WWE Raw x Stranger Things Review

Linus O'Howell
3 days ago
4 min read

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: The Kabuki Warriors VS RHIYO

The first Monday Night Raw of 2026 featured a special collaboration with Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things, and after we entered the upside down, the show kicked off with RHIYO challenging The Kabuki Warriors for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships! I thought this was a pretty good match to start the show; all four women gelled well, and I thought it was fun to watch! Rhea and Iyo are very much over with the crowd, meaning this is probably the most hype that’s surrounded the Women’s Tag Team Titles in quite a while! Asuka and Kairi Sane are both very good; they’re coming off a strong 2025, and that seemed to continue here! However, after breaking up the pinfall, Rhea and Iyo followed it up with a Riptide/Over the Moonsault combo to pin Kairi, meaning RHIYO are the brand-new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions! Congrats to them!

Grade: B

Gunther Gets Interrupted, Maxxine Dupri VS Becky Lynch: Women’s Intercontinental Championship

After a strong video package hyping up the shows Main Event between CM Punk and Bron Breakker, Ivy Nile was pretty stern when it came to telling Adam Pearce what she wants! After Pearce got a quick word with Gunther, The Ring General headed down to the ring to once again bask in his glory! Gunther said that he keeps getting told to show respect, but he wants to know where the respect for him is! This brought out AJ Styles, who has strong feelings regarding Gunther, but he couldn’t say anything as Gunther kept talking over him, stating that he is the Best Wrestler in the entire company! Eventually, Styles slapped the taste out of Gunther’s mouth to end the segment, before The Ring General demanded to Adam Pearce backstage that he gives him a match with AJ for next week’s Raw! I’m honestly surprised that that match is happening so soon, but I’m assuming next week isn’t going to be the end of it!

Grade: B-

After another video package, we were set for more Gold to be defended as Maxxine Dupri aimed to successfully retain her Women’s Intercontinental Championship over “The Man”, Becky Lynch! This match didn’t work in the slightest; it definitely doesn’t help that we’ve seen this match on many different occasions now, so it’s not exactly interesting! In fact, that’s sort of the key factor here, as the crowd didn’t care in the slightest; switching off into complete silence, and that left Maxxine and Becky with little chance to succeed! On top of that, whilst Dupri and Lynch have had a really strong match in the past, the combination this way around just doesn’t work as well. Eventually, Maxxine had Becky locked in a submission manoeuvre, but Lynch was able to reverse it into a pinning combination to get the win after holding onto the bottom rope (something the commentators missed completely)! Unfortunately, the finish wasn’t the best in terms of execution either, but it does mean we now have our first-ever 2-time Women’s Intercontinental Champion!

Grade: C-

The Usos and Stephanie Vaquer Speak, Liv Morgan VS Lyra Valkyria

After another video package for Oba Femi, The Usos appeared in the crowd to talk about how 2026 is going to be their year as the World Tag Team Champions! That was literally all Jimmy and Jey said! Moving on, Stephanie Vaquer was in the ring getting interviewed by Jackie Redmond about what’s next for La Primera! Stephanie was wearing a walking boot throughout this, but despite that, Vaquer is excited for what’s next and shows no signs of slowing down! However, this just resulted in Raquel Rodriguez assaulting Stephanie Vaquer from behind, targeting the injured foot of the Women’s World Champion, and Raquel continued her assault backstage, too! I’m honestly not exactly sure what’s going on with Stephanie Vaquer right now, so I guess we’ll just have to stay tuned for more!

Grade: C+ (just for Raquel)

After Rey Mysterio had productive conversations with both Penta and Dragon Lee, Liv Morgan wrestled her first televised match in 7 months as she went one-on-one with Lyra Valkyria! Both Liv and Lyra are very good at what they do, meaning this was a pretty solid matchup! Roxanne Perez tried her best to influence the result on the outside of the ring, resulting in Bayley chasing The Prodigy off with a steel chair, but this in turn distracted Valkyria, allowing Morgan to nail an ObLIVion to get the win! Liv looked good on her return here, so that’s a real positive!

Grade: B-

World Heavyweight Championship: CM Punk VS Bron Breakker

And in the Main Event of a special Stranger Things edition of Monday Night Raw, Bron Breakker looked to claim his destiny as he challenged CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship! This was a very good Main Event, very good indeed! I really enjoyed it, it got an insane amount of time, and it felt like a big deal! Most of the match was a simple 1-on-1 battle between CM Punk and Bron Breakker, before it eventually broke down when the rest of The Vision arrived! However, despite a Stomp and a Spear, Punk was able to kick out before the Luchador trio of Rey Mysterio, Penta, and Dragon Lee dealt with Bronson Reed, Logan Paul, and Austin Theory! The match’s drama then only continued to ramp up as Bron shockingly kicked out of a GTS, before Punk delivered a horrific-looking piledriver! Eventually, in a match that really could’ve gone either way, CM Punk was able to defeat Bron Breakker with another GTS, meaning The Best in the World is still Champion of the World! I had fun with this!