3 Ups & 9 Downs From WWE Raw (Jan 25)

2. Simple And Direct

As critical as we’ve been about the awful build to Goldberg challenging Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble, they finally did something (mostly) right on Monday night.

Rather than doing a long, drawn-out promo segment between the two hulking superstars, McIntyre opened Raw by noting how good it was to be back, and how lucky he was to avoid any serious consequences from COVID. After dedicating the upcoming title match to the victims of the pandemic, Drew talked about how in awe he was of Goldberg back in the day, and how unstoppable he’s been in title matches since returning to the ring.

We then got an annoying detour in the form of Miz & John Morrison, but thankfully Goldberg was out quickly to give a five-word promo: “You. Me. Sunday. You’re next!” Naturally, Miz & Morrison were idiots and got speared and Claymored for their troubles, leading to a staredown to close the segment.

Take out the COVID stuff (which was kind of necessary given Drew’s absence) and you’ve got a pretty tightly packaged segment, complete with both men hitting their finishers. No lengthy gabbing, no miscommunication, no pull-apart brawl. Just a simple and effective encounter.