4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (15 December - Results & Review)

2. Boilerplate Matches

On paper, the card for Monday Night Raw looked pretty solid: two title matches, a tag match that essentially doubled as a number one contender’s match, and a popular Hall of Famer fighting a hated member of the top heel faction on the brand.

In execution, this was a holiday season Raw if ever there was one. WWE already is loading up the first episode of 2026 with big, consequential title matches, while next week’s episode is shaping up to be more exhibition (Je’Von Evans in action, Rhea Ripley facing Asuka, and Roxanne Perez battling Bayley) than something of significance.

Monday’s show itself was “there,” with one title match ending in a double-disqualification, and the other with an obvious finish. The main event was a 15-minute match where everyone was just waiting for the last five minutes and when the run-ins would start, and maybe something interesting would happen. (If you don’t consider Austin Theory revealing himself to be the masked man, then you were disappointed.)

Stephanie Vaquer versus Raquel Rodriguez wasn’t a bad match, but once Big Mami Cool said she wanted to face the Women’s World Champion alone, it was pretty obvious that we weren’t getting a real finish.

Setting aside Gunther’s nuclear heat (which existed in a universe of its own as an extension of Saturday Night’s Main Event) and CM Punk’s fiery promo, the rest of the show felt skippable if you had anything remotely important or interesting to do.