Kevin Owen’s Universal Championship reign (so far the longest in history) came to an end last night at Fastlane.
Kevin Owens Wins the Universal Championship
After Finn Balor was forced to vacate the title, it was determined the new champion would be crowned via a 4-way elimination match on Raw. Owens qualified for the 4-way match by defeating Neville in a singles match the week before. The 4-way was held on the August 29th 2016 episode of Raw.
In addition to the match crowning Owens as champion, it also kick started the Triple H vs. Seth Rollins feud, when Hunter gave Rollins a pedigree and literally handed the belt to Owens.
Not counting house show results, Owens successfully defended the Universal Championship six times before dropping the belt to Goldberg last night.
Feud with Seth Rollins
With Triple H nowhere to be found for months after helping Owens win the title initially, Owens entered a months long feud with Seth Rollins. While Owens wasn’t able to rely on the help of Triple H, he got plenty from his “best friend” Chris Jericho during this program.
Jericho helped Owens successfully defend the title against Rollins 3 times, first at Clash of Champions, then inside Hell in a Cell, and then again on the Raw after Survivor Series in Toronto. With Rollins out of the title picture, Owens then moved on to a program with Roman Reigns.
Feud with Roman Reigns
Owens’ feud with Roman started while he was teasing a breakup of his friendship with Chris Jericho. It seemed like Jericho was going to turn on Owens and cost him the title. That kind of happened at “Roadblock: End of the Line” when Jericho gave Owens the codebreaker during the Owens vs Reigns title match, causing the DQ. Turns out this was all a rouse and Jericho was just saving the title for his buddy.
Reigns then got another shot at the Rumble, this time with Jericho suspended in a shark cage above the ring. Strowman then saved the title for Owens however, when he interfered and gave Roman a power slam through a table.
Then Owens was scheduled for a title defence against Strowman on Raw, but Roman interfered causing the DQ and inadvertently saving the belt for Owens.
Loss to Goldberg
We still don’t know what Triple H said to Kevin Owens to cause him to turn on Jericho. Whatever it was it didn’t help him out much. Not only was Jericho not there to help Owens, but he actually caused the distraction which allowed Goldberg to get the squash victory in mere seconds.
Total Reign: August 29th 2016 to March 5th 2017
Days as Champion: 188
Title Defences (no including house shows): 6
