WWE Raw results, highlights (Dec. 1): LA Knight vs. Gunther set to decide John Cena’s final opponent

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WWE Raw results, highlights (Dec. 1): LA Knight vs. Gunther set to decide John Cena's final opponent

WWE was seemingly on a mission to make up for the stinker PLE that was Survivor Series: WarGames. Glendale, Arizona, was spoiled with a nearly perfect edition of Monday Night “Raw” to follow up the festivities. It was the smoothest of sailing — until the landing completely crashed and burned in the final moments.

A pleasant surprise to bookend the show

If you had asked me who would open the show before “WWE Raw” started, I wouldn’t have guessed “RhIyo” — Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky. But it was nice to see, and even more so that they set their sights on the Women’s Tag Team Championships.

The segment was short and felt like it was leading to the first match of the night with “RhIyo” wearing their gear. Instead, they were met by the former champions and their WarGames teammates, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss. That quickly ended the brief friendship, as Bliss stated that they wanted their rematch with the Kabuki Warriors first. She then challenged the duo to a main-event match, and Sky accepted. It was that simple.

Ripley leaned into some heel elements in that interaction. She pointed out that Bliss and Flair were unable to beat the Kabuki Warriors — completely ignoring the shenanigans that led to that loss.

Once we got to the match, it was everything you would expect: Pure nonstop action — and yet another stupid main event interference DQ finish.

Outside of Ripley botching he razor’s edge on Flair, this match was perfect and fun as hell. Some of the tag team spots were brilliantly executed, and the story weaved throughout built to Flair and Ripley’s simultaneous hot tag. Why the Kabuki Warriors had to prevent a winner is beyond me; chaos unfolded afterward anyway.

Lyra Valkyria, Bayley, and the Judgment Day all got involved, with the latter standing tall. This would be more upsetting if it weren’t getting such a great number of talent involved in the tag division — which has desperately needed this.

Hilariously enough, it’s now taking away from the women’s world titles. WWE seems to have a balance problem. This almost feels like too much of not knowing what to do, despite now having four singles titles in place. All in all, the attention from start to finish for the women’s tag scene was a big positive.

👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑

Initially, the John Cena retirement tournament semifinal matches were going to be saved for a dual recap segment — then the unthinkable happened. LA Knight defeated Jey Uso to advance to the finals.

A Knight win would have very likely gotten the Uncrowned Gem nod even if it was the worst match of all time, but this match actually kicked all the [expletive]. It was great. Each man got going immediately, and the pace never wavered.

Knight’s potential real-life frustrations with his booking have seemingly been felt through his work over the past month or two, and this match was no exception. The burning hammer that the dude delivered in this match was a thing of beauty. Picture-perfect in delivery, Uso also flawlessly sold it. Uncrowned readers will know I’m not an Uso guy whatsoever, but he deserves his flowers in this one. From that move to his spear counter, he was great.

Ultimately, Knight scored a Jeff Hardy-esque pin after Uso nailed a super kick, spear and Uso splash that was countered with a shoulder reversal. Throw in a huge “megaplex” from Knight, and this whole match was perfect. WWE did the right thing, and these two brought it.

It would have been great to leave it at the Knight win. But afterward, Uso exploded with rage by the announce table, knocking over the Prime cart. He needs character development, and hopefully, WWE revisits the heel teases he was providing before Seth Rollins’ injury.

Later on, Jackie Redmond essentially forced words out of Uso, who showed signs of weakness. There was also no Jimmy Uso to be seen on this “Raw.” Interesting stuff.

Heels: The match

On the other side of the Cena tournament semifinals, it was Gunther vs. Solo Sikoa after Penta was injured last week. The big boys also brought it, resulting in the Gunther win to set him up against Knight. After tonight, I’m here for it.

Gunther vs. Sikoa was like your updated version of old WWE’s big-man matches. It was slow-burning, but had plenty of great counters, in particular. Gunther avoided the Samoan spike on both attempts, first with his patented chops, and then with the rear-naked choke. Both were perfect and built to the expected shenanigans from Talla Tonga on the outside.

I feared we would get a Wyatt Sicks interference, but it never came. A well-placed turnbuckle removal off a Gunther German suplex created the referee distraction. What made it work so well was the heel vs. heel dynamic, because Gunther just utilized what was happening. He low-blowed Tonga before hitting Sikoa with one while Tonga still tried to get in the ring. The powerbombed Sikoa, and that was a wrap. Strong, creative finish, considering what WWE had to work with.

SteinerMania

We didn’t get any progression on the masked man from Survivor Series: WarGames, but we did get one hell of a Bron Breakker promo.

The return to Breakker’s breakout feels rushed after the Rollins injury, but that’s welcome. He never should have been a muscle character after his Intercontinental title reign, and he reminded us of that here.

Alongside The Vision, Breakker started poorly by claiming his disappointment in how easy it was to pin the World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk. That line just fell flat when it’s entirely devalued by the fact that he needed help from the mystery person — which The Vision claims not to know the identity of. Ultimately, it awarded Breakker a title shot on the first “Raw” of 2026.

From there, Breakker went off on Punk, who’s proved he’s a “soft-a** b****.” His anger built gradually as he began to vent his anger over Punk trying to ruin his career in their WarGames clash. He went as far as to call out Rollins and call back to a talk between him and Punk at WrestleMania. Could Breakker cut a promo? Yeah, he very much could. This was quality.

👍 MONDAY NIGHT MONEY 👍

1. The Kabuki Warriors had a backstage run-in with Bayley and Lyra Valkyria. The latter team wanted to get back into the tag team title mix. That part I don’t love, but the interaction between Asuka and Bayley, specifically, was just quality. They’re wonderful together in any capacity. This was quick, wholesome fun.

2. Maxxine Dupri and Natalya had a super cool Hart Dungeon training vignette. I mean, this was actual cinema, and made Natalya look like an absolute monster. More of that, please. Not just that version of Natalya, but all of it. It put them both over tremendously.

3. The Judgment Day delivered a brief welcome back promo for Liv Morgan, while celebrating Dominik Mysterio’s win over Cena at Survivor Series: WarGames. This was admittedly lackluster. Morgan just declared that the faction will now retake “Raw,” and it was delivered well. The best part, however, was the subtle jabs from Morgan at Roxanne Perez, Finn Balor and even Mysterio — who she slapped at the end of the promo.

I’m smelling an abusive relationship angle here, which Perez will ultimately get in the middle of.

4. AJ Styles and Dragon Lee successfully defended their World Tag Team titles against The New Day. Although a New Day title shot made no sense, the match ruled. New Day felt motivated and serious for a change. Then there was the winning finish — a double stomp spring off the top rope into a Styles clash. Great stuff from four great wrestlers. Next week, the champions will defend against the War Raiders — just because.

5. Going back to Morgan, she teased a program with Stephanie Vaquer when they interacted backstage. I still feel some Morgan world title fatigue despite her injury, but that would be a good, fun feud for Vaquer. She needs anything right now, obviously.

🤷 IT HAPPENED 🤷

1. “Raw” general manager Adam Pearce gave Ivy Nile the first shot at Dupri as Intercontinental Champion — because she asked for it. We haven’t seen Nile compete on TV in I don’t know how long, but too long, and without a win. Though, she mentioned her history with Dupri, which was better than nothing.

2. Logan Paul and Rey Mysterio bantered backstage about who should be pursuing Intercontinental gold. This is a welcome shift from Paul vs. Punk, but it still doesn’t do much for me. If there’s one way to finally push Mysterio face, though, it’s with the Morgan relationship dissolution and a Paul feud.

👑 The ending of “Raw” was literally the only real complaint. So close to perfection. I give this show a Crown score of: 9.5/10. 👑

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