Welcome to the Wrestlepurists’ live coverage of Monday Night Raw for the January 1st, 2024 episode.
NIA JAX DEFEATS BECKY LYNCH
After Michael Cole and Wade Barrett break down the card, we are kicking off the first Raw of 2024 with a match five years in the making. Nia is dominating the early part of the match with her clear power advantage. Becky strings a few moves together ending with a missile dropkick from the top that finally knocks Nia down. Nia goes for the right hand outside to Becky but the Man ducks and Nia connects with the post. Nia tries to follow up with a cannonball into the barricade but Becky moves! Nia may have the size advantage but Becky’s ring IQ is paying off big time. Becky hits her second rope leg drop that only gets a two count. Dis-Arm-Her time. Nia fights through and hits a sit out powerbomb that gets a very close two count. Both women fight their way to the top rope with Becky trying to lock in a Manhandle Slam. Nia fights out and lands a top rope Samoa Drop! Somehow Becky kicks out, the whole arena thought that was it. Becky counters the Annihilator and then starts swinging at Nia. Becky goes for the leg drop but Nia catches her with a right hand. Oh wow, Nia hits the Annihilator on Becky and gets the pin. Michael Cole calls it the biggest win in years for Nia Jax. Becky is bleeding from the mouth. Great match from these two, and the right call to solidify Nia’s second run and give Becky a mountain to climb.
CODY RHODES IN-RING PROMO
With the rumors are flying about what former champion is appearing tonight, Cody Rhodes seems just as over as ever. He is still my pick to dethrone Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 40. Cody says he is stuck on Shinsuke Nakamura. He isn’t stuck on Nakamura because of the things Nakamura said about his family. He is stuck on him because “this should be over.” Cody says he is going to give Nakamura the chance to finish it tonight. Of course we get Nakamura backstage in a video package. He says he never thought it would be so easy to get into Cody’s head. Nakamura says Cody’s story doesn’t end tonight. “I want to give the American Nightmare one more week to dream.” Nakamura says he finishes Cody’s story and closes his book next week before spitting mist at the camera. The question is does Nakamura get a win to make this 1-1, or does Cody put it to bed and move onto the Royal Rumble?
JEY USO & KOFI KINGSTON DEFEAT IMPERIUM
After Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser jumped “Koficlaus” last week, Kofi Kingston and Jey Uso are teaming up tonight. Wild to see a member of the Uso’s and the New Day be on the same side, but I love it. Cole just said it will be Kofi’s sixteenth Rumble this year, my god I’m old. Imperium spends most of the early match isolating Kofi but then the bell is rung. Vinci is hurt and it is bad enough for them to call the match completely off. The camera is focusing on just Kofi and Jey, who clearly don’t want to win that way. Oh man on the replay you can see Kofi connects flush on a dropkick and I’m assuming they were worried about a concussion. Glad to see how they handled that.
WWE HOLIDAY TOUR VIDEO PACKAGE
We see a video package showing footage of the incredibly successful holiday tour WWE put on this weekend. Very cool way to celebrate their success and also push their house shows for the future.
IVY NILE VIDEO PACKAGE
We see a video package for Ivy Nile who challenges Rhea Ripley tonight. Ivy says she loves the fact that people doubt her, because it makes it that much sweeter when she beats the odds. Looking forward to this one tonight, hope they get a good amount of time.
MIZ TV WITH THE JUDGMENT DAY
The Miz welcomes the Judgment Day to Miz TV and claims they’ve been begging to get on his show. The Judgement Day music plays but…no Judgment Day. It switches to R-Truth’s music and I guess R-Truth has decided to represent his new group lol Miz asks where the rest of the group is, and R-Truth swears that they were behind him. Miz asks if Truth is seeing invisible people again. Huge pop for a Little Jimmy reference. Truth says he is focused on doing PR work, on making the Judgment Day likeable. JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio come out and say Truth is not in the Judgment Day. Truth points out that Dominik is getting booed in his own hometown, so they need the PR work. Dominik is trying to roast the Miz, but this San Diego crowd is just not having it. Miz admits 2023 wasn’t his best year but he still made moments. In turn, the only thing he remembers last year about Dominik is him getting spanked by his Dad. Dominik powers through by challenging the Miz and Truth to a tag team match right here right now. The Awesome Truth is back!
THE AWESOME TRUTH DEFEAT DOMINIK MYSTERIO & JD MCDONAGH
Truth is staying in the “neutral” corner to start since he is a part of the Judgment Day lol Miz is working in this one but Truth is doing strictly commentary. Now he is on the Judgment Day corner and actually gets a tag from JD. Finally JD says fine, if you’re in Judgment Day hit the Miz. JD holds the Miz while Dominik cheers Truth on. Truth winds up and Miz ducks, connecting with a right hand to JD. He then pushes JD back into the Miz who plants JD with the Skull Crushing Finale for the win. Oh my god on the replay it looks like Truth said “I’m sorry, I love you” to the Miz. Truth is winking at JD and Dominik as they head up the ramp. Incredible.
VIDEO PACKAGE WITH KAYDEN CARTER & KATANA CHANCE
We see footage of Kayden Carter and Katana Chance winning the Women’s Tag Team Championships two weeks ago. Then we see a video of Chance and Carter celebrating at a club. Chelsea Green and Piper Niven crash the party and say they are going to bypass Adam Pearce and go to Nick Aldis. Chance and Carter say they will be fighting champions and have no problem giving them a rematch, before throwing their drinks on the former champs. Listen I see Chelsea Green doing her shtick, I’m a happy man.
RHEA RIPLEY DEFEATS IVY NILE (WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP)
We hear from Rhea Ripley about her confidence going into this match against Ivy. It makes sense, Rhea was absolutely dominate in 2023 so why wouldn’t she be confident. If Ivy can just hang here, it’ll be a big win for her. Ivy is determined to show this match is not too big for her, catching Rhea with a suplex that sends the champion outside of the ring. Ivy has Rhea completely thrown off her game. Ivy hits a headsciccors takeover followed by a jumping leg lariat that gets a two count. Ivy spikes Rhea with a tilt-a-whirl DDT and you can see the confidence grow in the challenger. Rhea catches Ivy with her legs and plants her with a headbutt. That finally gives Rhea some room to work as she hits a beautiful missile dropkick that sends Ivy halfway across the ring. Rhea goes for the Riptide but Ivy breaks out of that and hits a powerslam on the champion. Rhea wants a superplex but Ivy fights out of it. Ivy flips over for the sunsetflip powerbomb but Rhea blocks that. Oh my god, Ivy uses Rhea’s hands to bounce her head off the turnbuckle and then hits a german suplex from the second rope for a two count. This is great! Ivy goes up for a crossbody but crumples when Rhea catches her with an anti-air headbutt. The champion quickly hits a Riptide and covers Ivy for the win. Rhea retains but it was more of a survival than a domination like most of her matches have been. Star making performance there from Ivy Nile.
IN RING PROMO WITH JINDER MAHAL & THE ROCK
The former WWE champion is…Jinder Mahal?? Lol there is no way, absolutely just bait for whoever is the real one. Incredible disappointing reaction. My man was on Raw like three weeks ago? Love it. Jinder says he is a past and future WWE champion. He says the only thing disappointing is what has become of the once great nation of the United States of America. He makes a good point that we aren’t exactly united. I mean fair Jinder but like…you gonna use that to win a match? Jinder mocks people chanting USA. Jinder says he is our unifier. Jinder says something in Punjabi…which turns out to be the US national anthem. Jinder says he speaks with class and intelligence and he speaks the truth. Jinder says he will tell us what the entire world is thinking about us…IF YOU SMELL. Wow this place went absolutely insane. Man these Rock pops will always be incredible. The Rock says Jinder is in trouble tonight. Jinder says the Rock is the peoples champion who should be ashamed to represent these people. The Rock says he is damn proud to be the people’s champion. He also says he is damn proud to be an American. Rock says they don’t boo Jinder because of how he looks or how he talks, they boo him because he is the biggest asshole walking god’s green earth. The Rock says Jinder doesn’t have a resting bitch face but instead a “raging asshole” face. He says Jinder isn’t funny and if Jinder was one of the Rock’s movies he’d be Baywatch. Oh man that pops me, I paid real money for that horrible movie. The Rock says Jinder isn’t the Modern Day Maharaja but instead the Day One Douchebag. The Rock says since Jinder is the unifier, he will show him what it means to be unified. He has half the crowd chant “Day One” and the other half chant “Douchebag” The Rock says he has one last gift, singing a modified version of the national anthem. Before the Rock can finish his last verse Jinder attacks the Rock. Good for him, a smart move! Unfortunately for Jinder it doesn’t prevent him from getting an asswhooping from the people’s champion. Rock hits a spinebuster and the People’s Elbow to a huge pop. The Rock grabs the mic again and my man is blown up. He tells San Diego he is hungry and asks them where he should sit tonight. “Should I sit at a booth? Should I sit at the bar? Or should the Rock sit…at the head of the table?” Ohhhhh man. That is BIG. Honestly I’m always happy to have the Rock back but his shtick in 2024 doesn’t really hit the same. But that last line? Now we are talking.
SHAYNA BASZLER & ZOEY STARK DEFEAT TEGAN NOX & NATALYA
Tough spot for these four to be in but they have the talent to deliver. I’d assume the winner of this one would get a tag title shot at some point down the line. Shayna and Zoey dominated before the commercial break but Nox and Natalya have all the momentum back from break. Nox hits the Molly-Go-Round but Shayna’s shoulders aren’t down to start so she only gets a two. Shayna and Zoey overwhelm Natalya and Nox, sending Natalya out of the ring. Zoey hits the Z360 on Nox to win the match. A short and sweet one, not entirely sure what they are doing with this Nox and Natalya team. If they are going to break up it would make sense, but part of me feels they are just unsure how to push multiple tag teams at a time.
VIDEO PACKAGE FOR SETH ROLLINS V.S. DREW MCINTYRE
We see a great video package highlighting the past few months between Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre. Really hammers home just how well done this Drew character has been.
SETH ROLLINS DEFEATS DREW MCINTYRE (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP)
Cole reminds us that Seth Rollins hasn’t been pinned in a one on one match since January 3rd, 2023. Seth connects with a big boot to Drew to start but the challenger quickly shakes it off and gains the advantage. On the outside Drew is looking for the Alabama Slam into the stairs but Seth hangs onto the apron and blocks it. Seth gets back into the ring and dives onto Drew. But Drew catches Seth, and takes him over with a belly to belly suplex on the outside as we head into break. Back from break and the two are exchanging chops in the center of the ring. Drew knocks Seth down and the challenger clearly has momentum on his side. Drew goes for a powerbomb but Seth gets out of it. Drew runs right at Seth but Seth moves and Drew connects with the ring post. Seth, finally seeing an opening, hits a tope on Drew to take down his bigger challenger. Back in the ring Seth counters Drew with a tilt-a-whirl DDT and follows it up with a frog splash. It only gets a two count however. Rollins hits the superplex but when he goes for the follow up falcon arrow, it’s Drew who picks up Seth and hits him with the falcon arrow! It only gets a two count as we head to our final break of the night. Drew and Seth are back on the top rope and Drew plants Seth with a second rope White Noise. It only gets two but these men are throwing bombs. Seth goes for the Stomp but Drew counters into the Future Shock DDT! Drew forgoes the cover and kips up. He knows it will take more than that to beat Seth. Drew sets up for the Claymore but Seth catches him at the last second and hits a powerbomb. Super close two count for the champion. Seth climbs up and goes for it all with the Phoenix Splash, but Drew moves. Drew tries for the Claymore but Seth counters that and nails the Pedigree on Drew. That only gets a two count as both men are hurting. Oh my god, here comes Damian Priest with his briefcase, Dominik and a referee. Priest hits Seth with the briefcase while the main referee is distracted. Priest is trying to cash in but Drew hits a Claymore to Priest on the outside. Back in the ring Drew hits Seth with a Claymore. It’s over…except Seth’s foot is on the rope. Seth is out, Drew would have been champion. Drew has lost it and goes outside, clearing off the announce table. Drew has Seth on the table but Seth counters! He hits a pedigree on the table onto Drew. Seth rolls Drew back in and Stomp! Seth retains the championship. Man Drew had him if he didn’t let his temper get the best of him. There will be no cash in tonight, Seth is still your champion!
