WWE RAW is Stranger Things in Brooklyn, New York, USA, Streaming Live on Netflix | January 5th, 2026 — The Episode Recap:
- robbyplaha
- Jan 6
- 7 min read
Updated: Jan 19
The January 5th Episode of WWE RAW is Stranger Things — The Match Results:
The Opening Match: IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley defeated The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane) (c) in a WWE Women’s Tag Team Title Match | via Pin-Fall — (16:27) — TITLE CHANGE!!!!
The 2nd Match: Becky Lynch defeated Maxxine Dupri (c) in a WWE Women’s Intercontinental Title Match | via Pin-Fall — (11:37) — TITLE CHANGE!!!!
The 3rd Match: Liv Morgan (with Roxanne Perez) defeated Lyra Valkyria (with Bayley) in a Singles Match | via Pin-Fall — (08:56)
The Main Event Match: CM Punk (c) defeated Bron Breakker (with Paul Heyman) in a WWE World Heavyweight Title Match | via Pin-Fall — (26:34)
My Thoughts on the January 5th Episode of WWE RAW is Stranger Things:
My Thoughts: 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.
The January 5th Episode of WWE RAW is Stranger Things — The Match Ratings:
The Opening Match: The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane) (c) vs. IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley in a WWE Women’s Tag Team Title Match | The Match Rating: ***.25 — This was a fun red-hot opener. Instead of 20-minute Promos of The Vision, every week, RAW should open with a bang with a match of star-studded individuals going at it for 15-20 Minutes in which what all four ladies did in this match. I liked this match, but not more than their Crown Jewel Match many months back. I liked the fact that Corey Graves shouted out Hiroshi Tanahashi when IYO SKY did the Slingblade; that was pretty cool. The Kabuki Warriors were fun in this match I thought they would retain because how WWE books if the team they're facing beats them before the pending Title Match they usually lose but it didn't happen as IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley are now your WWE Women's Tag Team Champiosn but is something fresh and new for Rhea Ripley which I'm happy about I don't know if they are going into WrestleMania with the belts but I wouldn't mind if they did. The WWE Women’s Tag Team Division is easily the best thing going in WWE, and I loved the fact that they’ve been booking it so well that they need to keep it up, and I'm excited for this title reign.
The 2nd Match: Maxxine Dupri (c) vs. Becky Lynch in a WWE Women’s Intercontinental Title Match | The Match Rating: *.75 — Maxxine Dupri looked out of place in this match with Becky Lynch. Her last three matches with Becky Lynch were very solid, and I thought she had grown as a wrestler, but this match was one of her poorer showings. I knew coming in that Becky Lynch was probably going to win back the WWE Women’s Intercontinental Title and carry it into the WrestleMania Season, but I did expect a better match, and I was excited to see if Maxxine Dupri was going to show out. But this was a poor match, and to add insult to injury, the ending was god-awful, with how Becky Lynch won. I know she’s a heel, but this match was supposed to be something more. It was easily the worst match of the night. Now Becky Lynch is a 2x WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion, and I don’t know what’s next for Maxxine Dupri. Maybe she and Natalya can jump into the WWE Women’s Tag Division and add some boost to it so both women can have something to do.
The 3rd Match: Liv Morgan (with Roxanne Perez) vs. Lyra Valkyria (with Bayley) in a Singles Match | The Match Rating: **.50 — This was an okay return match for Liv Morgan. I know she has a better match with Lyra Valkyria in the future, but this was plausible. I thought she looked like someone who just came back from an injury and needed to knock off some ring rust. Lyra Valkyria had a solid performance in this match, which sucks that she lost, but that was contributed to by Bayley going rogue at ringside as she was berating everyone as Lyra Valkyria tried to calm her down. However, this was fine, and I'm okay with Liv Morgan winning, as WWE wants to make her one of the huge faces of the Women's Side of things. Nevertheless, I do hope Lyra Valkryia can have a breakout 2026 and win the Women's World Title in the near future.
The Main Event Match: CM Punk (c) vs. Bron Breakker (with Paul Heyman) in a WWE World Heavyweight Title Match | The Match Rating: ****.50 — This was so much fun. The Old Man CM Punk is taking on the rising star Bron Breakker. Seeing CM Punk facing a young opponent, I wasn't shocked that this match turned out to be a great match. The beginning started slow, as a lot of CM Punk’s matches do at his older age, but when it went into another gear, the match took off. Bron Breakker looked great in this match, and I know there were a few botches by both men, but this match showed that Bron Breakker is indeed in fact the next face of the company. One of my favorite parts of this match is when The Vision came out, but they got stopped by Dragon Lee, Penta, and Rey Mysterio. Seeing Dragon Lee in a Main Event Program made me happy. As the match went on, we saw Bron Breakker hit an insane outside elbow drop through the announce table. But in the end, CM Punk got the win and retained his WWE World Heavyweight Title. The build and the match delivered. Even though the entirety of the show was mediocre, I'm glad a match I was excited for that had a great build had a big-time delivery. I know the rumor rematch is slated for WrestleMania, and I do think these two have a better match coming, but this was a lot of fun, and U want to see more of the younger guys take on CM Punk because CM Punk delivered big-time.
The January 5th Episode of WWE RAW is Stranger Things — The Match of the Night: CM Punk (c) vs. Bron Breakker (with Paul Heyman) in a WWE World Heavyweight Title Match | The Match Rating: ****.50
The January 5th Episode of WWE RAW is Stranger Things — The Episode Grade: 5.25/10 (C) — This was a let-down; it was more focused on showing the aesthetics of Stranger Things than the show itself. The few positives I came away from this show are Je’Von Evans is officially a member of Monday Night RAW, and the Main Event we saw Old Man Punk and Bron Breakker tear it down in Brooklyn. Next week, AJ Styles and Gunther were announced, which is going to be maybe a Match of the Year candidate already, but WWE, in terms of matches, has been off to a hot start and is still letting the stove run hot, which I hope they do for this 2026 year.
Next Week WWE Monday Night RAW January 12th Episode in Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Deutschland — The Announced Matches & Segments for Next Week:
AJ Styles vs. Gunther in a Singles Match.
Bravo Americano (with El Grande Americano & Rayo Americano) vs. Je'Von Evans in a Singles Match.
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