6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (Results & Review - 22 Jan)

UPS…

6. An Edgier New Day And Imperium

Despite being two of the best tag teams on the roster and perhaps in the world today, the New Day and Imperium have been beset by some less-than-stellar booking in recent months.

Imperium has been saddled with a storyline that saw Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser bickering while Gunther plays them off each other, teasing dissension in a faction purportedly all about in-ring excellence. Meanwhile, New Day have lost a fair share of matches, serving more as a stepping stone for other teams than the measuring stick for all others. Their lightheartedness had been allowed to overtake their tag team brilliance.

This feud between them, ramped up due to a real-life injury to Vinci, has seen both teams turn up the dial on the violence and aggression, with Kofi Kingston injuring Vinci, Kaiser taking out Kofi, and Xavier Woods swearing revenge on Ludwig. The viciousness spilled over in their tag match Monday, which ended with both teams getting counted out, and then continuing to brawl on the floor.

The chaotic nature of the fight – a contrast to WWE’s normally perfect, homogenous product – set this off as different than the usual “wild” pull-apart brawls. The four fought into the tech area, where they took a predictable – but still exhilarating – plunge through a couple tables, laying out all of them.

New Day’s backstage promo later capped this edgy turn, with Kingston noting that people mistake their jovial nature, the unicorn horns, the pancakes and the goofiness for weakness. Kofi nailed this part too, showing fire that built off the brawl and gave more rationale to their attitude.

For both teams, this is a much-needed redirecting away from previous booking to something more focused, more serious. There will be plenty of time for lighthearted stuff, but this worked well.