[3.0] "I haven't watched WWE since the Cena thing, I just canceled Netflix (got it for the Logan Paul fight) so I figured I'd watch Raw before my sub ends. This reminded me why I stopped watching. Je'Von Evans signs a contract at a commercial. Jericho return is teased but he never shows. Stranger Things tie-in but no actual tie-in. Gunther has become boring. The talk segments are unwatchable. The Maxxine Dupri match is one of the worst matches involving two pro wrestlers who are paid to do this by a major company I've ever seen. Somehow I think Becky is getting worse. Openers not too bad, but it's too long and this is like the 5th or 6th time they've done it. Next match was unwatchable. Ladies match after that was barely passable, no botches, but nothing even remotely interesting. CM Punk/Bron Breakker was OK but it was way too long, was plodding at the start and it feels like they're just recycling this stuff and it's full of botches near the end. I'm sick of seeing the table spot. It's cool occasionally. Now they do it *every time*. CM Punk is getting old and should prob pack it in soon. The Frankensteiner botch looked terrible. And IDK wtf that piledriver was. Punk could have injured Bron. Then run-ins. I mean it's not the worst thing I've ever seen but it's really underwhelming."

[5.0] "RAW was pretty ordinary despite the hype surrounding it because of the Stranger Things crossover and the possibility of a certain Canadian showing up. The only real matches worth checking out were the opening match and main event. Both matches had some scary spots but were fairly enjoyable. Everything else in-between just didn't do anything for me. After not watching WWE for some time, coming back reminded me why I don't watch anymore. Ads, yeeting, and a couple of lackluster midcard matches with a rather subdued crowd just did not make me feel like I was missing out on anything. Was going to give this a 6 but almost every week someone from WWE come up with a new buzzword to drum up interest if tickets don't move fast enough. I grew up watching WWE and kept up during the late 2010s for NXT but aside from a couple of good matches here and there, this isn't for me anymore."

[5.0] "This was just a fine episode of raw, nothing special. None of the matches delivered and the segments were alright."

[7.0] "6.5/10. I think my problem with this episode is that I was expecting more, because in reality it wasn, 't a bad episode. The opener was excellent, and the main event was good too. The only real low point in terms of quality was the Women's IC title match. That said, for a Stranger Things crossover episode, I expected more, especially after all the hype surrounding this show. And I'm not talking about returns that didn't happen, but about simple things like, I don't know, a special appearence for Demon Bàlor? Am I asking too much?"

[7.0] "Pretty good episode of RAW. Expected the Stranger Things branding to be more of a distraction than it was. Think it is telling that outside of the main event WWE trusted the women to deliver more than the men. Like the Gunther v AJ feud and most of the matches were good. That said the booking specifically Becky over Dupri and Punk over Breakker, felt like the wrong ones."

[6.0] "Overall, this episode of RAW settled into very average territory. Despite an excellent main event that delivered on its promise, the rest of the card--and especially the weaker promos--failed to live up to the expectations of what was supposed to be a special show. As the first anniversary on Netflix and a crossover tied to Stranger Things, this RAW should have felt bigger, more exciting, and more memorable. Instead, it came across as a fairly standard, almost routine episode. Had this been a regular week, it likely would've been judged more kindly, but given the special occasion, it ultimately failed to captivate and felt disappointingly ordinary."

[3.0] "Terrible show. The segments were not worth talking about outside of Je'Von Evans signing his main roster contract during the commercial period. That doesn't bode well for his career. The opener was okay, it was a solid match as is expected with great wrestlers. You've got three women in Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY and Asuka who are undoubtedly in the top ten women's wrestlers in the world, so naturally it's going to be a solid showing at minimum. Congrats to "Rhiyo" winning the women's tags, those belts are passed so much it's hard to care about them. The second match was terrible. What was the point of hotshotting the belt on Maxinne if she was going to cough the belt back up so soon? Also, where the hell is AJ Lee? ! Should've stuck with Becky Lynch as a champion if you weren't going anywhere with Dupri as champ. Third match was what you expected it to be, Liv Morgan and Lyra are both solid in-ring, they had a solid match. Main event went on far too long. Why did Punk go over clean when they're trying to push Bron Breakker (still a dumb name) as a future WrestleMania main event guy? CM Punk as champion is whatever, but why the clean finish? As for the show as a whole, if it's presented as a special episode of the show, why are there no surprises? Outside of the aesthetics of the arena and show graphics, where was the Stranger Things crossover? The audio was dreadful through this episode and exposed the piped in crowd noise for guys touted as over lol. One of the rare occasions in WWE where the production of the show matched its creative."

"Decent show but nothing special besides title changes. Both main event and the whole stranger things theme were pretty disappointing. I like the title changes with Rhiyo and Becky, and looking forward to how it will impact mania storylines."

[6.0] "Overall, the show was decent, but far from outstanding. There were definitely highlights, such as the confrontation between Gunther and AJ Styles, which brought real intensity, and both the opening and closing matches, which added solid momentum and helped give the show a sense of structure. Those segments really worked and reminded us that WWE is capable of building energy when the pieces come together. However, the show suffered from inconsistent booking and a chaotic flow. At times, it's hard to understand what direction WWE is trying to go with its storylines. Choices feel scattered, segments are often overbooked or interrupted, and the overall rhythm suffers as a result. For a product that relies heavily on clarity and coherent storytelling, this can make the show feel messy and sometimes even confusing. Despite its flaws, there were enjoyable moments and good in-ring work, but with a little more focus and tighter booking, this could have been a much stronger show. As it stands, it's entertaining enough to watch but leaves you feeling like WWE still has work to do to make the weekly product consistently compelling."

[6.0] "I thought this was a fine show. Not as good as smackdown as some of the moments felt rather filler but overall a good show. We started things off with a great tag match with the right winners. I'm a little worried on what Asuka and Kairi will do now because the stuff with Rhea and Iyo should be over. There's too many tag teams for them to be only facing one. The segment with AJ styles and Gunther was great and having the first televised match between the 2 happen in Europe? Hell yeah man. Maxxine vs Becky was... Not good. Maxxine has improved but she's still very sloppy and giving her the belt was a mistake. She isn't ready just yet despite improving and I'm glad Becky won it back because there was really no point of her winning because what was she gonna even do? Face Ivy Nile? Yeah like that would match the prestige of the previous reigns. The Usos say a whole bunch of nothing and that's really have to say. Stephanie vs Raquel again does not interest me in the slightest. The segment itself is well done but I can't get excited for it anymore when we've seen it 3 times. I'd take it over Nikki Bella any day of the week but the bar is so low. Liv vs Lyra was too short for the workers involved. They 100% have a better match in them and they obviously didn't get much time due to the main event which I'll get to in a second. Almost forgot, Jevon on raw is sick and he should be winning the intercontinental champion. I really don't care about dominik being a rip off Eddie Guerrero as I can't get into it ever since that horrible match with Cena at survivor series. The main event is good. One bad botch but the match itself is so good where it didn't hurt it much. Dragon Lee in the main event scene is cool too. Also, Bron will be fine. I do see him winning a world title this year and this loss won't hurt him a bit."

[5.0] "Between a crowd that has been asleep for several years now (thank God for Europe) and a flat schedule, Raw and WWE as a whole will never again reach the heights that many still think they are seeing."

[7.0] "A largely good episode of Raw once you get past the usual WWE corporate commercial filled nonsense. The pacing is always bad live but fortunately next day viewing made this a more pleasant experience for me than those who caught it live. Highlight: Closing stretches of the opener and the main events. Best Match: CM Punk v Bron Breaker (****) Notable moments: Rhea & Iyo beat Kabuki Warriors for the tag titles in a very good opener (***1/2) , Becky wins back the IC Title from Maxxine (**3/4), the Gunther and AJ Styles fued heats up"

"Pésimo RAW para arrancar el año, todos los combates son una perdida de tiempo, hasta el de CM Punk, lo más rescatable sería el y Liv Morgan, aun así estuvieron flojos de nivel. Las promos malísimas Gunther dejándose golpear? Estamos locos? La resolución de los combates malísima en cada una de ellas."

[6.0] "Two great title matches and two okay matches made this episode of RAW a fine watch, the Stranger Things collaboration made for a fresh feel with different looking entrance stage, there were a few okay segments and Gunther/AJ Styles interaction made for interesting watching and cant wait for their match. IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley vs Asuka & Kairi Sane: These two teams know how to put in a great showing and this one was no exception, just glad this was the opening match and the title change made sense and was the right choice, all four had a great match [****1/4]. Becky Lynch vs Maxxine Dupri: Dupri losing the title in a match like this may have made her look weak and the match was fine at best, needed booking better [**]. Liv Morgan vs Lyra Valkyria: This needed more time and could have been presented better with the two, the match was fine [**]. CM Punk vs Bron Breakker: Breakker was shown here in a strong manner even in defeat, Punk overcame not only Breakker but the rest of The Vision even with help, a great main event match for the first RAW in 2026 [****1/2]"

[5.0] "5.5/10 The ST theming was kinda fresh (plus showed that WWE can still do stage themes and not the blank looking ones we see nowadays) and the chapter cards between segments was a nice touch. For the Netflix anniversary, it really didn't feel that major besides a couple title changes. Rhiyo won the tag gold, Becky got her IC gold back after what was certainly one of the matches of all time, Liv vs Lyra was pretty much WWE reminding you that Liv is back. Punk retained against Bron after a decent outing. Steph also came out and said she wouldn't back down from a fight despite an injury, only for Raquel to spoil the moment. Not too keen of Raquel in the World title division, but considering the sheer star power is in the tag division, fair enough. Crowd was also pretty quiet for most of it, like they were holding out for a big surprise which never came. TBH if you take out the Stranger Things crossover, not much would change, the lack of cameos didn't help things but perhaps they either didn't care enough or didn't want things to spiral into 'Guest Host Era' territory. Also I hope Je'von being called up during a commercial break isn't too much of a stain on his incoming main roster run."

[4.0] "Solid opener and a good main, everything else was horrendous. Two dirt poor women's matches, yet more title changes for the sake of title changes (they've well and truly jumped the shark with these), any attempt to make Gunther look like a genuine killer is surely dead now after he did absolutely nothing about being slapped in the face following another promo where he said the exact same shit he says every week now, Stranger Things collab was pointless and a tad cringe, they had a contract signing for one of their hottest young stars...during a commercial ffs and the whole show was just absolutely chock full of botches right down to Punk not being able to keep a grip on his title to lift it up. Really dead crowd in places for a New York crowd too. Not a promising start to the year for Raw with Smackdown having been surprisingly decent the other night. They made out like this was going to be a big deal and it just didn't feel like it at all, boring, lifeless and predictable which should never be the case on a weekly show with multiple title changes. They've either given up trying to book properly or something else has happened behind the scenes cos this is really abject stuff."

[7.0] "Overall, it was good episode, but I'm not satisfied about everething. This adverted like it will be a special show, but in reality we got a normal Raw with Stranger Things visuals. If they do a segment with an actors or characters, I would be more happy. I liked that show started with a match, not the segment, and it was good tag team match and main event also I can name great. 2 title change is a big deal for WWE, but it's not enough."

[4.0] "WHERE IS CHRIS JERICHO? THE ONLY INTERESTING THINGS ON THIS RAW WERE JERICHO AND THE BRON AND PUNK FIGHT. PUNK BEATS BRON CLEANLY, AND THEY KEPT TEASING JERICHO IN EVERY MATCH. ADAM PEARCE SAYING SOMETHING ABOUT BREAK THE WALLS. THE SHOW ENDS AND PWINSIDER COMES OUT AND SAYS IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH JERICHO, THAT IT WAS A REFERENCE TO STRANGER THINGS. IT WAS ONE OF THE BIGGEST SHOCK-AND-SEEK THINGS I'VE SEEN IN A LONG TIME. IT'S A SHAME THAT WWE RESORT TO THAT TO GET PEOPLE TO WATCH THEIR DEAD SHOW."

[8.0] "Lot to enjoy on this episode of Raw, no Chris Jericho but I mean... I'm not missing him unless he shows up. Main Event and the Opener were both red hot matches and some great stuff to see outside of that"

"They hyped this raw up & it was really dissapointing. The women's tag match & main event were the only good things gonna 3 hour show. Everything else was incredibly dull & boring especially the women's IC match. You know it's bad when smack down was the better show"

[6.0] "This raw wasn't honestly even that bad, but for the hype this show had, I was extremely disappointed. Before I even talk about the show, the ST collab might have been the most pointless thing ever. I understand that they did it primarily to attract viewers, but really? No actors? No ST segments? Pointless. The opening match was solid. All four women are great in the ring, so I expected it to be good. I'm fine with Rhea and Iyo winning the titles. I'm wondering if they hold them into Mania, or if they drop them beforehand and have a singles match at Mania. The Gunther AJ promo was a letdown. I love Gunther, but can we have him talk about something other than Cena? I get it, he retired him, and it's a HUGE deal, but let's not make his gimmick only that. Gunther vs AJ will cook next week. I'm excited for that. Becky vs Maxxine was the definition of pure mid. The match was just boring. Becky became the new champ, and the crowd couldn't care less. I'm assuming we're building towards Becky vs AJ at Mania, which makes sense because it's the biggest match you can do for that title. The Usos segment was the stupidest thing of the night. They came out to get a pop and "put the tag division on notice." This could have been used for anything else, but the yeet man needs a pop, I guess. I did like the Stephanie Raquel segment. Raquel looked like a dominant beast, which is what she should be. I'm assuming Stephanie isn't injured to the point where she needs to drop the title. However, I really am hoping we don't get Raquel vs Liv at Mania for the title. I don't think that match would be that good. Liv vs Lyra was fine. Short match, nothing crazy to say about it. Bron vs Punk was FOR SURE match of the night. Aside from the botched hurricanrana spot, this match delivered. The whole vision vs luca battle could have been left out, but it wasn't a big deal. Also, this is me nitpicking, but why is Punk able to just automatically recover from Bron diving onto him on the announce table? I found that dumb. Really wanted Bron to win here, but I get that they want Bron to win the title on the big stage at Mania. However, I really don't know how they're going to drag out this feud for three more months. This raw was not bad, but for the expectations this raw had with the ST collab that did nothing, the rumored returns like Roman, LA Knight, AJ Lee, and of course Chris Jericho (which they should have never teased if he wasn't going to come back), this is why I'm only giving it a rating of 6."

[3.0] "Because this was the first year anniversary of RAW on Netflix, I decided against my better judgement to watch the show live. I was incredibly disappointed throughout with lackluster, unconvincing wrestling paired with a boring tie in that amounted to nothing. The main event did draw me in once or twice, almost convincing me that Bron was going to win before the predictable interference ending."

[7.0] "Thought the show was better than most make it out to be, the opening match was pretty fun and felt cool to have a title change to start the show. Gunther & AJ's segment was great and I'm really looking forward to the match in Germany with the hot crowd. Becky vs Maxxine wasn't great, had some botches with a weird ending and the crowd didn't seem into it either. The Usos promo was just filler, Stephanie's angle with Raquel seemed cool since it portrayed her as a dominant heel. Lyra vs Liv was good, and the main event (although it was a slow start) was a banger to watch. Also forgot to add in that Je'Von Evans is now on Raw, which is sick because of how good he is, and he could get over pretty quickly as well."

[6.0] "I am very confused on what the point of the stranger things collab was outside cool looking branding on the show? As for the matches on the show, the opener and main event were good but the other two weren't up to much. Interferences are becoming too common for me. Average show to start the year."

[7.0] "I think that was a better episode than people are giving credit for, probably it's because the lame-ass Stranger Things stuff, but that was an interesting one... the main event was an excellent match, and we had two title matches, which only one of them delivered, but also a special singles match between Liv and Lyra, which intrigues me a lot. Gunther started a feud with AJ Styles, but unlike many people were suspecting, the debut of Chris Jericho didn't happen, and Seth Rollins, who was apparently at the backstage, also didn't show up, which may frustrate some folks."

"The most confusing thing about this episode is why is this a Strangers Things crossover as the WWE does nothing to even attempt to link WWE and Strangers Things or play with anything to link something with Stranger's thing. The best they could do is having random demogorgans popping up to annoy you. Beyond that you do actually have a good opener and main event even if they were predictable. It does have a huge ads issues the final match had 4 ads breaks just in the first half of it."

[6.0] "A good episode to start the year, it's just a shame that the Stranger Things sponsorship doesn't add anything except for an arena modified to match the atmosphere of the series."

[7.0] "This was a show with a good amount of quality wrestling let down by the WWE-standard terrible pacing and an abominable crowd. The show opening with the women's tag was a good idea since Brooklyn was hot for it, and while the match was just solid on its won the result was an unexpected feel good moment. The Gunther promo feel a bit flat, he really needs to start doing or saying something else the Cena stuff is starting to feel corny. Women's Intercontinental Title Match is next. To be clear, I think Becky Lynch, despite being one of the biggest women in wrestling, is still somehow underrated, and I don't even have the same disdain for Maxxine than most and I think its clear to see how much she's improved. With all that being said though, this just didn't work. This program is not over, its been pretty clear during the segments leading up to this, but it just became even more clear after the nearly hostile response this ultimately inoffensive match received. As Becky cheated to win the belt and the crowd popped louder for it than they had for anything in the match up to that point, I decided it was safe to call the Maxxine experiment a failure. Really weird Uso promo up next, it felt like they were flying without a script and felt completely aimless. Morgan vs Lyra I really enjoyed, the crowd sure didn't, but Lyra is such a phenomenal worker it was gonna be hard for me to not like this. Lyra takes the ObLIVion better than anyone else on the roster. I thought the main event was fantastic, CM Punk is the greatest of all time and he's in yet another one of his peaks. I genuinely think he has the highest ring IQ of anyone in the business at the moment. What's even better is the now mandatory interference part of the match was relatively short and had no bearing on the actual finish, really great stuff. I actually enjoyed this Raw despite the omnipresent shilling for a show I don't care about and the smarky crowd, I also get people not liking it though for those reasons."

[5.0] "RAW is Stranger Things Episode was very mediocre in terms of the focus of the stories and wrestling. I just thought this episode was okay. Here's this Stranger Things aesthetic we are giving you tonight. The Opener was a lot of fun with IYO SKY and Rhea Ripley taking down The Kabuki Warriors to become the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions I think they should go into WrestleMania 42 as champions and contiune to build that division because it has been one of the best things on WWE TV and I hope they conitne to be on of the best things because they been doing a good job booking them. We saw AJ Styles slap Gunther, which prompted a match to be set for next week, and it's labeled as a First Time Ever Match. I'm quite excited for that and expect it to be a Match of the Year Candidate. Becky Lynch finally regained her WWE Women's Intercontinental Title and is now a 2x WWE Women's Intercontinental Champion. I did expect this as WrestleMania is on the horizon, and the rumor of AJ Lee vs. Becky Lynch for WrestleMania is rumored to be happening, so I expect that title to be in play if that match is made official. The WWE Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer had a walking boot. I do hope it's a kayfabe injury because it would be crushing if she's actually injured, but Raquel Rodriguez beat the living daylights out of her and targeted the hurt ankle as she attacked her twice in the ring and backstage. I do see this match being one of the matches that takes place at WWE Saturday Night Main Event in Canada in a few weeks, and it'll be a solid match, but I need better opponents after that for Stephanie Vaquer, as her booking with the title has been shaky. One thing I'll say is they need to do a better job on not recycling the same opponents for the Women's Title that has been a trend I noticed last year when Tiffany Stratton didn't have no one they bring in Nia Jax, and wirth Stephanie Vaquer it seems to be raquel Rodriguez who has had two Title Matches against Stephanie Vaquer already so they need to stop that. But the Liv Morgan match against Lyra Valkyria was okay. I know there's a better match between the two in the future, but this match was the Liv Morgan shake the ring rust match, and I think Liv Morgan and Lyra Valkyria are primed to have an amazing 2026. Also, another thing to note from this show is that I loved the segment with Dragon Lee, Penta, and Rey Mysterio. I think this trio is going to be fun as they go up against The Vision, but I just like the fact that Dragon Lee is seemingly going to have a fun 2026. But the Main Event came and man... this was the Match of the Night. Bron Breakker and CM Punk tore the house down. This was such an old-school style match, didn't have all that over-the-top stuff, just two men who want to destroy each other. Bron breakker inexperience came into play as he made a lot of crucial errors, which made him lose. The Vision came out but was stopped by Dragon Lee, Penta, and Rey Mysterio, which was great. But the ending of this match was great, and I love the closing shot of Bron Breakker sitting on the ground as CM Punk celebrates retaining his WWE World Heavyweight Title. Next week, RAW is in Europe, but I do hope AJ Styles and Gunther deliver, and hoping for a fun 2026 for WWE."

[4.0] "It's time for my semi-regular "what's going on in the WWE weeklies? " foray, which I typically do when there's something that interests me enough to watch live (such as, say, a Raw after Mania). And the Stranger Things tie-in did interest me a little... and all they did were some chapter title cards and throw some spare mic cables over the barricades. Kind of a swing and a miss, especially when it should've really been done LAST week to capitalise on the week between the second half of season 5 and the finale. Could've had some of the cast there, or even the Wyatts for the night, but nope, it's just Corporate Synergy without thought brought into it. A shame, really. But peel back that onion and look at the show as a wrestling show... and it still underwhelms, in my opinion. The first match was legitimately good, but of course it is; you have three joshi legends and Rhea Ripley in there. The Gunther segment was fine too, but I think they might be hotshotting the feud by having a match next week instead of, say, SummerSlam. But then the wheels fell off; the two women's matches to follow were not good. And then came the main event... which was just messy, if I'm being honest. Too botchy, and a bit too long. Like the show as a whole, firmly in the realm of "it's not the worst in the world, but you could've done a lot better if you put in the effort"."

[7.0] "The maiden RAW of the year had its ups and downs, first down is that obviously pretentious and downright goofy Stranger Things nonsense that caught me off-guard during the start of the show and it did continue to bother me for a while until they toned the bullshit down and focused on the show and its content. The 1st match between Rhiyo and the Kabuki Warriors was fine, above average tag-team match with Rhiyo getting the tag titles. GUNTHER had a backstage segment with Adam Pierce, the crowd as usual booed the hell out of him, next week he's got a match against Styles. Then the show continued with Becky getting the Women's IC title back in an unexpected finish, match was fine but the finish took out everything. Vaquer came out with an announcement about her injury and I loved the fact that she got DEMOLISHED by Raquel, absolutely fantastic beatdown both in the ring and backstage. They isolated Raquel out of the JD and positioned her as a notorious heel, love seeing that. Penta and Rey talking about the Vision backstage, and then Liv came out with Roxanne and had a somewhat good return match with Lyra. The main event was an absolute BANGER. Overall, an 7/10. Most matches didn't deliver on the hype. The main event definitely lived up to the build and the storyline."

[7.0] "Compared to how bad was the first RAW on Netflix last year this was an improvement, but not by much, the opener and main event were great matches, and GUNTHER/AJ Segment was great but the rest was just solid"

[2.0] "More commercials than matches and the tie in with Stranger Things was awful. There's a way to do these things and like WCW, WWE hasn't figured out how to do naturally. This was supposed to be big and important show and it failed on that front. I don't know how fans watch this live every week. It's laborious and honestly flat out boring most of the time. I watch the next morning and skip commercials and still feel like I was ripped off."

[8.0] "Was it objectively a mediocre show? No. Did it feel underwhelming considering this as the start of the year to go strong and what they were aiming for? Yes, maybe sort of, I did love the main event and the opening match quite much. While the rest wasn't quite filler, it indeed felt directionless however."

[9.0] "Although not the biggest fan of Stranger Things or whatever bs Netflix spews out of its ass, I sort of really enjoyed this episode of RAW, despite it's shortcomings with how directionless some of it felt, I feel this is a way to renew things for a year to come, the Rhea-Iyo break-up is going to hit a ton of bricks, plus going extra hard on Raquel, Gunther being an insufferable heel and AJ having something to fight for in his twilight years and the great main event of course."

[8.0] "This is probably so underrated at this point, because I don't think there's anything overwhelmingly below average about this show even with an objective lens. I enjoyed the main event, the opener and the entirety of the Raquel arc going through her opponents with such viciousness. Honestly, a good enough show as it is."

[3.0] "So what exactly was the point of having it be a Stranger Things night? Other than the meaningless titlecards, decorations and props they put absolutely zero effort into this concept. Where were the cast members? Or a themed match? Or even a simple mood change in some of the fueds towards the creepy and unexpected? Nah it's just a regular boring RAW where 50 year old CM Pop Punk defeats someone who looks like they could just eat him."

"Every week i tell myself that RAW can't get any worse than the previous week and I'm always wrong. This show is borderline unwatchable with the sheer amount of commercials, lack of creative storylines, and mediocre wrestling. The only positive thing to come out of this show was the main event, which was overbooked and frankly a botchfest. When will Triple H realize he's not cut out for this anymore and hand the reigns to someone who can write a proper story."

[6.0] "Really good main event, but the feeling is just NOT there for WWE at the moment. Find it hard to be engaged."

[5.0] "It wasn't a bad episode of RAW, but it certainly wasn't a good one either. The main event between Punk and Bron was very good, albeit hurt by some noticeable botches, too long a run time, and a flat ending. Nevertheless, it was by far the best thing on a show that otherwise felt uninspired. Matters were not helped by the Brooklyn crowd, which was about as lifeless as I have seen a Brooklyn crowd be. They seemed more interested in chanting for Chris Jericho who, while rumored to appear, never did much to the disappointment of all those who have had the privilege to have never watched anything he has done during his last few years in AEW. The three women's matches ranged from decent to bad. The tag match was the best of the bunch, but it never really built any drama and seemed to end just as it started to really get going. The Kabuki Warriors are once again made to do the job; they are about the least intimidating heels in the women's divsion at this point. The Intercontinental Championship bout was very underwhelming. While some have praised Dupri's recent improvement in the ring, it was clear from watching in this match that she has a very long way to go. Becky did an admirable job carrying her through it, but there were many instances of her losing her place, botching, and failing to lay her offense in properly. The finish of the match was also poorly executed. Dupri could have clearly gotting her shoulder up; in fact, the replay they showed blantanly exposed that she had to be reminded by the referee to put her shoulder to the mat so he could count to third. Not good at all. The Liv vs. Lyra match was perfectly cromulent but nothing more. It did its job in reintroducing Liv and giving her a win to build momentum for her coming world title chase. Lyra continues to be wasted; I have no idea what has possessed WWE to book such a talented wrestler so poorly these last six or so months. The show's other segments were fine. The injury angle with Stephanie did well to get heat on Raquel. Gunther's segments are already starting to feel played-out, so it was good to see them set up the match with AJ for next week. That should hopefully be a great one assuming no overbooking or fuckery around the finish. Oh, and last and certainly least, the Stranger Things theming was just there. It did nothing for me, though I am admittedly not a fan of the show so other people's mileage may vary. Overall, it was a one match show that did little to excite my interest for WWE heading into the new year."

[3.0] "I generally don't rate weekly shows, because WWE has already taught me that they are filler, but I bought into the hype of this show, because after all, if WWE don't care about their fans, they must care about Netflix, and I was quite wrong. I mean it was a perfectly adequate TV show with a good main event and some boring mediocre midcard matches, but I was left with the feeling of "that's it? ". No returns, or surprises, or anything that would get you to think that this episode is special in any way. Not only was there no storyline advancements on this show too, in fact some of them like Becky Lynch went back to where they were months ago. What is the creative vision to WWE in 2026? Watching this show I couldn't tell you."

[7.0] "So first of all, the Stranger Things stuff was harmless window dressing. I'm seeing people lose it over it - if you want to go back to zombies at ringside, then you're insane. This is a happy medium. This was a good show, but not a great one. The main event was excellent, even if I found Breakker losing clean disappointing. The opener was great fun too, with four women who work together very well. Becky got her win back, which is fine, as Maxxine has got the shine from the program. The only thing that bothered me was the pointless Usos promo. I actually thought the Stephanie Vaquer promo was gonna be the same, but that turned into a really good angle. AJ and Gunther for the first time ever from Germany is going to be amazing, and I loved the build to it tonight. Some pacing issues as usual, but a solid, fun show overall."

[2.0] "tuned in to watch Raw for the first time since a while because i thought that they might cook something interesting and the first raw of the year might've been an exciting watch but damn that was dogshit, hardly watchable only thing that kept me going was that i wanted to watch Punker vs Bron and they delivered something nice, genuinely concerned about where the company is going with all of this"

[5.0] "Honestly, it was a decent show, but there was way too much hype, so I have to lower my rating. It was a Raw like many others we've had: two minor title changes that, frankly, mean little to nothing, and a good main event. That's not enough. Gunther's promo was decent, and thankfully the feud with AJ looks promising if they don't mess it up, and yes, I'm allowed to be worried. Aside from that, there was very little: minimal storyline progress. As I said, a decent Raw like many others, but I really didn't appreciate the hype around an event that ultimately brought nothing new."

[4.0] "Opening match solid, main event decent. Everything else was bad too awful, wrapped in lazy stranger things advertising. Raw feels like it's on the way to Smackdowns level and I hate it. The crowd was disengaged early and stayed that way for the majority of the show. Poor."

[4.0] "Overhyped asf, so many returns rumored, they kept talking like this episode was must watch and it ended being an extremely boring episode until the main event which was decent but even that was a let down because there were no returns. This episode coudlve been a 5/10 maybe even a generous 6/10 if it was a normal episode without expectations, but its like that match at mania, New Day vs Viking Raiders, which was a very normal match like 6/10 match but ended up being universally hated because they put a 6/10 match at mania with little events. I got the same feeling from this show"

"(1/10) I personally found this to be a very poor show. I thought that the opener was relatively fine, & then the rest of the episode went downhill. I thought that Becky Lynch regaining the title was a poor booking choice becayse the Intercontinential Title seems tailor made to elevate younger talents, rather than provide already-established talents unnecessary fanfares. I thought that Lyra's match was unconvincing & dull. I think that the main event was rather overrated, & that as CM Punk reaches his later 40s, he is beginning to become an unsafe worker, definitely lacking the in ring charisma he once had. I thought that Smackdown last week was exceptional & am very surprised that this specific ep was this poor, especially when you consider that it is vital for a show's first episode of a given year should exemplify & set a standard for what's to come. It did not seem like they were trying very hard here."

[6.0] "This week's show leaned heavily on its Stranger Things branding, though thankfully it remained mostly inoffensive throughout. The references were limited to graphics, a few between-shot cues, and music, which is a far cry from the over-the-top antics of a decade ago; no R-Truth stumbling into the Upside Down, no Hornswoggle hijinks, not even a glimpse of Ted Wheeler. It's subtle and safe, though perhaps a bit underwhelming for those hoping for a larger pop-culture moment. The in-ring product did its part to keep the show afloat. The Women's Tag Team Championship match kicked off the show and was easily the highlight, delivering solid action, storytelling, and a satisfying finish. Punk vs. Bron Breakker also held up as a strong main-event-level contest, proving that when the focus shifts to top-tier talent, the show can still shine. Outside of those two matches, the show struggled to maintain momentum. Becky Lynch vs. Maxxine Dupri felt recycled, failing to generate the impact of their prior encounters. It's a reminder that not every match or storyline can carry a two-and-a-half-hour program; indeed, the length is beginning to work against the show's pacing. No major surprise appearances or Vortex-related moments helped, leaving the program feeling serviceable but not remarkable. Overall, it was a decent show, with standout matches saving a generally average experience."

[3.0] "Please no more wwe/Netflix crossovers totally killed the vibe of the show. Don't understand the random title changes just seems like they are hot potato all the titles in hopes people will care well I certainly don't. As for the main event yeah it had its moments but let me be clear punk is dangerous in the ring and fans need to call it out multiple times he could have injured Bron, and botches ruined the match beyond repair. Smackdown was excellent friday, back to wwe being mediocre don't waste your time with this show."

"the raw is stranger things was a good start to the year for monday night raw, rhea and iyo winning was a good moment for them they deserved it, and the match itself was good, becky winning the title was not a good call and was not a good match, after that gunther and aj styles, man they are cooking with gunther, the crowd reactions, the insult to john cena, aj punching him, im enjoying gunther after he retired cena. overall the presentation of raw was good, they couldve had a custom stage, the way they hyped up this show, and the main event was a classic, breakker jumping of top rope and diving on punk on the table got a huge reaction, ovrall it was predictable, but i thought rollins might come, but he didnt, overall the shoe gets a 8 from me."