6 Ups And 8 Downs From WWE Raw (Jan 6)

5. McIntyre Mauls

See, unlike Akira Tozawa, who has had a competitive match with Drew McIntyre, No Way Jose has been little more than a warm body to get pummeled in seconds.

Jose’s longest match on Raw in the past year is 2:05, and this didn’t threaten that mark. McIntyre ran through Jose with a Future Shock DDT and a Claymore, then boasted to the crowd, asking if they wanted to see him hit another Claymore, which he obliged. FWIW, McIntyre looks like he’s transitioning over to playing more of an in-betweener, and his back-and-forth with the crowd bore that out.

McIntyre helped his cause by also noting to the crowd afterward that he's never had a world title match, which drew some boos from the crowd. He then entered the Royal Rumble, which is great news, but you have to wonder if and when WWE will pull the trigger on him. Maybe eliminating Brock Lesnar from the Rumble would help?

Yes, it is strange to criticize the use of jobbers in one item and then defend the practice in the next, but that comes about when you look at who they are, and how they’re utilized. In this situation, it was almost perfect.