Until Chris Jericho (and Kevin Owens) claimed it from him, Roman Reigns was the WWE United States Champion. The US Championship is the second most coveted title on Raw (after the Universal Championship), and taking it off Reigns felt a bit surprising.
Perhaps this was only because we are not used to seeing Reigns lose against anyone at all, especially for a championship.
So what prompted this decision? Why did Vince McMahon decide to make Reigns lose the US Championship, going into the biggest Royal Rumble in history? Sportskeeda investigates.
#5 He's ‘The Guy’, not the mid-card guy
It is no secret that even though Kevin Owens holds the most important title on Raw, Reigns just feels like a bigger deal than him because of how both men have been booked so far. Vince McMahon still seems pretty sold on Reigns and believes that he can carry the company into the future.
Owens hasn’t really drawn as a champion, as ratings continue to plummet except when part-timers make an appearance. While the crowd hasn't reacted well to Roman Reigns, he connects with certain demographics of casual fans.
Also read: 5 reasons Roman Reigns should defeat Kevin Owens at the Royal Rumble
What we're getting to is this. Roman Reigns may quite possibly win the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble. While Reigns gets a negative reaction from the vocal majority of the audience, millions of younger fans and female fans root for him over the more ‘smart mark’ choices.
We suppose WWE wanted to move him from the mid card to the top of the card, and dropping the US Championship was just a way to achieve the same.
#4 Giving Jericho a US title run
Chris Jericho has pretty much done it all. He's a 6-time WWE Champion (the first ever Undisputed Champion to boot), 9-time Intercontinental champion and a multiple time Tag Team Champion as well.
The only thing he hadn't accomplished yet was a chance to hold the United States Championship. Now he's really done it all.
Here's some food for thought. Going into the Royal Rumble, the only other thing that he hasn't achieved has been a chance to win the actual Rumble match. As Jericho nears the end of his Hall of Fame worthy run, does this mean that he's slated to win the actual rumble match this year?
In a nutshell, WWE probably wanted to give Jericho a chance to bask in the limelight one more time, before he went on tour with his band Fozzy.
#3 Extending a stale feud
Let’s face it. We have been seeing the same group of wrestlers in the main event of Raw every week, be it Reigns, Owens, Jericho or even Seth Rollins. In recent times, the addition of Braun Strowman to the mix has freshened things up, but only to a small extent.
How many times can the un-creative Raw booking team book the same match? ‘Here's an idea. How about having Roman drop the US Championship so that we can extend the feud endlessly till the Royal Rumble. This gives us two extra weeks of content! Yaaay!’
Sarcasm aside, there's a lot of truth to the plot we just surmised. We’re certain Reigns dropped the title just to extend the feud for all eternity.
#2 Roman Reigns has not been John Cena
We thought that by working against Roman Reigns, the mid-card on Raw could be elevated to the skies. Much in the vein of what John Cena did with the US Open Challenge, week after week on Raw.
Sadly, the first thing that Reigns did after winning his championship was going after the Universal title. Not only did it make the US Championship look meaningless, it also ensured that the mid-card on Raw had absolutely nothing but grudge matches to fight for.
Roman Reigns wasn't a very good US Champion, and after his run, we have come to the conclusion that he will never be the next John Cena if booked in this incredibly weak manner.
#1 New feuds for promising babyface challengers
There's a whole bunch of superstars on Raw, who have been stuck in programs that haven’t really elevated them and have been awaiting their chance to shine. Be it Sami Zayn, Big E, Big Cass or even a KO vs Jericho feud, each of them can do with a brand new program right now.
A chance to work with a star like Jericho, who actually puts over promising talent (unlike The Guy) can only be beneficial to these men in the long run. For the sake of Raw’s future, this was a pretty solid decision, that will only benefit everyone involved over time.
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