5 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE Raw (Jan 31)

2. Riddle Punches His Ticket

Riddle Raw
WWE.com

After hearing that Riddle was originally supposed to win the Royal Rumble and go on to challenge for a world title at WrestleMania, you had to feel bad that instead he was just tossed like a piece of trash from the match Saturday night.

But Monday night, Riddle earned a spot in the Elimination Chamber and a shot at the WWE Championship, which is something of a consolation prize. The spot was up for grabs in a match between Riddle and Otis, which was prompted by the Alpha Academy man cheating on Chad Gable’s behalf, waffling the Original Bro at the finish line of their scooter race.

Otis battered Riddle, but he kept fighting back like a plucky underdog, finally taking the big man down with knee strikes and a Floating Bro, then landed a Floating Bro press into a pin to pick up the win.

Yes, there were flaws here – the Chamber qualifying match was announced on the fly once the impromptu match was ready to start – but overall, this worked, and it also tied up the Alpha Academy academic challenge.

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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.