As seen this past week on Monday Night Raw, Triple H made his return to WWE TV for the first time since his loss to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 32 and it was definitely considered an impactful reappearance.
The COO appeared mid-way through the historic fatal-four-way match between Big Cass, Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins. He pedigreed his long-time rival Reigns on the outside before it seemed he was going to help Rollins win, but in a cruel twist of fate Triple H turned on his former friend en route to helping Kevin Owens to become just the second Universal Champion.
This, in turn, means that Rollins has turned babyface for the first time in more than two years and could set the wheels in motion for Rollins vs Triple H at WrestleMania 33.
The current rumour is that not many people within WWE were aware of the ending of the Universal Championship match, and it had only begun being pieced together following Finn Balor’s injury.
Roman Reigns has just returned to WWE TV following his suspension for his first violation of WWE’s Wellness Policy, which means that WWE is still punishing the former World Champion and was hesitant to allow him to claim the biggest title on the Raw brand.
A few weeks ago Roman Reigns was pinned clean by Finn Balor on his first night on Monday night Raw which proved that WWE was pushing Reigns much lower in order to rebuild him and help the crowd to react better to him.
With the recent rumours regarding Seth Rollins and how dangerous he is in a WWE ring, the company were aware that if he was given the Championship it would send the wrong message, so Kevin Owens was the best option.
Triple H’s premature return was WWE’s reaction to Balor’s injury and allows the company to set up the match between the two former friends that should have happened at WrestleMania earlier this year.
Rollins knee injury prevented that match from happening back in April and even though rumours state that Triple H was set to face Shane McMahon at next year’s showcase, it seems that The King of Kings has vetoed the idea in favour of putting over future talent instead.
Rollins turned on The Shield back in June 2014 in one of the biggest shocks of the modern era, in order to join The Authority and help their rise to power over the next year. Since then Rollins has been handed the Money in the Bank briefcase and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship thanks to his alliance with The Company’s power couple, but it will be interesting to see how he copes alone.
Stephanie was just as shocked to see her husband turn on Rollins on Monday Night Raw as the former World Champion was and it plants the seed that she could actually turn against her husband and side with Rollins rather than join her husband on his crusade with Kevin Owens.
Last week’s episode of Raw has opened up a lot of possibilities inside the main title picture on the flagship show and it allowed Owens to become the main Champion for the first time. It will be an interesting few weeks for WWE now building up to their first Raw exclusive pay-per-view in just three weeks time.
No matches have officially been confirmed for Clash of Champions on September 25th yet, but Brock Lesnar will definitely not be in attendance for the event, which means the main event will centre around the Universal Championship and could see Rollins and Reigns offered a rematch.
Speculation currently suggests that Reigns and Rollins could reunite for the first time in since Payback 216 now that they are now on the same side. Rollins hasn’t been a babyface for the past two years so this opens up many options for WWE’s creative team, but could ensure that Raw remains the top rated of the two branded shows.
The build up to Clash of Champions could be an exciting time for The Company since The WWE Universe are currently unaware of when Rollins vs Triple H will actually happen. The current theories have the match taking place sometime next year at either The Royal Rumble or WrestleMania 33.
