3 Ups & 9 Downs From WWE Raw (Jan 25)

3. No One Looks Good

The Hurt Business
WWE.com

OK, that’s not entirely accurate. At least Bobby Lashley looked good.

But Riddle and the rest of the Hurt Business didn’t look good as a result of the gauntlet match on Monday night. Riddle scored two quick wins via distraction: First, Shelton Benjamin got rolled up while arguing with Cedric Alexander. Then, MVP got caught in a heel hook while trying to break up an argument between the Raw Tag Team Champions. How that makes Riddle look strong – eking out wins because his opponents are incompetent goofs – is beyond us.

Alexander and Riddle had a better match, but Cedric showboated a bit too much and got rolled up too. This means Riddle defeated the tag champs and their mouthpiece individually and single-handedly, rendering the Hurt Business – the only cohesive, successful group on Raw – impotent.

And then Riddle himself had whatever shine he gained from two distraction wins wiped out when Lashley attacked from behind to lay him out. Wow, sign us up for the PPV match between these two. (Wait, we saw that two weeks ago, and Lashley won in less than 2 minutes.)

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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.