7 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (Sept 5)

by Scott Carlson

1. United States Title Takes Center Stage

Bobby Lashley The Miz
WWE.com

Setting aside the Dexter Lumis silliness, it’s clear that WWE is trying – and slowly succeeding – at making the United States Championship feel special again.

The title is being defended on TV regularly, getting plenty of match time, and its champion is believable. Bobby Lashley is the perfect guy to carry the title at this time and beat back challengers. The All Mighty looks the part and has the credentials to defend the title week in and week out.

Monday, he took out the Miz in a steel cage match, overcoming a pre-match beatdown that included steel chair shots to his arm. Miz once again got distracted by Dexter Lumis and walked into a spear, but considering all he and Tommaso Ciampa did before the match, that’s pretty minimal by comparison.

Making titles matter make the title matches themselves matter, the champs matter, and the challenger who finally unseats a champion matter. It’s as simple as that.

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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.