WWE Raw live results: CM Punk & Rey Mysterio vs. The Vision
The penultimate 2025 edition of WWE Raw airs tonight from the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
CM Punk will team up with WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio as they take on two members of The Vision. The match comes one week after Austin Theory revealed himself to be the masked man who has been helping out Paul Heyman’s faction.
Asuka will face Rhea Ripley one-on-one after Ripley demanded the match. Asuka and Kairi Sane are looking to retain their WWE Women’s Tag Team titles against Ripley and IYO SKY on the January 5 Raw, and the champs laid out their challengers last week after Asuka sprayed mist in Ripley’s face.
Roxanne Perez and Liv Morgan are eyeing the titles themselves, but Perez will be in singles action to face Bayley tonight.
Je’Von Evans, looking to gain some momentum following a string of losses, will face Rayo Americano.
Plus, fans will find out what’s next for Gunther after he was kicked out of the arena last week for bragging incessantly about his submission win over John Cena.
Tonight’s show was taped at last Friday’s SmackDown with full spoilers available here.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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Show Recap —
This show was taped on Friday, so the announcers were Cole and Corey Graves (instead of Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett).
I realized during the opening match that the feed isn’t being treated as ‘live’ on Netflix, so you can just skip ahead if you want.
CM Punk & Rey Mysterio, Judgment Day, Je’Von Evans, Gunther, and The Vision were shown arriving. Michael Cole said Evans was a soon-to-be free agent.
Paul Heyman approached Austin Theory and asked him what the hell he was doing. Theory said he wore the mask because he wanted everyone to feel his actions before they saw his face. He made some mistakes in the past. He got comfortable before getting injured. He appreciated that the Vision didn’t wait around. They take. Theory said that was him now. He wanted to take that opportunity and help out. Heyman was skeptical but intrigued.
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Rhea Ripley asked Iyo Sky to stay in the back for her match tonight. She wanted Sky to take care of herself after getting laid out last week.
Rhea Ripley vs. Women’s Tag Team Champion Asuka (w/ Kairi Sane)
Because this show is taped, we’re not getting the usual commercial breaks, but they are still cutting to break as if it were live. Asuka took control thanks to a Kairi Sane distraction, and they acted as if they were heading to break as usual (90 seconds into the match, as usual), but the action picked right back up.
Ripley tried mounting a comeback but was tripped from the outside by Sane. Ripley did mount a comeback anyway, and fended off a flurry of offence by Asuka ahead of another “break.” Ripley applied the standing cloverleaf, but Asuka countered with a German suplex and sliding kick for two.
Asuka blocked a Razor’s Edge attempt and later hit a German suplex on the apron. Asuka came off the top, but Ripley hit her with a mid-air thrust kick, followed by a cannonball off the apron. (Ripley used more kicks in this match than usual.)
Ripley went to the top but was tripped by Sane, so Sky ran out (while selling her back) to attack her. Sky jumped on the apron to yell at the referee for allowing Sane to interfere again, but Sane used the opportunity to drop her on the apron.
Asuka used that distraction to catch Ripley in a cradle for the pinfall win.
As Cole mentioned, Asuka was winless in 8 singles matches against Ripley before this.
Match result: Asuka defeated Rhea Ripley (approx. 11:30 of TV time)
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Backstage, Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker seemed skeptical about Theory. Heyman said they were both much better off today than they were months ago, and that was thanks to him. That all happened thanks to his vision. He did not pimp that out easily.
He was selective, and he had a vision for Theory. Tonight, it would be Theory and Reed against Punk and Mysterio. Either Theory carried out their vision, or the two of them could carry Theory’s ass out of WWE. (This immediately made me think of Steve Austin and Kurt Angle kicking Buf Bagwell out of the arena that one time.)
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Becky Lynch and Maxxine Dupri segment
Lynch stormed out wearing a fur coat. She said we would not be getting a celebration for Maxxine Durpi. There was a corrupt referee in their match, and Lynch was still the Women’s Intercontinental Champion.
If petty Pearce wouldn’t do anything about it, Lynch knew some powerful people who would. She had the most powerful lawyers in the country, but the bigwigs at Netflix advised her to go to miserable Michigan and take matters into her own hands because she was the greatest of all time.
Dupri interrupted. She agreed with Sports Illustrated that Lynch was the greatest of all time, while she was just a rookie—but this rookie just beat the greatest of all time. (Dupri’s first match wasin 2023.) Dupri bragged that she beat Lynch three times (the other two were by DQ and count-out), and said she would give Lynch a rematch anytime, anyplace.
Dupri fired up and said she would stop at nothing to beat her again. She would train until her blood, sweat and tears on the mat. She said, “Not only am I their Intercontinental Champion, I am your Intercontinental Champion.”
Dupri wanted Lynch to admit that, but she knew Lynch wouldn’t take it on the chin like the Man she said she was. In this moment, Lynch didn’t look like the greatest of all time. Lynch looked like someone who was afraid her best years were behind her.
Lynch decked Dupri with a suckerpunch and held up the IC title belt. Lynch was about to leave, but went for another attack, so Dupri picked the leg and applied an ankle lock until Lynch tapped out. Dupri let go, and Lynch bailed.
Dupri was good here.
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Pearce spoke to Je’Von Evans backstage. Pearce wished him luck in his match tonight and wanted to talk about his future afterward. Evans was in a good mood, and he left for his match.
Stephanie Vaquer approached Pearce next. She wanted to face both Nikki Bella and Raquel Rodriguez. Pearce was happy with that and made a triple threat match for the world title next week.
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There was a video package for The Usos, who face AJ Styles and Dragon Lee for the world tag team titles next week. Well, that was a quick road back to title contention.
Je’Von Evans vs. Rayo Americano (w/ El Grande Americano & Bravo Americano)
Cole said he tried a Wikipedia search on Rayo Americano but couldn’t find anything, even though a Google search for him takes you right to Pete Dunne’s results.
Evans hit a flip dive ahead of a “break,” but Rayo brought him off the top with an arm drag after the break to take control. Evans fought back with a forearm, a vertical suplex (where he pops right back up to his feet), and a springboard clothesline for two.
El Grande Americano distracted the referee while Bravo and Rayo double-teamed Evans. Rayo followed with a Michinoku Driver for a nearfall. Evans avoided a Rayo moonsault attempt and hit an OG Cutter for the pinfall win.
El Grande and Bravo tried to attack Evans, but he escaped the ring and smiled back at them.
Match result: Je’Von Evans defeated Rayo Americano (approx. 7:00 of TV time)
This was fine. A mostly easy win for Evans, and they really pushed hard that he’s a pending free agent.
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Cathy Kelley interviewed Styles and Dragon Lee about facing Jimmy and Jey Uso, who have been a tag team a lot longer than they have. Styles and Lee weren’t worried because they’ve beaten established teams like Judgment Day and New Day. Styles said having the titles meant they were better than the best.
Bron Breakker promo
There was a pre-taped Breakker promo package. Breakker said Punk thought they had a personal vendetta because of the barbs he mentioned about his family, but the reality was that Punk didn’t care about his wife. He never cared about anyone other than himself.
Breakker wondered which version of Punk would show up on January 5th: the watered-down 2025 version, or the best in the world. Either way, the result would be the same. Breakker was the mountain Punk couldn’t climb, and the dog he couldn’t outrun. In Punk’s words, he was only here to make money. Breakker hoped Punk saved his money, because after he beats him, Punk won’t be worth a dollar to anyone.
This was really good.
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WWE Raw and PLE recapper/reviewer. Contributed to WrestlingObserver.com as the SmackDown reviewer in the 2000s before turning to WONF4W in 2015.