Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s live coverage for "WWE Raw" on January 13, 2025, coming to you live from the SAP Center in San Jose, California!
The first ever Women's Intercontinental Champion will be crowned tonight, as Lyra Valkyria will be colliding with Dakota Kai in the finals of the Women's Intercontinental Championship Tournament. Kai emerged victorious over Shayna Baszler and Katana Chance in a First Round Triple Threat Match, while Valkyria defeated Ivy Nile and Zelina Vega. In the semifinals, Kai then beat Baszler's Pure Fusion Collective stablemate Zoey Stark, and Valkyria emerged victorious over Kai's Damage CTRL stablemate IYO SKY.
Damian Priest will be going head-to-head with Judgment Day's Finn Balor, but unlike their previous encounters in the ring, this time it will be in a Street Fight. The former World Heavyweight Champion and WWE World Tag Team Champion have met each other in a handful of singles, tag team, and six man tag team matches including December 30 when Priest and The War Raiders defeated Balor, Dominik Mysterio, and JD McDonagh.
Longtime rivals Ludwig Kaiser and Sheamus will be running it back tonight as they go one-on-one with each other. The two men have had no shortage of issues with one another over the course of the past few months, squaring off on a couple of occasions on the June 3, 2024 and August 5, 2024 before both being unable to dethrone Bron Breakker as Intercontinental Champion in a Triple Threat at WWE Survivor Series: WarGames 2024.
Chad Gable will be competing in his first match since December 30 when he defeated his former Alpha Academy Otis as he squares off against an opponent who has yet to be named. Although it has yet to be officially revealed who will be challenging Gable, it's worth noting that the imminent arrival of former AEW star Penta has been heavily teased in a series of short videos leading up to tonight's show.
Additionally, after dethroning Liv Morgan to become Women's World Champion during last week's edition of "Raw", Rhea Ripley will be appearing on tonight's show with something on her mind to share. CM Punk will also be making an appearance tonight following his win over Seth "Freakin" Rollins last week, as will returning World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER.
