3 Ups & 8 Downs From WWE Raw (April 5)

Ups…

3. More Of This Riddle

Riddle Mustafa Ali
WWE.com

It’s probably way too little, way too late, but Monday’s match pitting Riddle against Mustafa Ali was a great example of how to actually book the United States Champion.

Riddle was pretty much all business (save for putting on Sheamus’ hat and dancing around and promptly getting attacked), battling the much-maligned Ali. The finish – with Riddle escaping the Koji Clutch with a deadlift fisherman’s buster, and then countering a tornado DDT with a Bro Derek – was pretty nicely done.

If only this was the Riddle we got 90% of the time with only 10% of goofiness, instead of vice-versa, it might be possible to get behind the US champ. But alas, that’s not what we’re getting. Still, we can appreciate a decent match on an otherwise drab, lifeless Raw.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.