10 PPV Main Events WWE Sacrificed For Part-Time World Champions

Goodness gracious.

For as much as most of us poke fun at what must be one of the WORST PPV names in history, the card itself did have some bright spots. Brock Lesnar and Samoa Joe served as an effective six-minute precursor to the outstanding Fatal 4-Way Match also featuring Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman later that August at SummerSlam. However, were it not for WWE treating the Universal Championship like a Frisbee between March and April, passing it from Kevin Owens to Goldberg to Brock Lesnar in the span of four weeks, we might have had a much more intriguing contest on the horizon in July.

At NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable in May 2015, a debuting Samoa Joe disrupted a prolonged beatdown of Sami Zayn at the hands of then-NXT Champion Kevin Owens. The two had an intense staredown and after a couple weeks of build, they had ONE confrontation for the title on NXT TV that ended in a pull-apart brawl and no official decision. Surely, this would have made for an incredible main event at a future NXT TakeOver.

Just one problem: Kevin Owens was being groomed for his first main roster feud with John Cena.

A Universal Championship match between these two could have represented a return to form for Owens and allowed him to channel his Indies-era brutality while providing Samoa Joe with an opportunity to upend KO's at-this-point nearly year-long reign and claim a WWE World Championship, an accolade that eludes him to this day.