WWE Raw 12/22/2025: 3 Things We Loved And 3 We Hated

There's only one more "WWE Raw" before 2026. The Christmas week edition of the WWE flagship show was a muted, pre-taped affair, but still had plenty of action and table-setting for the start of the new year. Austin Theory made his case as a new member of The Vision, and Becky Lynch continued her protestations against her treatment at the hands of Adam Pearce and Maxxine Dupri.

But enough about "what happened," that's already been taken care of on the results page. Instead, the Wrestling Inc. Staff are going to break down the best and the worst of "WWE Raw's" holiday festivities. There was plenty to love, like the heated action in the show's opening bout, and plenty to hate, like whatever was going on with the show's closing moments. Don't worry, we'll also deal with the stuff in the middle, like Nikki Bella cutting a pretty tired promo.

Enough bloviating, here's the best and the worst of the December 22 edition of "WWE Raw."

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Loved: Monday Night RHIYO

We all know that the women's division carries "WWE Raw." We all know that Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY have some of the most organic and intense chemistry to come of any tag team on the WWE roster, male or female. We all know that Asuka and Kairi Sane share the same bond. We all know that the RHIYO/Kabuki Warriors storyline has, along with the rest of the women's tag teams emerging on both "Raw" and "WWE SmackDown," brought some much, much-needed attention to WWE's gaunt women's tag division.

We know all that, and yet Ripley, SKY, Asuka, and Sane continue to impress me with their work.

First off, hats off to the women for putting on a decently long bout. You'd be hard-pressed to find a decent, full women's match nowadays on weekly WWE programming, but Ripley and Asuka had a very good match that showcased both women's in-ring excellence. Ripley has always been equal parts agile and strong — has played both powerhouse and agile in-ring technician — but her strength in both in-ring departments was beautifully brought out by Asuka's striking and submission prowess. Both women looked incredibly strong in that ring: both as individuals and as partners in a wild in-ring dance. I also have to give my flowers to Sane, who has always been sort of an afterthought in her partnership with Asuka. I think she is really becoming a star in and of herself: her unhinged, unbridled loyalty to Asuka, especially after her convincing performances of regret and uncertainty during the initial SKY/Kabuki Warriors split, has made her infinitely more entertaining.

While the match itself was a strong start to "Raw," I particularly enjoyed how it ended. Despite not being medically cleared, SKY rushed out to the ring to neutralize Sane and even the odds in Ripley's favor, only to take a nasty bump onto her bandaged back. SKY's always been good at selling — tonight was no exception, but Ripley's emotional sell of SKY's pain augmented it. Again, it's that insane chemistry these two have. There are emotional stakes in their relationship. The care between them is so intense and perfectly displayed. RHIYO has been the most genuine pairing WWE has come up with in recent memory.

Asuka getting the win here was the cherry on top. I'm not the biggest fan of the roll-up on principle, but for the opportunistic heel Asuka, it fit. RHIYO got their moment (I can only hope WWE doesn't plan on breaking them up soon), the Kabuki Warriors got a win, and we all got a great opening segment out of it. We all know that the women's division carried "Raw," but RHIYO and the Kabuki Warriors proved it once again.

Written by Angeline Phu

Hated: *Long sigh* Why is this happening?

Monday's show was a pre-taped show, which meant, thankfully, it was just a little over an hour and a half to watch it. That is where the good news ends, I am afraid, with "Raw" taking one through the seven depths of creative hell.

The main issue, without getting into a tirade about what really is quite consistently a good effort on the talent front – I can't really fault Asuka and Rhea Ripley for putting on a really enjoyable match standing on its own, for example – is that there is literally nothing going on outside of the stories stretched out over this holiday period. There isn't really a structure in WWE, that's how people like The Miz get to call themselves two-time WWE Champion and Nikki Bella is getting another Women's World title shot after one singles win in seven years. But it seems that, more than ever, no one actually cares about getting on a path to challenging for a title.

Dominik Mysterio is Intercontinental Champion, and he was in action over the weekend for AAA wrestling against his father, Rey Mysterio, alongside El Grande Americano. Both of whom were at the show and wrestling, while Dom was... playing WWE 2K with Finn Balor backstage. In itself, that's fine. The champion doesn't have to work every week. But absolutely no one seems to give a s**** about even getting in the position to challenge for the title. Mysterio is more involved in the Women's World title picture through his relationship with Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez than he is with his own title, at the moment.

CM Punk has a set match with Bron Breakker in the new year, which has sort of hard-locked him out of having any other form of story going on than fighting with the ever-expanding Vision. On the other side of the equation, Maxxine Dupri appears to be feuding with Becky Lynch over the Women's Intercontinental title – the same title she won from Lynch on the fourth occasion they wrestled this year – because Ivy Nile was enough fresh direction for this month. The Women's Tag Titles are, much in the same way as Punk's World title, locked into the feud between the Kabuki Warriors and RhIyo.

The World Tag Team titles held by AJ Styles and Dragon Lee seem destined for the recently reunited Usos – because every other team worth their salt has held the titles, lost the titles, held them again ad nauseam. The Women's World Championship has the most exciting picture but it was relegated to a backstage segment confirming a triple threat for next week and a Nikki Bella promo about football teams.

Aside from that, no one really seems to want to be in the title picture. They're just... waiting. And it's boring.

Written by Max Everett

Loved: Je'Von Evans is getting courted by both brands

Je'Von Evans has been one of WWE's breakout stars this year, maybe the breakout star. And for good reason. He's stood out with his in-ring skills, big personality, and for being a bouncy boy. At 21, he's already had 12 title opportunities. While he's lost them all, he is undeterred. He took to social media and said, "The best and better opportunity is when you're learning with the legends you're in the ring with...I'll take that over any championship match."

He recently competed in the Last Time Is Now tournament against GUNTHER. He had a really impressive showing against the man who would eventually retire John Cena. He did end up competing on Cena's final show when he teamed with TNA's Leon Slater against AJ Styles and Dragon Lee. Prior to his match tonight against Rayo Americano, Corey Graves mentioned that Evans is a free agent. He's being courted for both brands. He's had one loss and one win on the red brand.

"The Young O.G." has had four matches on "SmackDown". He had his first match on the Blue brand back in May when he teamed with Rey Fénix. They teamed up again in October to defeat Los Garza. In September, he answered Sami Zayn's open challenge for the men's U.S. title, which got a lot of people to take notice of the young phenom. He recently picked up a victory over The Miz. Evans is getting to showcase his talent while working different styles, working in front of big crowds, and acquainting himself with the fans. He seems to be a better fit for Friday nights, but wherever he ends up, he'll bring much-needed passion and charisma.

Written by Samantha Schipman

Hated: Nothingburger Bella, Stephanie Vaquer MIA

To be honest, Nikki Bella's Y2K, Gwen Stefani, "this post finds me at a very Japanese time in my life" look was the most interesting thing about Bella's Monday night segment.

And if we're still being honest, I'm thoroughly over Bella and Vaquer's feud — if you can even call it a feud. Week in and week out, Bella has been trying to make her case for the WWE Women's World Championship. I'll be optimistic: I think in some not-so-distant alternate universe, this could have worked out. We could have had an actual feud on our hands...if Bella wasn't saying the exact same thing over and over again, and if Vaquer had a chance to respond.

Bella's promo on Monday night was, to be very kind, middling. She didn't say much of anything; in fact, I think you could have watched that promo on mute, and still have received the same amount of information. It's almost like a checklist: "Nikki Bella is a legend," region-specific sports-related heat, "this is what a champion looks like," "I will destroy Stephanie Vaquer," curtain call, and roll credits. You could splice Bella's promo work from the past few weeks, and with the exception of her reference to Raquel Rodriguez's gnarly goose egg, it would all sound like a promo that could plausibly be cut in one night. Bella's talking a lot, but she's not saying much. It is not a promo. It is noise.

Bella's roundabout promos and insignificant title campaign, however, are not entirely her fault. Sure, she could have added a bit more sauce to her line delivery (it was very flat), but have you ever tried to start a fire with no kindling? Have you ever tried to keep a fire going with no kindling? It doesn't work like that. If you get anything — and that's a big if; a fire's not going to burn without any fuel — it will likely be nothing more than a smolder: something that cannot keep anyone warm, and something that will only pollute the air you breathe with its acrid smoke. Vaquer is not here to give Bella, a woman known for her mic skills, any fuel to work with. What should have been a red-hot title campaign for a literal WWE Hall of Famer is nothing more than a smolder, because Bella has literally nothing to go off of. Bella's promo tonight was bad, yes, but what else could it be if WWE isn't willing to let Vaquer get her words in, or her lick back?

Bella's promo was bad, yes, but her middling performance post-heel turn is a direct symptom of WWE's failure to book Vaquer for anything but a premium live event.

Written by Angeline Phu

Loved: Using Interference As A Storytelling Device

As anyone who frequently reads our loved/hated column will know by now, I am normally not one for interference in matches just because it feels incredibly overdone in the landscape of WWE and professional wrestling as a whole. There are very few occasions where I actually like seeing it done and think it's warranted, with one such being the match between Bayley and Roxanne Perez on this edition of "Raw".

Unlike the countless other examples of interference in WWE, the interference in this match actually worked to tell stories within the context of two separate storylines that happened to converge in this match.

First, Liv Morgan's referee distraction allowed Perez to expose the middle turnbuckle and send Bayley crashing into it only for the referee to completely miss the count because of Raquel Rodriguez's own distraction worked on a couple different fronts here. It not only showed the growth of the cracks that have begun to form in Rodriguez and Morgan's relationship with one another, but it also aided in furthering the cracks forming within the Judgment Day stable as a whole.

Second, Lyra Valkyria was able to take advantage of Bayley's increasingly erratic behavoir by getting her incredibly fired up and having her use that energy to win the match. It put Bayley and Valkyria's partnership front and center without taking away from anything that had happened in the ring or the double distraction from Morgan and Rodriguez.

All in all, everything about this match and the interference was fun, engaging to watch, and properly told a story.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Hated: Austin Theory auditioning for The Vision

I am admittedly not exactly a fan of Austin Theory, but I was willing to give him a shot in this new role. I thought it would have been much more interesting if he was just working on behalf of Logan Paul, rather than basically auditioning to join The Vision, like he did tonight. While I don't necessarily like it, I can completely understand why WWE would have Theory pin a Hall of Famer in Rey Mysterio during his first match back.

Sure, he proved himself, but I think his work alongside Paul could have been a much better story. We never got explicit confirmation that Paul is in The Vision, so Theory could be working with him to make sure they both have their spots solidified in Paul Heyman's faction. Or, Theory could be working with Paul to take over The Vision from Heyman and Bron Breakker, which would be a much stronger story if and when Breakker loses his World Heavyweight Championship opportunity to CM Punk. I guess that all still could eventually ring true when Paul returns, as he was noticeably absent from this episode, likely due to his brother's boxing match last weekend. It's also something that could happen over time, but I'm not sure how long this can go on before it becomes uninteresting. Sure, a new, darker Theory joined the faction, but how long until we're asking ourselves if The Vision is getting a new fifth member, sixth if you count Heyman?

Despite needing to audition to join the club, or at least apparently feeling like he needed to, Theory was also pretty cocky backstage tonight. For someone who had been working for The Vision under a mask for a while there, I guess I expected him to be a bit quieter and speak with his actions, despite us finally knowing who it was. I wanted to like his face-to-face with Heyman earlier in the night, but I just found myself thinking that it doesn't seem like this character is going to stick with him, either.

While I'm not exactly thrilled by everything going on with everyone but Breakker when it comes to The Vision, it was a pretty strong episode of "Raw" tonight without much to hate, though that very well could have been because it was an easy, commercial-free watch for us here in the states, making me nitpicky. But WWE doesn't have a great track record with Theory and any iterations of his character, however, so I can't say I'm too optimistic about where this is going to go for him.

Written by Daisy Ruth

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