WWE Raw: Predicting Drew McIntyre's Best Opponent for Money in the Bank

Fresh off winning his first world championship at WrestleMania 36, Drew McIntyre will need an opponent as WWE starts the build for Money in the Bank.

On Monday's Raw, rather than do a traditional post-WrestleMania angle, WWE aired bonus footage from after the pay-per-view went off the air, with McIntyre defeating the Big Show in an impromptu title match.

The company appears to have already started planning for the May 10 pay-per-view, with Braun Strowman likely defending the Universal Championship against "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt based on the end of Friday's SmackDown.

Things aren't nearly as clear-cut for McIntyre and the WWE Championship, but there are a number of directions in which the creative team could go.

Here are the most likely challengers to take on McIntyre at Money in the Bank.

Brock Lesnar

One unfortunate hallmark of WWE storytelling is that feuds rarely last a single match, even if the babyface wins the first time around.

WWE has gotten better in recent years of not going right back to its WrestleMania main event as the main event of the next pay-per-view. The last time that happened was in 2018, when Brock Lesnar defeated Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 34 and then beat him again in a cage match at the Greatest Royal Rumble.

Since Lesnar has been CEO Vince McMahon's go-to champion on Raw for the past three years, don't underestimate the possibility that the Beast gets an immediate rematch for his title.

If there is a reason for WWE to hold off on a Lesnar-McIntyre match right off their WrestleMania battle, it's because the booking possibilities wouldn't be good for either one.

Considering how valuable Lesnar is to WWE, it shouldn't be a surprise to learn that he hasn't lost consecutive singles matches since 2003.

McIntyre received a major push to begin this year, starting with his win at the Royal Rumble and culminating with his coronation at WrestleMania. Having him immediately lose the title or even fight to a draw or a disqualification against Lesnar would only slow down the momentum he's built.

Seth Rollins

Another staple of WWE storytelling is putting Superstars in championship matches coming off pay-per-view losses.

One potential beneficiary of this could be Seth Rollins. The Monday Night Messiah was pinned clean by Kevin Owens in a no-disqualification match at WrestleMania, but WWE seemed like it tried to undo that defeat by having him squash Denzel Dejournette the next night on Raw.

Rollins has been out of the championship picture since losing to The Fiend at Crown Jewel in October. His heel turn got off to a rocky start, but it seems as if he's settled into the role nicely in recent weeks.

Giving McIntyre another top heel to defeat would help his ongoing ascent, though again this goes back to the WWE philosophy of not wanting to have its top stars lose on consecutive pay-per-views.

Rollins is on the shortlist of main event Superstars on the Raw roster. WWE goes out of its way to protect those performers, so a potential match with McIntyre would likely have to involve some sort of false finish.

Kevin Owens

Rather than try to position more heels on the Raw roster for McIntyre to square off against, WWE could opt for a babyface vs. babyface title match at Money in the Bank.

Owens would make a natural challenger for the title. He's coming off a marquee win over Rollins on the biggest show of the year and said on the Raw after WrestleMania that he wanted to move on to bigger and better things.

WWE has done a terrific job of building up Owens as a strong babyface in recent months. He is one of the best talkers in the company and would do a great job of building up a feud with McIntyre, especially given the limitation of having no crowd to interact with in the arena.

Both Owens and McIntyre are excellent in-ring workers and could put on a great match worthy of a pay-per-view main event. K.O. has built up enough clout in recent months through his feud with Rollins that he can afford to lose on this stage without being hurt at all.

If all things are equal, McMahon and the creative team will put Owens in the championship picture at Money in the Bank.