Monday Night Raw Review - January 8, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

CM Punk Confronted Drew McIntyre

I thought McIntyre would come out complaining about how he would've beaten Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship last week, but it looks like he's moving on to taking part in the men's Royal Rumble match instead. His exchange with Punk was excellent as they did a wonderful job of blending storyline with reality. They left me looking forward to their eventual one-on-one match, perhaps as soon as Elimination Chamber next month.

Tommaso Ciampa def. Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion Finn Balor

To my knowledge, these two have only had one televised singles match in WWE, and that was back in November 2019 on NXT TV (I had to look that up to verify). They had a good match here, but they're definitely capable of better with more time. I could've done without #DIY cheating for Ciampa to win, but Ciampa going over was the correct call ahead of #DIY challenging The Judgment Day for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship soon.

Kofi Kingston vs. Ludwig Kaiser Ended in a Double Count-Out

Props to WWE for taking a meaningless midcard match and making me care with the post-match angle. The matchup itself was well wrestled, but Kaiser viciously attacking Kingston afterward received more focus. It successfully made Kaiser look like a badass and left viewers wanting to see Kingston get revenge. We'll see how this ties into Gunther returning to Raw next week. On a side note, Giovanni Vinci posted on X/Twitter saying he's okay after last week's scary spot, so he shouldn't be out for long.

Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley Confronted Nia Jax

I've said before, but WWE has used Jax perfectly since her return to the company. She's had a string of solid matches and her outing against Becky Lynch last week may have been her best to date. Having her go after Ripley next makes sense, especially if the idea is for it to happen at Elimination Chamber in Australia where Ripley will be a massive babyface. Jax was fine in her role here, but Ripley in particular was great.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Katana Chance and Kayden Carter def. Chelsea Green and Piper Niven

I'm convinced WWE will never be able to get the masses to care about the women's tag team division (I would scrap the belts, start from scratch and debut a women's midcard title that can defended across all brands), but to the credit of all involved, they had a quality contest here that the crowd was surprisingly into. Chance and Carter are a blast to watch whenever they get to showcase their innovative offense, while Green and Niven have gelled really well as partners. I assume Chance and Carter are keeping the titles warm before The Kabuki Warriors dethrone them.

The Miz def. JD McDonagh

The R-Truth profile package we got beforehand was so stupid that it was entertaining. Truth is a true treasure and I've been digging his stuff with Judgment Day more than I thought I would. Meanwhile, Miz vs. McDonagh probably didn't need as much time as it got, but it was enjoyable enough. The crowd certainly didn't seem to mind because they were behind Miz throughout and gave Judgment Day huge heat.

World Heavyweight Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins Attacked Jinder Mahal

I was curious who would interrupt Rollins to set up a World Heavyweight Championship match for the Rumble, so you can imagine how disappointed I was when Mahal emerged. I simply can't bring myself to give a single shit about anything involving Mahal in 2024 (other than The Rock roasting him last week). This was decent, but Mahal has done nothing to earn a title shot (the man hasn't won a televised match on the main roster in almost two years), yet he'll challenge for the championship next week on Raw. Okay, then.

Ivar def. Otis

I'm happy that WWE has found a spot for Ivar on the show in his tag team partner's absence. That's typically what would happen with tag team wrestlers in the past, but Ivar is talented and is making the most of his opportunities in singles competition. This was a fun little hoss fight while it lasted. I'm not sure it accomplished anything other than to kill television time, but at least it kept Ivar's winning ways going.

Cody Rhodes def. Shinsuke Nakamura in a Street Fight

The Street Fight stipulation was added earlier in the episode when Rhodes attacked Nakamura backstage. Why not advertise that further in advance? It was basically every WWE Street Fight you've ever seen (and not nearly as violent as other No Disqualification matches other companies have had in recent months), but they put forth a commendable effort and the crowd was hot for the final stretch. This felt like the payoff to their program and now Rhodes can focus on winning the Rumble.

Overall Show

Raw delivered a thumbs-up show for the second straight week to where the three hours didn't drag nearly as much as they have in the past. The Royal Rumble has become a bigger focal point in the new year and they're raising my excitement level for the event by the week. The World Heavyweight Championship is an afterthought at the moment, and we don't know what's next for the Intercontinental Championship, but Raw remains a treat to tune into most weeks as they're filling the time as effectively as possible.

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