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Former WWE Champion Moving To Raw Brand

By John Canton • Published 20th January 2025
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A veteran champion in WWE is moving from SmackDown to Raw.

For nearly a decade, Bayley has been on the WWE main roster with long runs on Raw and SmackDown. For the past few years, she has been one of the top females on the Smackdown brand and also won the WWE Women’s Title at WrestleMania 40.

In the current era of WWE, superstars are assigned to Raw, SmackDown and NXT, but in recent weeks, the company announced that a transfer window is in place. That means that talent can negotiate with general managers about switching brands. In other words, the company’s creative team is thinking about moving some wrestlers around.

It was announced in a video on social media by Raw General Manager Adam Pearce that former Women’s Champion Bayley has been moved to Raw via the transfer window.

During her 13-year run in WWE, Bayley is a four-time Women’s Champion on the main roster, she’s also been a Women’s Tag Team Champion twice and held the NXT Women’s Title. She is considered a leader in the women’s division as well.

Moving Bayley to Raw also places her on the same brand as her former allies in the Damage CTRL – Iyo Sky, Dakota Kai, and Kairi Sane. It was about one year ago at this time when Damage CTRL kicked Bayley out of the group. Bayley won the 2024 Women’s Royal Rumble and then beat Sky for the WWE Women’s Title at WrestleMania 40.

Bayley In Action Against Familiar Foe On WWE Raw

There are several big matches set for the January 20th edition of Raw in Dallas. Pearce also added Bayley in a match against Nia Jax. The two former Women’s Champions are no strangers to each other since they wrestled many times on SmackDown and Jax took the Women’s Title from Bayley at SummerSlam last year.

Here’s what WWE is advertising for Raw in Dallas.

* Seth “Freakin” Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre

* Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai & IYO SKY) vs. two members of Pure Fusion Collective – Shayna Baszler, Zoey Stark, & Sonya Deville

* The New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston) in action

* Penta in action

* Bayley vs. Nia Jax

Many Raw superstars will be on the show including Women’s Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria, Sami Zayn, Jey Uso and Hall of Famer John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) will be there as well.