WWE: Lyra Valkyria on Her WWE Women’s IC Title Victory, Corey Graves on His Frustrations Over Being Moved Off WWE Main Roster Commentary, More News

Jan 14, 2025

Lyra Valkyria Comments on Her WWE Women’s IC Title Victory

Monday’s WWE RAW show in San Jose, California featured Lyra Valkyria defeating Dakota Kai in the Finals of the WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship to be crowned its inaugural champion.

Following her match, WWE held a digital exclusive backstage interview with Valkyria. One of the topics discussed included Valkyria’s thoughts about her championship victory.

“I did it. I did that. I got drafted to Monday Night Raw, I worked my way through an entire tournament of women. I am the first-ever [Women’s Intercontinental Champion]. I have dreamed about making a moment like this, carving out of own little piece of history. There’s only ever one first-ever. My name is now in the history books. I’m the Women’s Intercontinental Champion.”

Valkyria also gave her thoughts about what type of champion fans can expect her to be.

“Being the Intercontinental Champion has always meant that you are the best when it comes to what happens between those ropes. That’s what I want this championship to mean, being the absolute best when it comes to the ring. That means that I am shaping what that looks like, what it looks like for the Women’s Division as the Women’s Intercontinental Champion. So what that means is I’m prepared to take on absolutely anyone. To be the champion at a time when, and I say this from the bottom of my heart, the women’s division right now is the best that it has ever been, ever, so I’m prepared for any challenger, anytime. It’s Rumble season, it’s ’Mania season. People are as hungry as they’ve ever been. I’m ready for anything. I’m ready to start my reign as the Women’s Intercontinental Champion.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Corey Graves Comments on “Imagine Being Told You’re Not Famous Enough For Your Own Job”

As noted before, former WWE SmackDown brand commentator Corey Graves made his return to WWE’s NXT commentary team at last week’s NXT New Year’s Evil 2025 show. Graves was not moved over to RAW nor retained on SmackDown as part of WWE’s recent reshuffling of their commentary teams.

Graves recently commented on Twitter about his frustrations over being told by others within WWE that he is not famous enough to keep his main roster commentary job.

“Imagine chasing your dream.
Then being TOLD (not deciding) that you’re no longer physically able to pursue your dream.
Then you dedicate your life to something “dream adjacent” and being pretty fucking awesome at it.
And then, when it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your labor, being told you’re not famous enough for your own job.
Just in case you’ve wondered where I’ve been.”

Imagine chasing your dream.

Then being TOLD (not deciding) that you’re no longer physically able to pursue your dream.

Then you dedicate your life to something “dream adjacent” and being pretty fucking awesome at it.

And then, when it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your labor,…
— Corey Graves (@WWEGraves) January 14, 2025

WWE News & Notes

Monday’s WWE RAW show in San Jose, California featured the official announcement of RAW brand commentator Pat McAfee will be returning to the commentary team for WWE’s upcoming new Saturday Night’s Main Event show on January 25th in San Antonio, Texas.

WWE did not hold a new RAW Post Show episode on Netflix and YouTube following Monday’s WWE RAW show in San Jose. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson speculated that last week’s show might have just been a one-time thing done just for RAW’s premiere show on Netflix.

WWE held two matches for this week’s Main Event tapings prior to the start of Monday’s WWE RAW show in San Jose. The first was Pure Fusion Collective (Zoey Stark & Shayna Baszler) defeating Kayden Carter & Katana Chance in a tag team match. The second was Pete Dunne defeating Joaquin Wilde in a singles match.

As noted before, WWE is currently not planning to hold this year’s Backlash event in Mexico despite recent comments made by musician Bad Bunny. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that his sources confirmed PWInsider’s Mike Johnson’s report about WWE officials not having any plans for this year’s event to take place in Mexico.

As noted before, Jade Cargill has been out of action for WWE since this past November but her injury situation has led to conflicting reports over it being genuine or just a storyline injury. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Jade Cargill was seen at WWE’s Performance Center on Monday working out in the ring for the second week in a row. Johnson reported that the reason for Cargill’s continued visit to the Performance Center likely is to prep her for a big return during WrestleMania 41 season.

As noted before, this past Monday’s WWE RAW premiere show on Netflix in Inglewood, California was notable for WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan being loudly booed by the live crowd during his whole promo segment. Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp reported in a recent Q&A article that his sources within WWE stated tha many within WWE’s locker room still hold a very negative view of Hogan due to his controversial actions over the years.

WWE recently released several behind-the-scenes photos from last week’s WWE RAW premiere show on Netflix in Inglewood, California.

WWE recently released two new videos to their WWE Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was a “John Cena collides with Samoa Joe in rare one-on-one match” from the August 16, 2017 WWE live event. The second new video was a WWE Championship match of The Undertaker vs. Bret Hart (c) from WWE Royal Rumble 1996.

In a recent episode of the 1 Of A Kind with RVD podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam teased the potential of him making an appearance at WWE’s WrestleMania 41 event this April in Las Vegas, Nevada. RVD stated “If I understand right, I think I’ve heard that WrestleMania is on 4/20 this year. I happen to live in Las Vegas. You never know. I got weed.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)