WWE heads into 2022 looking for a strong start. After skipping on a PPV event in December, the promotion with kick off on New Year's Day with a bang as it debuts a new event dubbed WWE Day 1. It all goes down from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta with nearly every champion in action.
There are four championship matches set for the card currently, including Big E defending the WWE championship against Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley in fatal four-way action. On the women's side, Becky Lynch is set to defend the Raw women's championship against Liv Morgan.
As with all major WWE events, Day 1 will stream live on Peacock. The main card will begin at 8 p.m. ET following a kickoff show one hour prior.
Let's take a look at what we know will be going down at WWE Day 1.
Note: The previously scheduled Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar has been canceled after Reigns tested positive for COVID-19. Lesnar will now compete in the WWE championship match, making it a fatal five-way.
WWE Day 1 matches
WWE Championship -- Big E (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Brock Lesnar: In late October, Rollins won a ladder match on Raw that guaranteed him a future title shot. That was largely sidelined through November as Big E was tied up with Roman Reigns and Survivor Series. Rollins then announced that he would get his title shot at Day 1, only to see Owens -- who had recently turned heel by attacking Big E -- face Big E with the stipulation that Owens would be entered into the match with a victory. Owens was able to provoke Rollins into attacking him during the match, leading to Owens being named the winner via disqualification and his participation in the Day 1 title match confirmed. Lashley was angry at being left out of the picture and beat Rollins, Owens and Big E in singles matches in a single night, earning his spot and turning the match into a fatal four-way. As previously mentioned, Lesnar was added at the last minute after his match with Roman Reigns was canceled.
SmackDown Tag Team Championship -- The Usos (c) vs. The New Day: In helping Reigns ahead of his Survivor Series match with Big E, The Usos took out Kofi Kingston and destroyed Xavier Woods' King of the Ring throne, scepter and crown. With Kingston back in action, the two New Day members are looking for revenge -- and yet another championship reign -- when they face off with The Usos at Day 1.
Raw Women's Championship -- Becky Lynch (c) vs. Liv Morgan: Lynch is on a good run since coming back from her layoff to give birth to her first child, having put on good matches with nearly everyone she has set foot in the ring with. Morgan failed to beat Lynch in a title match on Raw but threw out a challenge for a rematch. Lynch didn't initially accept, attacking Morgan instead, including stomping on Morgan's arm as it was pinned between the ring steps and ring post. Once Morgan had been appropriately compromised, Lynch accepted the rematch.
Raw Tag Team Championship -- RK-Bro (c) vs. The Street Profits: Randy Orton and Riddle are in need of challengers for their Raw tag titles. In that interest, they set up the RK-Bro-nament, which The Street Profits won by defeating The Mysterios in the finals. It's not the most complicated story, but it should make for a very good match.
Edge vs. The Miz: When Edge made his return to Raw, he listed a variety of potential opponents but left Miz's name out. This brought out Miz, who was making his own return after a stint on Dancing With The Stars. Miz turned down a chance to go one-on-one then and there but the two eventually agreed to a Day 1 clash. After agreeing to the match, Miz spiced things up by hitting Edge with a Skull-Crushing Finale.
Drew McIntyre vs. Madcap Moss: The two are set to battle after an odd build that included trying to remove McIntyre's sword from a desk and a Miracle on 34th Street match on Christmas Eve. McIntyre is mostly treading water until he gets the next boost to the main event picture and knocking off Moss sets him up to move on to Happy Corbin as a stay-busy storyline.
Cesaro & Ricochet vs. Sheamus & Ridge Holland (kickoff show): Holland has been trying to impress Sheamus since moving up to the main roster, that has resulted in repeated clashes with Cesaro and Ricochet. After the situation escalated during the gauntlet match on the Christmas Eve edition of SmackDown, the four men will now look to settle things in a tag match on the kickoff show.
