7 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Sept 19)

3. Earning A Title Shot

Let’s face it: As much as Michael Cole talks about “establishing physical dominance,” the real draw of winning the best of seven series between Sheamus and Cesaro is to earn a title shot (though we still don’t know which title is up for grabs).

It’s worth noting that these two men will have faced each other nine times since August 1st when they tangle at Clash of Champions (they’re tied 3-3, but Cesaro won two earlier encounters to set up the series). However, since July 1st, only Cesaro had a lone title shot, for the U.S. title.

Sorry to pick on him, but in that same time and as of Sunday’s PPV, Roman Reigns will have had four shots at a title (including canceled U.S. title bout at SummerSlam). Reigns lost title matches at Battleground and on Raw last month. He lost a #1 contender’s match to Finn Balor last month. And he lost last week to Kevin Owens for another title shot.

That’s not meant to criticize Reigns (though it would be easy to make that case). But it is meant to point out that Mick Foley seems fine with giving Roman almost weekly opportunities to fight for a title while forcing Cesaro and Sheamus to battle each other every week just to get one title match. But don’t expect anyone to point that out on Raw anytime soon.