WWE: Triple H just set up Kevin Owens to be the new top face on Raw

Triple H’s promo on Monday Night Raw may have been the perfect way to set up Kevin Owens for another major face run in WWE.

During the past few weeks of NXT’s invasion of WWE Raw and SmackDown, Triple H’s performance as the leader of the black and yellow brand has been exceptional.

It’s not that I don’t think Triple H isn’t one of the better superstars to cut a promo in WWE, but more that I don’t think we’ve gotten to see that from “The Game” as much as we should have prior to this year.

Now that he’s no longer a weekly onscreen presence, it’s felt like Triple H has really nailed his character in 2019. Starting with his rivalry with Batista, and now with his manipulation of Team Raw for Survivor Series, these have honestly been some of the more enjoyable promos in Triple H’s storied career.

That includes his promo this week on Monday Night Raw when he tried to sway Kevin Owens back to NXT.

Similar to what he did with Seth Rollins, Triple H brought up quite a few compelling points about Owens’ main roster run in WWE.

In kayfabe, it’s true that Kevin Owens has seemingly been on the wrong side of management far more often than not. Triple H used that point to try to drive home that Owens hasn’t been wanted on Raw or SmackDown, something which isn’t even entirely true in kayfabe.

However, it is true that Owens really hasn’t been utilized to his full potential for a lot of his run on the main roster. Aside from his time as Universal Champion, Owens’ full talents haven’t really been tapped into as consistently as they should have.

Just look at what’s happened after the WWE Draft for example. Despite the fact that he was coming off of a hugely pushed rivalry with Shane McMahon on SmackDown, Owens has largely been an afterthought on Raw.

While that doesn’t mean I would advocate for Owens to switch brands to NXT right now, I do think that bringing up those kinds of points is going to only benefit Owens in the long run.

Kevin Owens can be propelled back into the main event scene at basically any point in time. He’s just one of those talents who has that ability. Having to prove his doubters wrong and show why he belongs at the top of WWE will only help relate him as a face to fans more, especially after criticism came down on him for the unrealistic nature of some elements of his last run against Shane O’Mac.

The only question then is when will Owens get his chance to be a top face on Monday Night Raw?

Honestly, I suspect there’s a good chance we’ll see that run begin at Survivor Series.

WWE might as well have spray-painted “incoming betrayal” over the graphic for the Men’s Survivor Series match considering how much they’ve been teasing it. I would argue it would almost be a disappointment for someone from Team Raw to not switch allegiances to NXT mid-match at this point.

With that being said, I think the storyline at play here could really be setting Kevin Owens up as the one who gets taken out by the Raw turncoat.

Seth Rollins hasn’t exactly been excelling in his role as team leader, nor has he really been set up as someone that could be trusted to win these big matches. In other words, I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised if a quicker than expected exit is in store for Rollins.

That would basically leave Owens as the biggest face on Team Raw, and thus the perfect target for the NXT superstar hidden on the red brand.

Personally, I would look for Drew McIntyre to side with Triple H’s crew, especially considering the fact that Owens and McIntyre’s exceptional match on Monday Night Raw basically ended in a draw. After such an exciting back-and-forth, I don’t think anyone would be mad to see WWE push a feud between those two following Survivor Series, one that could help propel KO back into world title contention.

As I’ve mentioned before, Owens is also an ideal candidate to take on Brock Lesnar should he retain his WWE Championship against Rey Mysterio, so I think the table could quickly be set for KO to receive a massive push on Monday Night Raw.

It all just depends on how WWE goes about using these last two big Triple H promos. “The Game” may have set Kevin Owens up for a major push, or Seth Rollins for a heavily anticipated character change. We’ll just have to wait until Survivor Series to see which happens first.