Day 1 was a 2022 professional wrestling premium live event (PLE) produced by WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It was the inaugural Day 1 and was WWE's first event to be branded as a "premium live event", a term the promotion introduced to refer to its events airing on pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE's livestreaming platforms. The event's title alluded to its New Year's Day scheduling as it took place on Saturday, January 1, 2022, at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
Seven matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Brock Lesnar defeated Seth "Freakin" Rollins, Kevin Owens, Bobby Lashley, and defending champion Big E in a fatal five-way match to win Raw's WWE Championship by pinning Big E. Lesnar was originally scheduled to face Roman Reigns for SmackDown's Universal Championship, but that match was canceled hours before the event due to Reigns testing positive for COVID-19. In other prominent matches, Edge defeated The Miz, Becky Lynch defeated Liv Morgan to retain the Raw Women's Championship, and in the opening bout, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) defeated The New Day (Kofi Kingston and King Woods) to retain the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
This was WWE's only PLE to take place on New Year's Day and was subsequently WWE's first PPV to have the New Year's theme since New Year's Revolution in 2007. The scheduling of Day 1 also caused the cancellation of the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs event, which was usually held in late December. Another Day 1 PLE was scheduled for 2023, but was canceled; however, WWE revived the Day 1 name in 2024 for a special episode of Monday Night Raw; the television special was titled Raw: Day 1 and aired on January 1, 2024. This was also WWE's final PLE to air on the WWE Network in Indonesia before it transferred to Disney+ Hotstar on January 27.
Production Background
On July 23, 2021, the American professional wrestling promotion WWE revealed that it would be holding a pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event on Saturday, January 1, 2022, at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, which would feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The State Farm Arena is the home venue of the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association, and the announcement was made by the Hawks's all-star point guard Trae Young. Due to the event taking place on the first day of the year, it was titled Day 1, marking WWE's first such event to take place on New Year's Day. The idea for Day 1 was conceived by WWE president Nick Khan. The company previously ran a New Year's-themed PPV event called New Year's Revolution from 2005 to 2007, but each of its events were held shortly after New Year's Day.
On the day of the event, WWE introduced the term "premium live event" (PLE). It was subsequently revealed that this was a term to refer to WWE's events that are available on PPV and via livestreaming, which at the time was on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in most international markets. Day 1 was in turn the first event branded as a PLE. Tickets for the event went on sale on August 27, 2021. One of the official theme songs was "Straightenin" by the hip hop trio Migos. On December 10, 2021, WWE announced that the trio would be making a special appearance at Day 1.
The scheduling of Day 1 caused WWE to cancel its annual TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs event for Raw and SmackDown, which had been scheduled for December 19, 2021. Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer reported that TLC was canceled to allow WWE to focus on Day 1 after November's Survivor Series. There would have also only been two weeks between TLC and Day 1, followed by the Royal Rumble in late January.
Storylines The event comprised seven matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
On the October 25, 2021, episode of Raw, Seth Rollins won a ladder match to become the number one contender for Big E's WWE Championship. On November 29 episode, Rollins announced that the title match would take place at Day 1. That same night, however, WWE officials Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville set up a non-title match between Big E and Kevin Owens, who had also competed in the ladder match, where if Owens won, he would be added to the title match, much to the displeasure of Rollins, who had been at odds with Owens over the past few weeks. In an attempt to sabotage the match, Rollins interfered, thus Owens won by disqualification and was added to the championship match, making it a triple threat match. The following week, after Big E defeated Owens in a Steel Cage match with Rollins on commentary, Bobby Lashley came out and viciously attacked the three. On the next episode, Lashley, who Big E had defeated for the title in September, explained his actions and demanded to be added to the championship match at Day 1; however, Owens and Rollins took exception while Big E stated that it did not matter who he faced as he would still be champion after Day 1. Pearce and Deville then came out and scheduled Lashley to face Owens, Rollins, and Big E, respectively, where if he won each match, he would be added to the championship match. Lashley was successful and was added to the WWE Championship match at Day 1, making it a fatal four-way match. Furthermore, on the day of the event, Brock Lesnar was added to the match following the announcement of Roman Reigns's positive COVID-19 diagnosis that day, thus making it a fatal five-way match.
On November 29 episode of Raw, Edge made his return from hiatus, which was his first post-draft appearance since the 2021 WWE Draft results went into effect on October 22. Edge, who was drafted to Raw, then listed off names of potential opponents he had not yet faced. The Miz, along with his wife Maryse, interrupted, with Miz also making his return from hiatus after filming the 30th season of Dancing with the Stars. Miz felt disrespected as his return was not promoted like Edge's was and also because he was not on Edge's list of potential opponents. After a heated verbal exchange, Miz teased fighting Edge, however, Miz rejected and departed. The following week, Edge was a guest on "Miz TV". After another heated verbal exchange between the two, Miz challenged Edge to a match at Day 1, and Edge accepted.
On November 8 episode of Raw, Liv Morgan won a fatal five-way match to earn a Raw Women's Championship match against Becky Lynch. The title match took place on December 6 episode, where Lynch retained the title by using the ropes as leverage during the pin. The following week, Lynch celebrated her win and insulted Morgan. An irate Morgan then came out, lambasted Lynch for cheating to win, and demanded a rematch at Day 1. The two then brawled where Lynch attacked Morgan's arm using the steel steps. Lynch then accepted Morgan's challenge.
On December 6 episode of Raw, a tournament called the RK-Bronament to determine the number one contenders for RK-Bro's (Randy Orton and Riddle) Raw Tag Team Championship was announced and began that same day, with The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) and The Mysterios (Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio) winning their respective matches to advance. The finals took place on December 27 episode, with The Street Profits defeating The Mysterios to win the tournament, and the championship match was scheduled for Day 1.
On November 26 episode of SmackDown, Drew McIntyre teamed with Jeff Hardy to defeat Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss. Later that night, however, McIntyre was the only one of the four not involved in the battle royal to determine the number one contender for the Universal Championship. The following week, Corbin and Moss hosted a Happy Talk segment where they joked about McIntyre not being in that battle royal before McIntyre interrupted. This allowed Hardy and McIntyre to lay out Corbin and Moss. This would in turn be Hardy's final WWE appearance before his release on December 9. On December 10 episode, before McIntyre's match, McIntyre confronted WWE official Adam Pearce backstage about not being in the battle royal, only to be told that he could not bring his sword, Angela, to the ring for his match. McIntyre then stuck the sword through Pierce's desk. After McIntyre won his match, Corbin and Moss stole the desk and sword. The following week, Corbin and Moss hosted another segment of Happy Talk, where they told terrible jokes about McIntyre's sword. They tried to pull it out of the desk, but failed to. Afterwards, McIntyre appeared and laid out Corbin and Moss before retrieving the sword himself. Later that night, a match between McIntyre and Moss was made official for Day 1.
In October 2021 The New Day (Kofi Kingston and King Woods) re-ignited their feud with SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso). On October 29 episode of SmackDown, while Kingston and Woods held a knighting ceremony for Kingston as Sir Kofi Kingston, The Usos interrupted. They told The New Day that they would face them in a non-title match later that night, where The New Day won. The following week, it was announced that Woods would face Jimmy where the loser would have to acknowledge the winner. Woods defeated Jimmy, and afterwards, Jimmy was about to bend the knee, but Universal Champion Roman Reigns, with The Usos, attacked Kingston and Woods. On November 12 episode, Woods faced Reigns in a non-title match, with the stipulations being that if Reigns won, Woods would have had to bend the knee, but if Woods won, Reigns would have had to bend the knee, and if he refused to do so, he would have been stripped of the Universal Championship and banished from SmackDown. Woods won via disqualification after interference from The Usos, after which, they put Woods's King of the Ring crown on Reigns's head. The following week, Woods was again attacked by Reigns and The Usos, who broke his scepter and throne before Reigns stomped on his crown. Later that night, Woods and Reigns's Survivor Series opponent, WWE Champion Big E, also from The New Day, attacked Reigns and The Usos, sending them retreating. At Survivor Series, Reigns defeated Big E. On December 3 episode of SmackDown, Woods defeated Jey via disqualification after interference from Jimmy. Afterwards, Kingston returned and, along with Woods, attacked The Usos, who were able to retreat. Later that night, Kingston stated that he was forced to watch as The Bloodline attacked Woods and broke his crown, and that The New Day would gain revenge by defeating The Usos to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at Day 1.
On November 5 episode of SmackDown, Sheamus joined forces with Ridge Holland in a backstage segment. Two weeks later, Sheamus won a fatal four-way match involving Ricochet and Cesaro, who Sheamus pinned, after interference from Holland. The following week, Cesaro defeated Holland. On December 3 episode, Sheamus defeated Cesaro. On December 17 episode, Holland struck Cesaro with a shillelagh before their match, which Holland won. The following week, Sheamus eliminated Cesaro during a gauntlet match to determine the number one contender for the Intercontinenetal Championship, but was eliminated by Ricochet, who was soon after eliminated. On December 30, a match pitting Sheamus and Holland against Ricochet and Cesaro was scheduled for the Kickoff pre-show.
Canceled match