Monday Night Raw: Day 1 Review - January 1, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Nia Jax def. Becky Lynch

I really liked the video package that preceded the match. It was fairly basic, but it recapped their history nicely and it's not often you see that sort of thing for a Raw matchup. It was quite good and probably one the best bouts Jax has ever had. This could have easily gone either way, but Jax winning clean effectively furthers their feud and sets up the need for a rematch ahead of the Royal Rumble.

Shinsuke Nakamura Responded to Cody Rhodes

Rhodes' mic work was solid as always. A rematch between the two has been in the works for weeks, and we found here from Nakamura that it will happen on next week's show. No stipulation was announced, which was slightly surprising, but perhaps they're saving that for their third outing (especially if it occurs at the Rumble and Rhodes has to pull double duty that night). I continue to love Nakamura's heel presentation, especially his vignettes.

Jey Uso and Kofi Kingston def. Imperium (Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci) by Referee Stoppage

This stemmed from Uso saving Kingston from Kaiser and Kingston two weeks ago. No, this isn't a full-fledged feud, but rather a mini feud to keep all of them busy before the Rumble. It was also designed to tease more tension within Imperium when they lost. Vinci getting hurt caused the contest to be cut short, but I can't imagine it would've lasted much longer. Hopefully he's okay. What we saw of the match was pretty standard stuff, but Uso is so over that I'm sure the live crowd didn't mind.

The Judgment Day Interrupted The Miz and R-Truth on Miz TV; The Miz and R-Truth def. Judgment Day (JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio)

All of Judgment Day was advertised to appear on Miz TV, but Truth came out instead. Him and Miz having an Awesome Truth reunion was a fun trip down memory lane (13 years ago already?!), complete with their win over McDonagh and Mysterio. The match was mostly inconsequential, but it was enjoyable for what it was. Truth pretending to be a member of Judgment Day is a clearly filler program for Judgment Day, but it's certainly held my interest.

Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley def. Ivy Nile

I appreciated Nile getting the video package treatment earlier in the episode, but I don't think enough was done coming into this match to make her feel like a legitimate threat to the title. Despite that, I thought Nile had an impressive performance. They didn't gel out of the gate, but it turned into a competitive contest and got the crowd invested in the action down the stretch. Nile has potential and I'm glad she got this opportunity so early in her main roster run (similar to her Diamond Mine stablemates The Creed Brothers).

The Rock Attacked Jinder Mahal

I genuinely forgot that Mahal is a former WWE Champion, so I didn't even think of the possibility of him coming out as a swerve before the real surprise emerged: The Rock. It was basically every Rock return we've gotten for the past decade and a majority of his material was lame, but the crowd ate it all up. The top takeaway was that he finally teased a showdown with Roman Reigns with his "head of the table" comment at the end, so let the speculation begin. I don't want to jump to conclusions and assume it's happening at WrestleMania 40 if it's actually the Elimination Chamber main event instead. I know that sounds ridiculous, but that will be another huge international event for WWE and they may want a massive main event for it.

Zoey Stark and Shayna Baszler def. Tegan Nox and Natalya

You had to know the crowd would be sitting on their hands for this for three reasons: 1) They were exhausted coming off the Rock segment, 2) None of them are over at the moment, and 3) Fans largely do not care about the women's tag team division. This only existed to give Stark and Baszler a win before they eventually unsuccessfully challenge Katana Chance and Kayden Carter for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. This was fine albeit forgettable. 

World Heavyweight Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins def. Drew McIntyre

Much like their match at Crown Jewel two months ago, these two worked wonderfully together and delivered a great main event. I was pulling for McIntyre to take the title (even if it meant him having a brief reign through the Royal Rumble), and although I knew that wasn't happening, I figured they'd have a better finish in mind than what we got. Technically, McIntyre didn't lose clean, but he looked like a moron for unintentionally getting Rollins' foot on the rope, and the Money in the Bank cash-in teases are getting tiresome. Rollins retains, but now what? How do you set up another encounter for the Rumble if the endgame is McIntyre losing again, and if it's not McIntyre, who else can be built up as a credible challenge on such short notice?

Overall Show

Despite the heavy hype for this special Day 1 edition, the three hours didn't always feel like a free pay-per-view. You got some of the usual Raw matches that were meant to kill time as we head into the Rumble, but it was an entertaining episode on the whole. The Rock tease is going to get a lot of people talking, Lynch and Jax started the show on a high note, Rhodes and Nakamura set up their rematch for next week, and the main event was a strong piece of business (even if I wasn't fond of the finish). Plus, San Diego was hot throughout the night and added to my enjoyment of it. Happy New Year!

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