WWE Monday Night Raw Review: 26/01

AJ Styles Starts the Show, Stephanie Vaquer and RHIYO VS The Judgment Day

The final Monday Night Raw ahead of this weekend’s Royal Rumble kicked off with AJ Styles as The Phenomenal One potentially made his final appearance on the flagship show! AJ talked a little bit about his plans for his final year in wrestling, stating that he wants to become World Champion for one last time! This brought out CM Punk to question Styles’ decision to put his career on the line against Gunther, with Punk selfishly disappointed given that he really wanted to face AJ one-on-one for the first time in a WWE ring! Styles then responded by stating that he knows he could beat the Best in the World, which is why the two will face off in the show’s Main Event! On top of that, CM Punk was more than willing to put his World Heavyweight Championship on the line, so it’s definitely over!

Credit: WWE

Grade: B

We then headed straight into the first match of the night as Stephanie Vaquer teamed up with RHIYO to take on The Judgment Day! The Tag Team match at Saturday Night’s Main Event was very good, and you’re never going to go wrong with adding Stephanie Vaquer and Raquel Rodriguez to the mix! I enjoyed this match; I thought Roxanne Perez was the star as it felt like she was always in the ring, but it is nice to see Raquel looking a lot stronger than she has in the past (on the Main Roster)! Vaquer was limping towards the end of this match, but I’m assuming that’s for storyline purposes. Anyway, in the end, Rhea Ripley was able to score the win for her team after flooring Perez with a Riptide!

Grade: B-

The Vision Segment, Austin Theory VS Rey Mysterio, Alpha Academy VS American Made VS Los Americanos VS The New Day: World Tag Team Championships Number 1 Contenders Match

Finn Balor wanted to give his flowers to CM Punk for being part of the best night of his wrestling career, but Punk then followed up by telling Finn that if he wants to become World Champion, he needs to leave The Judgment Day (and also win the Royal Rumble)! The Vision were then out next as Paul Heyman wanted to showcase some evidence as to the wrongdoings that his faction has received at the hands of Adam Pearce! This brought out Pearce, who agreed that some of his actions weren’t appropriate for someone in his position, and for that, he apologises! As a result, Pearce was happy to lift Bron Breakker’s suspension whilst also putting him in this weekend’s Royal Rumble Match! However, Adam wasn’t done there as he also announced that the rest of The Vision would also be in the Royal Rumble, and that Austin Theory had his chance to get revenge against Rey Mysterio next! Paul Heyman was clearly annoyed by all of this, and for that I found this segment to be quite successful!

Credit: WWE

Grade: B

The match itself between Austin Theory and Rey Mysterio was decent enough; there wasn’t much to it, but it’s worth remembering that Austin Theory is a good professional wrestler; he simply doesn’t get the respect/recognition that he deserves/has earned! I actually wasn’t sure who was going to win this match, which was a good thing, and things started to break down on the outside as Bronson Reed and Logan Paul got into a brawl with Penta and Dragon Lee! Eventually, all of this distracted Rey Mysterio, allowing Theory to nail The WWE Hall of Famer with a Stomp to get the win! Yay, a rare Theory win!

Grade: C+

Credit: WWE

Natalya claimed that Maxxine Dupri simply isn’t good enough, before Raquel Rodriguez got into a brawl with Stephanie Vaquer after originally coming face-to-face with Bayley and Lyra Valkyria! Gunther then had a sit-down interview where he talked about his reasoning for forcing AJ Styles to put his career on the line at the Royal Rumble, stating that he’s fed up of old timers trying to have one more moment in the spotlight! Personally, my favourite part about all of this was the fact that Gunther said he could retire Michael Cole at any instance also! Finn Balor was then furious as Adam Pearce told him that there aren’t any more spots in the Royal Rumble Match (how?), before Liv Morgan reminded Finn of who his true family is! We were then set for a Fatal 4-Way to determine the new Number 1 Contenders for the World Tag Team Championships as Alpha Academy, American Made, Los Americanos, and The New Day all fought for the right to take on The Usos! I firstly need to know where on earth Jimmy Uso is? The Usos won these Titles on the final show of 2025, and it feels like I’ve only seen Jimmy once since then! Anyway, this match was fine; it was good to see The Creed Brothers wrestle again as they’re such an underutilised team, but the rest of the match wasn’t the most memorable! I’d assumed that either Alpha Academy or The New Day were going to win this match, given the stories that have been told heading into this battle, and wouldn’t you know, this contest ended with Akira Tozawa scoring the win after his trademark Senton Bomb!

Grade: C+

World Heavyweight Championship: CM Punk VS AJ Styles

After Asuka laughed at Becky Lynch’s belief that she’s going to win the Women’s Royal Rumble, Stephanie Vaquer got her match with Raquel Rodriguez, and The Vision unanimously agreed that it should be Bron Breakker who leaves Saudi Arabia as the winner of the Men’s Royal Rumble, it was Main Event time as AJ Styles tried to become World Heavyweight Champion for one final time as he went one-on-one with CM Punk! I enjoyed this for what it was; it felt like it was a dream match for both men, and the added nature of the World Heavyweight Championship being on the line at least created a little bit of intrigue in that department! I honestly wasn’t too sure how WWE were going to go about booking the end of this match, given AJ losing here would’ve felt wrong, but it also wasn’t like he’s going to dethrone CM Punk for the Title! Instead, what happened was after a good back-and-forth encounter, Finn Balor attacked both men to cause the disqualification, delivering 3 Coup de Grâce’s to Punk to close the show standing tall! We’re definitely not getting Babyface Balor any time soon, but I quite liked the idea of Finn Balor being the guy that ruined Styles’ final match; that makes sense!

Credit: WWE

Grade: B-