Three Major Returns Confirmed For First Raw Of 2019

The first Raw of 2019 will feature three major returns, as were announced at the tapings for this coming Monday’s New Year’s Eve show.

John Cena hasn’t appeared live on WWE TV since the Super Show-Down event in Australia back in early October, and just about a week after saying his current brief return won’t include TV appearances… well, it will.

It was actually announced last week that Cena would be appearing on both the December 31 Raw and January 1 SmackDown shows, but then the former was erased, and he’ll only be appearing on the blue brand. This is decent evidence that WWE are just trying to boost the abysmal ratings with a few special returns, and haven’t really planned what they’re going to do beyond that.

Never fear though, for those of you weird enough to only watch Raw and not SmackDown, because Big Match Jonathon is back in town on January 7!

Also confirmed for the show was current Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, who hasn’t been seen since he defeated WWE Champion Daniel Bryan at Survivor Series. Lesnar is set to defend his title against Braun Strowman at Royal Rumble.

Speaking of…

The ‘Monster Among Men’ has been out of action since November and required surgery on a bone spur in his elbow. He was kept off TV for a few weeks until he returned at TLC to defeat Baron Corbin, in a match where all he did was watch everyone else beat Corbin up, and then put his foot on Corbin’s chest for the pin.

It will be interesting to see if Cena’s appearance on the January 1 SmackDown (taped tonight) plays into his appearance on the following Raw, if at all, and how Strowman and Lesnar interact with Lesnar’s appearance seemingly another last-minute decision as he wasn’t advertised to appear until the January 21 show until now. Maybe they’ll just throw Heyman at each other or something.

Also confirmed for the January 7 episode of Raw:

• A new Alexa Bliss talk show named ‘A Moment Of Bliss’ with guest Ronda Rousey
• Bobby Roode & Chad Gable (c) vs. The Revival for the Raw Tag Team Titles

For full spoilers for the December 31 show, click here.

What do you make of these confirmed returns for the first Raw of 2019? Let us know in the comments, on Twitter, or on Discord!

• RAW
• Brock Lesnar
• John Cena
• Return

Share this article with friends