7 Ups And 5 Downs From WWE Raw (April 27)

2. Crews Chokes

Look, maybe there is no great way to push Apollo Crews at this stage of his career. You would think WWE trying to push someone new and different would merit positive marks, but that’s not the case here.

Crews has been on WWE’s main roster for several years without much success. He’s become little more than cannon fodder for better wrestlers while the announcers talk about Apollo’s “potential.” But recently, WWE has let him string together a handful of wins, including one against Andrade in a six-man tag match, which earned him a United States Championship match later Monday night.

And Crews battled in a spotlight match against Andrade, only to “blow his knee out,” leading to the referee stopping the bout. Lame. If ever there was a Lex Luger-esque way to push Crews, this was it. And then later, Crews left the arena on crutches. (Is this supposed to be building him up to be a super-underdog for the Money in the Bank ladder match?)

It’s great WWE seems to be giving Crews a shot, but can we do it intelligently, like not put him in a championship match when you have zero intention of changing the title just weeks into his push?