5 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (2 Jan - Review)

by Scott Carlson

1. Theory Bests Rollins At His Own Game

Seth Rollins Austin Theory
WWE.com

There was a time when Seth Rollins was the young, smarmy champ who relied on underhanded tactics to hold onto his title.

So when Austin Theory defeated Rollins to defend his United States Championship Monday night in an excellent main event, it had an air of things coming full circle. For Theory, his redemptive arc from Vince McMahon’s chosen one, to perpetual loser with the Money in the Bank briefcase, to US champ now seems complete. That era of losing every match and failing to successfully cash in his briefcase seems so long ago now.

For Rollins, this has to create doubt in his mind about whether he still has “it.” No matter how good of a game he talks and how much fans sing his song, Seth hasn’t been able to recapture gold.

Overall, this rivalry has been a boon for Theory, giving him invaluable experience and hopefully a bit more credibility. It would be nice if he’d stop literally repeating the same promo every week, as that really did detract from what was a really good match. It’s getting pretty stale.

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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.