5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (July 24)

Ups...

5. They Got The Crowd Onside

Fans in the stands were a wee bit quiet for Tommaso Ciampa vs. Bronson Reed at first, but hard work from both guys won them over by the end. Of course, it remains to be seen how this story involving Shinsuke Nakamura shakes out, but at least everything has something to do on TV.

WWE handed Ciampa and Reed plenty of ring time too, and they made the best of it. Indeed, the final few minutes of their back-and-forth scrap played before healthy crowd interest, and Nakamura distracting Tommaso didn't really take much away from big Bronson's win either.

Good on these lads for working their butts off.

Triple H has several options available to him, including developing Reed's would-be alliance with The Miz. Or, y'know, this could all lead to nothing long-term. Hopefully not though, 'cause baby steps like this will endear the ex-NXT'ers to casual fans eventually if backed by more character development.