By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Raw Hits
Gunther and AJ Styles: The usual arrogant Gunther promo, interrupted by a confident Styles, sought a rematch after losing last week’s Raw main event. The only thing I didn’t care for was that neither man mentioned the possibility of having their singles match on another date when Gunther initially rejected it because he didn’t want to do double duty at the Royal Rumble. The singles match taking place at the Rumble raises some interesting possibilities. I listed the scenario during my Raw live review that Styles could win the singles match, only for Gunther to come back and win the Royal Rumble match later in the night. As much as I despise wrestlers putting a WrestleMania title shot on the line, they could have a desperate Gunther agree to do just that to get Styles to put his career on the line one more time. And what if they doubled down? It would be really fun to see Styles either win the Rumble or beat Gunther again to earn the title shot at WrestleMania during his final year as a wrestler. It could also be as simple as Gunther working twice will serve as an out for him coming up short in the Rumble.
CM Punk vs. Finn Balor for the World Heavyweight Championship: A strong television main event. There was no reason to suspect a title change, but that didn’t stop the Belfast fans from getting caught up in the moment. They appeared to truly believe that he was on the verge of winning during some of the good near falls. Punk did a nice job of leaning into the boos by simply playing to the crowd in a way that wouldn’t have seemed out of place had the crowd been cheering him.
Becky Lynch vs. Maxxine Dupri for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship: This was arguably the best match they’ve had together thus far. The creative forces got what they could out of this feud, and now they appear to be moving on at the right time. I think everyone, aside from the Dupri character, expected Natalya to turn on her, but it actually works because Dupri is still portrayed as a naive novice.
Rey Mysterio, Penta, and Dragon Lee vs. Bronson Reed, Logan Paul, and Austin Theory: A quality six-man tag team match with a mildly surprising win for the babyface trio. Theory taking the loss for his team is the right move, and I suspect it’s a big part of why he was added to The Vision. It would be foolish to have Reed, Paul, or Bron Breakker take losses like this on television. Theory will ideally get a credibility boost by being part of the faction, even though he will likely take most of their losses, which shouldn’t be too frequent. The follow-up to Paul Heyman pointing out that Adam Pearce put his hands on Bron Breakker last week was uneventful, but hopefully things will heat up again next week when Pearce and Breakker meet.
Judgment Day women: Finn Balor lost the main event, and the faction is without two injured male members, but the ladies of Judgment Day are thriving. Raquel Rodriguez has been given a boost through beatdown angles on the injured Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer. Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez got solid heat during their segment with Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky, and it was a big boot from Rodriguez that triggered the three-on-two attack.
Je’Von Evans vs. El Grande Americano: No Hit or Miss for a match that was called off due to Evans suffering an injury. He seemed to favor his wrist, then reached for his shoulder or pec muscle, but the match was apparently called off due to concerns that he may have suffered a concussion. Here’s wishing him a speedy recovery.
WWE Raw Misses
None: A good episode that had a world championship match, a title change, a strong opening segment, and some Royal Rumble developments. I have no idea why they waited so long to start the build to the Rumble, but we’ll see if they can give it a strong enough push over two weeks to make up for the late start.
(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.)
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