The 2024 Day 1 (marketed as Raw: Day 1) was the second Day 1

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

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 ...

brand division. The event took place on

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

on January 1, 2024, at the Pechanga Arena in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and aired

live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

as a special episode of ''

Monday Night Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network in the United States. The show fe ...

'' on the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

. The broadcast kicked off 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. Day 1 was previously held as a

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 ...

(PPV) and

livestreaming Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but no ...

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 ...

on January 1, 2022; an event was planned for 2023, but was canceled. Six matches were contested during the live broadcast. In the main event,

Seth "Freakin" Rollins Colby Daniel Lopez (born May 28, 1986) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Seth Rollins (often referred to as Seth "Freakin" Rollins). Prior to signing ...

defeated Drew McIntyre to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. In another prominent match, Rhea Ripley defeated

Ivy Nile Diamond Mine is an American professional wrestling stable formed in the professional wrestling promotion WWE on the NXT brand. Formed in June 2021, the group is led by Roderick Strong and includes Brutus Creed, Julius Creed, Ivy Nile & Tatum Pax ...

to retain the Women's World Championship and in the opening bout, Nia Jax defeated Becky Lynch. The event also notably featured a surprise appearance by The Rock, which was his first live appearance on ''Raw'' since January 25, 2016.

Production

Background

On January 1, 2022, the American

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...

held a

and

titled Day 1. A second event was planned for January 1, 2023, but was canceled due to a scheduling conflict with streaming partner

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

. During the December 11, 2023, episode of ''

'', it was announced that the Day 1 name had been revived for a special episode of ''Raw'', airing on January 1, 2024, on the

. The

was broadcast

from the Pechanga Arena in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. The show kicked off WWE's week-long programming of

's-themed shows called New Year's Knockout Week, which included ''NXT'': New Year's Evil and ''SmackDown'': New Year's Revolution.

Storylines

The event included matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television show, ''Monday Night Raw''. At Crown Jewel on November 4, 2023,

defeated Drew McIntyre to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. On the following episode of ''Raw'', McIntyre shook hands with Rollins and stated he would earn a future rematch. On the December 11 episode, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce announced that Rollins would face the now villainous McIntyre in a rematch at Day 1. On the December 4, 2023, episode of ''Raw'',

promised to neutralize Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley if she tried to interfere on behalf of her

Judgment Day The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

stablemates, Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Finn Bálor and Damian Priest against Nile's Diamond Mine stablemates,

The Creed Brothers The Creed Brothers are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Brutus Creed (Drew Kasper; born May 13, 1996) and Julius Creed (Jacob Kasper; born October 3, 1994). They are currently working for the professional wrestli ...

(

Brutus Creed The Creed Brothers are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Brutus Creed (Drew Kasper; born May 13, 1996) and Julius Creed (Jacob Kasper; born October 3, 1994). They are currently working for the professional wrestli ...

and

Julius Creed The Creed Brothers are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Brutus Creed (Drew Kasper; born May 13, 1996) and Julius Creed (Jacob Kasper; born October 3, 1994). They are currently working for the professional wrestli ...

) in their title match. The following week, after Ripley defeated Maxxine Dupri in a non-title match, Ripley and Nile stared each other down. Ripley then vowed to make an example out of Nile, agreeing to put the Women's World Championship on the line against Nile at Day 1, which was later made official. On the November 27, 2023, episode of ''Raw'', Becky Lynch stated she had a couple of fights on the horizon. The following week, Nia Jax asked if one of the fights included her, to which Lynch confirmed, referencing when Jax legitimately broke Lynch's nose in 2018. Over the next two weeks, Lynch appeared ready to face Jax, but Jax stated she would fight Lynch on her own terms, ultimately agreeing to face Lynch at Day 1. On the December 18, 2023, episode of ''Raw'', the team of Natalya and Tegan Nox and the team of Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark agreed to a match, which was scheduled for Day 1. On X on December 29, 2023, WWE chief content officer

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27, 1969), better known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive, actor, and retired professional wrestler currently serving as the chief content officer for WWE. He is widely regarded as on ...

brought attention to a rumor regarding an unspecified former WWE Champion appearing at Day 1. Triple H suggested fans should tune in to the event's broadcast, and refused to confirm or deny the rumor.

Event

During the event, ring announcer Samantha Irvin introduced the former WWE Champion that was previously rumored to appear. After a moment of anticipation, Jinder Mahal made his entrance, disappointing the fans. He made negative comments about the United States and its inherent divisiveness and

jingoism Jingoism is nationalism in the form of aggressive and proactive foreign policy, such as a country's advocacy for the use of threats or actual force, as opposed to peaceful relations, in efforts to safeguard what it perceives as its national inte ...

, sparking a negative crowd reaction. This was proceeded by a surprise return by The Rock, who confronted and took out Mahal. After the brawl, The Rock asked fans if he should sit at "the head of the table", a reference to Roman Reigns.

Results

References

{{Reflist category:WWE Raw category:2024 in professional wrestling January 2024 events in the United States Professional wrestling shows in San Diego category:2020s American television specials 2024 in San Diego