3 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (12 January - Results & Review)

3. World Title Matches Grow On Trees

WWE Raw Finn Balor CM Punk
WWE

On the night, Finn Balor versus CM Punk will probably be a perfectly acceptable match, and Balor is a guilty pleasure wrestler. However, it’s impossible to ignore that Finn is far from deserving of a World Heavyweight Title match.

If we’re going to make Bron Breakker earn a title shot and have number one contender’s matches on the same show, then why would you just grant a world title match to someone who has won just one televised singles match in the past 19 months?

Yep, Balor defeated Dragon Lee in early June 2024, then didn’t win a singles match on television again until September 2025… against Dragon Lee. But hey, Punk name-dropped Finn in a promo, so therefore he can run out there and sweet-talk his way into a title match next week.

Here’s a wild concept: have Balor go out and win a match against someone like Rey Mysterio earlier on the show and then issue the challenge.

Literally no one is expecting anything beyond a gentleman’s three with this match, so yeah, great booking here.

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Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.