The good, bad, and ugly from this week’s episode of WWE Raw

Heydorn’s Raw Receipt 1/13/25

The good, bad, and ugly from this week’s episode of WWE Raw.

-CM Punk looks more and more comfortable on the microphone each week. Remember early on in his WWE return run when he seemed bland, off cadence, and kinda confused? That’s not there anymore. Punk is able to articulate his stories, but do so in an edgy way that balances with the reality that he isn’t the rebel, anti-WWE guy anymore. He’s found a nice lane.
Owning the loss

-Seth Rollins was tremendous this week. Owning the loss to Punk and calling it the worst of his career is the perfect framing given all that was at stake in that match. It gives meaning to losing, which in turn gives meaning to winning. Great stuff.

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-The men’s Royal Rumble match is becoming increasingly stocked with top talent. Roman Reigns, John Cena, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, and Drew McIntyre? Not only are these top stars, but they are stars that each have a viable chance and a viable story around winning. In years past, it’s been one obvious winner and then a bunch of pretenders. This is fresh and interesting.

-A spectacular, but risky debut for Penta this week. First of all, the presentation and narrative around him was on point. They made him come across as a big star, which is half the battle. Then the match happened. You risk defining your new star down to the level of a mid-card opponent if you have him go back and forth in a “good” match. Chad Gable is a clear mid-card guy that Penta had a tough time beating. In this case, the match was so effective at showcasing Penta that it didn’t matter how long he took to win. Just listen to the crowd reaction. It builds and builds as the match goes on. Penta hooked that audience. It’s risky because if the match doesn’t do that, you have a flat debut to deal with. In this instance, it was anything but flat and the ceiling was raised for what Penta can do in WWE. He looked like a guy ready for the next big step and he was taking it.

-I can’t believe I’m saying this, but if Liv Morgan and Finn Balor keep treating Dominik Mysterio the way that they did this week, he’s going to turn babyface.

Tough job

-Well, it was surprising to see Ludwig Kaiser job out to Sheamus. They had a reason for it — Sheamus is getting an Intercontinental Championship match against Bron Breakker at Saturday Night’s Main Event — but c’mon. Kaiser has upside and its going to be nearly impossible for him to find it if he’s always losing. Losing to CM Punk, Seth Rollins, or another top babyface is one thing, but Sheamus? There were many other ways to get to a Breakker vs. Sheamus match, sacrificing Kaiser for it wasn’t smart, but it was telling as to where WWE sees him.

-It kind of feels like we just did Sheamus vs. Bron Breakker doesn’t it? Sheamus going after the IC title is a story that WWE has cultivated now, but it sure doesn’t seem like Breakker should be losing the championship — unless he’s moving on to bigger things. Royal Rumble????

-Everything is not ok with Gunther. Some of the mystique and dominance has wore off since that “finding himself” story began near the end of last year. Something is off. Jey Uso is his next opponent for the championship, but like Sheamus vs. Breakker, it feels like we’ve just done this. Gunther needs powerful booking behind him in order for the character to work best. He lost that for a second and is paying the price for it now.

History

-Lyra Valkyria vs. Dakota Kai was a good match and suitable for the end of the tournament. Valkyria as the first-ever Women’s Intercontinental Champion makes perfect sense. WWE clearly sees something in her, but she’s been missing something since coming to the main roster. The IC title is that something. At least it’s going to try to be. The audience seemed more invested in Kai, but willing to test out seeing Valkyria with the championship. For as good as Dakota Kai is, Valkyria has more upside.

-Sami Zayn won a match with the Blue Thunder Bomb. Celebrate! Shots all around!

-Man, the Rhea Ripley pops are really fun to see. She’s one of the most over stars in the company, which makes it all the more curious as to why Nia Jax looks like her next opponent. Again???! Ripley needs to be treated on a top star level when it comes to booking. If Triple H is asking, “what do we have for Roman,” the next question needs to be, “what do we have for Rhea.” She’s that important right now.
A fresh strategy

-A very strong main event this week between Damian Priest and Finn Balor. WWE has gotten a ton out of this feud and the culmination of it wrapping up inside of a Street Fight on Netflix was spot on. If WWE can continue flexing these mid-card feud blowoffs into main events successfully, Raw (and Smackdown) will stay fresher for a longer period of time. Thumbs up.