WWE Day 1

**WWE Day 1** was a professional wrestling live event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event aired on pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide and was available to livestream through Peacock in the United States and the WWE Networkinternationally. It took place on January 1, 2022, at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, and was the company's first PPV event to take place on New Year's Day. The event's title alludes to its New Year's scheduling and was WWE's first PPV to have the New Year's theme since New Year's Revolution in 2007. Its scheduling also caused the cancelation of the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs event, which was usually held in late December. Day 1 was also WWE's first event to be branded as a "Premium Live Event", a term the company introduced to refer to their events airing on PPV and livestreaming services.

 City

NXT WarGames
Royal Rumble

Seven matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Brock Lesnardefeated Seth "Freakin" Rollins, Kevin Owens, Bobby Lashley, and defending champion Big E in a fatal five-way matchto 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, Becky Lynchdefeated Liv Morgan to retain the Raw Women's Championship, RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Riddle) defeated The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) to retain the Raw Tag Team Championship, Edge defeated The Miz, 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.

## Aftermath

### Raw

On the following episode of Raw, new WWE Champion Brock Lesnar reunited with Paul Heyman, who announced that Lesnar's first challenger for the title would be determined by Day 1's originally scheduled fatal four-way match between Bobby Lashley, Kevin Owens, Seth "Freakin" Rollins, and Big E. Lashley won the bout to face Lesnar for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble.

Also on the following Raw, The Miz and Maryse berated Edge and Beth Phoenix, after Phoenix had distracted Miz at Day 1. Edge and Phoenix then challenged Miz and Maryse to a mixed tag team match at the Royal Rumble. Miz accepted, despite Maryse's displeasure.

Liv Morgan interrupted Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch and wanted another rematch at the title. Bianca Belair interrupted, also staking a claim to a title match. Doudrop confronted WWE officials Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville for an opportunity at the title. Deville and Pearce scheduled Morgan, Belair, and Doudrop to face each other in a triple threat match the following week to determine Lynch's challenger for the title at the Royal Rumble,which was won by Doudrop.

### SmackDownEdit

Universal Champion Roman Reigns opened the following episode of SmackDown only for his originally scheduled Day 1 opponent and new WWE Champion, Brock Lesnar, along with Paul Heyman, to interrupt him. Lesnar challenged Reigns to a champion vs. champion match, however, Reigns declined and then responded with a Superman Punch on Lesnar. Reigns and a double crossing Heyman then cost Lesnar the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble. Lesnar then won the Royal Rumble match and chose to challenge Reigns for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 38. Lesnar also won the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber to regain the title, thus converting his Universal Championship match against Reigns at WrestleMania into a Winner Takes AllChampionship Unification match.

Also on the following episode of SmackDown, The Usos defended the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The New Day (Kofi Kingston and King Woods) in a street fight; this was also The New Day's final opportunity at the title. The Usos defeated New Day to retain the title.

Drew McIntyre was reported to require surgery on his neck, however, he made a surprise return at the Royal Rumble during the Royal Rumble match and eliminated Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss. Due to them almost ending his career, McIntyre declared he would continue targeting Corbin and Moss, and a rematch with Moss was scheduled for Elimination Chamber.