3 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (12 January - Results & Review)
1. Trickery Wins The Day
OH NO ?@AJStylesOrg was arguing with the ref allowing @Gunther_AUT to take advantage and pick up the WIN! pic.twitter.com/3X80o7Uh0B— WWE (@WWE) January 12, 2026
Who had “tap out behind the referee’s back” as an effective escape from a submission hold?
Gunther pulled out a rarely seen blind tap Monday night to defeat AJ Styles in their grudge match. Styles had declared that he wanted to make the Ring General tap out, just like Gunther had done to John Cena last month – and still hasn’t shut up about it.
AJ immediately targeted Gunther’s leg with repeated kicks and strikes, even hitting a springboard somersault legdrop onto the injured leg. When Gunther’s injured wheel was sufficiently softened up, Styles locked in the Calf Crusher repeatedly, forcing Gunther to scramble for the ropes or bang AJ’s head into the mat to escape.
Gunther spent much of the match on defense, with a lot of his offense being a response to AJ’s attacks rather than the Ring General stacking moves to pummel his opponent. In fact, Gunter only had one true near-fall before the finish, which is unusual for his matches.
But then Styles locked in his third Calf Crusher of the match, rolling them to the center of the ring and positioning himself so Gunther couldn’t grab his head. After flailing around for a minute, Gunther stretched his arm around AJ and tapped out on his leg – away from the ref’s view. Styles jumped up to celebrate, assuming the match was over (after all, Gunther did tap out).
However, the referee didn’t see it, and when he went to tell the timekeeper that the match was continuing, Gunther hit a low blow and powerbombed Styles for the win. Sure, AJ looked like a geek here, but he was arguing with the ref rather than celebrating, so it’s somewhat understandable in the heat of the moment (athletes have argued bad calls during a play, and that’s cost them points before).
This was a surprisingly fun match, and they really only explored Styles trying to submit Gunther. If they decide to run it back one more time, they have a good amount of unused material available.