Monday’s Plan for Owens vs Reigns Was Changed

The stipulation for Monday’s match between Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens was an odd one, with Roman winning a title shot from pinning the Universal Champion. Why would Roman not just ask for a title match? Why would Owens agree to a match where he has nothing to gain and a lot to lose?

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer, the match was originally supposed to be for Roman’s United States Championship, giving Owens another prize to chase after.

Reportedly, that’s been the main event for recent Raw house shows, with a title-versus-title match announced and then rescinded by Stephanie McMahon, leaving only the US championship on the the line. That, naturally, gives Roman an excuse for a clean win over the champ.

The match did its job–setting up Roadblock’s main event–but we still don’t know why the last minute change occurred. Was it because Stephanie wasn’t there to make the heel-favoring match? Did somebody in production forget to make the graphic? Was Vince distracted by once again relearning what a “burrito” is? We may never know.