10 Big Talking Points From WWE Raw (Aug 29)
A new Universal Champion is crowned!
Raw this week was built around one of the most important main events in a long time - Roman Reigns versus Seth Rollins versus Big Cass versus Kevin Owens. Following Finn Balor's injury and forfeiture of the Universal Championship, the four-way battle was made to crown a new champion.
That match certainly delivered - both in terms of in-ring quality and making major news (for better or for worse). Apart from that, though, there really wasn't much thought put into the show. There were some good matches (though more bad ones than good ones), but the majority of the segments felt like they weren't building to anything. Even worse, they weren't particularly entertaining.
The first Raw-brand Pay-Per-View, Clash of Champions, comes on September 25, but no matches have been signed for the show yet. There are a few obvious ones, but most are SummerSlam rematches. As far as a main event for the PPV, there was no evident headlining feud coming out of Raw, only guesses - we'll have to wait until next week to see what happens. Likewise, stars like Sami Zayn, Neville, and Chris Jericho remain largely directionless, despite their talent.
Here are 10 big talking points for August 29's episode of Raw...
10. Talk The Talk
Raw opened with a segment that looked guaranteed to fail - Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, and Big Cass were all sitting on stools in the ring, ready to discuss their upcoming Universal Title match as Corey Graves moderated.
Things got off to a slow start as Rollins spoke, but Kevin Owens turned things around with a great promo. Big Cass didn't have much of value to say, but Owens's microphone work seemed to motivate Rollins, who got really fired up and vowed to eliminate all of his opponents.
The only man who didn't speak was Reigns - instead, he attacked Owens, leading to a four-way brawl. Reigns ended up standing tall, his music playing as the segment ended.
There were two major takeaways from this - firstly, Owens is head and shoulders above everyone else as a promo, and even if he doesn't win the match, he deserves a higher profile in the company. Oh, and secondly, Reigns standing tall seems to mean he won't be winning, which is good.