Chris Jericho Is The *NEW* WWE United States Champion

[Jack-Hammer]

As we saw on last night's Raw, Roman Reigns was defeated in a handicap match against Y2J and Kevin Owens and if Owens or Jericho got the fall, that guy would be US champ. Welp, Jericho got the fall and won his first United States Championship.

Now this opens up a handful of possible directions. For one thing, one would assume that Roman Reigns has an automatic rematch because no special stipulation was mentioned to suggest he wouldn't get one if he lost. If so, does that rematch take place on one of the two episodes of Raw prior to the Rumble? Will it go down at the first Raw brand ppv? Will they wait all the way until WrestleMania for it to happen?

Another possibility is that this opens up Roman Reigns heading into his match with Kevin Owens. He'd no longer be United States Champion, so there'd be no need to vacate that title if he defeated Owens for the Universal Championship or to try defending them both for a while.

I don't see Reigns getting his rematch at WrestleMania because...well we've already seen Reigns vs. Jericho several times on Raw already and interest in seeing them at WrestleMania in a match that Jericho is all but guaranteed to lose would be virtually nil. I could see Reigns getting his rematch at Fastlane, which will be the first Raw brand ppv of the year, and regaining the title but, again, that just sets up a rematch for WrestleMania that hardly anyone would care about.

For me personally, I'd rather see Jericho & Owens walk into WrestleMania as champions. I see WWE milking the two "best friends" labeling themselves both the Universal and United States Champions for a while before having them both drop their straps at WrestleMania. IF WWE is going for Taker vs. Reigns, which is reported to be a possibility, Reigns failing to regain the US title from Jericho and failing to win the Universal Championship from Owens could sort of "set Reigns off" in the sense that his frustration gets the best of him, he runs out during the Royal Rumble match, even though he's not a participant, and he eliminates Taker. Or, they could go with that scenario with Cena as well if he fails to defeat Styles at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Championship.

 

[ShinChan]

I'm really happy about Jericho winning the US Title.

First because surprisingly, Jericho hadn't won the aforementioned title in his whole career. Secondly, Reigns was still in main event scene while holding the midcard title so that's good too.

Jericho winning this title opens up multiple options for feuds that are refreshing enough. We could even get Owens Vs. Jericho for both titles.

Plenty of opportunities.

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

Congratulations to Roman Reigns for winning the Universal Championship!

That's all I took away from this really... I fully expect to see a Roman Reigns is the *NEW* WWE Universal Champion thread in about 19-20 days. Unless Jericho's reign is short lived and Roman wins the Championship back on one of the two RAW's left before the Royal Rumble, the story seems to be heading towards Reigns dethroning Kevin Owens and taking the Universal Championship... and then that leading to the descent of Owens and Jericho.

It keeps the rumored matches of Jericho/Owens and Reigns/Strowman for WrestleMania in tact with the only difference being that the feuds now swap championships... which doesn't necessarily excite me.

One thing all of this does do though is it knocks Jericho out of my list of potential Rumble winners, now only leaving Strowman and The Undertaker as viable options for me. I know Jericho already announced he's going to be a participant in the match but I personally wouldn't take him out. I would start the falling out of Jericho/Owens right after the match at the Rumble. Have Owens attack Jericho in a fit of jealousy because he lost his championship while Jericho still has his. OR have Owens eliminate Jericho in the Rumble, I'd prefer the former though that keeps him out of the match all together... maybe have it be so bad that it keeps Jericho off TV for a few weeks so the story doesn't draw on too long.

Anyway, let me stop here because I'm starting to ramble, those are just my takeaways after what I saw last night.

 

[Loveless]

The likely outcome of this is Reigns wins the Universal title and moves on, while it'll be Jericho Vs Owens for the US title at Wrestlemania. Expect signs of Jericho being unwilling to share his title in the same way Owens has done. Unfortunately it may also mean Reigns Vs Strongman.

 

[Boubou79]

I think this will happen...

Reigns will win the Universal title at the Royal Rumble.

Kevin Owens will not be able to regain his belt in the rematch and will blame Y2J, saying he is supposed to be a champion and not him. At Wrestlemania we get what we all want to see but for the midcard title instead of the big one. Y2J vs KO. Kevin Owens wins the USA championship and Jericho goes touring with his band.

 

[Azane]

I can't celebrate for Jericho, because the overarching "They just did this to take the US title off so Reigns could win the Universal Title" feeling is too strong.

The US title was the only thing keeping the Rumble match between KO and Reigns somewhat interesting, because it meant there was a chance (lol) Roman loses. The direction of the story is all too obvious now. Jericho winning essentially takes KO out of the Main event after Royal Rumble, and takes away one of the better RAW Angles, and makes it midcard, while elevating Mr. Succoring Succotash.

I Learned to stop hoping against Roman ruining every scenario, as every time in my head I start rationalizing "Well maybe they'll do this, maybe they'll do that" I realize that every time I hope, he's always the one standing up being booed at the end, From Survivor Series, to The Royal Rumble last year, to WM, to the wellness scandal, to this WM.

Every Scenario in my head that doesn't lead to Roman Main eventing Wrestlemania isn't going to happen in reality, and this was the obvious first step, since Roman isnt in the Rumble. (Well, Roman losing at Rumble, then knocking someone out, taking their rumble spot and winning "AGAINST ALL ODDS!" is possible)

 

[Y 2 Jake]

He won it for the sake of it. Because he hadn't previously won it and now so they can say he has. I won't be surprised if Reigns wins it back next week.

Not that it matters. It's a worthless piece of tin anyway.

 

[ComeOnVince]

Like almost everyone else, I see this as a way to free Reigns of the US Title. He's been in the main event mixup almost since he won the stupid belt and it's been pretty meaningless.

That being said, I always love to see Jericho carrying gold. He deserves it, so I'm OK with it.

Most of us expect Reigns to take down KO for the Universal Championship, but maybe WWE will surprise us. It's a slap in the face to KO to then force him into a match with Jericho over the US Title to culminate their imminent feud. KO is tremendously entertaining, especially with Jericho around. But he does need to get free from Jericho and do his own thing for awhile for sure.

Maybe in the midst of it, Reigns will turn heel. I'm much more interested in seeing what a heel Reigns looks like. Roman has improved leaps and bounds since his Wrestlemania match last year, IMO.

KO is one of those that can turn face and not even really change his character. He just has to stop using the overt heel tactics. A face-ish KO vs a heel Jericho is 'best for business.' So maybe that's how it plays out?

Or maybe Vince was just using KO to carry the title until he was ready to put it on Roman again. I guess we're about to find out.

 

[StaRRStruck]

I like the change as RAW has finally rewarded the only entertaining part of it's programming both men singles titles. I'm not to particular on what direction they might go, but I pray they don't do what an above poster said and stick Roman back with the title next week.

As much as I don't want Roman to walk out as Universal Champion Sunday, I do find it kind of hard seeing KO walking out as champion as well. Who would he face Balor? Taker? None of these options really balance as being the guy that stops what is basically the authority's new Seth Rollins to a lesser extent. I want Y2J vs KO obviously, but I'm not sure now that Jericho's won the US title that they would do this for the Universal title.

As for US Title, it could play the part as the strap on the line if and when KO and Jericho meet at WrestleMania. That's my legit guess unless Jericho drops the strap before that. It could honestly go either way but the only possibility I need to come true at this point is the Y2J/KO bout at 'Mania whether it's for the Universal, US or nothing. The match itself has been built already better than anything on last years card, and they haven't even started feuding.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

I get why some of us are saying the Jericho US title win is a smoking gun for Reigns winning the Universal title. Reigns vs Undertaker or Balor are big match possibilities that unfortunately leave KO by the wayside.

I'd also point out that none of this is a lock. It does remind of previous times where WWE has removed a midcard title from someone just prior to them winning a major title, so they won't wind up with both.

They took the US title off of Cena in 2003 just weeks prior to his Mania 21 match with JBL where he won his first WWE title. Cena holding both titles would have been a bigger moment, and they inexplicably gave the title to Orlando Jordan.

Edge beat Orton for the IC title a month before Orton won the world, Bryan beat Miz for the US title shortly before Miz cashed in. WWE has generally avoided double singles champions, the exception being Rollins last year. That was short lived.

I think we all try to outthink or outsmart the booking instead of just trying to enjoy it. Raw has been pretty difficult to enjoy lately. So we find ourselves deciding we know where things are going ahead of time.

There are two Raws before the Rumble. Plenty of time for Reigns to recapture, thus throwing the whole he lost one title to win the other theory out of whack. They could even throw Reigns into another title match at the Rumble against Jericho, to make things more "difficult" the Samoan Fabio.

It'll be interesting to see how things go down. If Reigns does win the title, he could be facing the Undertaker or even Finn Balor which may lead to the oft desired Reigns heel turn. Nothing yet is for sure.

 

[CrunKSinatrA]

Are Jericho and Owens the new "Two Dudes with Attitude?"

Or do they need to win the tag titles first?

This whole "Best Friends" angle reminds of the Shawn Michaels and Diesel friendship where they literally held ALL the titles... but Y2KO are way funnier and better.

Sadly, I don't think Y2KO will win the tag titles. And Jericho is going to lose the belt, not his smile.

It would be funny if they played off the comparison to Diesel/Michaels.

Kevin Owens could start going as Big Daddy Owens and Jericho could be the Y2Kid.

Actually, KO does the super kick. So he could HBKO and Jericho could be Big Sexy the Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla.

Or we get to see Jericho's List, that he cherishes so much... b/c it's actually an Old School Mall Glamour Shot blurry pic of Jericho and Owens dressed as Diesel and Shawn.

 

[Navi]

I'm glad Jericho won, but worried about the fact that it frees up Reigns to go for the Universal title again. Back in December the WWE ran a poll asking people who they wanted to see main event at Wrestlemania. Styles was in the lead with 41%, then Undertaker with 10%. Roman Reigns came in 6th place with only 4% of fans who said they wanted him back in the main event. The poll was deleted. I guess the WWE didn't get the answer they wanted.

So I'm really hoping that this is not the start of another Roman Reigns run. The guy has improved, but if you listen to fans and read some of the comments here and other places, fans do not want to see him in the main event scene. Putting him in the mid card did nothing for him either as he stayed in the main event scene anyway.

Usually this time of the year I'm looking forward to the Rumble and Mania, this year I'm kind of nervous about it.

 

[Spencesc11]

This did make a lot of sense to free up the US Title off of Reigns prior to Mania. And then you could have Owens vs. Jericho for the US Title. Owens is just not credible as the #1 guy on Raw. Being a secondary champion is probably where he needs to stay for awhile. In terms of Mania if they do intend on having Goldberg vs. Lesnar III then I think the best matches they could do otherwise would be Cena vs. Undertaker (WWE Title) and Reigns vs. AJ Styles (Universal Title). Styles could drop the Title to Cena, win the Rumble, and then announce he's challenging for the Universal Title and returning to Monday Night Raw!!! I would have Taker go over Cena in the Main Event and then retire champion. He deserves the proper sendoff. Then you can have a WWE Title tournament on Smackdown with these 8 guys (Cena, Ambrose, Miz, Corbin, Ziggler, Orton, Wyatt, and Samoa Joe). I would probably have either Miz or Wyatt win it. Both are due for a major push. I would also move Rollins to Smackdown and pair him with Ambrose in a DX type role. They could feud with the Wyatt Family, Miz, etc... Styles is the #1 guy now and should be on raw. Rollins has gone a little stale so this reboot would help him and Ambrose.

 

[Xemmy]

Reigns never should have had the belt to begin with. He hasn't acted like he was even a champion. The belt hasn't been this mistreated since Ambrose held it without defending it back in The Shield. Why they had him take it off of Rusev boggles my mind. Cena worked so hard making that title legit, and Rusev did a great job carrying it. Even Kalisto and Del Rio weren't this bad. I can only hope Jericho does something interesting with it.

And it's nice to see a little Two Man Power Trip.