4 Ups & 8 Downs From WWE Raw (Aug 24)

4. What A Chump, Er, Champ

Bobby Lashley Apollo Crews
WWE.com

There’s a way to book a babyface champ with an edge.

Apollo Crews’ booking is not it.

Crews has been feuding with the Hurt Business for more than two months now, and it looks like things could be coming to a head on Sunday at Payback, with Bobby Lashley facing him for the United States Championship. But before then on Monday, the two men squared off in… an arm-wrestling match.

Mark Henry oversaw the festivities, which saw Lashley stall a bit before placing his foot under the table, only for Apollo to stomp it, grab Bobby’s hand and slam it down for the “win.” He then cackled and celebrated his victory, jumping up and down like a kid. Crews then fled the Hurt Business and celebrated some more.

Now, it’s understandable that given how Lashley, MVP and Shelton Benjamin have treated Crews in recent months, Apollo would resort to some shortcuts to stay one step ahead. But stomping a foot and then laughing and celebrating? It just looked lame, like a loser trying to look like a winner.

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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.