Kevin Owens is WWE Raw's Universal Champion while Roman Reigns is its United States Champion, and just by hearing the names of those titles, you'd think that Owens is the show's most important titleholder.
But you'd be wrong.
Although, just a handful of weeks ago, WWE appeared to get it right when Triple H helped Owens win the Universal title and established Owens as Raw's No. 1 titleholder, that's all changed. Reigns defeated Rusev at Clash of Champions to win the US title last Sunday, then successfully defended his belt against Rusev on this week's episode of Monday Night Raw.
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No big deal, right? Well, maybe not, at least until you compare just how WWE has positioned Reigns and Owens in recent weeks.
Reigns vs. Rusev kicked off this week's Raw, a booking decision that was obviously meant to combat the ratings monster that is Monday Night Football as well as the Presidental debate. The first hour of Raw almost always generates the show's highest viewership, which should really tell you something about why Reigns appeared at the start of the first hour while Owens was stuck in the supposed "main event" segement, one which likely had several hundred thousand fewer viewers.
If perception is indeed reality, then the reality is this: Reigns, not Owens, is now Raw's top champion even if, historically speaking, the US title has never really been positioned as the title in WWE.
In fact, perhaps we should have seen this coming after Reigns defeated Owens in a steel cage match on last week's episode of Raw. Although Reigns' victory came after he was the first one to escape the cage (rather than by pinfall), this was still a pretty good indicator of how WWE will continue to protect Reigns and struggle to book Owens in a dominant way.
Almost by default, Owens is positioned as the red brand's No. 1 heel, and he also happens to be holding what should be considered the show's top title. But we saw last year how much of a priority the US title became when it was held by John Cena, and it appears as if WWE is going that route again with Reigns.
The logic is simple in that putting a supposed midcard belt on an established main eventer will elevate the champion and the championship. The issue is that, in putting the US title on Reigns and then putting him in a highly viewed segment at the top of the show, he will continue to be perceived as "The Big Dog" on Raw.
Conversely, Owens finds himself feuding with Seth Rollins in a rivalry that should be fantastic but is quickly becoming more about Rollins' beef with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon than anything else. Whether by accident or design, that's put the importance of the Universal title on the backburner, bringing Triple H vs. Rollins to the forefront even though that match may not happen until WrestleMania 33 next year.
While it's certainly not a bad idea to elevate the US title, WWE will have to be incredibly careful to make sure that it doesn't overshadow the newly established Universal Championship, which is supposed to be Raw's top prize.
Then again, Owens is supposed to be Raw's top champion, and judging by recent happenings, that simply isn't the case.
Blake Oestriecher is an elementary school teacher by day and a sports writer by night. He’s a contributor to the Forbes @SportsMoneyBlog, where he focuses on the WWE, NBA and NFL. You can follow him on@BOestriecher.
