Rey Mysterio lost the United States Championship to Andrade at a Madison Square Garden house show earlier this week. However, the reason behind WWE ‘s decision to crown a new champion is because the company wants to feature “The Master of the 619” in a main event storyline.
As quoted by Sportskeeda , the Wrestling Observer Radio ‘s Dave Meltzer notes that he will join a pair of babyface superstars to take on three of the most dominant heels on the Monday Night Raw roster at the moment.
“They want the main programme to be Rey, Samoa Joe, and Kevin Owens against Seth and the AOP. That may not be shot on Monday, although we’ve already sort of have shot it, you know they beat up Rey at the end, they had Joe there and Kevin Owens gets beat up by them every week anyway. So you can see it all tying together already.”
According to Meltzer, the storyline will be the priority focus on the red brand, along with the current love triangle drama involving Rusev, Lana, and Bobby Lashley. Rollins and Mysterio have been at odds in recent weeks, and their beefing culminated on the latest episode of Monday Night Raw when Mysterio retained his championship against “The Architect.”
When you’re @reymysterio , the innovation never STOPS. #RAW #USTitle pic.twitter.com/M7bynwqkrA
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) December 24, 2019
Meltzer also believes that WWE chose to crown a new champion at a non-televised event because the company wants to make the house shows relevant again. By giving fans the idea that these shows are important, the company hopes that attendance figures will increase.
“Christmas at the Garden is a big one, they had a big crowd. 12,000 people. And, they gave them that (title change). This is long-term stuff.”
However, the journalist also speculated that the decision to crown Andrade as the new champion was so that he and Humberto Carillo can feud for the title. Both superstars are reportedly in line for major pushes on the red brand and giving them a championship to compete for will hopefully add stakes to their rivalry and get them over with the WWE Universe.
Mysterio has also been involved in the feud between Carillo and Andrade. However, now that he is being positioned for another storyline, it will allow the young competitors to steal the spotlight on their own.
If the reasons proposed by Meltzer are true, the decision to take the title off Mysterio was three-fold but it could end up benefiting the superstar, the company, and other performers in the long run.