6 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (Aug 1)

3. Big Night For Ciampa

Ciampa AJ Styles
WWE.com

It was only a couple short months ago that Ciampa felt like little more than an afterthought on Raw, barely getting screentime, and getting ignored when he did.

But suddenly on Monday night, the former NXT Champion was on his way, winning a triple threat and then a singles bout against AJ Styles to become the #1 contender for the United States Championship. And both matches were decent little matches.

Oh sure, Miz helped Ciampa against Styles, holding him outside the ring so he had to scramble to beat the count. But by and large, Ciampa hung with AJ, looking like he belonged, rather than being lucky.

There’s a decent chance Ciampa is just cannon fodder for Bobby Lashley next week, but you’ve got to imagine Triple H is going to make sure one of “his guys” looks strong, even in defeat.

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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.