Raw airs tonight (Jan. 27) with a live show from State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. This is the final episode of Raw during the nine week build towards Royal Rumble 2025, which takes place on Saturday (Feb. 1).
Sami Zayn can finally do something he’s never done before in WWE
Sami Zayn vs. Drew McIntyre is the main event of tonight’s episode of Raw. These men came to blows at the end of last week’s episode when Sami stopped Drew from crushing Seth Rollins’ skull against the ring post. Sami then got a little overzealous and accidentally blasted Rollins with a Helluva Kick that was intended for Drew.
Sami and Drew both requested this match for tonight, so General Manager Adam Pearce made it official. Not only are both of these guys trying to make a statement on the final episode of Raw before the men’s Royal Rumble match, but they each have a losing streak of sorts to deal with.
Drew has yet to win a match in 2025 or on Netflix. If he can’t win tonight, then he’ll go into the Royal Rumble match with zero momentum and should probably pack his bags for a transfer over to SmackDown.
Zayn’s streak goes back longer than that. According to the data at CageMatch, Sami has never defeated McIntyre in a one-on-one match in WWE. 19 such matches have occurred going back to 2021, and Zayn’s record includes 18 losses and one no contest. 11 of these matches were televised, so it’s not like they all took place on house shows. Drew simply has Sami’s number in WWE.
Will Drew figure out how to win a match on Netflix, or can Sami finally pull off a win against him? Tune into tonight’s Raw to see which streak is coming to an end on the Royal Rumble go-home show.
The rest of the card
World Tag Team Champions The War Raiders defend their titles tonight against Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh of The Judgment Day. I don’t think Dirty Dom’s mustache can make up for the absence of Finn Balor, so I don’t like the Judgment Day’s chances in this bout.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Naomi and Bianca Belair vs. Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez is also booked on the card. I don’t believe the belts are on the line, because the champs have a title defense advertised for tomorrow night on NXT against Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson. Will Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley make an appearance to scout some of these top contenders in the women’s Royal Rumble match? Will the NXT challengers show up to send a message to Belair and Naomi?
Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes is in the building tonight. Cody is probably here to promote his ladder match against Kevin Owens at Royal Rumble, but I have a feeling he’ll also run into some of the top stars competing in the Rumble match who want his gold, such as CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, McIntyre, and Zayn.
The road to WrestleMania draws near, so that means it’s time for the part-timers to return. Logan Paul has been a non-factor in WWE since dropping the United States championship to LA Knight last August at SummerSlam. The YouTube douchebag is now on the Raw roster and scheduled for an appearance on tonight’s show. Is it time for Logan to declare his entry in the 2025 men’s Royal Rumble match?
Other stuff to keep an eye on
- Speaking of part-timers, Raw is in Atlanta tonight, so there’s been some speculation about Bill Goldberg showing up to kick off his retirement story, perhaps to continue his issue from last year with World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER. WWE isn’t advertising Bill Goldberg for the show, however, so it will technically be a surprise appearance if Bill Goldberg does show his face.
- Before moving on from the part-timers I have to mention Roman Reigns. He last appeared in WWE on Jan. 6 when he defeated Solo Sikoa in Tribal Combat. Roman teased his return for January 27 and indicated he was doing something related to the WWE 2K25 video game. That date is tonight but WWE has not been promoting Reigns for this show. Did the Tribal Chief give the wrong date to his wiseman?
- Okay I lied, there’s one more part-timer to talk about. It was three weeks ago when John Cena declared his entry in the Royal Rumble match, and we haven’t see him since. Will John send in a promo via satellite for the Rumble go home show, or will it be up to the commentators to hype up his return to the WWE ring on Saturday night?
- Penta has started his WWE run with wins against Chad Gable and BUTCH Pete Dunne. Which mid-card guy will try his luck in a losing effort against Penta tonight?
- Gable still hasn’t gotten over that loss and has decided to master the dark arts of lucha libre. That little shithead Dominik Mysterio gave Chad the contact info of a mystery man to help him out with that endeavor. Will we find out the identity of that guy tonight?
- IYO Sky looked like she was in peak form last week when Damage CTRL defeated Pure Fusion Collective. Will IYO declare for the Royal Rumble match tonight?
- The New Day’s new rotten attitude didn’t translate to a win in the ring last week, as Kofi Kingston couldn’t beat WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio. Kingston and Xavier Woods were sore losers afterwards and laid out the LWO. Will New Day get back in the winners’ column by wrestling a tag team match against Rey’s LWO underlings tonight?
- Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker and Women’s Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria could both potentially declare for the Royal Rumble match during tonight’s broadcast.
- Austin Theory and Grayson Waller are now on the Raw roster. Which babyfaces get to kick their asses tonight?
- Bayley is also now on the Raw roster, but she began her latest run on Monday nights with a loss against Nia Jax last week. If Bayley wants to get a W on her record ahead of the Royal Rumble, she should probably fight someone from Pure Fusion Collective tonight.
- WWE decided to announce Charlotte Flair’s return in the Royal Rumble match, rather than bring her back as a surprise entrant. With that in mind, will there be any teases tonight about the potential return of Becky Lynch at Royal Rumble?
- The transfer window was very busy a few nights ago on SmackDown. Will the moves be just as frantic tonight? And is it time for Omos to transfer back to WWE after relinquishing his championship in Japan over the weekend?
What will you be looking for on Raw?
