's easy to be a prisoner of the moment in an age of social media hyperbole, few WWE Superstars have had better debuts than Finn Balor. This was the perfect rollout of a budding star who has no time to waste as a former indy wrestler who is well into his 30s.

Balor's two victories mean his WWE pay-per-view debut will be in the main event of SummerSlam in a world title match. WWE did a good job making him look like a bona fide star right away by drafting him high on a live show, which received a strong ovation.

WWE would be wise to keep this momentum going by rolling the dice and having Balor win the WWE Universal Championship. Even a modest initial run as a world champion will help establish Balor as a viable WWE Superstar.

Fellow aging, indy veteran AJ Styles was presented as a big deal from the get-go, and WWE wasted little time before he competed for a world championship. That immediate dedication has quickly made Styles one of the top WWE Superstars as he figures to resume his feud against John Cena.

Like Styles, Balor seems to already have a built-in following after his work in NXT. After the huge pop for Bayley at WWE Battleground, the crossover between NXT and main-roster audiences seems to be strong.

But what does this say about the casual viewing audience? With Raw and SmackDown Live virtually drawing the same ratings last week, per James Caldwell of PWTorch, has WWE's casual viewing audience shrunk?

Title Wave?

Hopefully not. Not only is SmackDown's roster thin on female talent, but WWE also has a looming championship problem on its hands.

Raw has already announced it is bringing in a cruiserweight division and a WWE Universal Championship. At this point, the argument can be made that Raw has too many championships, let alone all of WWE. If WWE brings in another Women's Championship and another pair of Tag Team Championships...hell, I've already lost count of how many that is. 

Throw in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal trophy, the Cruiserweight Classic and the Money in the Bank contract (which could once again be split in two), and everybody outside of Heath Slater could lay claim to some type of championship.

Championships will only help draw interest into a product or brand if they're perceived as special. If fans are inundated with all these titles, winning them will mean less; therefore championship matches in the main events of pay-per-views will also be diluted.

By the way, WWE could have as many as 12 championships, for those keeping track at home—13 if it brings back King of the Ring. SmackDown barely has 13 WWE Superstars, so why would WWE need 13 titles?

Dean's Dream?

By the looks of things, WWE is going all-in with Dean Ambrose as WWE champion.

Prior to the brand split, it would have been safe to assume that Ambrose's WWE Championship run was going to be transitional. Television ratings didn't improve with Ambrose as a world champion—outside of an appearance by Vince McMahon and a bounce from the premiere of SmackDown Live—and there was little demand for him to win the world title coming off a series of high-profile losses.

But with Ambrose on the B-show, a smaller talent pool and career midcarder Dolph Ziggler on deck, Ambrose is sitting pretty on SmackDown.

Potential feuds against Bray Wyatt and AJ Styles could threaten Ambrose's current run, but Styles still seems to be battling John Cena, while the direction of The Wyatt Family is uncertain.

It would be surprising to see Dolph Ziggler pull off the upset against Ambrose. The choice of Ziggler as a No. 1 contender seems shocking, but he's now a bigger fish in a smaller pond. He and Ambrose will compete in the type of championship match that will further legitimize the first-time world champion, which is crucial on a new brand.

I don't see Ambrose dropping the world championship for at least three months.

Alfred Konuwa is a Featured Columnist and on-air host for Bleacher Report and Forbes. Like him on Facebook.