7 Ups And 5 Downs From WWE Raw (Dec 16)

5. Ricochet Overcomes Preconceived Notions

Ricochet Humberto Carillo
WWE.com

The problem with a gauntlet match with a built-in feud is that you know that all the other competitors are just chess pawns to be moved around until the end of the contest.

That mean Ricochet was not going to be involved in the final match of the United States Championship #1 contender’s gauntlet match. That was reserved for Humberto Carrillo and Andrade. And the criticism here is how Ricochet has gone from being booked as something special to “just another guy.”

However, Ricochet’s performance Monday night was something special. The One and Only competed in three mini-matches during the gauntlet match, defeating Akira Tozawa and Matt Hardy in competitive bouts before tangling with Carrillo in a really entertaining contest. Humberto would pick up the pinfall after a fast-paced ending that saw him hit a flying chuck and nail a moonsault for the victory.

Now, Ricochet showed once again how special he is, and it would be nice if WWE would actually take notice and utilize him better. Hell, at this point, putting him in a tag team with Cedric Alexander and letting them run crazy on the tag team division might be better than the semi-aimless meandering he’s been doing for a while now.

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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.