John Cena vs. Kevin Owens Feud Hurts U.S. Championship Open Challenge

John Cena and Cesaro put together a televised wrestling masterpiece on Raw.

On the last Raw of June, the match marked Cena's first United States Championship Open Challenge of the month.

As Kevin Owens loomed on commentary, the scenario served as a microcosm of the United States Championship Open Challenge since Owens initially picked a fight with the champ.

Owens wants to be United States champion, and with his first WWE Championship match already scheduled, fans will have a hard time believing anybody will take the title from Cena.

In addition to the inevitability of Cena retaining the title leading up to Battleground, Cena's lack of title defenses during his feud with Owens devalue the challenges as a novelty. Since Cena began his feud with Owens, face-to-face talking segments continue to take precedence over actual title defenses.

Prior to Owens' debut, Cena defended the United States Championship on Raw almost every week. Despite looming pay-per-view matches against Rusev, Cena was still able to take on midcarders ranging from Dean Ambrose to Neville. 

But since Owens' debut on May 18, Cena has only defended his United States Championship twice on Raw.

As long a Owens and Cena are embroiled in an otherwise compelling feud, there is no chance the United States Championship will change hands.

As I mentioned on the PodNasty Wrestling Podcast, Owens is quickly surging as a focal point across WWE programming. WWE is doing almost too good of a job protecting him. His presence demands attention and overshadows any Cena subplot.

At this point, all fans can hope for, in terms of Cena's open challenges, are great wrestling matches. In Cena's most recent match against Cesaro, Owens was involved in the finish. Following Cena's previous televised title match against Zack Ryder, Owens attacked Cena following his victory.

The focus is squarely on Owens as Cena's most relevant foe. As long as this is the case, Owens' growing shadow will make it difficult for other contenders to get the rub that has come to define Cena's United States Championship open challenge.

Alfred Konuwa is a featured columnist and on-air host for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter and subscribe to his weekly wrestling podcast.