On last week's episode of "WWE RAW," the first-ever WWE Universal Champion Finn Balor was forced to vacate the championship after suffering a nastier-than-expected shoulder injury during his title match with Seth Rollins at "WWE SummerSlam." That development necessitated a new champion, of course, and "WWE RAW" was to crown a new champion on this week's episode.
When it came down to Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens, and newcomer Big Cass o contend for the Universal Championship by the end of "WWE RAW" last week, many figured that it would just be another Seth Rollins or Roman Reigns victory this week. What happened at this week's main event was not only a surprise, but it completely set out a fresh new direction for the show, which most fans had been seeing as losing the brand split to "WWE SmackDown Live" so far.
Onscreen WWE COO Triple H returned at the "WWE RAW" main event initially to help Seth Rollins eliminate Roman Reigns in the Fatal Four-Way elimination match for the WWE Universal Championship, but shocked the world when he turned on Rollins moments later to help Kevin Owens win the championship. WWE is going in an interesting route by continuing to have relative newcomers hold the Universal Championship, much like what's happening over on "WWE SmackDown Live" and the WWE Championship. The brand split is definitely heating up now, and we're excited to see where the Triple H-Kevin Owens era goes.
Other results
Sheamus def. Cesaro in the second match of their Best of Seven series to widen his lead to 2-0, which is now for a future championship opportunity. The Charlotte and Bayley feud for the WWE Women's Championship continues. Chris Jericho def. Neville in a rematch of their bout earlier this year that saw Neville unfortunately injure his foot. Darren Young (with Bob Backlund) def. Titus O'Neil to continue their new feud. Sami Zayn def. Jinder Mahal, Braun Strowman def. Americo, and Nia Jax def. Hyan to round out the squash matches on this week's episode of "WWE RAW."