6 Ups And 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Aug 14)

5. Tozawa Dethrones The King

Akira Tozawa
WWE.com

After seven months of ruling over the cruiserweight division, Neville’s days finally were numbered Monday night.

The King of the Cruiserweights lost his WWE Cruiserweight Championship to Akira Tozawa after a spirited match that saw Neville attempt – and miss – his Red Arrow for the first time in a while. Neville had been nearly unbeatable in 2017, toppling all challengers, some multiple times.

But when it came to Monday’s bout, Neville must have realized he was in danger, because he started pulling out the desperation tactics of pulling the referee in the way and hiding behind him. Still, he couldn’t overcome Tozawa, who won his first WWE title and turned Titus Worldwide into a little less of a joke.

And Titus O’Neil and Apollo Crews helped the situation by celebrating Akira’s title win and treating it like a big deal, which the fans responded to. A good moment all-around, and a smart move to hold the title bout on Raw rather than it getting lost at SummerSlam.

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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.