Arena: Bridgestone Arena
City: Nashville, TN
Raw opens with a recap of Survivor Series and out first to the ring is the returning Viper, Randy Orton!
He said he had a lot of time to think and reflected on what he has done. He never competed in a War Games match and now he has. But now going forward, he has unfinished business with all the members of the Bloodline.
Rhea Ripley interrupts Randy and came to the ring. Rhea is upset Randy interrupted Damian’s cash-in on Seth at Survivor Series. Rhea then threatens Randy. Randy said he kept up on what was going on while he was out and he heard Rhea this, Rhea that, Mami this and Mami that. But Daddy’s home now! He said with everything that changed, there is one thing that will never change: no one tells Randy Orton what to do.
Rhea says you made your bed then, you are now our enemy. JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio attack Randy. But Randy fights back and throws Dominik out of the ring and hits JD with an RKO. Randy then tells Dom not to go to far because as soon as he leaves the ring, he is going to find Adam Pearce and he will have Dominik in the ring tonight.
Alpha Academy, The Creed Brothers and The New Day are talking about the tag team turmoil match tonight and Otis will team with Tozawa and Maxxine and Ivy walk in and say they have a very special guest who will be watching their match, and they announce Jellyroll. Jellyroll says he is so excited to be there. R-Truth started yelling Jellyroll and comes in and hugs him and starts talking about jelly rolls and R-Truth says he needs to get to catering before they are all gone.
Otis & Akira Tozawa VS. DIY (Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano)
Tozawa went for a move off Otis’ shoulders, but DIY kicked Otis and sent Otis over the top rope and hit Tozawa with a meet in the middle of kicks for the win.
Winners: DIY
DIY VS. Indus Sher
Gargano catches Veer off guard and rolls him up for the win.
Winners: DIY
DIY VS. The Creed Brothers
Brutus cuts off Ciampa and sends him out of the ring. Julius picks up Gargano in a powerbomb then picks him back up and puts him on his shoulders as he walks over and lets Brutus tag in, and Brutus hits the Brutus Ball and gets the pin.
Winners: The Creed Brothers
The Creed Brothers VS. The New Day
The Creeds hit another Brutus Ball this time on Kofi to get the win.
Winners: The Creed Brothers
The Creed Brothers VS. Imperium
The Creeds hit Vinci with a Brutus Ball and got the chance at the Undisputed Tag Team Titles.
Winners: The Creed Brothers
In the back, Rhea is talking to Dominik and Finn walks in and tells Damian they cannot take those Creed Brothers lightly. Damian was upset he left the team down as the leader at Survivor Series, but Rhea said they are a family and Finn said they are still champions. Damian said OK that is what families do and speaking of family how is JD and Finn said he is still in the trainer’s room.
The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes is next out for an in-ring promo. He thanked his Survivor Series teammates after winning the War Games. He also welcomed back CM Punk. He said he wants to make a story right now. He announces he has declared his entrance in the 2024 Royal Rumble. The lights then go out.
Shinsuke is shown and he needs him to set him free, he has been patiently waiting but cannot wait anymore and he is going to bring chaos to Cody. As the message finished Cody turns around and Shinsuke is in the ring and blows red mist in Cody’s face.
Big Bronson Reed VS. Ivar
Valhalla distracted Reed and the referee caught her and threw her out of the ringside area. As the two continued to fight outside the referee counted to 10 for a double count out.
Winner: Double Count Out
The fight continued long after the bell.
Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark were talking about Zoey’s match at Survivor Series and Nia Jax comes in saying she should have been in the match instead of Zoey and Zoey challenged her for a match tonight.
Damian and Finn walking with JD in a neck brace and walk in to find R-Truth with powder everywhere and holding a plate of jellyrolls and Truth tells them they are looking for a fifth member for Survivor Series and he is in, and they told him it already happened and told him to get out.
Nia Jax VS. Zoey Stark
After causing Stark to fall off the top rope, she gave Stark a senton then pulled her to the corner and hit the annihilator for the win.
Winner: Nia Jax
Imperium talking in the back and Gunther came in and said you two need to go to Adam Pearce and handle this DIY problem. Gunther turns around into the Miz’s face. The Miz said he saw his press conference and he said his next challenger needs to challenge him to his face and the Miz said here I am. Gunther tells the Miz he came prepared and proved he belonged in that ring…just not with him.
Seth “Freakin” Rollins is out to the ring next. The crowd started chanting CM Punk and Seth said he doesn’t want to talk about that hypocrite. But will talk about the world title that he has made most important in this industry over the past six months. Seth said he is feeling the itch to defend his title and he went to talk to Adam Pearce about his next opponent and was interrupted by Drew McIntyre.
Drew said it’s been a crazy 48 hours, and he held his hand out to shake his hand for his win at Survivor Series and Judgement Day promised him Jey on a silver platter and they lost the match, so it was some kind of plan. He then said he needs to refocus and put Jey on the backburner and wants to challenge him for the World title again.
Seth told him he deserves a rematch but there are a few others that deserve a shot at the championship a little more than he does. He will be defending his title next week on Raw. Drew asked who he was defending against. Seth told him he is defending the championship against Jey Uso. Seth said it’s not personal and Drew gave him a Glasgow Kiss.
As Drew beat on Seth, Jey comes out and goes after Drew. Jey then helped Seth up and they gave Drew a double superkick knocking Drew out of the ring. Jey picked up the title and handed it back to Seth.
Sami Zayn caught up with Drew McIntyre and asked him what was going on and told him he has the same setbacks as Drew. Drew has already been champion twice and he has everything going for him and he is acting like a spoiled little brat and he is better than that. Drew said he is right I need to start working my way back up the ladder and I am going to go get a match for next week against you.
Tegan Nox & Natalya VS. Chelsea Green & Piper Niven for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.
Piper hit Nox with her running cross body block for the win.
Winners and still WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions: Chelsea Green & Piper Niven
In the back Jey Uso walks up to Randy Orton and he thanked Randy and apologized for how things went back in the day. Randy says he understands that, and Randy said he is going to handle business with the Bloodline so as long as Jey is out of the Bloodline, they are good.
Becky Lynch is interviewed backstage.
Dominik Mysterio VS. Randy Orton
Randy set up for an RKO, but JD pulled Dominik out of the ring and then they got into an argument with Jellyroll who was sitting in the front row and Jelly pushed JD down and then pushed Dominik back to the ring. Randy grabbed Dom and slammed him on the announce table the crowd chanted one more time, so Randy dropped Dom on the announce table again. Back in the ring, Randy again sets up for an RKO and JD got up on the apron so Randy dropped him with a DDT again. Dom gets up, dropkicks Randy in the back, sets up and hits 619. Dominik goes up for a frog splash, Randy moved, Dominik gets to his feet and Randy hits the RKO.
Winner: Randy Orton
CM Punk is out to the ring and said looks like hell froze over, because it looks like CM Punk is standing on Monday Night Raw with a live microphone. He said he came up with two words that sum up what happened he changed, and he is home. He said he was gone for 10 years and the fans never forgot him and never stopped chanting his name.
The voiceless found their voice and he couldn’t be prouder, and he wishes he could say he never left but a wiseman once told him he needed to leave to get everything he wanted. He said it’s like a family reunion. Everyone backstage hugged him and asked how AJ was and he said AJ is just fine and sends her regards. He said almost everyone has welcomed him. He said he knows people are scared because he is back and now the bar is set at an all-time high to be the best because the best in the world is back.
As Raw was closing Punk looked in the camera and said he is not here to make friends, he is here to make money.
