WWE RAW HITS & MISSES (12/15): Austin Theory reveal, Usos and New Day phone it in, Gunther gets spotlight he deserved, Punk’s promo, the new Maxxine Dupri

Opening Segment – HIT: WWE did a great job following up on John Cena’s retirement match against Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event. I liked that they didn’t start the show with the normal parade of wrestlers arriving at the arena (they showed it later). It made sense to go right to the very well-produced video of the retirement match. It made it stand out by having Raw start in a little different manner than usual. And then we got Gunther’s perfect appearance. This showed all the heat that he is getting for tapping out Cena. He was great. I also appreciated that he just got the time in the ring by himself. It would have been bad if A.J. Styles (or anyone) had come out to confront him. Let him have his moment. It was a little convenient how he was followed by the camera as he left the building. They don’t usually follow a wrestler back to the back like that. But, I can overlook that for the otherwise very strong opening.

Usos vs. New Day – MISS: This wasn’t a bad match, but it wasn’t nearly good enough for the two supposedly best tag teams in WWE history. It started off well, but as the match went on, I got the feeling at times that the wrestlers were just going through the motions. The Usos were particularly lazy and sloppy at times. That 1D to beat The New Day was very lackluster. There was plenty of good wrestling action also. But, when you have a match interrupted by two commercial breaks, that takes down the quality of the match. Overall, The Usos vs. The New Day should be better than this.

Dupri vs. Nile – HIT: As opposed to the previous match, this match might be benefiting from lower expectations. Maxxine Dupri has improved in the ring. Her videos training with Natalya have been well done. I wouldn’t say that the intensity of those videos translated totally to her efforts in this match. But, it was still a good match. I would also rather see Ivy Nile getting a push. I know that their story was derailed by the injury to Chad Gable, but it is criminal how underused the Creed Brothers (and Nile) have been used by WWE.”

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C.M. Punk – HIT: The main event of the Netflix anniversary show on Jan. 5 will be C.M. Punk defending the World Title against Bron Breakker. Punk cut a great promo on Breakker here. It went on a little longer than it needed, but it was quite memorable. He didn’t hold back in running Breakker down even making fun of his Hall of Fame family. Undoubtedly, Breakker will be looking for revenge.

Vaquer vs. Rodriguez – MISS: Another Title match without a real ending on Raw. The pattern is very lazy and troubling. I’m not looking forward to the inevitable triple threat match which will happen now with Stephanie Vaquer defending her Women’s Championship against Raquel Rodriguez and Nikki Bella. Why will Bella be rewarded for ruining this title match by being added to the Triple Threat? This was not surprising, but still disappointing.

Logan vs. Mysterio – HIT: This wasn’t the best effort from Logan Paul or Rey Mysterio, but it was still a good main event. On a show that didn’t feature much wrestling for the first two hours, at least the main event got 15 minutes which felt like a marathon. I liked how Punk chased Breakker and Bronson Reed away when they came out to help Paul. The teases of the brass knuckles worked well ultimately leading to the mask man costing Rey.

Austin Theory – MISS: This was highly leaked and known among the internet fans so it wasn’t a surprise. But, that’s not the problem. The problem is that if you are going to build up a mystery wrestler’s identity, make it a better reveal than Austin Theory. He’s a perpetual lower mid-card wrestler who has never really connected with the fans in any meaningful way. And there didn’t seem to be a strong reason for him to unmask himself here. Why did he? I know that Adam Pearce has been putting some pressure on Paul Heyman to find out the identity of the masked man, but that didn’t seem like a strong enough reason in the moment.

(Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Raw Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com. Follow him on BlueSky @jonmezzera.bsky.social.)