WWE’s overseas tour continued in Düsseldorf, Germany, for Monday Night RAW, which was broadcast live on Netflix in the afternoon for American audiences. Last Monday at the Barclays Center, CM Punk managed to retain his heavyweight title against Bron Breakker in the main event of a very hyped WWE x Stranger Things collab celebrating the first anniversary of RAW on Netflix.
Then, on Friday Night SmackDown (the first TV date overseas in 2026), Drew McIntyre won the world title from Cody Rhodes in a three Stages of Hell match that saw the return of Jacob Fatu. This title change booking shook up the weekend for wrestling fans on social media, and the immediate economic response to Drew’s 2nd title reign saw 11,000 tickets sold over the weekend for a WWE house show.
Following Friday’s show, rumors of a ‘new era’ of booking ran rampant before it was acknowledged that the structure and booking of SmackDown were due for a change. That said, how RAW follows up on the Friday show will go a long way toward showing whether these shakeups continue.
GUNTHER VS AJ STYLES—Singles Match
After Gunther defeated John Cena at Saturday Night’s Main Event in the GOAT’s final match, the heat he received made it clear that it was the right decision in the aftermath. Following Monday, Gunther and Styles were launched into a feud that, according to several online sources, was always the plan.
Gunther’s ‘legend killer’ gimmick (similar to the one Randy Orton used early in his career) has worked thus far—defeating both Goldberg and Cena in 2025. Styles made statements last year that 2026 would be his last active year in the company, and fans have been fantasy booking ever since. Many longtime AJ fans hope he returns to TNA at some point to put the exclamation mark on the end of his career with the company he elevated in the 2000’s (Editor’s note: AJ Styles has been booked for TNA’s inaugural show on AMC this Thursday).
However, it would make sense for Gunther to be AJ’s last opponent, which makes this match tonight interesting as potential narratives left for later in the year, but established in this initial encounter.
They battled back and forth in a terrific match—they utilized mat wrestling, high spots, and brutish physicality.
The finish came when AJ thought he had a tapout victory, Gunther appeared to tap to Styles’s ‘Calf Crusher,’ but the ref did not see the tap because the heel smartly did it on the ‘blind side’ of AJ’s hip.
BRON GETS BRAVE… PEARCE GETS PISSED
PENTA & DRAGON LEE VS THE VISION—Tag Team Match
The tag match between the luchadores against the team of Reed and Theory was booked and promoted ahead of the show, though anyone keeping score knew we would not get a clean finish. However, the segment was much better than a high-paced tag match.
At the finish of the match, Bron Breakker ran down from Gorilla and landed a violent spear on Dragon Lee. As Breakker was getting bitched out by Pearce, Reed landed a Tsunami on Penta, which sent Pearce into a red-faced hissy fit.
With the entire Vision in the ring, Breakker grabbed the jacket of Pearce and placed him in the corner turnbuckle with force. As he screamed into the GM’s face, Paul Heyman and the rest of The Vision tried pulling him away before he did something he could not take back—this was a great way of getting Bron’s heat back after taking the loss last week.
The mayhem continued down the ramp as Heyman and Logan both pleaded with Pearce to back off before Bron ‘kills him.’ It is not clear who exactly Bron will feud with next, but he needs to get his ‘baddass’ back, and making Pearce his next victim could help get him back on track.
WOMEN’S TAG TITLES REMAIN IN THE BRIGHT LIGHTS
Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky, team name Rheo, won the tag titles last week on the first RAW of the new year from The Kabuki Warriors and opened up RAW tonight. They claimed to have finally ‘put The Kabuki Warriors in their place’ before Liv Morgan and Roxxane Perez came out to challenge the champions.
Liv reminded the champs and crowd that she never lost the tag titles; instead, she was injured, which led to the decision to have Perez and Raquel Rodriguez defend the titles in her place, resulting in the loss of those belts. Creative may have forgotten that Liv and Perez were aligned to beef with each other over Dom Mysterio, but since returning from injury, it seems like Liv’s entire direction has shifted.
Bayley and Lyra Valkyria came out next, and a number one contenders match was booked as a triple threat tag match that included the former champs in Auska and Kairi Sane.
THE KABUKI WARRIORS VS BAYLEY & VALKYRIA VS JUDGEMENT DAY—Triple Threat Tag Team Match (#1 contender)
Liv Morgan picked up the pinfall victory for her team to become the next opponents for Rheo. It has been rumored that Liv is in store for a major push at some point in 2026, but the constant changing hands of the tag titles means it is anyone’s match when these two teams meet.
CM PUNK HAS HIS NEXT OPPONENT
CM Punk, fresh off his successful title defense over Bron Breakker, was challenged by ‘The Prince’ himself as Finn Balor— pushed into this challenge by Liv Morgan—made his way out to claim next. Punk offered to get his gear and make the match tonight, but Finn had other plans.
Next week’s RAW will be live from Belfast, Ireland (Finn’s home country), and that is where Finn called for his title shot. It is great to see Finn in the title picture, and we need more diversity in RAW’s top spots, but it was not the greatest precedent to set that any superstar can just go out there and receive a title shot.
With the success of McIntyre’s title win, it could be argued that Finn has a better shot to dethrone Punk than any other time in WWE, but it is unlikely we’ll get two major title changes ahead of the Royal Rumble.
One interesting part of their promo battle was when Punk spoke on Liv ordering Finn around. That storyline was shaping up well before Liv got hurt, and Finn played his role well, trying to step in and replace her while she was on the IL. It seemed all but abandoned as a storyline, but with tonight’s booking, we may be back on track.
JE’VON EVANS VS BRAVO AMERICANO—Singles Match
Je’Von Evans scored his first victory on the main roster in singles action vs Bravo Americano. Evans was heavily utilized in the final quarter of 2025, working on WWE, NXT, and AAA cards. It seemed like a no-brainer when it was announced that he would get a call-up to begin the year, though it was confusing why they had his signing last week during a commercial break.
Evans hit a Spanish Fly for his big spot of the match, but he was very sound from bell to bell. In the post-match, EL Grande Americano, along with Bravo and Rayo, tried to attack Evans, but he made a swift move to avoid them. It seems like Evans is being set up for a feud with Grande.
OTHER TIDBITS:
- Becky Lynch was booked to defend her IC title against the superstar she took it from, Maxxine Dupri, next week.
- Season 2 of Netflix’s WWE: Unreal debuts next Tuesday.
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