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This week's Raw was the first with the newly reshaped roster. That wasn't the only reason the show had an extra special feel to it. This week's show was also the start of the World Heavyweight Championship Tournament, with two Triple Threat matches to kick things off. The show lacked surprises and the outcomes of the matches were predictable. That didn't mean it wasn't a decent offering with some action that was worth watching. Match one was the World Heavyweight Championship Quarterfinal between Seth Rollins, Damian Priest, and Shinsuke Nakamura. By the end of the first hour, WWE also offered up Cody Rhodes vs. The Miz vs. Finn Balor. It wasn't a bad way to start the night. Trish Stratus got surprised, Zoey Stark made her debut, and Seth Rollins moves on to face the winner who comes out of SmackDown on Friday. Here are your winners and losers for Raw, May 8, 2023:
Winner: Opening Triple Threat Match
Anyone not betting on Seth Rollins to come out the winner in this one was just giving their money away. That said, if you placed a bet that it would Shinsuke Nakamura who took the pin here, you'd probably have earned a nice little payday. This was a solid bout to open the show, but the fact that Nakamura lost his first match on Raw the night he debuted on the roster was an intriguing choice. It appeared later that the creative team was setting something up between The Miz and Nakamura who, as The Miz said, "didn't have each others back", but it still feels early to be having The King of Strong Style eat the three count.
Nakamura had Priest trapped in the kneebar until Rollins hit a frog splash. He then hit a Pedigree to earn the win.
Loser: Otis Loses To Mustafa Ali
In a short segment that didn't offer much more than a glimpse into where WWE is going with this storyline between Maxxine Dupri, Chad Gable, and Otis, the big man lost a match to Mustafa Ali after a distraction and some bad advice cost him the contest. Otis had things well in hand when Durpi and Gable tried to get Otis' attention and dictate his next move. The delay in offense cost Otis a chance to finish Ali off and when he missed a spear and hit the turnbuckle, Ali hit the 450 splash for the win.
The match itself was under three minutes and Otis looked a bit foolish. Also, Ali showcasing the fact that he's a free agent, and getting to wander on both brands only makes the WWE Draft even more confusing. Why are certain stars able to go back and forth, especially in the case of someone like Ali who hasn't earned the right to be given preferential treatment?
Winner: Lesnar Destroys Cody Rhodes
If we remove the fact that we still don't know why Brock Lesnar is targeting Cody Rhodes and then ignore how predictable the outcome of this particular Triple Threat match was, there were some solid moments in this segment. First, the match itself was solid. Second, the attack and mic work by Lesnar was believable. It was a logical way to remove Cody from the title picture and push Finn Balor toward the main event with Seth Rollins. The Miz served as the sacrificial lamb -- which he does well and can be seen from a mile away.
Lesnar challenged Cody to a fight at Night of Champions and while we're not sure entirely what that means, Cody did accept later in the evening. This is either going to be a Street Fight or some kind of country a---whooping gimmick match, but it should be fascinating to see how WWE continues this story. There's a lot of negative feedback coming from the way Cody won his match at Backlash and rightfully so. If Lesnar wins this fight, does it knock Cody down the totem pole a bit?
Loser: Dana Brooke vs Rhea Ripley
Ripley earned a decisive win over Dana Brooke. Brooke was out to prove some kind of point that she wasn't to be taken lightly. Ripley did, and destroyed her anyway. After the match, Ripley applied a Prison Lock submission hold and wouldn't release it. That brought out Natalya, who slowly strolled her way to the ring, seemingly ignoring the fact that the idea was to help Brooke. Natalya stared down Ripley who had already released the hold and Dominik seemed to whisper that the SmackDown Women's Champion wait to fight another day.
This match helped Ripley, but it certainly didn't help Brooke and what Natalya was trying to do was confusing. Was she not out there to help a friend? Even Corey pointed out that she was "not in any particular hurry to get to ringside."
Winner/Loser: Owens and Zayn Defeat Imperium
In a tag match that was quite good, it's hard to simply enjoy the action when you realize that WWE seemed to throw away an opportunity to save this match for a later date. Imperium is one of the few credible tag teams Raw will have that could legitimately challenge for the tag team championships and they lost on night one.
Winner: Zoey Stark
The one competitor WWE really put some gusto behind on Monday was the debuting Zoey Stark. They had her cut a promo and then challenge Nikki Cross to match, which Stark handily won. It appears WWE wants to push Stark as the new dominant force in the women's division and it's likely she defeats competitor after competitor until she gets to the top of the roster. Graves was really selling the dominance of the new arrival. That's a good sign for her moving foward.
Winner: Becky Lynch Returns
Wearing a "missing" t-shirt, Trish Stratus cut a promo suggesting she'd gotten rid of Becky Lynch for good. She played The Man's music as a joke and then poked fun at the gullible audience for buying into the joke. Only, when the music played for a second time and Trish tried to tell the production crew that the joke was over, it was Lynch who got the last laugh. The returning former tag team champion landed a couple of shots on Stratus and sent her fleeing from the ring. It looked like Lynch was going to cut more of a promo than WWE let her do when they played her music, but what they did get accomplished worked.
Winner: Dominik Defeats Xavier Woods
The main goal for WWE is to keep Dominik a hated scrawny little punk. One of the better ways to do that is to put him in matches with fan favorites. This bout with Xavier Woods felt like filler, but it accomplishes two things. First, it keeps Dom winning and earning lazy, cheap victories. Second, it keeps cementing Ripley's place as the real reason Dom is picking up the wins. It's not clear what the plan for Woods is on Raw, and this might not help him, but he's someone who can help get over a heel Dominik and he did that well.
Winner: Seth Rollins Moves On To Night Of Champions
Rollins sold an injury early when Balor delivered a powerbomb to Rollins onto the guardrail -- reminiscent of the one Balor took that injured him and cost him the Universal Championship. It was a nice little reminder of the history between these two. From there, the match only got better, with Rollins selling the arm injury and doing everything in his power to pull out the win regardless of the obvious pain. These two had great chemistry and Rollins hit an inverted stomp, then a final stomp to get the pin.
