6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (Results & Review - 15 Jan)

by Scott Carlson

1. McIntyre Continues To Soar

Drew McIntyre Cody Rhodes
WWE.com

Yes, WrestleMania 40 is still Cody Rhodes’ story to finish, but hot damn does Drew McIntyre deserve one hell of a consolation prize for his work.

The Scottish Warrior continued his path of pent-up aggression Monday night with Cody in his crosshairs, drawing on real-life experiences between the two – did you remember they were former tag champs together, as the Dashing Ones? – and how they both needed to get away from WWE to realize their potential, come back and achieve their dreams.

Drew told Cody he was going to finish his story and become the first member of his family to hold a WWE world championship… but not before McIntyre finished his story. That’s when everything skidded off the rails. Rhodes responded, and he carefully name-dropped some figures in talking about who else besides them could win the Royal Rumble: Jey Uso and CM Punk, two men who have triggered Drew in recent months.

This naturally set McIntyre off and the two traded barbs about their roles in the company, who was grateful and who was airing grievances, and who was finishing their story at Mania. It was masterful stuff, as for the second week in a row, Drew has inserted himself as an obstacle to a Rumble favorite, making himself a hurdle for Rhodes and/or Punk to clear if they want to reach WrestleMania. Just fantastic stuff all the way around.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.