3 Ups & 9 Downs From WWE Raw (May 24)

7. Sacrificing AJ For Meaningless Tag Feud

AJ Styles Jaxson Ryker
WWE.com

AJ Styles is a decorated multi-time world champion and one of the best wrestlers on the planet.

So naturally, he jobbed on Monday night to further a rivalry with Elias and Jaxson Ryker, presumably for a tag title match involving Omos. Styles lost to Ryker after Elias hit AJ with a jumping knee outside the ring, and Jaxson nailed his side slam for the pin. And just like that, perennial losers Elias & Ryker must be in line for tag team championship opportunity… because that’s how things work in WWE.

No one buys Elias & Ryker as having a prayer of unseating Styles & Omos for the tag titles. And no one buys the troubadour and his lackey as anything more than glorified jobbers – since they lose nearly every week. An assisted win for Jaxson isn’t going to suddenly give everyone amnesia and make them contenders… is it?

Oh right, this is how WWE builds people up.

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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.