WWE News: Huge Triple Threat Match Scheduled For U.S. Title On ‘WWE Raw’ — New Champion To Be Crowned?
Many fans felt that Roman Reigns stepping down a notch in the ranks would help relieve some of the hate. While it did satisfy some, there are still others who continue to jeer the current United States Champion. After returning from suspension in July, WWE had some alternative plans for Reigns that did not include winning back the WWE Championship acquired at WrestleMania 32 from Triple H. Instead, he would be a midcard talent, which is a role that he has stayed for the second half of the year.
Recently, Reigns has returned to the main event scene, vying to win his first Universal Championship by defeating current champion Kevin Owens. Already holding the U.S. Championship, Reigns would be the second person to both hold the World Title and United States Championship, next to Seth Rollins.
During this time, Chris Jericho has faced Reigns on multiple occasions, attempting to win the only major championship that has alluded him throughout his near-18-year career in the WWE. Unfortunately for Jericho, he has fallen short every time, unable to win the title.
Reigns has also defended the title against Kevin Owens. Valiantly, he has remained champion by plowing through his competition. Now, Reigns is going to have to face the “best friends” on the upcoming Raw episode, as WWE announced via Twitter that there will be a triple threat match for the United States Championship.
BREAKING: @WWERomanReigns defends the #USTitle this Monday on #RAW against BOTH @IAmJericho & @FightOwensFight! https://t.co/67WzfaBLlp pic.twitter.com/jx8OXuFWLC
— WWE (@WWE) January 6, 2017
While many are tired of seeing the same matches repeatedly on Raw, this match may indeed be worth the anticipation. One thing, however, that WWE must be very careful of is to be lackadaisical in their protection of the Universal Champion. Outside of losing multiple non-title matches, Owens still has yet to really branch out as his own character successfully. When he first won the Universal Championship, it came as a surprise to him, as he was hand-picked by Triple H during a four-way elimination match for the vacant title on Raw.
When Owens won the title, he was christened as somewhat the newest member of The Authority, although the group was quite skeletal at the time. Not finding too much character success by himself, he was paired with Chris Jericho shortly before SummerSlam, and the duo has been a tandem ever since, minus a few brotherly fights.
“The List of Jericho” is one of the most popular parts of Raw, which sometimes can overshadow the significance of Owens being champion. However, Jericho does not have an impressive win-loss record over the past few months, which does not do much to propel his competition.
For Jericho to really be a strong all-around character, he must win more matches to be a potential threat to whoever he faces. Otherwise, he will continue to go into nearly every match as the underdog, and lose. Not only does winning the United States Championship mark another marquee moment in Jericho’s career, but it opens up a list of possibilities heading to WrestleMania 33.
Seemingly, the best option would be for Reigns to lose the title to Jericho, but not without some animosity brewing within the friendship of Jericho and Owens by the conclusion of the match. Since the Royal Rumble is weeks away, Jericho is still scheduled to be inside the shark cage hovering over the Universal Championship match. With Jericho as U.S. Champion, the friendship can finally dissolve between him and Owens, leading to a WrestleMania match.
Since neither Jericho nor Owens are on the list for high-caliber matches at the big event, the fans would certainly enjoy the storyline of their friendship breaking up and a culmination match with the U.S. title at stake.
[Featured Image by WWE]
