Riddle Was Never Supposed To Be United States Champion

It did seem sudden. Like any form of entertainment, there are going to be some times in wrestling where what you see does not make a ton of sense. That being said, sometimes you will get to see how things get a little bit more logical when you see the bigger picture. That was the case over the weekend as a certain move was a bit odd, though there is a little more to know about the situation.

This weekend saw WWE’s WrestleMania 37, which featured multiple title changes, as tends to be the case at almost every WrestleMania. Some of them were expected, but at the same time there were a few that did not make the most sense and came by surprise. That was the case with a certain title change, but now we know a bit more about the plan going into things.

During night two of WrestleMania 37, Sheamus defeated Riddle to become the United States Champion for the third time in his career. The win ended Riddle’s reign, which began at Elimination Chamber in February, at 49 days. According to Dave Meltzer, Riddle’s title reign had always been planned to end soon, as he was never planned to be the champion in the first place.

Keith Lee was originally planned to win the title in the triple threat match where Riddle became champion, as the point was to get the title off of Bobby Lashley. However, Lee was pulled from the match and replaced by John Morrison. Since Morrison was in a feud with Bad Bunny, he could not win the title, so Riddle won it instead, with no plans for him to hold it long term.

They had a heck of a match. Check out the title change and how Riddle got the title in the first place:

Riddle puts on an aerial show against Sheamus: WrestleMania 37 – Night 2 (WWE Network Exclusive)

Opinion: This makes a bit more sense, but at the same time it does not exactly do much good for the title. I can understand the concept behind the whole thing, though Riddle losing the title relatively soon and losing is so definitively does not give his future the brightest hope in the world. I’m sure WWE can find something for him to do, but this was a setback.

At the same time, this is something that Sheamus has earned. After a rather solid feud against Drew McIntyre, Sheamus showed that he still has a lot to offer. It is nice to see him being rewarded for his effort and hard work, as he could give someone a rather nice rub, even without losing the title anytime soon. That is a good move from WWE, as Sheamus can help multiple people as champion.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books.

Keep up with the LATEST WRESTLING RUMORS! Click here to sign up for the exclusive Wrestling Rumors daily newsletter, delivered right to your inbox.