5 Ups And 8 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (July 4th)

4. Champ Vs. Chump

dean ambrose miz
WWE.com

Remember when a champion versus champion match was a big deal, especially the world champ facing the Intercontinental Champion? WrestleMania VI was sold on the strength of that matchup. The IC champ was supposedly a top contender for the world title back in the day.

Fast-forward to 2016, where IC champ The Miz faced WWE Champion Dean Ambrose not once, but twice on television in a five-day span. And both times, Miz was little more than cannon fodder for the world champ. Sure, the matches might have been competitive, but what purpose did they serve? Ambrose ate a sandwich on Miz TV on Smackdown, so we got this match twice?

If you’re going to book this match, wouldn’t you want to have a reason for it? Maybe Miz demanded a rematch to put Ambrose in his place or even get a world title shot. But instead, it’s two “champ vs. champ” matches with little fanfare.

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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.