6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (Results & Review - 8 Jan)
McIntyre, Punk melt mics; Kaiser, Kofi have violent brawl; Cody finishes a story.
It’s really a shame that WWE is rarely able to string together a bunch of really good matches, backstage segments and promos on Monday Night Raw for a near-flawless show.
WWE will produce two or three good segments in a row, amping fans and critics up that they might be watching a classic-in-the-making, but they inevitably will fall back to Earth. Fans might get an excellent hour of television, but something in the next third of the program will stumble and deflate the energy level.
Raw Monday night opened with a tremendous promo battle between Drew McIntyre and CM Punk that opened the door to new possibilities and rivalries previously overlooked. And then it was pissed away with a babyface tag team wrestler taking a shortcut to help his teammate win a singles match. Like a rollercoaster, Raw climbed to another high with a post-match brawl that was shockingly violent for a midcard feud, kept the energy going through a Nia Jax in-ring promo, but eventually fell apart again by making Jinder Mahal a world title challenger.
The red brand produced some good promos, solid action and one chuckle-worthy video package Monday night. It continues to be head-and-shoulders above where it was two years ago. But Raw will rarely rise to that “home run” level where everything clicks for the broadest of audiences.
Let’s get to it…