Champion Owens Champion

It’s a new era for the WWE. At least, that is what their latest marketing campaign tells us. The Monday night after the WWE Brand Split Draft, it sure felt like the WWE was headed in a new direction. Finn Balor made his main roster debut by winning two “tournament” matches to earn his spot in the RAW main event at SummerSlam against Seth Rollins for the newly created WWE Universal championship. The universal title, it was announced, would be the WWE’s top prize on the RAW brand.

THE NEW DIRECTION

At SummerSlam, Finn Balor shocked the cynics by defeating the entrenched main eventer, Seth Rollins, to become the very first Universal champion for the flagship show of the WWE. Balor’s title win really felt like a fresh start for the WWE. Whether you like him or not, Roman Reigns, and to an extent Seth Rollins on top felt stale. Been there, done that. The fans finally had some new blood in the main event scene to get excited about. Unfortunately, the WWE injury jinx would change all of that.

Over the last year, the WWE has been hit extremely hard by long term injuries to their performers. From Cesaro to Neville to John Cena and Seth Rollins, midcard performers and main event level workers all felt the dreaded surgeon’s knife. With things finally looking up, during the Balor/Rollins SummerSlam match, Finn Balor suffered a shoulder injury that will keep him out of action for six months. Like Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins before him, Finn Balor was forced to vacate a major championship.

When the WWE had to change their plans of having Finn Balor lead RAW on the babyface side, they decided to have a series of matches that would lead to a Fatal Four Way Elimination match for the WWE Universal championship. When the dust settled, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Big Cass were the Final Four participants. Handicapping the match, you knew that Big Cass had no shot at the title. Although hugely popular, Big Cass isn’t ready to be put in that position yet. If he were, it’s possible that he would wind up getting the Roman Reigns treatment from the fans after a few short weeks with the title. I was hoping that they would put the belt on Owens. He fit the same criteria as Finn Balor. He was a hardcore fans’ favorite. He didn’t have the WWE “look.” He is also a credible main event performer. However, the odds were that when all else fails, the WWE usually goes with their “old reliables.” Since both John Cena and Randy Orton are on the other brand, that meant the WWE would probably go with the next best thing in their eyes; Seth Rollins or Roman Reigns.

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT

WOW! Was I ever wrong! Instead of putting the title on Reigns or Rollins, the WWE put the belt on Kevin Owens. Not only did they put RAW’s top belt on the rotund one, but they totally flipped the script. Towards the end of the match, Triple H came out and attacked Roman Reigns. This led the fans to believe that Triple H was getting revenge on Reigns for his loss to the “big dog” at WrestleMania. However, Triple H then hit the pedigree on Seth Rollins followed by a shocked Owens covering Rollins for the pin.

It’s about time that the WWE turned Seth Rollins babyface. The fans have been dying to cheer Rollins ever since he came back from his injury. Even the WWE set the scenario for Seth to get the returning hero pop when they created the WWE Network special on Rollins road back to the WWE following his surgery. It wasn’t just the documentary that portrayed Rollins as a returning babyface. Several of his promos cast him in a “good guy” light. Of course, being the professional that he is, Rollins eventually was able to get heat from the crowd. That lasted until he mentioned Roman Reigns, and he would get cheered again. While it was about time the WWE turn Rollins face, they only accomplished half of the job as the time has come for Reigns to go heel. Instead of beating that dead horse, part of the focus should be what comes next for Rollins. Obviously, he should feud with Kevin Owens for the Universal title until he eventually goes one on one with Triple H. However, this turn leaves one interesting question. Will the WWE unite 2/3rds of the Shield with Rollins and Reigns? I’m not sure if they would do so immediately. Why would they trust each other when they hated each other ten minutes ago? It would make no sense to pair them back up at this point. However, in a couple of months, a reunion would probably do wonders to get Roman Reigns cheered again.

THE KEVIN OWENS SHOW

Now that Kevin Owens is the top guy on RAW, it will be interesting to see how the WWE books him on top. The WWE has a bad habit of booking their first time World Champions horribly. When John Cena was around, he was the man in the main events, while the WWE Champion fiddled in the undercard. Whether it was Rey Mysterio or CM Punk, the WWE treated the superstars who were in the middle of their first championship run as midcarders. Could it be that it’s because the WWE booked them as midcard talent before they won the belt? Or is it that the WWE didn’t have faith that they could carry the ball, so these wrestlers had to prove it first before they would be cemented as a main event World Champion?

Luckily for Owens, John Cena is on SmackDown! RAW can officially become the Kevin Owens Show. If Seth Rollins is Kevin Owens first championship opponent, then Owens should have no problem being booked like a legitimate “world” (I mean “Universal”) champion. Rollins already has that main event pedigree, so the WWE will treat their feud as the top feud on RAW. Plus, if the WWE really wants to get the Universal title over as being equal to the WWE championship, they need to have the main focus on RAW be the Universal title and whomever the wrestler is that is holding the belt. Owens is in a pretty good spot here. Much better than he would have been during the first brand split if he won the title. Kevin Owens will be able to show everyone that he is one of the top stars in the industry, and Owens should be cemented as a main event player from here on out. Of course, they could give him the Rey Mysterio/CM Punk World Champion treatment, and have Roman Reigns in the old John Cena role. Reigns vs. Rusev for the United States title headlining the next RAW pay per view? Nah, it’s time for the Kevin Owens Show. Welcome to the top of the food chain Owens.