Surprising Former WWE Champion Returns On Raw Day 1; January 2nd Live Wrestling News Round-Up

Roman Reigns has commented for the first time since Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson teased challenging him!

During his surprise appearance at last night’s Day 1 special of WWE Raw, The Rock seemingly sowed the first seeds for the long-awaited feud between himself and Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. After laying the SmackDown on Jinder Mahal, Rock teased that he might “sit at the Head of The Table”, a clear jab at Reigns.

Now, The Tribal Chief himself has broken his silence, providing a short but very clear response to his cousin’s tease. Less than an hour after Raw ended, Reigns posted a laughing face emoji to his X account with no further context.

😂

— Roman Reigns (@WWERomanReigns) January 2, 2024

Tony Khan has taken to social media to celebrate the fifth anniversary of AEW’s founding.

Five years ago yesterday, AEW was officially founded. January 1st, 2024 also marks the anniversary of The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, and Hangman Adam Page first revealing the promotion to the public at the end of the 132nd episode of Being The Elite.

In celebration of the milestone, AEW President Tony Khan thanked everyone responsible for the company making it this far and reflected on other accomplishments they’d achieved in 2023.

Happy New Year 2024!
5 years ago today, we launched @AEW 1/1/19!
2023 marked new highs,
our biggest PPV year ever,
world record 81,035 tickets sold #AEWAllIn London,
debuted #AEWCollision + ended the year with a streak of big tv ratings!
Thank you all who made this all possible

— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) January 2, 2024

QT Marshall has commented for the first time since officially leaving AEW.

A new year signifies a fresh start for many, but even more so for Marshall who officially left AEW and became a free agent when the clocks struck midnight yesterday.

Taking to X, Marshall looked back on 2023 as both an exciting and frustrating year and said he planned to stay true to himself as he moves into the new year as well as a new stage in his career.

Before we enter the new year, I reflect on 2023 as 1 of the most trying, exciting, frustrating times ever in my life. Letting go of ideas and embracing new ones. I step forward staying true to myself as always, there are people who rely on me, ya know? Here’s to 2024

In a separate post, he reflected on his five years with AEW with various photos of highlights from his in-ring career there.

But really…as most of you reflect on the last year, I have been reflecting on the last 5 … @aew has been great and I’m very lucky to have been a part of some cool stuff!

Happy New Year! pic.twitter.com/AIXthLSbPu

— QT Marshall (@QTMarshall) January 1, 2024

Tonight’s WWE NXT New Year’s Evil will emanate from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The next major NXT event is NXT Vengeance Day in five weeks.

Matches and segments announced for the show include:

• Ridge Holland speaks
• Arianna Grace vs Roxanne Perez
• Joaquin Wilde, Cruz Del Toro, and ??? vs. No Quarter Catch Club
• Tiffany Stratton vs Fallon Henley – Servant Or Ranch Hand Match
• Oba Femi vs Riley Osborne – Men’s Breakout Tournament Final
• Lyra Valkyrie (c) vs Blair Davenport – NXT Women’s Championship Match
• Ilja Dragunov (c) vs Trick Williams – NXT Championship Match

What are you most excited to see on tonight’s episode of NXT? Let us know your thoughts here!

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WWE has shared ring announcer Samantha Irvin’s wholesome reaction to The Rock’s return on last night’s Raw!

In a Reel posted to Instagram, Irvin can be seen watching Jinder Mahal’s promo from ringside before being shocked by The Rock’s music playing. Irvin jumps out of her chair and screams alongside the fans before looking sheepishly at her co-workers off-camera.

MJF may require surgery following his AEW World Championship loss to Samoa Joe at Worlds End.

Speaking on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed that MJF is deliberating getting surgery to fix his ongoing shoulder injury which he has battled through over the last few months. The alternative would be rehab, though if the injury is severe enough, surgery will be needed.

“He is hurt. You know, his shoulder is legitimately hurt. He could come out [on Wednesday’s Dynamite] and do a promo. Although I don’t think he will. Well, from what I was told, he is either going to have to rehab the shoulder, which is the main problem, or he may need surgery. And just judging from how severe it was, he may need that surgery, and the surgery would put him out for quite a while.

He is still debating which tack to take. I think it’s probably the best thing for him to have the surgery, but it’s a long time off. Other guys do that. I mean, it’s not like it’s the end of the world to take a long time off. But it seems like a lot. You know, I mean, for his career. He’s 27 years old. He needs to get the shoulder fixed. And as good as it can be fixed because you don’t want that thing to be a mess for the rest of your career.”

h/t to WrestlingNewsCo

NXT North American Champion Dragon Lee has announced he will miss tomorrow’s New Year’s Evil special of NXT.

Lee was set to team up with LWO members Joaquin Wilde and Cruz del Toro to take on three as-yet-unknown members of No Quarter Catch Club. It seems likely the trio will be Drew Gulak, Damon Kemp, and Myles Borne though as the group’s fourth member, Charlie Dempsey, is currently competing in All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Taking to X last night, the North American Champion revealed that he will be missing the show as he is having visa issues and is unable to leave Mexico as a result. However, it teased that another member of the LWO will replace him.

Feliz año nuevo!
Sad news to kick off the year, but due to visa issues I am unable to leave Mexico right now. Por eso, I will miss @WWENXT New Years Evil… But the LWO has a big surprise for the NQCC and the NXT Universe tomorrow night.

— Dragon Lee ドラゴンリー (@dragonlee95) January 2, 2024

WWE Chief Content Officer Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque is set to make a “major announcement” regarding WWE later this week.

During WWE Raw Day 1 last night, it was announced that a WWE Preview Special for 2024 will air on Peacock this Thursday as part of WWE’s New Year’s Knockout Week programming. It’s unclear at the time of writing what exactly the show will consist of.

Alongside appearances from Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley, NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov, Bianca Belair, CM Punk, and Montez Ford, it was also announced that Triple H would appear to make a “major announcement” related to WWE. There are currently no details on what the announcement could be.

No one could have predicted the former WWE champion who returned during WWE Raw Day 1 last night…

After Triple H confirmed reports that a former WWE Champion would be returning to the red brand last week, speculation ran wild as to who they might be. Some even considered now-former AEW star Andrade El Idolo for the role as while he never won the WWE Championship, he is a former champion of WWE and would technically fit the bill.

When the reveal finally happened on last night’s WWE Raw Day 1, however, the mystery star was none other than Jinder Mahal, who’s not been seen on the red brand since mid-2022. However, fans weren’t left disappointed as Mahal was quickly interrupted by the return of The Rock, who teased a long-awaited confrontation with Roman Reigns.

Welcome back to the ITRWrestling live blog! I’ll be with you from 12pm to 6pm BST (7am – 1pm ET) covering all the biggest stories from WWE, AEW, NJPW, IMPACT, and more.

Today’s top stories are:

• Surprising Former WWE Champion Returns On Raw Day 1
• Triple H Will Make “Major Announcement” Later This Week
• Dragon Lee Set To Miss NXT New Year’s Evil