Bray Wyatt wrestled for the first time since WrestleMania 37 at MSG

We didn’t get a new Raw last night (Dec. 26), as WWE gave their television production crew an extended Christmas break. But holiday house shows are big business, so they put on two of those Monday night.

One was at Madison Square Garden, the iconic Manhattan venue WWE’s long considered its “home court”. Something of note usually happens when The ‘E is in MSG, and even with winter weather-related travel issues reportedly being an issue for both the Garden show worked by the SmackDown roster and the Columbus, Ohio card of Raw Superstars, we did get a newsworthy return to the ring in NYC.

There was a ladder match for Gunther’s Intercontinental title in the line-up, and Jinder Mahal wasn’t happy he wasn’t in it. He wanted a match, and his open challenge didn’t work out well for him after Code Orange’s “Shatter” hit the speakers and Bray Wyatt entered.

He snuck in a tribute to his friend, Brodie “Luke Harper” Lee, who died two years ago (Dec. 23, 2020)…

… and won it with Sister Abigail.

It was Wyatt’s first match since returning to WWE earlier this year. In fact, it was the first time he’s wrestled since losing to Randy Orton via Alexa Bliss’ witchy ways at WrestleMania 37.

Here’s a rundown of the rest of last night’s results from the Garden (courtesy Wrestling Observer and PWInsider):

• Sheamus & Ridge Holland def. Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci via pinfall (Brogue Kick to Kaiser)

• Hit Row (B-Fab, Top Dolla & Ashante Thee Adonis) def. Legado del Fantasma (Jouaqin Wilde, Cruz del Toro & Zelina Vega) via pinfall (Adonis on Wilde)

• Bray Wyatt def. Jinder Mahal via pinfall after Sister Abigail

• Gunther def. Kofi Kingston, Madcap Moss, Shinsuke Nakamura & Santos Escobar in a Ladder Match to retain his Intercontinental championship. Moss replaced Ricochet, who had been advertised for the match. There was fear Escobar injured his leg after landing awkwardly on a spot off the ladder with Kingston, but he was able to walk to the back with minimal assistance and Insider says he’s “okay”.

• Karrion Kross def. Drew Gulak

• Liv Morgan def. Shayna Baszler in a Street Fight. The pin came after a Morgan hit a leg drop onto Baszler as she was draped across a table, but the table didn’t break.

• Braun Strowman promo-ed about teaching The Bloodline a lesson, which brought out Sami Zayn to announce he wasn’t cleared for action tonight, so Strowman got Solo Sikoa instead.

• Strowman def. Sikoa via disqualification when Zayn & The Usos stopped a powerslam by Braun. Kevin Owens came out to even the odds, leading to…

• Strowman & Owens def. The Usos in a non-title match. Zayn & Sikoa were sent to the back by the referee mid-match, clearing the way from Braun to powerslam Jimmy while KO stunned Jey for the win.

Insider notes that in addition to Ricochet, LA Knight, Drew McIntyre, Butch, Maximum Male Models, and Los Lotharios were all scheduled to be at the show but ran into travel trouble. The site notes that “some talents were called at the last minute to come in” as a result.