5 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE Raw (July 5)

3. Advancing Angles Decently

Riddle AJ Styles
WWE.com

Distraction rollups are typically automatic “downs” here in this column, but when used properly (and sparingly), they can be quite effective.

In this case, we saw AJ Styles relishing an advantage over an injured Riddle in their singles match, only to find himself on the ropes a few times in a competitive bout. But when AJ went for a Styles Clash, Erik & Ivar appeared behind the barricade on either side of Omos, cornering the tag champion.

This sufficiently distracted Styles, who dropped Riddle and yelled to get Omos’ attention. Riddle then rolled up AJ for the pinfall, keeping the Original Bro strong heading into Money in the Bank, and allowing the Viking Raiders to get one up on the Raw Tag Team Champions to further that rivalry.

And sure, a distraction like that usually is dumb, but considering that the Raiders have attacked Omos before, it was reasonable that AJ would jump to his buddy’s aide a bit and get sidetracked here. So we’ll give points to this one.

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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.