4 Ups And 9 Downs From WWE Raw (Aug 17)

2. Way To Build A Strong Champion

The Hurt Business
WWE.com

Nothing says “strong United States Champion” like having Apollo Crews win a match via distraction roll-up.

Yup, in case you missed that, the babyface champion won a match against Shelton Benjamin Monday night after R-Truth and Akira Tozawa did a run-through during the bout, distracting the Gold Standard long enough for Crews to grab a jackknife cover for the 3 count. The match carried the stipulation of banning Shelton and Bobby Lashley from ringside at SummerSlam on Sunday.

This “slipped on a banana peel” victory came after Apollo lost to Benjamin last week due to a distraction. So since returning, Crews has defended his US title against MVP with help from flickering lights, lost via distraction rollup, and won via distraction rollup. And then he lost again later Monday in a six-man tag match. Unless Crews is turning heel and/or is actually behind RETRIBUTION, this just doesn’t work.

Just put a bullet in this title reign and move on. Please.

Advertisement
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.