5 Biggest Winners & Losers From WWE Raw (22 Aug)

4. Winner: Kevin Owens

Kevin Owens, like Zayn, hadn’t exactly set the world on-fire since their knock-down Battleground match. Owens took the loss there, but moved into an admittedly entertaining tag team with Chris Jericho rather than moving-up the singles ranks, and while there’s no such thing as a weak Kevin Owens performance, the former Intercontinental Champion had a good night on Raw.

His partner Jericho didn’t fair too well in the main event, and Owens’ evening ended with him being laid-out by Roman Reigns, but the Neville match was great. The duo have excellent chemistry together, their contrasting styles are a perfect match, and Neville’s deadlift German suplex (always an incredible show of strength) looks outrageous when performed on a master-seller like Owens. There were some unnecessary Jericho interactions, sure, but Owens picked-up the win, and now has a long overdue shot at the Universal Title.

Can he win it? It’s unlikely with Seth Rollins in the match, but who knows. WWE’s rapid ascent of Finn Balor shows that they’re aware of the need to build new stars in the main event scene, and Owens is the perfect candidate for elevation. He’s sharp on the mic, strong in the ring, and one of WWE’s most complete performers at the moment. They could certainly do a lot worse.