Posted on 12/16/125 by Bob Magee
Date: December 15, 2025
Location: GIANT Center in Hershey, PA
The Big Takeaway —
Austin Theory is the masked man.
CM Punk cut a fiery promo on Bron Breakker, repeatedly
insulting the intelligence of Bron, as well as Rick and
Scott Steiner. Breakker speared him for his efforts at Raw’s
conclusion.
Gunther opened the show and received a ton of heat. He
called John Cena a bitch for tapping, and his words were so
upsetting that he was kicked out of the arena by Adam Pearce
(facing off with AJ Styles as he left).
**********
Show Recap —
There was a big video package recapping John Cena’s
retirement match and loss to Gunther at Saturday Night’s
Main Event. The video showed Cena’s career flashing before
our eyes while he was locked in the sleeper before tapping
out. They included the “Thank you, Cena” chants (and only
those chants) as the video ended with him walking off.
Gunther kicks off Monday Night Raw
Gunther walked out to an absolute ton of heat, and he was
all smiles. A few fans chanted, “You tapped out,” but it
quickly turned into more booing as he tried to speak.
Gunther stated, “I did what I said I would do. I made John
Cena give up! And when he gave up, he tapped out like a
little bitch!”
Gunther dropped the mic and left as the crowd loudly (and I
mean loudly) booed. Gunther returned to the ring to pose on
the turnbuckle and bask in the heat. He teased leaving
again, but instead posed on the announce table with one more
statement.
“I made John Cena tap out like a little bitch! It is my time
now. I will forever be the man that made John Cena give up.”
Gunther continued to smile as he left to a chorus of boos.
The camera followed as he walked to the back, where he
bumped into Otis and Akira Tozawa. Otis asked if Gunther
felt good rubbing it in. Gunther said he did. Gunther then
bumped into R-Truth, who called him a piece of trash.
Gunther was cool with that.
Gunther bumped into Adam Pearce next. Pearce was pissed that
he was walking all over Cena’s legacy because he knew Cena
wasn’t coming back. That didn’t make him the Ring General—
that made him an asshole. Pearce told him he was done for
the night and to find the exit.
Gunther gladly left the arena. He bumped into AJ Styles
outside. Styles got in his face, but did not say anything.
He motioned to Gunther to get in his car. Gunther rolled the
window down to give Styles the “You can’t see me” gesture
before driving off.
(It felt like all of these people were overreacting, but
Gunther was perfect here.)
********
Arriving at the arena were The Vision, Stephanie Vaquer, Ivy
Nile & The Creed Brothers, and CM Punk.
The Usos vs. The New Day (w/ Grayson Waller)
Jimmy and Jey Uso entered and were about to run back their
entrance music, but The New Day interrupted.
I believe this was the first time these teams have wrestled
each other in three years.
The New Day took control ahead of an early break, and Jimmy
Uso made a comeback as soon as they returned, but a Waller
distraction allowed New Day to take over again.
Jey made a hot tag and missed a Stinger splash, colliding
head-first into the ring post. He bounced right back and hit
Xavier Woods with a superkick for two. Wade Barrett credited
Jey’s “Samoan head” for being able to absorb the damage. Jey
followed with a dive and flying crossbody for two, leading
to a second commercial break.
New Day took control again during the break. Jey began his
comeback when they returned, but he was tripped by Waller,
who was kicked out by the referee. The Usos handed out
superkicks to Woods and Kofi Kingston before hitting Woods
with a double splash for a nearfall.
Kingston shoved Jey into the steel steps, and Woods followed
with a tornado DDT to Jimmy off the apron. New Day hit their
double-team finisher on Jimmy, but Jey broke up the cover.
Jimmy came back with superkicks before Jey nailed Woods with
a spear outside the ring. Jimmy speared Kingston in the
ring, and the Usos hit him with 1-D for the pinfall win (Jey
pinned Kingston).
Match result: Jimmy & Jey Uso defeated Kofi Kingston &
Xavier Woods (17:25)
This match was pretty boring until the finishing sequence.
********
Confirmed for the January 5th edition of Raw: CM Punk vs.
Bron Breakker for the world title, and Asuka & Kairi Sane
defend the tag titles against Iyo Sky & Rhea Ripley.
Asuka and Kairi Sane cut a pre-taped promo in Japanese. They
accused Iyo Sky of betraying them, even though they loved
her, and choosing Rhea Ripley over them. Asuka said they
would retain their tag titles on January 5th.
Byron Saxton interviewed Dominik Mysterio during
commercials. Dom was happy to be the last person to beat
Cena in a title match. It made him the greatest Mysterio of
all time and the greatest luchador of all time. Dom was
excited to see Raquel Rodriguez bring more gold home to
Judgment Day tonight.
The Vision meets backstage
Logan Paul was gushing with Bronson Reed over what they did
to LA Knight. Bron Breakker told them Knight was gone and
they should focus on CM Punk. Logan agreed, and he assumed
the masked man would show up to help. Paul Heyman didn’t
know who the masked man was, but they had a lot on their
plate, so he would take the help if the masked man was on
the same page.
Breakker pulled Heyman aside to tell him he would take out
Punk if he showed up tonight (they already showed Punk
arriving earlier). Heyman urged him to wait for January 5th
and do it with the title on the line. Breakker wasn’t
thrilled with this. Logan calmed him down and asked for his
help getting ready for Rey Mysterio.
********
Asuka & Kairi Sane attack Iyo Sky & Rhea Ripley
Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley entered, presumably for an in-ring
promo. However, Ripley looked back into the crowd to find
Asuka, who misted her in the face. Sane wiped out Sky as she
checked on Ripley.
Officials ran down to try to break things up, but Asuka and
Sane continued the assault. Asuka held down Ripley for Sane
to do the Insane Elbow, but Sky crawled on top of Ripley to
take the brunt of the damage. Sky sold her back, while
officials checked on Ripley.
(A good, simple heat segment that felt more spontaneous than
the usual angles.)
********
The second match of the evening began 1 hour and 5 minutes
into the show.
Maxxine Dupri wore all black (with silver boots). Gunther
wore all black earlier, and both the Usos (black and silver)
and The New Day (black and gold) wore mostly all black gear
as well. Ivy Nile had a lot of black, too, but at least her
gear had the American flag incorporated into it.
Women’s Intercontinental Championship: Maxxine Dupri (c) vs.
Ivy Nile
This was a title match between two wrestlers who have one
pinfall win between them in the last year, and that one win
was Dupri beating Becky Lynch for the title (thanks to
interference). The crowd was understandably quiet for it.
Dupri applied an armbar trapping Nile between the ropes, but
she lost the grip, and Nile slammed her into the apron. Nile
followed with a safe-looking German suplex on the outside
and maintained control through a break.
Dupri mounted a comeback, but Nile ducked a spinning kick
and hit a powerbomb. Dupri responded with a sit-out
powerbomb of her own (dropping Nile on her lower back/rear
end) for two. There was a moment where Dupri was stuck
upside down in the ropes and fired up by dropping her
straps, but even that didn’t get much of a reaction.
Dupri applied an ankle lock, and Nile kept trying to
counter, but Dupri blocked every attempt. Dupri grapevined
the leg, and Nile tapped out.
Match result: Maxxine Dupri defeated Ivy Nile to retain the
Women’s Intercontinental Championship (9:57)
********
Je’Von Evans met with Pearce backstage. Pearce was impressed
with his performance at SNME. They were approached by El
Grande Americano and the other two. El Grande spoke ill of
NXT and Evans, so Evans basically told him to watch his
mouth. Pearce suggested a match for next week, and Rayo
stepped up for the challenge. Pearce made it official.
CM Punk promo
Punk stormed to the ring to his music. He was not in a good
mood, and he ripped the logo cover off the microphone before
cutting his promo.
Punk said he missed two consecutive Raws because people
smarter than him said he wasn’t cleared to compete or fly.
What happened to him at WarGames hurt, but it wasn’t as
painful as having to listen to Bron Breakker talk. Punk
called him a cross-eyed Neanderthal nepo baby.
Punk recalled Breakker being mad at him for trying to end
his career at WarGames. Punk knew brains didn’t run in
Bron’s family, and reminded him that he didn’t sign up to
play board games. Punk congratulated him on the win, but
said Breakker had the audacity to claim it was easy to beat
him.
Breakker wanted the 2011 version of Punk, but Breakker
couldn’t beat the 2025 version of him without a lot of help.
Breakker got assists from a Brock Lesnar F5, Bronson Reed
Tsunami, and Drew McIntyre spitting his head open. Not to
mention the masked man. Breakker earned a title match, but
he didn’t do it alone.
Punk has been here many times before. This wasn’t the first
time Heyman gassed up a talent too fast, too soon, only to
watch him wilt under the bright lights. If Punk had a dime
for every time someone not as smart as him gassed up a
wrestler to be a future WrestleMania main eventer, he’d have
a pocket full of dimes.
Punk warned Breakker not to mention his wife again, or this
would get personal faster than he could run. This wouldn’t
be about the belt anymore. Punk would rip his eyes out of
his head and piss on his single-digit IQ brain.
Punk would challenge Breakker to show up alone to fight him
for the title, but he knew he didn’t have the balls. Punk
invited Breakker to invite the Vision, his dumb father, and
his even dumber brother Scott, because he would need all the
help he could get.
Punk would win, and Heyman would leave Breakker to move on
to the next next big thing. Meanwhile, Reed would be forced
to do TikToks with the YouTube scammer. All Bron would have
left was dumb and dumber—his father and uncle—and even with
Steiner math, they would realize GTS equalled 1-2-3.
********
Judgment Day met backstage. Dom was excited for the Women’s
title main event. Liv Morgan said they’d all have a great
Christmas, but she wondered where Finn Bálor was. Dom said
he was with JD McDonagh, who would be out a while.
Morgan approached Raquel Rodriguez and was excited to see
her become world champion, before she and Roxanne Perez
became tag team champions. Rodriguez was pumped up, and she
left for the match.
Women’s World Championship: Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. Raquel
Rodriguez
This went through a break, and the crowd was quiet until
Vaquer hit Devil’s Kiss. Rodriguez came back with a
clothesline before the fight spilled to the outside.
Nikki Bella suddenly appeared to attack Vaquer for the DQ.
Bella laid out Vaquer with “Rack Attack 2.0.”
Match result: Stephanie Vaquer defeated Raquel Rodriguez via
disqualification (8:43)
********
Pearce wanted Heyman to tell him who the masked man was.
Heyman said he didn’t know. It could be Seth Rollins, Becky
Lynch, Nick Aldis, or Bruno Sammartino. Heyman left because
he wanted to get Logan ready for Rey Mysterio. Pearce wanted
to know the masked man’s identity by the end of the night.
After Heyman left, Ripley approached Pearce and demanded a
match with Asuka. Pearce made it official for next week.
********
Punk approached Rey backstage and told him he’d have his
back tonight. Rey appreciated it.
Jackie Redmond asked AJ Styles and Dragon Lee about the
“throwback” match between The Usos and New Day earlier.
Styles appreciated their rivalry, but he and Dragon Lee were
the team to beat. Dragon Lee said they would face any team,
any time. They left to speak to Pearce.
Bella approached Redmond because she had something to say.
She would not apologize for putting people beneath her in
their place. She was sick of these women not respecting the
road she paved. Vaquer and Rodriguez should be polishing her
boots.
********
Next week on Raw:
Bayley vs. Roxanne Perez
Je’Von Evans vs. Rayo Americano
Rhea Ripley vs. Asuka
********
Bayley congratulated Dupri on retaining the title, and Dupri
said it meant the world coming from her. Dupri showed off
her bloody finger, perhaps from losing a nail, so she left
to take care of it.
Lyra Valkyria approached Bayley. Bayley admitted she didn’t
feel great losing to someone so much less experienced (she
didn’t mention Sol Ruca’s name). Bayley wondered if there
was truth to what Asuka said about her.
Valkyria purposely egged her on by shoving her and saying
that wasn’t the Bayley she knew, and called her an idiot. It
worked because Bayley fired up and said she would destroy
Perez next week. Bayley called Valkyria an idiot and left.
Valkyria was happy her plan worked.
********
Rey Mysterio vs. Logan Paul (w/ Paul Heyman)
Rey played cat-and-mouse with Logan early on and taunted him
while doing so. They went back and forth before Rey hit a
seated senton off the apron. However, Logan took over during
a break after shoving him into the barricade. I think Logan
tried a bronco buster of sorts during the break, but he just
kind of sat with his crotch in Rey’s face for a few moments
before getting up.
Logan went to the top rope, but Rey cut him off with ten
punches and a hurricanrana for two. Rey tried a springboard
moonsault, but Logan caught him and hit a running powerslam
for two.
Rey went for a 619, but Logan hit an ill-timed boot to cut
him off, followed by the most deliberate three amigos
suplexes. Instead of hitting the third suplex, Logan placed
Rey on the top rope. Rey fought him off and hit a sunset
flip powerbomb. Logan spilled outside the ring, so Rey hit a
sliding splash.
This brought out the Brons, but Punk immediately ran out
behind them with a chair. He attacked them with the chair
and chased them to the back. Rey caught Logan in a crucifix
pin for a nearfall. Logan blocked a hurricanrana and hit an
alley-oop facebuster.
Heyman handed Logan the brass knuckles as the referee
checked on Rey. However, Rey tripped Logan and hit a 619.
Logan dropped the knux, and Rey considered grabbing them.
Rey did grab them and placed them on his hand, but the
masked man appeared and hit him with a curb stomp. Logan
followed with a frog splash for the pinfall win.
Match result: Logan Paul defeated Rey Mysterio (14:59)
— The masked man faced off with Logan Paul, but scampered
into the crowd upon seeing Punk run down to the ring.
Punk stood on the turnbuckle as the camera focused on the
masked man, who removed his face mask to reveal it was
Austin Theory. (The reveal didn’t get a big reaction, but
people did chant his name as he stood in the crowd.)
Punk dropped down from the ropes and was speared by
Breakker.
Breakker grabbed the world title belt. He told Punk that
this was business, but if Punk ever talked about his family
like that again, he would never walk on two feet ever again.
Breakker held the belt up high as the show ended.