The words spoken into the microphones stole the show during an action-packed episode of "Raw," setting the stage for upcoming matches at Saturday Night's Main Event and beyond. Opening the show, Gunther directly addressed John Cena ahead of their upcoming match, while Bron Breakker went at CM Punk for a second time. And, despite two appearances from "the masked man," including an assist to Logan Paul, we are no closer to identifying who it is.
Dec. 8 'Raw' results
• Iyo Sky defeats Kairi Sane
• Rey Mysterio vs. Finn Balor canceled after Mysterio was attacked by Logan Paul
• AJ Styles and Dragon Lee defeat The War Raiders (Erik and Ivar) to retain the World Tag Team Championship
• Roxanne Perez defeats Lyra Valkyria
• Logan Paul defeats LA Knight
Bron Breakker is ascending, but is he ready to go toe-to-toe with CM Punk?
Bron Breakker got rawer and more shocking with his callout to CM Punk, begging (on his hands and knees) for the return of the "old Punk" -- the one who commanded respect during his 434-day WWE championship reign from 2011 to 2013. Bron said that if the current "nice guy" version of Punk shows up for their World Heavyweight Championship match on Jan. 5, Bron will beat him easily, take his title and, "while I'm at it, I'll take your wife, too."
That wasn't the only "What did he just say?" moment from Bron's promo. It was a speech that harkened back to the way his uncle Scott "Big Poppa Pump" Steiner used to deliver promos in the late 1990s. Bron has that same air of unpredictability, passion, fire and brash confidence.
Both of Breakker's promos since the heavyweight championship match was announced last week have been well-received, but the true test will be when he's face-to-face with Punk with microphones in hand before the match. It's one thing to address the WWE crowd on your own; it's another to do so while your legendary main-event opponent stares back at you.
More 'Raw' takeaways
• Gunther was direct with his words toward John Cena in his promo for Saturday Night's Main Event. He called Cena "the greatest sports entertainer of all time," but called himself the "greatest professional wrestler of all time." He went on to say that he would make Cena do something Cena has vowed never to do -- give up. The promo was short but effective. It elevated the match and Gunther's role in it. It would be quite the visual if Gunther were to find a way to make Cena tap out, something Cena hasn't done in more than 10 years.
• AJ Styles and Dragon Lee won their tag team title match and were immediately confronted by The New Day and The Usos, who announced they are back in the tag team division and want the gold. It was also revealed that Lee and Styles would defend their titles at Saturday Night's Main Event this weekend against the team of Je'Von Evans (NXT) and Leon Slater (TNA).
At first glance, this seems like a prime opportunity for a shock title win for the young pair, but with all the commotion after Styles and Lee's win on Monday, including The Usos signaling their intent to compete, maybe a win for Evans and Slater is premature. It's still a good move to give the youngsters a chance to make noise against veterans on a big show, though.
• Nikki Bella interrupted Stephanie Vaquer's promo to demand a rematch, and Raquel Rodriguez emerged to protest, saying Bella would be cutting her in line. A triple-threat match among these three would be just fine. I would like to see Rodriguez, who has held the NXT women's title and the tag team titles on multiple occasions, win the Women's World Championship eventually.
• After a segment on last week's episode showed Natalya beating down Women's Intercontinental Champion Maxxine Dupri in training, Dupri got the upper hand in this week's version. Dupri finally tapped her teacher, Natalya, who has been debuting her more serious "Lowkey Legend" persona in different wrestling rings across the country recently. The vibe of the clip nodded to stories you might hear from wrestling students at the Hart Family "Dungeon" -- the basement of the Hart family's mansion in Calgary, Alberta, where the patriarch, Stu Hart, would train students, including his granddaughter Natalya. This training partnership could add an edgier layer to Dupri's character, as Becky Lynch looms.
• Logan Paul picked up the win over LA Knight, thanks to another appearance by the mystery man in the hood, who also interfered at Survivor Series. The masked man delivered a stomp to Knight then fled. After the match, Knight called out The Vision backstage, which led Paul and Bronson Reed to attack, putting Knight through a table before Reed hit a Tsunami on Knight on the hood of a car.
Between this ambush and the cold streak Knight has been on recently, Knight might take a break from "Raw." I maintain that he has at least one world title run in him, but time away gives fans a chance to miss him and Knight time to reset. Time will tell how long the break could be, but a return sometime around Royal Rumble in late January puts him back in the mix for WrestleMania.