Backstage Update On Why Riddle Dropped The US Title At WrestleMania 37

Why did Riddle lose the United States Championship at WrestleMania 37? Here's why...

by Andrew Pollard
Sheamus Riddle
WWE.com

WrestleMania 37 saw Sheamus defeat Riddle to become the new WWE United States Champion in a hard-hitting affair. For those looking for a reason why the King of the Bros dropped this title less than two months into his inaugural reign with the US Championship, the Wrestling Observer has an answer to that question.

Simply put, Riddle lost the United States Title largely because he was never supposed to win the belt in the first place.

If you remember, February’s Elimination Chamber PPV saw Riddle pin John Morrison to take Bobby Lashley’s US Championship in a triple threat contest. Up until the week prior to the PPV, Keith Lee was meant to be in that match in place of Morrison – and Limitless was to walk out with the gold.

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Of course, Lee has been absent from WWE programming since just before the Elimination Chamber, and Riddle found himself in the right place at the right time to become the United States Champ. Lashley was always going to be dropping that title, and JoMo was never an option to win it due to his and The Miz’s burgeoning rivalry with Bad Bunny and Damian Priest.

Rather than being the one to take the fall and move the United States Title from Bobby Lashley to Keith Lee, Riddle ended up being the one to emerge as the victor at the Elimination Chamber.

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Why did the former UFC fighter lose his prize to Sheamus at WrestleMania 37, then? The Observer reports that WWE saw this as the perfect opportunity to fix a problem that first raised its head in February.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.