You can't elevate someone by putting them on in a feud with the top guy. To elevate someone is to get them to a higher level. By putting someone in the main event you can't get to a higher level.
It is the rest of the rosters job to elevate people to Romans level. It's Romans job to make his opponents (who already should have been elevated) look like a threat to him. To Romans credit, that is exactly what he has done with the likes of Kevin Owens, Balor, Jey Uso, Riddle. Daniel Bryan and Big E.
Don't blame Roman for the prior regimes bad booking of people after the loss.