2021 is over. After a long year full of non-stop wrestling, its finally time to settle down… with more wrestling. Day 1 is WWE’s first PPV of the new year and overall the first show from a major wrestling promotion in 2022. The card is stacked. Liv Morgan takes on reigning Raw’s Women Becky Lynch, The Usos and The New Day go at it once more in what should be an amazing match up. However, with the unfortunate news of Roman Reigns’ contracting COVID-19, some card changes took place. Instead of Roman defending his Universal Championship against Brock Lesnar, Lesnar was instead added to the WWE Championship Fatal 4 Way match. With all this more, ladies and gentlemen, this is Day 1.
MUST WATCH – Opening up the show we got The Usos representing the Bloodline as they were defending their Smackdown Tag Team Championships against long time rivals, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston, The New Day. What an opening contest this was. King Woods and Jimmy Uso started the match off for their teams, and Woods took control early on. It was all back and forth from there. Usos hit the superkick/frog splash combo, The New Day hit one of their moves, There a double Uso Splash, an SOS, these men were throwing any and every move in their arsenal but nothing seemed to be enough. That is until The Usos hit a 3-D (Dudley Boyz old finisher) to win the match.
Result – The Usos defeats The New Day via pinfall to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Championships
Tyler Miller WR Star Rating: 4.5
AVERAGE – Up next we got Drew McIntyre taking on Madcap Moss. This match was okay. Not too good, but nothing memorible. However, Drew was able to take control of the match, and pick up a victory in the end. Good guys on top, you love to see it.
Result – Drew McIntyre defeats Madcap Moss via pinfall
Tyler Miller WR Star Rating: 3
GOOD – More tag team action happened up next as RK-Bro defending their Raw Tag Team Championships against the Street Profits. This, like the opening contest, failed to disappoint. There were flips, kicks, at one point Montez Ford did the cool thing where he jumps over the ring post, hell Randy Orton and Riddle came out with Migos. Riddle and Angelo Dawkins started off long but it wasn’t long before Montez Ford and Randy Orton got involved. The match ended after Riddle launched Ford into the air, allowing Randy to hit him with an RKO.
Result – RK-Bro defeats The Street Profits to retain the Raw Tag Team Championships
Tyler Miller WR Star Rating: 3.75
GOOD – The Raw Commentary Team is back at ringside now as they set up for Edge vs The Miz. The Miz comes out with his wife, Maryse, while Edge comes out from the ring of fire, Brood theme and all. The bell rings and Edge takes control early on as the match starts off a little slow. But it doesn’t take long for the gears to start grinding. Miz got the upperhand against the Rated R Superstar, before being slammed face first on the commentary table. Miz recovers not too long after though, and locks Edge into the figure four. Edge was able to get out though and lock in the crossface. The match continued to go back and forth, before Mayrse hits Edge across the face, allowing for The Miz to hit the Skull Crushing Finale. Edge is able to kick out though, and then out of nowhere, Beth Phoenix is back! Beth comes out and instantly goes to Maryse and chases her off. This distracts The Miz, causing Edge to hit a spear, and get the victory
Result – Edge defeats Miz via pinfall
Tyler Miller WR Star Rating: 3.75
GREAT – The Raw Women’s Championship is on the line next as Becky Lynch defends her title against Liv Morgan. I try to keep my own opinions out of my reviews, but this match was way better than I anticipated it to be. Both Lynch and Morgan were on fire the entire match, from the time the bell rang to start the match, to the time it rang to end the match. At one point, Liv Morgan did some kinda of springboard assisted sunset flip powerbomb while Becky was stunned on the second rope. It wasn’t enough to put down Big Time Becks, as she was able to hit the Manhandle Slam to win the match.
Result – Becky Lynch defeats Liv Morgan via pinfall to retain the Raw Womens Championship
Tyler Miller WR Star Rating: 4
MUST WATCH – In the main event, Big E defended his WWE Championship against Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Bobby Lashley, and Brock Lesnar. This was pure chaos from the second the bell rung. Lesnar instantly sent everyone on a one way ticket to Suplex City, before Big E was able to stop him. Then Brock went through the barricade, Lashley went through the commentary table, Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins were dominating. From here, it didn’t take us long to get to the end. Towards the end of the match, Bobby Lashley had Brock Lesnar in the Hurt Lock and it looked like Brock was gonna fade. Big E was able to hop in the ring though and stop Lashley. From there, Brock Lesnar hits the F5 to Big E, 1…. 2…. 3….
Result: Brock Lesnar defeats Big E, Bobby Lashley, Seth Rollins, and Kevin Owens via pinfall to win the WWE Championship
Tyler Miller WR Star Rating: 4.5
Wow. What a way to kick off the year. Almost every match was great. The highest moment from the show was for sure Brock Lesnar picking up a surprise victory. The low point, and I feel like this goes without saying, was Madcap Moss vs Drew McIntyre. If that match was taken off the show, and the main event was given more time, the show would have been very close to perfect. WWE may not be perfect week to week, but when it comes to PPV, WWE almost never fails to hit.
Show Theme/Presentation: 9/10
Production: 9/10
Watchability: 8/10
Storyline Progression: 8/10
Crowd Reaction: 8/10
