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For a change, there was an air of uncertainty surrounding this week’s Raw and it was mainly regarding the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Triple H, as announced earlier – declared the tournament to crown the new champion, which included 16 WWE stars. Five of the first round matches from the tournament were featured on RAW and the rest are scheduled for the upcoming SmackDown taping.
Below are the matches that took place and that are yet to happen:
– Roman Reigns defeated Big Show
– Kevin Owens defeated Titus O'Neil
– Dolph Ziggler defeated The Miz
– Dean Ambrose defeated Tyler Breeze
First round matches Scheduled for SmackDown
– Alberto Del Rio vs Stardust
– Ryback vs Kalisto
– King Barrett vs Neville
Second round / Quarterfinal matchups
– Roman Reigns vs Cesaro
– Dolph Ziggler vs Dean Ambrose
– Kevin Owens vs Neville or Barrett
– Del Rio or Stardust vs Ryback or Kalisto
From the looks of it a Dean Ambrose-Roman Reigns finale looks set to happen as they are in the opposite brackets.
When it comes to the favourites to win their respective quarterfinal bouts, Reigns is the clear cut favorite in his bout against Cesaro, but not before putting on one heck of a match with the Swiss Superman.
When it comes to Reigns’s most likely opponent for the semi-finals, the odds are heavily in favour of Alberto Del Rio, as he is the most logical option for Reigns.
Also, beating a current champion would help add some mileage and credibility to Roman’s journey towards claiming the belt.
Looking at the other bracket, the matchups are solid that are guaranteed to showcase solid wrestling. Ziggler and Ambrose face off in the quarter-final. Ambrose is surely winning this one as Ziggler is currently transitioning into a feud with Tyler Breeze.
In the other quarterfinal, Kevin Owens faces either Neville or Barrett. Neville is the top pick here as he is currently idle, whereas Barrett is involved in the tag team scene. And also who wouldn’t want to see Owens and Neville tear the roof off the place like they did in NXT.
It comes down to Owens vs Ambrose in the second semifinal and this is where the tricky part is. Both are perfect choices to face Reigns the final, but the scales tip in favour of Ambrose, which is logical and much-anticipated.
Another possibility is that Owens ends up winning his semifinal against Ambrose by resorting to classic heel tactics only to lose against Reigns in the final. This solves WWE’s problem of wanting a heel against their anointed babyface – that is Roman Reigns.
Owens can thus easily transition into an IC title feud with Ambrose, which is a win-win situation.
