The 2024 New Year's Revolution (marketed as SmackDown: New Year's Revolution) was the fourth

New Year's Revolution WWE New Year's Revolution was a professional wrestling event produced by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The event was created in 2005 and its name was a play on the Western tradition of New Year's resolutions, bei ...

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

event produced by

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

, and the first to air as a

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's SmackDown brand division. The event took place on January 5, 2024, at the

Rogers Arena Rogers Arena is a multi-purpose arena located at 800 Griffiths Way in the downtown area of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Opened in 1995, the arena was known as General Motors Place (GM Place) from its opening until July 6, 2010, when Ge ...

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

, and aired as a special episode of ''

Friday Night SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes sim ...

'' on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

. The broadcast concluded WWE's week-long programming of

New Year New Year is the time or day currently at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system to ...

's-themed shows called New Year's Knockout Week. New Year's Revolution was previously held as a

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

-exclusive

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

from 2005 to 2007, in turn marking the first SmackDown-branded New Year's Revolution as well as the first to broadcast on any outlet since the 2007 event; a series of eight WWE Live shows titled the New Year's Revolution Tour was held in early 2020, but these were dual-branded non-televised events. Four matches were contested during the live broadcast. In the main event, a

triple threat match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

between

Randy Orton Randal Keith Orton (born April 1, 1980) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actor who is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw brand but is currently out of action due to a back injury. H ...

LA Knight Shaun Ricker (born November 1, 1982) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name LA Knight. Ricker is known for his time in Impact Wrestling as Eli Drake. Rick ...

, and AJ Styles was held to determine who would challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble; however, the match ended in a no contest after The Bloodline (Reigns, Jimmy Uso, and

Solo Sikoa Joseph Yokozuna Fatu (born March 18, 1993) is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE. He currently performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Solo Sikoa where he is a member of The Bloodline and a former NXT North American Ch ...

) attacked all three competitors. As a result, Reigns was instead scheduled to defend the title against the three in a

fatal four-way match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

at the Royal Rumble. In another prominent match, which opened the show, Kevin Owens defeated

Santos Escobar Jorge Luis Alcantar Bolly (born April 30, 1984), is a Mexican second-generation ''luchador'' (professional wrestler). He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Santos Escobar. Before his WWE ca ...

in the finals of a tournament to earn a match against Logan Paul for the United States Championship at the Royal Rumble. The broadcast also marked the return of

Authors of Pain Legion of Pain are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Sunny Dhinsa and Gzim Selmani. They are best known for their time in WWE as the Authors of Pain, under the ring names Akam and Rezar, where they are former one-time Raw Tag Team C ...

( Akam and

Rezar } Gzim Selmani (born 16 June 1994) is a Dutch-Albanian professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Rezar. After signing with WWE in 2015, he has since teamed ...

with manager Paul Ellering); their last WWE televised appearance was in March 2020 before being released in September that year.

Production

Background

From 2005 to 2007, the American

promotion

held an annual

(PPV)

in early January titled

, which was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's

brand division. The name of the event was a play on the Western tradition of New Year's resolutions. It was then discontinued as after

WrestleMania 23 WrestleMania 23 was the 23rd annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brand divisions. The event ...

in April 2007, WWE ceased producing brand-exclusive PPVs, thus reducing the amount of PPVs held per year. The 2007 event would in turn be the final New Year's Revolution to broadcast on any outlet, as although WWE revived the name for a series of eight WWE Live shows in early 2020 titled the New Year's Revolution Tour, these were non-televised events. During the December 22, 2023, episode of ''

'', the brand's General Manager Nick Aldis announced the revival of New Year's Revolution. It was scheduled to be held as a special episode of ''SmackDown'' on January 5, 2024, in

and broadcast on

. This in turn marked the first SmackDown-branded New Year's Revolution, the first to air as a

, and the fourth overall to air on any broadcasting outlet. The show also concluded WWE's week-long programming of

's-themed shows called New Year's Knockout Week, which included ''Raw'': Day 1 and ''NXT'': New Year's Evil.

Storylines

The event included four matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the SmackDown brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television show, ''Friday Night SmackDown''. On the November 17, 2023, episode of ''SmackDown'', Zelina Vega and "Michin" Mia Yim were attacked by

Damage CTRL Damage Control (stylized as Damage CTRL) is a villainous professional wrestling stable composed of leader Bayley, Dakota Kai, & Iyo Sky currently performing in WWE on the Raw brand. Kai and Sky are the current WWE Women's Tag Team Champions ...

( Bayley, Iyo Sky, Dakota Kai,

Asuka Asuka may refer to: People * Asuka (name), a list of people * Asuka (wrestler), professional wrestler * Asuka (wrestler, born 1998), professional wrestler also known as Veny outside of Japan Places In Japan * , an area in Yamato Province (now N ...

, and Kairi Sane) after they talked to

Bianca Belair Bianca Blair Crawford (born Bianca Nicole Blair; April 9, 1989) is an American professional wrestler and a fitness and figure competitor. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Bianca Belair, and ...

, who was attempting to find a fourth member for her team for the WarGames match at Survivor Series: WarGames. Three weeks later, before Asuka's match against Charlotte Flair, Vega, Yim, Belair, and Shotzi attacked the rest of

. Two weeks later, the team of Vega, Yim, Belair, and Shotzi defeated Damage CTRL in a Holiday Havoc match, where Yim pinned Sky, granting her a match against Sky for the

WWE Women's Championship WWE (formerly the WWF, WWWF, and its predecessor, Capitol Wrestling) has maintained several women's professional wrestling championships since acquiring The Fabulous Moolah's NWA World Women's Championship in 1984. Whenever brand division has be ...

at New Year's Revolution. At Crown Jewel on November 4, 2023, Logan Paul won his first WWE title, the United States Championship. Paul made his first appearance as champion on the December 1 episode of ''SmackDown'' where he announced that his first challenger would be determined by a tournament. Kevin Owens and

won their respective tournament brackets, and on the December 22 episode, it was announced that the tournament final between the two would occur at New Year's Revolution with the winner facing Paul for the title at the Royal Rumble. Before he went on hiatus in May 2022 due to a back injury,

had been feuding with The Bloodline ( Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, and Jimmy Uso). At Crown Jewel on November 4, 2023, Roman Reigns defeated

to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship after interference from The Bloodline. On the following episode of ''SmackDown'', Knight stated that he was not done with The Bloodline until he defeated Reigns for the title. Orton then returned at Survivor Series: WarGames later that month, and he subsequently signed with the SmackDown brand after fending off an attack by The Bloodline (which had since added

while Jey left the group earlier in the summer) on the December 1 episode of ''SmackDown'', vowing to get revenge. Two weeks later, the returning AJ Styles helped Knight and Orton fend off The Bloodline before attacking Knight. The following week, Styles explained that he attacked Knight for taking his spot in a tag team match at Fastlane. After Orton interrupted, he said he also wanted a title match against Reigns. SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis then announced that Orton, Styles, and Knight would compete in a

at New Year's Revolution, where the winner would face Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble. On the November 24, 2023, episode of ''SmackDown'', during a tag team match between

The Brawling Brutes The Brawling Brutes is a professional wrestling stable consisting of Sheamus, who serves as its leader, Ridge Holland, Butch, and Drew McIntyre. They currently perform in WWE on the SmackDown brand. Concept the first concept of the Brutes wa ...

( Butch and

Ridge Holland Luke Menzies (born 29 May 1988) is an English professional wrestler and former professional rugby league footballer. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Ridge Holland. He spent the major ...

) and

Pretty Deadly ''Pretty Deadly'' is a creator-owned American comic book series by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Spanish artist Emma Ríos, distributed by Image Comics. The story combines elements from western and horror genres, and draws on aspects from mythology a ...

(

Elton Prince Pretty Deadly is a British professional wrestling tag team consisting of 'Elton Prince'' (born 21 May 1997) and 'Kit Wilson'' (born 4 August 1994). They are currently signed to WWE, where they perform on the NXT (WWE brand), NXT WWE brand extens ...

and

Kit Wilson Kit may refer to: Places *Kitt, Indiana, US, formerly Kit * Kit, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province * Kit Hill, Cornwall, England People * Kit (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Kit (surname) Animals * Young animal ...

), Holland left the ringside area, costing his team the match. Over the next few weeks, Butch feuded with Pretty Deadly by himself. On the December 22 episode of ''SmackDown'', Butch attacked Pretty Deadly backstage after they mocked him. SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis then told Butch to find a partner to take on Pretty Deadly at New Year's Revolution.

Results

WWE United States Championship #1 Contender Tournament

References