Michael Cole and Wade Barrett were in the ring welcoming everyone to 2024.
Nia Jax defeated Becky Lynch As Lynch attempted something from the middle rope, Jax caught him with a punch to the face. Jax followed with Annihilator for the win. Becky was bleeding from her mouth.
Cody Rhodes leaves and welcomed us to the first day of Raw. He admitted that he was stuck, stuck on Shinsuke Nakamura. He wanted to give Nakamura a chance to finish this tonight and invited him to the ring.
Nakamura appeared on the screen. Nakamura said he didn't think it would be so easy to get into Rhodes' head and hoped that would be the end of his story. Rhodes' story doesn't end tonight because he wants to give American Nightmare another week to dream. Nakamura would finish his story and finish his book next week.
Kofi Kingston and Jey Uso defeated Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci by a referee interruption when Vinci was legitimately knocked out by a kick from Kofi. The ring doctor examined Vinci and the camera panned to Jey and Kofi (away from Vinci).
(Vince is reportedly doing well despite everything that happened.)
Miz TV introduced Judgment Day, but after a delay only R-Truth performed. JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio interrupted. Everyone insults the other, which leads to:
The Miz & R-Truth defeated Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh after a Skull Crushing Finale on McDonagh.
There was a video of Kayden Carter and Katana Chance partying at a nightclub . Chelsea Green and Piper Niven crashed the party, but Carter and Chance didn't let them ruin it. They threw a drink in Green's face and continued to celebrate. They posed with their belts in the club.
Rhea Ripley defeated Ivy Nile to keep the women's world championship fighting the good fight after the flood.
Samantha Irvin announced the return of a former WWE Champion: Jinder Mahal's music plays as he comes to the ring. Mahal said they shouldn't be disappointed and reminded us that there were only 50 WWE Champions and he was one of them and was at the top of that list. Mahal referenced Iron Sheik before going on a rant about social media and misinformation. Mahal spoke in Punjabi and the crowd booed him.
THE STONE IS OUT The crowd erupted and Rock entered as the crowd chanted his name.
Rock said that Mahal was right about one thing: he was not the Iron Sheik. Rock paid his respects to Sheiky before doing an impression of him. He said that if Sheik were there he would wonder who that useless son of a bitch Jabroni was.
Rock said that people didn't like Mahal because he wasn't funny. If it was one of Rock's films, it was Baywatch. Rock said Mahal called America a joke, but it wasn't a joke to him or to these people. Rock did what he did weeks ago on SmackDown, where he led both sides of the crowd singing “Day One” and “Do#chebag.” You accepted it out loud. Rock also sang a song about Mahal not having any balls.
Rock threatened to kick his ass, so Mahal attacked Rock first. Rock defended himself with fists, a spinebuster and a peoples elbow
Before he left, Rock said he was hungry. He asked the San Diego crowd whether he should eat and sit in a booth, at the bar, or “at the head of the table,” prompting an outburst from those in attendance.
OH. MY. GOD.@The stone I just delivered an absolute mic drop-on #WWERaw! pic.twitter.com/TKMfwDiHa5
– WWE (@WWE) January 2, 2024
Zoey Stark and Shayna Baszler defeated Natalya and Tegan Nox.
In the main event, Seth Rollins defended the world title against Drew McIntyre. Huge fight that ends when Damian Priest comes out with Dominik and hits Rollins in the head with the briefcase without the referee seeing. He was about to activate the briefcase, but Drew hit Priest with a claymore before he was out.
Back in the ring, McIntyre hit a claymore on Rollins, but his foot was on the rope. They soon return to the edge of town where Drew tried to throw him over the table, but Rollins reverses it and hits Pedigree on it. They soon return to the ring where Curb Stomp beats him to victory.
CASH IN?!?#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/SuelnxKn8m
– WWE (@WWE) January 2, 2024