WWE is Destroying Becky Lynch, Don't Be Fooled By Latest Swerve, More Raw Fallout
The Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, played host to the December 22 holiday edition of WWE Raw on Netflix, which built forward toward a major new year.
Austin Theory campaigned with Paul Heyman to let him join The Vision, proving his value in a main event win alongside Bronson Reed against Rey Mysterio and CM Punk.
Gunther continued to mock John Cena and his fans, drawing the ire of CM Punk ahead of the main event.
Becky Lynch returned to Raw to complain about her treatment, only to be tapped out by Maxxine Dupri ahead of a rematch for the Women's Intercontinental Championship in the new year.
Je'Von Evans continued to win on the main roster, defeating one half of Los Americanos, Rayo Americano.
This wasn't the most exciting episode of Raw, but it did set the stage even more for a special show on the Netflix anniversary on January 5.
Cody Rhodes, Not CM Punk, is the World Champion Gunther Will Dethrone
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Gunther is the hottest heel in the business right now, and WWE must pay that off with memorable victories for championship gold.
What better way to do that than The Ring General ending the dominant reign of WWE's top face, Cody Rhodes?
Few men were more tied to John Cena in his final year than The American Nightmare, further solidifying their bond of friendship by the end of the year.
No one should want revenge more on Gunther than Rhodes, after the Austrian ended Cena's career with a definitive submission loss.
While CM Punk teased fighting Gunther as well, The Best in the World won the World Heavyweight Championship from The Ring General already in 2025.
However, running that match back would retread the same ground and put Gunther back a year.
Dethroning Rhodes would mean more and feel fresh, allowing The Ring General to claim WWE's most prestigious championship, which was held by Cena 14 times.
It would also make for a great WrestleMania 42 main event, while Punk can continue building another star in Bron Breakker.
The Young Duo Ready to Take Over Men's Tag Team Division
2 of 5While only Je'Von Evans appeared on Raw this week, all signs point to Leon Slater joining him on Raw as soon as WWE can officially sign the TNA X-Division champion.
Evans and Slater blew fans away with their tag team synergy at Saturday Night's Main Event and could quickly become the new top team in WWE.
While all signs point to The Usos reclaiming the World Tag Team Championships, possibly as early as next week, Evans and Slater are the fresh option.
Two 21-year-old stars in the making could capture the tag team gold and steal the show time and again in title defenses throughout 2026.
This is the easiest answer to getting WWE's tag division back on track while pushing The Young OG and The Youngest in Charge into the spotlight.
With a strong 2026, Evans and Slater could both start to establish themselves as the future of the business.
Becky Lynch's Loser Booking Has Gone Too Far
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Many people say Becky Lynch is the greatest women's wrestler of all time, but she has not looked the part in 2025.
The main reason for this is the consistent booking of The Man as a joke, talking a big game without backing it up.
She has oversold for most of her recent opponents and looked completely outclassed by AJ Lee and Maxxine Dupri in recent head-to-head encounters.
While Lynch deserves praise for putting both over in ways that have stuck, she has not looked the part of a top woman on a roster in need of established names.
WWE needs main event-level women far more than punching bags for the rising talent, especially as Stephanie Vaquer struggles to find an engaging rivals as women's world champion.
Dupri is not going to rise to main event status any time soon, while Lee is not around enough to come off as a legitimate title contender.
At this point, if Lynch loses for the fourth time in a row to Dupri at the Raw on Netflix anniversary show, a dramatic character turn would be necessary to get her anywhere back close to the main event scene.
In 2026, The Man needs to reclaim her killer instinct, and it needs to happen fast.
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Main Event Wins Won't Make Austin Theory a Star
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Few have fallen off harder than Austin Theory in the past few years. He went from defeating John Cena at WrestleMania 39 to struggling for TV time most of 2025.
Fans were taught to look down on A-Town as an afterthought, even next to the equally underused Grayson Waller.
Why should all of that change because a desperate Theory is trying to join The Vision? Pinning Rey Mysterio in a Raw main event won't change year of bad booking.
In fact, no matter who Theory defeats on what stage, it still won't matter, much as his win over Cena did nothing for him.
If WWE wants to truly elevate Theory to main event status, he needs strong heat and stories that get fans to hate him.
The Vision is not enough of a heat magnet to do that alone. If anything, Bron Breakker has grown more popular as the group's top star in Seth Rollins' absence.
Theory needs to commit heinous acts that get him the kind of heat Dominik Mysterio and Gunther have had with fans at times.
He needs to outright embarrass stars such as CM Punk or Rey Mysterio, ruin LA Knight's chance to finally become a world champion, even make a lasting violent statement at the expense of Jey Uso.
It will not come down to wins and losses, but the story told will dictate if Theory can finally get over in WWE in 2026.
The real shame is WWE had an easier opportunity to get over Theory as a midcard babyface by feuding with Waller but chose to toss out that story without any payoff.
The Pros and Cons of 90-Minute Raw
5 of 5WWE delivered a surprise this year courtesy of Netflix programming with a 90-minute episode of Raw, lacking any commercial interruptions.
While the actual content of the night was not lacking as much as the commercials themselves, the pace of the show moved lightning quick when watching it as though streamed live.
This led to some positives and negatives that WWE could consider for the future in these cases.
Positive: No commercials broke the flow of the night.
Even more so than on modern WWE premium live events, the focus was on the action and stories. The Vision storyline developed cohesively over the night. There was no waiting for the match to return. It was an ideal experience in that regard.
Negative: Matches were still edited down as though there were commercials.
It would have been nice to see the complete, unedited versions of matches like Rhea Ripley vs. Asuka and Roxanne Perez vs. Bayley. Why deliver these contests and not give fans the complete experience?
Positive: The show flew by without unnecessary holiday-themed antics.
Usually, Christmas time brings odd holiday-themed matches with embarrassing stipulations. This was entirely a focused Raw that pushed forward toward the Netflix anniversary show.
Negative: This was a limited showcase of the roster.
The Usos got a short video package. Stephanie Vaquer appeared in one short backstage segment. Rusev, Sheamus and most of the tag division were not present. Even Logan Paul was absent.
This was far from an optimal showcase of Raw's depth of talent, and that is before several NXT call-ups fill out the roster soon.
It would be better to air on the shorter side than the larger side in the future, though it's unlikely fans can dodge commercial interruptions forever.
What matters most from this experience, though, is to not feel beholden into any particular timing to deliver the best story development and wrestling action.
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