Seth Rollins hasn’t had the best week of his career. After WWE Summerslam , Finn Balor defeated him to become the first WWE Universal Champion. It was a potentially great story arc for Rollins because he’s been at the top of WWE for a long time now, but there was finally someone else in WWE who could beat him. Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins could have become a great rivalry.
Unfortunately, Finn Balor sustained a severe shoulder injury during the match, which will cost him at least six months of his career, and he may even miss Wrestlemania 33 if his recovery doesn’t go smoothly. Seth Rollins knows that feeling. He’s also been taking the heat all week for Balor’s injury since it was his “Turnbuckle Powerbomb” to the outside barricade that caused it.
All week, the WWE Universe has been debating about Rollins’ in-ring work and if he’s a dangerous worker. One of his biggest critics was WWE Hall of Famer Bret “Hitman” Hart . Despite the criticism, no one denies the level of talent he has in the ring, and tonight’s edition of Raw has the potential to be one of the most important nights in the career of Seth Rollins.
Tonight on Monday Night Raw, there will be a Fatal Four Way match to determine the next WWE Universal Champion after the title was relinquished by Finn Balor last week due to his shoulder injury. The four WWE Superstars who will fight for the right to be Raw’schampion are Big Cass, Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins.
Last week, it was reported that Roman Reigns was the frontrunner to become next WWE Universal Champion. A lot has been said about that idea since it came to light because Roman Reigns is still supposed to be in the doghouse with WWE officials and Vince McMahon for violating the WWE Wellness Policy last month. Not to mention, his feud with Rusev over the United States Championship was just picking up momentum, and their rivalry wasn’t over on WWE programming.
It’s possible for Kevin Owens to win the WWE Universal Championship or for Big Cass to pull off the upset of the year, but the smart money is on Reigns or Rollins. The expectation according to a new report is that Seth Rollins will win the Fatal Four Way and become the new WWE Universal Champion tonight, but it’s also going to bring some major changes to his character.
Ever since returning from his knee injury back in May, Seth Rollins has been the top heel on WWE programming. The WWE Universe was begging for Rollins to become a face on WWE television, but he picked up his character exactly where he left off and targeted the WWE Championship he never officially lost. A few months later, the WWE Universe may get their face turn.
Before Finn Balor was injured at WWE Summerslam , the original plans for Balor’s title reign were for him to enter a feud with Kevin Owens for Raw’s exclusive WWE Clash of Champions PPV. Shortly after that, Chris Jericho was meant to enter the fray and make the WWE Universal title picture a triple threat. It’s being reported that if Seth Rollins wins the WWE Universal title tonight on Raw , WWE creative will simply replace Balor with Rollins and continue as planned.
However, that creates an interesting problem because Seth Rollins is still very much a heel, which is crystal clear after watching his promo on Balor’s injury in the video above from last week’s Raw . Jericho and Owens are both working as heels on Raw , so the WWE Universal title picture being the fight between three heels doesn’t make a lot of sense for the WWE Universe.
There is some speculation going into tonight’s match that Seth Rollins could be turning face to make up for Finn Balor’s absence for the foreseeable future. The idea of WWE pulling off a “double turn” between Reigns and Rollins has been reportedover the past week, but there seem to be a lot of moving parts when Reigns could easily fall back into his feud with Rusev for the U.S. title.
Kevin Owens is a more than capable performer to take over the position of Raw’s top heel, especially against someone like Seth Rollins. Owens vs. Rollins has a lot of potential to be a great feud for WWE, even more so if the latter turns face tonight or on the road to WWE Clash of Champions .
Balor’s loss to the Raw roster hurt, but it may give Owens the chance to reach the main event level of WWE. It seems like WWE officials are on the fence about whether or not Reigns or Rollins is the right man to lead Raw into the immediate future. If Seth Rollins becomes the WWE Universal Champion tonight on Raw , it has the potential to be something new for the WWE Universe to watch, or it could be more of the safe choice for the WWE fans to watch again until another great opportunity presents itself.
[Image via WWE.com]