Raw recap & reactions: Drew McIntyre is WWE’s Drake (2024)

Euphoria

Connecting these dots didn’t take long: Drew McIntyre moves like Aubrey Drake Graham. How? Glad you asked.

Raw started with Drew walking to the ring. He got on the microphone and did his usual thing: blamed everyone. He blamed Adam Pearce for making look foolish last week when CM Punk showed up seconds after he left. He blamed Jey Uso for any and everything. He blamed Damian Priest for his incredibly short championship reign. The one thing he said that contained even a little truth is that everyone keeps taking Punk back with open arms despite all the evidence against that idea.

Acting like the world is against him with no hint of self-awareness is exactly what spelled Drake’s recent undoing. Kendrick Lamar, Future, Metro, Rick Ross, and even The Weeknd have issues with him because of their actions, not his. They’re jealous or mad at his success. They hate the fact that women chose him over them. Or they’re ungrateful for what he did for them. All of that ignores a truth that revealed itself during his war of words with Kendrick: They dislike Drake because of how he moves as a person. If he chose different paths in how he relates to these guys personally, and did some self-reflecting, then things might change. Even with Kendrick, Drake mentioned family members first, which took the battle down the path it went. Essentially, Drake screwed Drake.

And that’s where we are with Drew. Damian said as much when he hit the ring after hearing Drew’s insults. Damian even pointed out that Drew stopped him from cashing in on Seth Rollins multiple times, and suggested that the Judgment Day’s “leader” wait for Drew to defeat Seth before using that briefcase. That’s exactly what happened. Whose fault is that?

WWE is using Drew really well while he’s injured. He shows up on tv for a bit, gets someone over, then leaves. Damian looked and sounded good going back and forth with the Scotsman, and looked pretty smart too. It’s a testament to Drew’s character work that they can throw him in there with anyone and it usually works. His childish act makes everyone look strong while taking nothing away from his standing. That one man can whine this much and still create compelling material astonishes me every week.

Damian suggested Drew look in the mirror, something Drake never did. I don’t think he will, which means he’ll eventually succumb to someone. That doesn’t make that person Kendrick either. It just means they took advantage of a guy so convinced he’s the good guy in this story that he missed the obvious signs at every turn. Which pretty much sums up The Boy’s career for the past few years.

B-Sides

From King

• Kofi Kingston started his match against GUNTHER like a man possessed. Continuing the trend that IYO SKY and Shayna Baszler started, Kofi attacked GUNTHER before the bell rung. It had extra sting with Kofi losing for vengeance on Xavier’s behalf. Kofi went for the knees and focused most, if not all of his attacks on the Ring General’s leg. Not quite “eye for an eye” but pretty damn close.

GUNTHER honed in on Kofi’s back, putting him in a Boston Crab on the announcer table and in the middle of the ring at one point. But that came before stretching Kofi around the turnbuckle. Yes, you read that right; he stretched a man around a turnbuckle. Kofi recovered from that and battled as long as possible, but eventually gave way to a Powerbomb and another Boston Crab. Dope match but it also leaves this door open for Kofi or perhaps someone...bigger...to get revenge for Xavier’s knee. That said, we got a tease for something between Final Testament and New Day. Or possibly, Final Testament recruiting Kofi? Curiouser and curiouser.

• Lyra Valkyria not only defeated Zoey Stark, but spoke Gaelic during her victory speech. I like that touch with her character, as it shows the main audience more of who she is, along with tying her even more to Becky Lynch. She said prior to her match that she’d always have Becky’s back, so this shows their Irish sisterhood. As far as the match goes, this is a big W for her. Not only defeating Zoey, but moving on in this prestigious tournament that’s presented as such.
• IYO got the win over Shayna, who attacked IYO before the match started. So this was a bit of a comeback win for the Genius of the Sky. I liked the way they started since it paid off tension between Shayna, Zoey & Damage CTRL before the show even started. Adding some extra drama to these matches always helps me get even more invested.
• Consider me incredibly shocked. WWE teased the next chapter of Ilja Dragunov vs. GUNTHER that I penciled in an Ilja win. Obviously I fell for the okie doke, and I’m happy about that. Teasing Ilja vs. GUNTHER, and just teasing it, makes sense. Give it the build it deserves and possibly put a championship on the line. Instead, we’re getting Jey Uso vs. GUNTHER in the semifinals. If WWE wants, they can also use the Xavier motivation here too considering Jey’s New Day connection. But if not, putting Jey against the man he almost defeated if not for his big brother has a nice ring to it.

Splattitorium

Alpha Academy’s disintegration continues. Bronson pretty much squashed Akira Tozawa while Chad Gable barked orders from the outside, while Sami Zayn defeated Otis. But that wasn’t the biggest story out of the latter match. Chad gave Otis explicit instructions not to perform The Worm. Otis couldn’t resist and not only did it, but almost won the match. In fact, if not for Chad yelling and distracting the Number One Guy, he probably wins this match.

This whole thing is building to Otis taking on Chad Gable post King and Queen of the Ring. Sami interrupted Chad berating his former tag partner post match. Alpha Academy’s captain blamed that on Otis as well. Then this happened:

Great job painting Chad as the most miserable human being on the planet. Everything bad that happens to him? He has it coming and then some.

Push It Along

Remember when I talked about Becky & Lyra connecting? We got more of that during the champ’s match against Dakota KAI. We got a DQ finish, which gave Becky the W and ensured this beef continues. Lyra had Becky’s back, proving she’s a woman of her word. The former NXT Women’s champ hit the ring and evened the odds when Damage CTRL couldn’t keep their hands to themselves.

WWE did a few good things here: Damage CTRL vs. Becky continues, Lyra crossed paths with IYO, and Liv Morgan kept pressure on Becky with a sneaky heel blindside attack. Liv looks like a scheming heel who doesn’t want to face Becky woman to man, while Lyra looks like she’s on Becky’s level simply standing beside her. That’s good work on all sides.

The Coolest

Carlito wants in on Judgment Day. Damian isn’t feeling that at all because he doesn’t trust him. Which feels like a repeat of the whole JD McDonagh saga. So just like that story, Carlito did something that he hopes earns the champ’s respect.

Adam Pearce put the tag team championships number one contendership on the line in a Fatal 4 Way match. The Bros. Creed, JD & Finn Balor, New Catch Republic, and AOP beat each other up while Awesome Truth watched from the sidelines.

The purely chaotic match got even more chaotic when everything went to the outside. And when that happened, Carlito emerged with ill intentions on his mind. He hit a Backstabber on Pete Dunne while both men stood on top the announcing table. While it looked “cool” I can’t abide that spot. That’s just a little took risky and Carlito looked legitimately hurt for a while. But alls well that ends well I suppose.

JD & Finn got the win and Damian gave Carlito his props. But he also reminded him that the crew doesn’t roll with cowards, so he better get it done against Rey Mysterio.

The initiation continues. There’s a lot happening with Judgment Day right now, including Damian showing concern about Dirty Dom & Rhea Ripley.

I like that King and Queen of the Ring lead this show. The presentation and positioning makes the tournament important. That said, this felt like a Raw that plodded along. The best episodes capture energy at the beginning and just keep building. This one felt like a car that never got out of first or second gear. Solid matches, yes, but not always the best television.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Your turn!