WWE Monday Night Raw Review: 19/01

Linus O'Howell
Jan 20
4 min read

Gunther Starts the Show, Becky Lynch VS Maxxine Dupri: Women’s Intercontinental Championship

This week’s edition of Monday Night Raw, live from Belfast, Northern Ireland, kicked off with Gunther as the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time relished in his greatness! Gunther officially declared for the 2026 Royal Rumble Match, stating that his eyes are now set firmly on the World Heavyweight Championship after outsmarting AJ Styles last week! This brought out AJ, who made it clear that he wants a rematch with Gunther, but the big Austrian quickly said no, with there not being any incentive for him to have that match again! However, after thinking about it more, Gunther was happy to take Styles up on his offer of a match at the Royal Rumble, but only if The Phenomenal One puts his career on the line! This personally feels way too soon to do AJ Styles’ retirement match, but it does fit perfectly into Gunther’s gimmick!

Grade: B

After Natalya returned to be in her friend’s corner, Maxxine Dupri looked to recapture the Women’s Intercontinental Championship in the opening match of the night against Ireland’s own, Becky Lynch! This match was okay; I’ve said this before, but we’ve seen these two face each other far too many times now! I feel like this was at the very least their 5th match during this storyline, and that’s just too many when you consider the talent involved! Maxxine tried her best to shock the world again, with Becky doing a good job of playing the Heel despite the fact that she was “sort of” home! Now, as expected, when Maxxine came close to winning, Natalya cost her friend by placing Lynch’s foot on the rope, allowing The Man to deliver a Manhandle Slam to get the win! After the match was over, Natalya continued to beat up Dupri to basically no crowd reaction! I’m sorry, but a Nattie-Maxxine feud is possibly the worst I’ve seen in a while!

Grade: C+ (for the Match)

The Vision VS Rey Mysterio, Penta, and Dragon Lee, The Judgment Day Interrupt RHIYO, El Grande Americano VS Je’Von Evans

AJ Styles said he’d call his wife over Gunther’s challenge, before Adam Pearce told Paul Heyman that he too will be at ringside later to make sure The Vision is on their best behaviour! The Judgment Day were then feeling hyped about their prospects of all becoming Champions again, before Jey Uso appeared in the crowd to declare himself for the 2026 Men’s Royal Rumble! Then, after Adam Pearce rejected The New Day’s claim for a Tag Team Title shot, Pearce headed down to the ring to watch Rey Mysterio, Penta, and Dragon Lee team up to take on The Vision! I thought this was a decent contest; I really like The Vision, I feel like their dynamic is exactly where it needs to be! Bronson Reed is a beast, Austin Theory is underrated, and Logan Paul is the perfect Heel! The Luchador trio was also pretty good; I’m not sure that’s a surprise, though, and the interesting part of this match came towards the end when Adam Pearce stopped Paul Heyman and The Vision from using dirty tactics! Then, in a sign of pure corruption, Pearce dropped the brass knuckles behind him, allowing Rey Mysterio to hit Theory with the knuckles, before Penta grabbed the win! Corrupt Pearce!

Grade: B-

CM Punk said he’s the Best in the World, not just the Best in America (I liked that), before Paul Heyman shouted at Adam Pearce over his actions! Heyman’s backstage segments are always amazing! RHIYO were then out next as Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky walked down to the ring to officially declare themselves for the Women’s Royal Rumble! Rhea and Iyo then quickly got interrupted by The Judgment Day, as Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez wanted to remind them of the threat that they are set to deal with at Saturday Night’s Main Event! Liv also confirmed that the whole of The Judgment Day will also be competing at the Rumble, before Raquel Rodriguez arrived to attack Ripley and Sky to end the segment! That probably means Liv and Roxy aren’t winning on Saturday (unfortunately)!

Grade: C

After Bayley and Lyra Valkyria got excited over each other’s chances of winning the Royal Rumble, Je’Von Evans headed down to the ring to go one-on-one with El Grande Americano! Unfortunately, this match barely lasted a few minutes, with us coming back from the ad break to see Je’Von down with an injury, meaning the match was called off! Having any injuries in sport is horrendous, but the timing for Evans, with him only just coming up to the Main Roster, is a killer!

Grade: -

World Heavyweight Championship: CM Punk VS Finn Balor

After Adam Pearce asked Paul Heyman if he could bring Bron Breakker back to work next week for a “chat”, it was Main Event time as Finn Balor returned to his home island when he challenged CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship! Firstly, Finn Balor returning to his old theme song/entrance at the start of this match was perfect; that theme literally makes him feel like a Main Eventer! The match itself was pretty good, maybe not as good as Punk’s match with Breakker, but I still thought it was fun! Finn is such a good wrestler; he should be a lot higher up on the card than he is, and Punk is doing a really good job as World Heavyweight Champion! Despite multiple kickouts on finishers, eventually, a second GTS was enough for CM Punk to defeat Finn Balor, breaking the hearts of the Irish crowd as a result! I expected the show to go off the air with Balor attacking Punk, but that didn’t happen; the show just ended harmoniously!