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Riddle Beats Mustafa Ali, Retains United States Championship on WWE Raw
March 16, 2021
Riddle beat Mustafa Ali on Monday night's episode of WWE Raw to retain the United States Championship.
Monday's title match came about as a result of a non-title bout between Riddle and Ali a couple of weeks ago on Raw. Thanks to interference from Retribution, Ali won that match and earned a title opportunity.
In a subsequent promo, Ali made it clear that he didn't believe Riddle was a good representative of the U.S. title, and he expressed his belief that he would make the championship matter and give the WWE Universe the United States champion it needs.
Ali specifically criticized Riddle for using his platform to talk about random topics that don't make a difference. The leader of Retribution vowed to do things differently if he could beat The Original Bro for the gold.
Riddle won his first singles title in WWE at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in a Triple Threat match against Bobby Lashley and John Morrison. Lashley entered the match as the champion, but Riddle pinned Morrison to take the strap.
Lashley went on to bigger and better things by beating The Miz for the WWE Championship, which seemingly left Riddle on his own with a chance to build up the title with a strong reign.
It didn't take long for Ali to emerge as a threat, though, especially since Riddle has had to deal with the likes of T-Bar, Mace, Slapjack and Reckoning potentially interfering.
Although Ali had some momentum entering Monday coming off a non-title win over Riddle, The Original Bro managed to get back on track last week, as he rose above Retribution interference to beat Slapjack in a singles bout.
On Monday, both Riddle and Ali aimed to put on a show and place the United States Championship on a pedestal of sorts, which is significant for a title that gets lost in the shuffle at times.
Riddle and Ali didn't disappoint, and with Riddle retaining, it seems likely that he will enter WrestleMania 37 as the reigning United States champion.
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