With all due respect to the 24/7 Championship, there may be no field more wide-open on Raw than the United States Championship picture. With the title back in Samoa Joe’s hands thanks to Rey Mysterio’s forfeiture, no fewer than five Superstars have begun circling The Samoan Submission Machine, each with reasonable grounds for an opportunity: Cesaro and Ricochet have steadily accumulated victories since coming to Raw; Braun Strowman is very intimidating and thus tends to get what he wants; Bobby Lashley has history with Joe; and finally, The Miz had the misfortune of raising Joe’s ire in a pre-match “Miz TV” after questioning the champion’s “line-crossing” against the family of Rey Mysterio.

After a wild brawl on the set of “Miz TV,” the champion and his accumulated challengers were shuffled into a Six-Man Tag Team Match that pitted Miz, Strowman & Ricochet against Joe, Cesaro & Lashley, but the champ had little desire to play a part in the scramble to determine his next challenger; Joe grabbed his championship and made his exit after he found himself on the wrong end of These Hands, leaving Cesaro — somewhat wobbly after administering a long Cesaro Swing to The A-Lister — to suffer a combo of Miz’s Skull-Crushing Finale and a 630 from Ricochet. Hasty exit aside, it would be premature to label Joe as ducking anybody: Given his status as a "habitual line-stepper," Joe clearly doesn’t care who challenges him. But given that this crew doesn’t have a single scrub in it and he's already vastly underestimated at least one of them, he disrespects the field at his peril.

After scoring a victory in a Six-Man Tag Team Match on Raw, Ricochet affirms his desire to challenge Samoa Joe for his title.