What’s the story?
On the upcoming episode of WWE Raw, Roman Reigns will defend his United States Championship against the “best friends” duo of Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens, just a few weeks away from attempting to become a dual champion at the Royal Rumble. Reigns is being battle-tested to show how resilient he is, and he has faced both competitors on multiple occasions. When Reigns won the championship from Rusev, it immediately added an extra level of main event-level prestige to it. However, the championship has been poorly booked since his reign, and a shake-up is necessary. Since the brand split, Reigns has been one of the focal points of Raw, and has faced the top heels numerous times. However, there has been once person who he has faced excessively.
In case you didn’t know...
According to Reddit, Roman Reigns has competed on Raw 18 times since the brand split. Out of those matches, a whopping 14 of them have been against the current Universal Champion Kevin Owens. While it appeared as if Reigns and Owens have competed against each other repeatedly, it is indeed shocking that the two have battled this much.
The heart of the matter
People wonder why Raw is getting less steam than SmackDown Live. The simplest reason is due to people watching the same matches over and over again. While Reigns certainly does not desire a significant portion of the flack he is receiving, WWE Creative is making it much more difficult to rally behind him with matches against Kevin Owens in some fashion happening just about every week.
Sportskeeda’s take
WWE Creative is in a desperate position to inject interest in the Raw brand. Not to the doing of the actual talent on the roster, but as a result of constant booking that is repetitive and seems very lazy. If Reigns actually defeats Owens and Jericho once again on Raw, not only would this further hurt the United States Championship, but it would damage any attempt in continuing to push Reigns as a fan favorite.
