5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (27 Jan - Results & Review)

Ups…

5. A Painful Title Match

Monday’s World Tag Team Championship match will not go down as a memorable battle that is etched into history, but it deserves some kudos for being entertaining in spite of itself.

War Raiders and Judgment Day had a decent match, with the smaller challengers doing everything in their power to gain an upper hand and to hang in the match with the much bigger Erik and Ivar. But the tenor of the match changed early on when JD McDonagh went for an Asai moonsault to the floor on Ivar and cracked the back of his head/neck on the announce desk.

McDonagh lay motionless for a bit before recovering and climbing onto the apron, garnering applause from the crowd. He seemed to limp along throughout the match, constantly grabbing at his head and ribs but remaining in the fight.

Judgment Day hit some knockout blows, including JD yanking Ivar off the turnbuckle into a Devil Inside for a two-count, but they couldn’t put the War Raiders away. Even Carlito and his apple couldn’t turn the tide enough. Eventually, the Raiders put Dirty Dom away with a War Machine.

Credit to JD for gutting that out – the collision with the desk looked brutal – and a mild thumbs up for the match itself. A hot crowd undoubtedly helped power this one.