Welcome to Fightful.com's live coverage & discussion for WWE Monday Night RAW (5/8/23)!
We will bring you the full results of tonight's episode of Monday Night Raw.
Here's what's on deck:
Preview
WWE Raw (5/8)
- Trish Stratus appears
- Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Damian Priest
- Cody Rhodes vs. Finn Balor vs. The Miz
- Winners of triple threat matches meet in World Heavyweight Title tournament semifinal
- Cody Rhodes kicks off the show by addressing the crowd in Jacksonville. He reflects on Jacksonville being his home during the pandemic. He recaps his match with Brock Lesnar. He then addresses his status in the tournament and officially announces that the tournament will begin right now. Seth Rollins comes out, and they stare down.
- Damian Priest says in an interview backstage that he will live forever, and he's not worried about the loss to Bad Bunny because it took a whole island to keep him down.
Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Damian Priest
All three men start going at each other real quick. Seth Rollins knees Damian in the back before trading shots with Shinsuke. Nakamura hits a sliding German Suplex. Priest misses a Big Boot. Nakamura hits a sliding knee and another knee to send us to the commercial. After the break, Seth Rollins hits Suicide Dives on each opponent. In the end, Nakamura had Priest in a kneebar. Rollins broke it up with a frog splash and hit a Pedigree on Nakamura for the victory.
- Imperium is excited that Gunther is going to be back next week. They briefly confront Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, who challenges them to a match.
Mustafa Ali vs. Otis w/Chad Gable and Maxxine Dupri
Otis was briefly on a roll. He was going to go for the caterpillar, but Maxine and Chad were both distracting him. He lost his train of thought and charged at Mustafa Ali, who moved out of the way. Mustafa Ali won with a 450 Splash.
Winner: Mustafa Ali
Cody Rhodes vs. Finn Balor vs. The Miz
Cody Rhodes vs. Finn Balor vs. The Miz
The action is back and forth early on. Cody hits a suicide dive before commercial break. After the break, Cody remained in control, hitting both of his adversaries with a double uppercut, powerslams, and a double Cody Cutter. Cody goes for CrossRhodes, Balor no counters but Cody eventually hits a beautiful disaster kick. The match continues as The Miz eventually hits a double DDT. Finn Balor hits the Final Cut for a near fall. Miz hits the skull crushing finale but Cody breaks up the pin
In the end, Cody gives Miz 3 CrossRhodes in a row. He goes for the pin, but Brock Lesnar shows up to break it up. Brock puts Cody through the announce table. Finn Balor hits Coup de Grace for the victory.
Winner: Finn Balor.
- After the match, Brock Lesnar challenges Cody Rhodes to a fight at WWE Night of Champions.
Rhea Ripley (w/Dominik Mysterio) vs. Dana Brooke
Rhea Ripley gets the decisive win by catching Dana on a dive and hitting her with Riptide followed by The Eradicator submission for the victory. After the match, Natalya shows up to save Dana Brooke from further damage.
Winner: Rhea Ripley
- Zoey Stark is being interviewed when she decides to challenge Nikki Cross to a match backstage
Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. Imperium (Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci)
Imperium has the advantage going into the commercial break. After the break, they manage to maintain control until Sami Zayn tags Kevin Owens. Owens goes off on Kaiser. He takes out Giovanni Vinci. Ownes hits a patella brainbuster. Owens lands a Swanton. Near fall. Kaiser and Vinci hit a High/Low. Imperium goes for their finisher but Kevin counters it, hits a Stunner, Sami hits a Helluva Kick for the win.
Winners: Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
Zoey Stark vs. Nikki Cross
A strong win for Stark. She hit some modified Arabian Press. Nikki goes for a tornado DDT but it gets blocked. Stark wins with the Z360.
Winner: Zoey Stark.
- Trish Stratus comes out and does a fake out, playing Becky Lynch's music and making it seem like she wasn't there. Eventually, to her surprise, Lynch shows up and attacks her until she's away
- Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Adam Pearce check on Cody Rhodes.
Xavier Woods vs. Dominik Mysterio (w/ Rhea Ripley)
A back and forth match. Xavier Woods gets in your fall with a Slingshot DDT. Woods tries the Limit Breaker, but Ripley pulls Dom out of the way. Dominik rolls up Woods for the win.
Winner: Dominik Mtsterio
- Jinder Mahal hypes up Indus Sher backstage.
- Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan approach Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green who are still getting people to sign their petition for a Tag Team Championship match. The Champions sign their petition. Chelsea and Sonia laugh it off by saying they were looking to face Damage CTRL because there's no way they would retain the belts on Friday.
- The Miz and Shinsuke Nakamura have a backstage interaction. Nakamura challenges The Miz to a match for next week.
- Cody Rhodes is interviewed by Cathy Kelley. He accepts Brock Lesnar's challenge for a fight at Night of Champions.
World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semi-Final Match: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
Both men trade holds, and Finn Balor is immediately sent flying out of the ring. Seth Rollins lays in a chop before throwing Finn Balor back into the ring. Balor takes the action back to the outside and sends Seth Rollins into the barricade with a Powerbomb, calling back to Finn Balor's injury at WWE SummerSlam 2016. Back from a commercial break, Seth Rollins is in control and has Finn Balor in the corner. Continuing on, Rollins goes for a frog splash. Finn Balor gets his knees up and traps Seth Rollins in a pinfall. When that doesn't work, Seth Rollins is put into a Crossface submission. Rollins eventually gets out of the move and counters a dropkick with a superkick.
Down the line, Finn escapes Seth Rollins' Falcon Arrow attempt and delivers 1916. Seth Rollins kicks out. Seth Rollins avoids the Coup De Grace and hits the Pedigree but only has one arm to do it with, so Finn Balor kicks out. Balor avoids a Curb Stomp once but gets hit with an inverted Curb Stomp and a regular one for the victory.
Winner and moving on to WWE Night of Champions: Seth Rollins.
You can find results from around the world of wrestling in Fightful's results section.
