Monday Night Raw Review - January 12, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY Attacked The Judgment Day, The Kabuki Warriors and Bayley and Lyra Valkyria

This followed the typical WWE formula of every team interrupting each other, though Kabuki Warriors just showed up and started attacking people instead of cutting a promo. Although it was a standard segment to set up the number one contender's Triple Threat match for later on, it successfully showcased just how deep the women's tag team division is at the moment. All eight of these women are stars.

Je'Von Evans def. Bravo Americano

Evans knocked off Rayo Americano a few weeks ago, but this marked his first official match as a member of the Raw roster. Much like when Evans faced Rayo, this would've been better it was just Tyler Bate and not Bate under a mask, but whatever. The match itself was acceptable, but it's difficult to care about anything involving the Americano crap. Thankfully, this was kept brief and didn't last longer than it needed to.

World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk Accepted Finn Balor's Challenge for Next Week

Needless to say, Balor is not a legitimate threat in the slightest, so I wasn't exactly thrilled when his music hit and he confronted Balor. Then again, I'd also be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to Punk and Balor facing off for the first time. This was a quality exchange between the two to build up their World Heavyweight Championship clash on next week's Raw in Ireland, where Balor will have the home field advantage.

The Judgment Day (Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez) def. The Kabuki Warriors and Bayley & Lyra Valkyria in a WWE Women's Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Triple Threat Tag Team Match

This was a very well-worked Triple Threat tag team match, which wasn't too surprising considering who was involved. It fell apart a but by the end, but they recovered nicely. With this win, Judgment Day will get their shot at Saturday Night's Main Event next weekend. Them winning was the right call with Morgan mentioning in the opening segment that she never technically lost the tag titles due to getting injured last year and allowing Perez to fill in for her.

Raquel Rodriguez Attacked Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer

It didn't sound like Rodriguez got much of a reaction when she came out for her interview, but she did get boos from the crowd as she started talking. I thought she did a decent job of following up on her attack on Vaquer last week before attacking her again when Vaquer emerged. My only complaint is that Vaquer looked like an idiot for not keeping an eye out for Rodriguez after fending her off, but on the bright side, Vaquer's injury must not be too serious if she was out there taking another beating.

Dragon Lee and Penta def. The Vision (Bronson Reed and Austin Theory) by Disqualification

Lee, Penta and Rey Mysterio helped thwart The Vision's interference during Bron Breakker vs. CM Punk last week. Yes, it was weird that Lee and Penta would be teaming with each other instead of their usual partners (AJ Styles for Penta, Rey Fenix for Penta), but at least they had good chemistry as partners. The finish made it apparent that this only existed so Breakker could wreak havoc, lay out Lee and Penta, and get his hands on Adam Pearce. He was subsequently suspended in storyline, but I assume he'll be back by the Royal Rumble.

Gunther def. AJ Styles

For a first-time-ever encounter, this was great stuff and I'm glad it was made out to feel like a big deal (right down to the in-ring introductions). They received plenty of time and the action was entertaining throughout. Gunther winning was the correct outcome, but I wasn't super high on him cheating to do so. Gunther should be among an elite few heels to not resort to underhanded tactics, but I'll have less of an issue with this if we end up getting more matches from them.

Overall Show

This was a rock-solid edition of Raw and I loved that they closed the show with Styles vs. Gunther. It was easily the most important thing on the episode, but everything else was perfectly fine and held my interest. Personally, I prefer the earlier start times when Raw emanates from overseas, so that helped, along with the announcement of two title matches next Monday when Raw is in Ireland.

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