Brodus Clay: 10 WWE Opponents He Can Feud with When He Returns

Brodus Clay is expected to make his WWE return soon.

Well, at least he's supposed to. And if he ever actually does, I assume he's going to debut as an unstoppable monster heel because that's what the WWE seems to be building him up to be.

Clay has gotten a lot of hype through those video packages we've seen on Monday Night Raw, and he's probably going to get a nice push right out of the gate.

Of course, that depends largely on who he's feuding with, but there will be no shortage of options for Clay's first rivalry.

Here are 10 opponents Clay can feud with when he makes his return to the WWE.

Note: I'm going to list them in order from least likeliest to likeliest, in my opinion. 

10. CM Punk

If WWE officials are really behind Brodus Clay, then he could be thrust into the World title scene immediately upon his return.

Let's say, for example, that the WWE decides to hold off on a WWE Championship feud between CM Punk and The Miz until Wrestlemania time and Dolph Ziggler is still carrying the United States Championship when Clay comes back.

In that case, there are relatively few options for Punk to feud with, and Clay might head straight for Punk and his WWE title.

That being said, I still don't really see that happening.

No matter how big Clay is or how much the WWE wants to push him, I think it would be a big mistake to expect us to take him seriously as a World title contender right out of the gate.

I'll call a Punk/Clay feud a long shot at best. 

9. Mason Ryan

As evidenced by the current World Heavyweight Championship feud between The Big Show and Mark Henry, the WWE loves to pair one huge guy against another one.

Therefore, with Mason Ryan being the most jacked up baby face on the Raw roster, I wouldn't even be remotely surprised to see to see the creative team go with a feud between Ryan and Brodus Clay.

Maybe there's a scenario where Ryan destroys some lower card worker in a short match and then Clay comes out and demolishes Ryan as his way of saying, "I'm the baddest dude around here."

This, in turn, would lead to a rivalry between two of the biggest guys on Raw and Vince McMahon jumping for joy as a result.

Yeah, I don't want to see this, either.

8. Randy Orton

Randy Orton has spent most of 2011 helping other wrestlers step up their game.

He's been one of the main reasons why Mark Henry, Cody Rhodes, Christian and Wade Barrett have been elevated to the main event scene, and realistically, it's largely because Orton's feuded with them and--at least in the cases of Henry and Barrett--has been pinned by them on multiple occasions.

Could he do the same for Brodus Clay? I think so.

Obviously, it would be a huge rub for Clay to make his re-debut, only to begin a feud with The Viper and then win it.

If I didn't expect the feud between Orton and Barrett to be a very lengthy one, then I think there'd be a better possibility of a Clay/Orton rivalry taking place.

7. Zack Ryder

By the time 2012 rolls around, I fully expect Zack Ryder to be holding the United States Championship and have finally moved on from his feud with Dolph Ziggler.

If that is indeed the case, then he'll need his first feud as US Champion, and there aren't really a ton of options in Raw's mid-card scene.

That's where Brodus Clay comes in.

It would be much more believable for Clay to come in and challenge for the United States title than to immediately be thrust into the main event as a contender for either World title.

The only reason why I think this feud wouldn't happen is that the WWE seems to be building both Clay and Ryder up, and it wouldn't do any good for Clay to come in and lose to Ryder or for Ryder to immediately drop the belt to Clay.

6. Daniel Bryan

Now that Daniel Bryan lost a World Heavyweight Championship match in clean fashion against Mark Henry, it looks like one of two things will happen: Either Bryan will cash in his briefcase on Henry sometime soon (like at WWE TLC), or he'll move on to a feud with someone else.

In that second scenario, think it would make sense to have a storyline where Bryan challenges the WWE's giants as he heads to Wrestlemania as a way of "preparing" for another bout with Henry, assuming the World's Strongest Man is still holding onto the World title come Wrestlemania time.

You would have Bryan go after the WWE's behemoths--regardless of whether they're face or heel--and try to prove that he can beat them.

Of course, this where Brodus Clay becomes a part of the storyline.

You could have Clay debut in a feud against Bryan, have Clay win it and then this will cast some doubt on Bryan's chances of ever beating a huge wrestler, making it more special when he actually does.

5. Kane

Kane should be coming back within the next month or so (likely under his mask), and just like Kane vs. Mark Henry, the WWE could be looking to put The Big Red Monster in a feud with another monster.

Enter Brodus Clay.

I'm guessing that Kane returns as a baby face since he's been out so long and the fans will have no choice to but to cheer him when he does come back. So, as a result, the WWE will likely put him in a feud with an up-and-coming heel if they don't reignite his feud with Henry.

Kane's veteran presence gives him so much credibility that it's seen as a big deal when someone beats him, and that's exactly what could happen with Clay.

It would make Clay look like a legitimate bada** if he were to take down the reincarnated version of masked Kane.

4. Ezekiel Jackson

Come on, you guys had to see this one coming.

Ezekiel Jackson isn't really doing anything on Smackdown at the moment and likely won't be for a while, so why not feed him to Brodus Clay?

Though Jackson isn't viewed by as fans as much of a wrestler or much of a threat for that matter, it would still make Clay look good if he were to destroy Jackson with relative ease.

I mean, it's a classic beast vs. beast matchup that Vince McMahon loves, and it's really not going to hurt the WWE to have Clay demolish Jackson.

Big Zeke doesn't look like he has any long-term stability in the company, so if the WWE is really set on pushing Clay as an unstoppable heel, then having him destroy some muscular baby faces to get his momentum going might be a good idea.

3. Sheamus

Sheamus doesn't really have a feud right now, and most of Smackdown's top heels--Cody Rhodes, Mark Henry, Wade Barrett, etc.--are already tied up in feuds at the moment.

The Celtic Warrior definitely needs a new rivalry, and I wouldn't mind seeing him take on Brodus Clay.

A Clay/Sheamus feud would be better than most big guy feuds because both of these guys can actually wrestle, and it would be interesting to see how Clay fares in a rivalry with one of the WWE's biggest baby faces.

I'm a little hesitant about this feud, though, because Sheamus is protected more than any face not named John Cena, and I'm not sure that WWE officials would put Clay over him in this scenario.

That being said, I think it would still benefit Clay to have a rivalry with Sheamus and try to prove that he can at least hang with him in the ring.

2. John Cena

John Cena has already feuded with Raw's top two heels, The Miz and Alberto Del Rio, and he's kind of just been stuck in No Man's Land since Survivor Series.

Unless you're going to put him in a rivalry with someone like Dolph Ziggler--which I would be all for, by the way--the options are pretty limited for Cena's next feud.

So, how about Brodus Clay?

The WWE seems to be going with a storyline where people are questioning if the booing is finally getting to Cena, and I'd love to see the crowd start affecting him to a point where he begins to lose matches because of it.

In that scenario, you could have Clay vs. Cena with the crowd booing Cena, Cena getting distracted and Clay getting the win as a result.

It would somewhat protect Cena while also making Clay look strong as he defeats the top star in all of the WWE.

1. The Big Show

Maybe it's just me, but I think a feud between The Big Show and Brodus Clay is almost inevitable.

I don't see Show winning the World Heavyweight Championship, and he's one of those reliable veterans who you can put in a feud with just about anyone.

Obviously, a feud with Clay would be another giant vs. giant matchup that the WWE loves, but it would also be one where Clay could get the best of Big Show and it wouldn't hurt the WWE.

As big of a baby face as Show is right now, he's still not in the same category as guys like Randy Orton and CM Punk, and he can afford to lose to up-and-comers.

It would be a good idea for the creative team to put Clay over Show and start booking him as the company's next unstoppable behemoth.