6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (23 Dec - Results & Review)
The New Day lose Kofi's Mom AND Dirty Dom, and McIntyre and Zayn continue their simmering rivalry
Welcome to Raw is Festivus!
Sorry, only one chance to make that joke, but it was worth it.
Asking fans to keep up the energy levels through a double taping is a tall order, and Monday’s episode suffered a bit due to being taped and due to a burned-out audience that needed some artificial sweetener to “come to life” at certain points during the program.
Overall, Raw did produce some decent moments, with Drew McIntyre and Sami Zayn bookending the show nicely, and the New Day having a stellar night, as they were shunned by both Dominik and Rey Mysterio and Kofi Kingston’s own mother.
Beyond that though, Raw was an uneven show, booking almost identical matches and finishes back-to-back, an inexcusable mistake. They finally got around to booking Chad Gable and his new stable against his old group, Alpha Academy, picking up a thread that should have been pulled on months ago. And the Women’s Intercontinental Championship tournament continued its record of underwhelming triple threats, putting all the pressure on the two semifinals to drive excitement for the new title.
It's difficult to hold these holiday season episodes to a high standard given the circumstances, but at the same time, WWE has been firing on all cylinders for a while now, so why shouldn’t they be expected to deliver when they have the benefit of a week to edit together the show?
Let’s get to it…