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Raw airs tonight (January 29) with a live show from Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. This is the first episode of Raw during the four weeks of preparation for Elimination Chamber 2024, which will take place on February 24.
CM Punk looks like a tired old man
CM Punk came up short in this weekend’s Royal Rumble, making it to the final two wrestlers before being eliminated by Cody Rhodes. As a result, Punk will have to find a new way to compete in one of WrestleMania’s two main events.
Elimination Chamber 2024 takes place in less than a month in Australia, so it’s at least possible that WWE will soon announce a men’s chamber match to determine World heavyweight champion Seth Rollins’ challenger at WrestleMania. If that’s the case, Punk will likely be given an automatic pass to the chamber match.
Alternatively, it’s possible that WWE will keep things simple and instead book a one-on-one match between Punk and Drew McIntyre at Elimination Chamber, with the winner going on to challenge Rollins at WrestleMania. The point is that Punk’s goal of main eventing WrestleMania is still alive and well, even with his failure at the Rumble.
I talked to a handful of friends and family about what they thought of Punk’s performance, and they all said the same thing: he looked like a tired old man! Punk was breathing very heavily during the Rumble match and sometimes moved in slow motion. He didn’t exactly inspire confidence in the idea that he’s still the best in the world and poised to headline the biggest wrestling event of the year.
CM is in the building tonight and will likely address what went wrong at the Rumble. Is there any way he can change the impression he gave at the Rumble that he is physically a step or two behind where he needs to be in a world title match at WrestleMania? Will Punk start turning heel and blaming the fans for his flaws? Which wrestler(s) will interrupt and try to make fun of him for losing his first televised match in WWE?
The bottom line is that by the time tonight’s episode of Raw is over, we should have a clearer idea of Punk’s potential path to WrestleMania’s other main event.
The rest of the title scene.
WWE Tag Team Champions Damian Priest and Finn Balor defend their belts tonight against Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano. Will R-Truth get involved and accidentally ruin everything for Damian Priest once again?
Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER defends the gold tonight against Kofi KIngston. Kingston’s disappointing performance at the Royal Rumble didn’t send the message that he has what it takes to beat the longest-reigning Intercontinental champion of all time.
Women’s world champion Rhea Ripley has a lot of rivals on her radar right now. The most notable is Bayley, who just won the women’s Royal Rumble and said that she will come to take the gold from Ripley at WrestleMania. However, before she gets there, Rhea will have to be in an exhibition match when she returns to Australia for the Elimination Chamber. Could she end up defending her belt in a chamber match on that card, or will she instead find herself in a singles match with someone like Becky Lynch, Nia Jax or Liv Morgan? We should get that answer tonight.
– Cody Rhodes won the men’s Royal Rumble and can challenge once again. WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania. I’m sure Cody will want to talk about it when he has the microphone in his hand tonight. But which Raw heel will replace Shinsuke Nakamura as Cody’s TV fiefdom in the meantime?
Katana Chance and Kayden Carter lost the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship to The Kabuki Warriors last week on SmackDown, which opens the door for Damage CTRL to appear on Raw whenever they want. Will Bayley’s group ruin Raw tonight to assert her dominance over the rest of the roster?
Other things to keep in mind
– Jey Uso vs. Bronson Reed is reserved for Raw. Both men have made it clear that they plan to win singles gold in 2024, so a win here could perhaps lead to a future Intercontinental title fight.
– Bron Breakker, Naomi, Andrade, Jade Cargill and Omos are some of the wrestlers who appeared in the Royal Rumble matches but are not yet assigned to the Raw or SmackDown roster. Will there now be a bidding war between Raw General Manager Adam Pearce and SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis to secure these talents in the lead up to WrestleMania?
– Sami Zayn returned to WWE at Royal Rumle. It sure looks like he wants revenge on Drew McIntyre for putting him on the shelf towards the end of 2023.
– Jinder Mahal had a conversation with Adam Pearce last week. Does that mean we’ll see more of the modern Maharaja in the lead up to WrestleMania?
– Ricochet is finally back on WWE programming. Will he have a change of attitude after not being a factor on WWE TV for the last two months?
What will you be looking for? Raw?