On last week's episode of "WWE RAW," the red brand finally crowned a new WWE Universal Champion in Kevin Owens after an unfortunate injury forced the first winner, Finn Balor, to relinquish the title. It was the help of Triple H that gave Owens his first world title win.
However, what's strange in this episode of "WWE RAW" is that Triple H is nowhere to be found after his big return last week. The only reference made to his interference was a denial from Commissioner Stephanie McMahon of being in cahoots with her husband. You'd think that it would be important for such a prominent figure in both the company and that angle to make an appearance and provide some answers, but they decided to take the oft-trodden route of cultivating the chaos between the main players of the title picture.
"WWE RAW" General Manager Mick Foley made Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE Universal Championship at the "Clash of Champions" pay-per-view event in the opening segment of the show, and the evening's main event where Kevin Owens defeated Sami Zayn in a non-title match, after Seth Rollins was suspended indefinitely. Seth Rollins still defeated Owens's buddy Chris Jericho in another match.
Other matches
In other action on this week's episode of "WWE RAW," Bayley defeated Charlotte in a non-title match after some failed interference from Dana Brooke. Sasha Banks teased a retirement due to injury, but actually staked her claim for a WWE Women's Championship rematch at "Clash of Champions."
"WWE RAW" is also baking the undercard for "Clash of Championsh" very slowly. The Shining Stars def. Enzo and Cass in an upset victory, while there were a lot of short squash matches in Darren Young def. Jinder Mahal, Nia Jax def. Ann Esposito, Bo Dallas def. Kyle Roberts, and Braun Strowman def. Sin Cara.