7 Ups And 10 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (June 3)

UPS…

7. As If It Never Happened

Samoa Joe Raw
WWE.com

It’s hard to remember the last time a title was relinquished back to the previous champion after an injury.

But that’s exactly what happened Monday night, when Rey Mysterio handed the United States Championship back to Samoa Joe on Raw. Rey said it was due to injury, but his title win last month certainly was controversial, as Joe’s shoulders were nowhere near down on the mat.

And just like that, Joe was once again the U.S. champ, which is a perfect role for him right now. What made this an “up” was that it basically undid a huge, glaring mistake, allowed Rey to look dignified, made Joe a vile human for then attacking an injured Mysterio, and avoided having to hold a U.S. Championship tournament (or worse, a battle royal) that would have taken weeks.

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Contributor
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.