By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Raw Hits
CM Punk and Rey Mysterio vs. Bronson Reed and Austin Theory: Theory did a good job of playing a serious heel while debuting his new persona. His brief explanation for why he’s a new man was logical and easy to follow. Theory had been off television long enough that it wasn’t jarring to see him go from playing a doofus comedy heel to a serious heel. The match was entertaining, and it had the right finish with Theory pinning Mysterio, given that the show was built around Theory. The post-match angle with Bron Breakker spearing a distracted Punk was an effective way to leave viewers thinking about the main event of the first Raw of 2026.
Rhea Ripley vs. Asuka: They set up the basic story of the match beforehand by having Ripley tell the “injured” Sky to stay backstage because she couldn’t protect her if she was at ringside. It turned out to be a good opening match with Kairi Sane getting involved, which made it seem like the deck was stacked against Ripley, and justified Sky coming out despite Ripley asking her not to. I’m not big on most distraction rollup finishes, but it worked in this case because it put some heat on Asuka and protected Ripley.
Gunther: Gunther trolling the fans and various wrestlers about making John Cena tap out “like a little bitch” is hilarious. CM Punk coming out and giving Gunther the stink eye gave fans a reason to think about them meeting somewhere down the road. Meanwhile, Gunther’s encounters with Rey Mysterio and AJ Styles should lead to matches sooner. I continue to wonder if Styles will be the next wrestler to go out with a loss to the Career Killer.
Nikki Bella: This was the first time that Nikki seemed confident since she returned. Most fans seemed lukewarm on her as a babyface, and she never quite found her groove. She seemed right at home as a heel while obnoxiously boasting to fans about her fame. This could be a fun act for her.
Bayley vs. Roxanne Perez: A soft Hit. The match was mostly good, but there were a couple of rough moments that surprisingly weren’t cleaned up in post-production. The finish was intriguing, with Raquel Rodriguez distracting the referee backfiring, as it cost Perez the win. The backstage argument between Perez, Rodriguez, and Liv Morgan didn’t provide any answers regarding who they want fans to side with. Rodriguez came off like a babyface last week when she told Perez and Morgan that she wanted to go it alone during her match against Stephanie Vaquer, but then she complained during this segment that Perez and Morgan didn’t help her. Oddly enough, Morgan tried to play peacemaker, yet Rodriguez and Perez were still chirping at one another.
WWE Raw Misses
Je’Von Evans vs. Rayo: A minor Miss through no fault of either wrestler. The match was fine. The problem is that beating Rayo or Bravo means about as much as it did to beat one of the Conquistadors back in the day. The Americano gag was one-note when Chad Gable played the character, and it didn’t take long for the Ludwig Kaiser version to feel the same way. The main character in this trio doesn’t do much for me, and his silly sidekicks do even less. On the bright side, I got a kick out of the humor that Corey Graves brought to the match. Evans is special and has the potential to be a star. It will be interesting to see which brand his character signs with.
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and also appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)
Be the first to comment