4 Ups & 8 Downs From WWE Raw (May 30)

2. What A Brilliant Move… Nevermind

For about 10 seconds, you almost believed that Theory was clever like a fox in arranging a DQ finish and beating Mustafa Ali down ahead of an immediate United States Championship match.

And then it was all rendered moot and made the US Champ look like a total geek.

Theory beat Ali down after his match with Ciampa, then issued the US title match for right then and there. Like any good, virtuous babyface, Mustafa accepted the challenge despite his beaten-down state. He fought back briefly but was easily overcome and defeated.

And while that was frustratingly dumb, you could almost buy the “I’m so smart I vanquished a challenger easily” concept.

But then Adam Pearce came out to let everyone know that Mr. McMahon was impressed by the ingenuity, but he wanted to see then have a fair fight in a rematch at Hell in a Cell. So now, Theory’s idea was completely undermined, and he looked stupid for causing the DQ win for Ali. Had Mustafa lost, then there’d be no need for a rematch.

But hey, WWE got another 20 minutes of content for Raw, and that’s all that really matters.