WWE RAW HITS & MISSES (1/12): Gunther vs. AJ Styles, Bron Breakker and Adam Pearce, Becky Lynch-Maxxine Dupri, CM Punk-Finn Balor

Opening Segment – MISS: This wasn’t a great way to follow up on the big Tag Team Title victory for Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky last week. It wasn’t a terrible segment, but I’m not a fan of these parade of challengers segments which are unfortunately a staple of WWE’s presentation. It did a fine job of setting up the triple threat match for later in the show to determine the first challenger for the new Champs. But, the three teams didn’t stand out in any positive way here.

Evans vs. Bravo – MISS: I’m already sick of hearing Michael Cole saying “bouncy.” Way to make Je’von Evans instantly uncool. They should have learned their lesson from how dorky Yeet became because of Cole. This match was fine. It was fun to watch. I would probably give it a Hit if it was Evans vs. Tyler Bate. The Los Americanos gimmick is lame, and it instantly ruins anything that it is involved with. Having the announcers spending part of this match with tongue-in-cheek references to Bravo being Bate makes the whole thing too silly and irreverent to take it seriously. Evans is already that sort of character and it works for him. But, he needs a more serious act to bounce off (see what I did there?). Unfortunately, he’s going to continue in this feud with the goofy faction which will have fun, but hollow matches.

Punk – Balor – MISS: I fully expect Finn Balor vs. CM Punk for the World Title on Raw next week to be a good, if not very good match with a very predictable finish. That’s part of why I’m giving this a Miss. Balor hasn’t been a serious act in a long time. He gets called out by his Judgment Day teammates for playing video games and suddenly he’s the number one contender? I get why he would want to challenge Punk, but there should be more to becoming a World Title challenger than just challenging the Champion. Part of the problem with this segment was that while Punk’s promo was well delivered, it felt like he was only out there to get interrupted. Balor was good in his role and their interaction was strong, but I wasn’t buying the whole thing.

Kabuki Warriors vs. Judgment Day vs. Bayley & Valkyria – HIT: This was a pretty good triple threat match. There were a few overly choreographed spots as tends to happen in these types of matches with so many wrestlers, but it wasn’t too bad. Each team got a chance to shine during the match. I liked that this match had one woman from each team in the match at the same time. All triple threat (or a Fatal Four-way) tag matches should have that rule. I appreciate the fact that Liv Morgan got the win for her team by hitting her finisher and pinning her opponent. Yeah, she benefited from a blind tag, but that’s good tag team wrestling. She didn’t “steal” the victory from the babyface team which often happens in these matches. This was a stronger way to set her and Roxanne Perez up to face the Champs at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Lynch – Dupri – MISS: As I wrote last week, we are getting another Intercontinental Title match between Becky Lynch and Maxxine Dupri. This Miss is for the announcement of that match next week and for the way Dupri continues to be presented. I hated her backstage segment with Otis & Tozawa. In a vacuum, you’d swear that she was supposed to be a heel. Is she (the performer, not the character) buying her own hype? She can’t think she’s that good, right? Otis & Tozawa should have to win some matches before challenging The Usos, but I have a feeling that isn’t going to happen either.

Rodriguez – Vaquer – HIT: WWE continues to do a good job of building the feud over the Women’s Title. This started as a strong interview with Raquel Rodriquez who was ultimately interrupted by Stephanie Vaquer. Vaquer showed great fire in responding to the attacks from Rodriquez last week. Of course, Rodriquez got in another attack to further injure Vaquer’s leg which is working to make her look vulnerable before their eventual match.

Lee & Penta vs. Theory & Reed – HIT: I am usually not a fan of disqualification finishes like this, but this one was very well done as Bron Breakker seemed to come out of nowhere to spear Dragon Lee out of his soul. This didn’t seem like a cop out to me either, as I never felt like WWE was trying to protect either team with this finish. It just made sense given Breakker’s mood after losing to Punk last week. The way Bronson Reed took advantage of Adam Pearce dealing with Breakker to hit the Tsunami on Penta was great. The reactions of Pearce and the story afterwards worked well with the suspension angle and Paul Heyman’s response.

Gunther vs. Styles – HIT: This was a good main event with a clever finish. WWE did a nice job during the show of building to this big match with a video package of their encounters over the last few weeks, and a pre-match interview with Gunther. I liked the idea that A.J. Styles was determined to get Gunther to tap out. The focus on Gunther’s leg and the multiple calf crushers worked well as a focus in the match. Gunther was great as usual in overpowering his opponent, while doing a nice job of selling the leg injury. The fake tap out worked well as it let Gunther outsmart his opponent in addition to the way he usually overpowers and over brutalizes his opponents. It is also a finish that isn’t done often in WWE and will allow for more obnoxious bragging from Gunther. I look forward to seeing where this feud goes from here.

(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.)