6 Ups And 7 Downs From WWE Raw (June 15)

4. Crews Has Shades Of Grey

Good for Apollo Crews, not letting himself become a victim.

Crews had a subtle but strong episode Monday night, first rejecting MVP’s offer to manage him, then overcoming Shelton Benjamin by returning the favor to him. Shelton tried to roll him up using the ropes, but the referee caught it. When Benjamin turned around to argue with the ref, Apollo rolled him up, using the ropes to his advantage – and he got away with it!

It’s a semi-subtle thing, but it shows that Crews is not being presented solely as a white meat babyface champion, which is notable. Samoa Joe certainly loved it, so that makes it worth it from the get-go.

And, this was the first episode of Raw post-Paul Heyman, and Crews walked out of the show with this United States Championship intact, so that was a somewhat encouraging sign… for now.