Fantasy Booking – Part 5: The United States Championship

In Part 5 of the series, we’re going to quickly discuss the United States Championship currently held by Matt Riddle.

I’m completely on board with the currently slated match between Riddle and Sheamus for Wrestlemania. Do I sort of feel like Sheamus deserves something a little bigger, sure, and after the last few weeks of him absolutely killing it, to get rush planted into this match feels a little lackluster, but at least it is a match for a title belt at Wrestlemania. Good on you, Fella.

Riddle’s no slouch, he can absolutely go in the ring, and with a veteran guy that can put on long, quality matches like Sheamus can, these two should be able to put on a really good one if they are given ample time on the program. It’s only like a 37 hour broadcast, so they should get plenty of time, right? I’m actually asking, I have concerns.

Now, the fantasy portion of this is going to be for everything thereafter Wrestlemania.

I want the go back to the weekly defenses of the United States Championship, a la John Cena, but I don’t want open challenges. I want the Ultimate Bro to, on a weekly basis, find some random in the back and try to pitch them on his ridiculous business ideas, and when they turn him down, they get booked into a match later in the show for the belt. It takes some of the excitement out of the open challenge, not knowing who will turn up to take a shot, but it will also capitalize on one of the only truly consistent non-Sheamus-Lashley things that Raw has had going for a while now, Matt Riddle’s comedic chops stoner humor.

It is a win-win for everyone here, aside from the people he beats each week. It keeps Riddle in the ring putting on good matches and it keeps the comedic bits that thus far have remained entertaining. They’ll undoubtedly beat them into the ground eventually, but for now at least find a way to keep making them work weekly to get matches on the card (you know, wrestling matches, that thing that people tune in for? Does anyone else ever turn on Raw and feel like they did when MTV suddenly forgot they were a music channel in the early 2000s?)

Anyway, I doubt they’re going to give the belt to Sheamus at Wrestlemania. Even with the lawsuits against Riddle they’ve continue to push him and give him the greatest entrance graphics EVER:

Bit with or without a title belt, I just wanted to take a moment in closing to thank Sheamus for his years of dedication and consistent work, and for taking advantage of every opportunity when they present him with them to remind us all that he’s a pretty great commodity in the wrestling world.