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WWE Monday Night Raw comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Jan. 30, 2023) from the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, featuring all the fallout from the Royal Rumble Premium Live Event that went down this past Saturday night in San Antonio.
Advertised for tonight: Nothing specifically as of publication but Rhea Ripley won the women’s Royal Rumble and has a decision to make on which title she wants to go after. Meanwhile, Cody Rhodes returned and won the men’s Royal Rumble match, setting up a date with Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal championship. All that and more!
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the Raw live blog will kick off once the show starts on USA Network. It will be below this line here. Reminder: GIFs and pics allowed, but no links to illegal streams, please.
WWE RAW RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR JAN. 30
At the pool from open to close, rake the bottom for loose change, a job that paid for the luxury, but me? I’m just here to liveblog this here pro wrestling show for you, folks.
The show opens with a Cody Rhodes vignette and a recap of his victory in the men’s Royal Rumble on Saturday.
Cody makes his entrance and gets on the mic.
He takes a long beat to soak in the adulation of the crowd before beginning, before talking about his first day at Ohio Valley Wrestling. There was a sign on the door that said “tomorrow’s superstars today” and he was sitting in his beater Volkswagen Jetta getting ready to go inside and he vividly thought to himself he was gonna be WWE Champion inside of two years.
He was a little delusional because he also thought he was gonna be the next John Cena, and he recounts the highs and lows of his career and personal life wondering if he’d tell that version of himself about everything, all the way up to winning the Rumble and main eventing WrestleMania.
Truth be told, he wouldn’t tell the kid a single thing because every piece of this broken road has been unequivocally 100% worth it. His theme begins with him saying the words “wrestling has more than one royal family” and for it to be true, to be real, to be validated in his heart, he has to stand across from an entire Bloodline, from the Tribal Chief, the LeBron James of this generation of wrestlers, who has held the title for over 800 days.
He has to stand across from Roman Reigns.
He has a great deal of respect for Roman, and he speaks with sincerity and he says this with that same sincerity. WrestleMania is in 62 days, and those 62 days are the rest of his life, and at the end of those 62 days, Reigns will lose the title. After WrestleMania he can be the Tribal Chief and the Head of the Table and the biggest star in the world, but the one thing he will not be is the WWE Undisputed Universal Champion.
Enter Judgment Day.
Finn Balor gets on the mic and asks if Cody is coming back to do something original or is he just gonna knock off all of Balor’s old stuff like before? Dominik Mysterio says Rhodes ruined their Royal Rumble plans, and HE was supposed to win the Royal Rumble.
They talk about Rey Mysterio’s mysterious disappearance and Dom accuses Cody of ruining his moment. But if he’d done that in prison, he would have got got and he wouldn’t be standing here right now. Damian Priest says Mysterio should be the only multigenerational star main eventing WrestleMania, not some suckup who gets what he wants.
Dom says Cody owes him and he owes him an apology for ruining his moment. Rhodes asks him to hold up and says he runs the risk of pissing him off but he has to ask if Mysterio is trying to scare him straight? Because certainly the Mysterios are one of those royal families.
Mysterio tells him he doesn’t respect his own father and he certainly doesn’t respect Dusty Rhodes. Cody asks the crowd if he should play it safe so close to WrestleMania or should he do what he wants to do and kick somebody’s ass, and challenges any of Judgment Day to a match tonight!
Commentary hypes up the show tonight, including several Elimination Chamber qualifying matches.
Back on the stage, Edge makes his entrance and jumps Finn Balor, kickstarting a brawl! Cody Rhodes makes the save and we go to break with the brawl roaring!
Back from commercial, we see Austin Theory walking backstage.
Confirmation of Cody vs. Finn for later tonight follows.
Chad Gable vs. Seth Rollins (Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match)
Gable in control early, the crowd starts singing Rollins’ theme and he slaps himself back into the game. Chaos Theory connects, bridging... NOPE! To the floor, Chad with a cannonball senton off the apron! Back inside, clobbering Seth, diving headbutt... SO CLOSE AND WE GO TO BREAK!
Back from commercial, Gable with a dragon screw but Rollins manages to get under him and buckle bomb him! Seth pays for it and can’t capitalize, lariats take Chad off his feet, kick combo, duck a lariat, Chaos Theory attempted, this time Rollins lands on his feet, Falcon Arrow... SO CLOSE!
Pedigree reversed into a pin for two, back and forth on pinning predicaments, Gable hits a Canadian DDT... NOT ENOUGH! Back elbows block a German, Rollins with an enzuigiri, countered into an ankle lock! Seth crawls for the ropes, upkick to break but Chad stays right on him and regains the hold!
Roll through, victory roll pin, only two! Blackout reversed into an ankle lock! Again Rollins kicks out of it, roll through, underhooks... PEDIGREE BUT HIS KNEE IS AGONY! Rolling him over...
Seth Rollins wins by pinfall with a Pedigree, qualifying for the Elimination Chamber match.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get some media hype for the Royal Rumble.
Candice LeRae vs. IYO SKY
Trying for early pins in the feeling out, LeRae with a senton for two! SKY slingshots her into the bottom rope, follows it with a flapjack, scoop and a slam and a Japanese Stranglehold as we get a picture in picture ad for a Dave Bautista film.
Candice backs her into the corner to break, slinging her off, single leg dropkicks and then a baseball slide to the floor! Back inside, IYO cuts her off with boots and throws a huge diving crossbody, both women down and out and we go to break!
Back from commercial, LeRae sets her up top, SKY chops her and hops down and trips her into the turnbuckles! Butterfly backbreaker connects, IYO goes up top, Candice slips in and hits a German superplex... NOPE! Electric chair in the corner, LeRae counters with a Poison Frankensteiner... STILL NO!
Up top, IYO knocks her down, moonsault... THE KNEES WERE UP! Inside cradle but Dakota Kai is arguing with referee Danilo Anfibio, only a nearfall! LeRae follows it with a Codebreaker, Bayley runs interference, SKY is ready...
IYO SKY wins by pinfall with a sunset flip.
We see Rhea Ripley walking backstage and we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get a recap of the women’s Royal Rumble.
Rhea Ripley makes her entrance and gets on the mic.
She says it’s been a while since she’s been out here without her Latino Heat and her Judgment Day crew, but she wanted all the attention tonight. Two nights ago she disrupted the status quo, went the distance, and overcame and outlasted twenty-nine other women to win the Royal Rumble.
And now she gets to choose which champion to challenge at WrestleMania. Three years ago, she had just turned twenty-four, she was NXT Women’s Champion, and her career was just getting started. She stood in this ring and she challenged Charlotte Flair to a match at WrestleMania.
And she can admit that Flair put her in her place. The funny thing about Charlotte is that she’s always in the title picture, she’s always at the top of her game, and she hates to give her credit, but she only gets better every year. Charlotte Flair is at the top in WWE.
But she’s the disruptor, she doesn’t like the natural flow and she doesn’t like things being overplayed. So she advises Charlotte to enjoy everyone rising and bowing down to the Queen, because they’re about to rise to Rhea Ripley. At WrestleMania, she’ll put Flair in her place.
Just to make the message totally clear, she says she chooses Charlotte.
Seth Rollins is interviewed backstage.
Before he talks Elimination Chamber, he wants to talk tonight. What a crowd and what a fight against Chad Gable and now he’s gonna go on and take the United States Championship back, and go on to WrestleMania, let’s go!
He doesn’t like the next question so much and we go to break.
Baron Corbin vs. Johnny Gargano (Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match)
Competitive early, back and forth, Dexter Lumis at ringside as Corbin takes it to Gargano. Slip out of a slam, back elbow up, to the floor and a dropkick through the ropes connects! To the apron, slingshot shoulder but Baron counters a return to the ring with a huge right hand!
Back to the floor... CHOKESLAM INTO THE BARRICADE AND WE GO TO BREAK!
Back from commercial, Corbin in control, overhead elbows, throwing Johnny into the corner, boots up, dive over, Baron back in and Gargano catches him with a pair of superkicks... NOPE! Criss-cross, back elbow from Corbin gets a discus lariat! Johnny follows it with an enzuigiri, off the ropes, Deep Six counters... NOT ENOUGH!
Gargano with a couple dives, John “Bradshaw” Layfield clears the desk but Dexter Lumis pulls out a hatchet and splits his hat! (It was on the desk.) Superman Spear sidestepped, End of Days reversed...
Johnny Gargano wins by pinfall with a small package.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, Montel Vontavious Porter is in the ring to host the VIP Lounge.
He intros the show and welcomes his guest tonight, WWE United States Champion Austin Theory.
MVP tells him to make himself comfortable and Theory is very impressed with the VIP Lounge. He talks about watching the VIP Lounge when he was a little kid, a long time ago, and he’s here to help Montel reinvent it and make it relevant. Think about this: “The VIP Lounge presents ATL: Austin Theory Live” or even better just call it “Austin Theory Live.”
Porter admits it has a ring to it but classics never go out of style. Theory tries to claim that he’s a classic but Montel says he’s too young and takes the crowd’s temperature on his idea. MVP asks him where his head is at going into Elimination Chamber, and Austin takes offence because he got behind Bobby Lashley last week.
Montel says he knows Lashley can beat Theory and Austin backs off to talk about the Elimination Chamber. It’s grueling and hard to survive but he has in fact survived it. He’s even survived Brock Lesnar F-5ing him off the top of the Chamber, and he’s still here because he’s the ruthlessness the new generation needs and no amount of aggression can stop him.
MVP digs it, because he knows where he is as a young brash United States Champion who got thrown off a pod, because the Undertaker did that to him, and he knows Theory is scared to hell and that anyone could be in the Chamber. Austin scoffs at the comparison and Porter tells him that Bob is more dangerous to him than the Undertaker.
Theory says he’s beaten Lashley twice and he’s not gonna be in the Chamber, and he wants to talk about something that isn’t the past. Montel agrees and admits that Bob isn’t business partners with him anymore so he can’t speak on his behalf, but for his health, he should—
Austin doesn’t buy it and tells MVP that he should be worried about his own health, and more importantly about Bobby Lashley’s health, because everybody in this arena knows that Bob is his meal ticket and that meal ticket is about to get chewed up by Brock Lesnar.
Enter Bobby Lashley.
MVP tries to back him off but when Theory cracks at Lashley to listen to his daddy he steps aside and lets Bob have his way! Reverse STO lays him out! Laying in wait, Montel lifts his head with his cane... BUT AUSTIN SIDESTEPS AND LASHLEY SPEARS MVP! Theory gets away scot-free.
Backstage, Judgment Day are interviewed.
Finn Balor tells Byron Saxton to tell Edge he’s not hard to find and he works Mondays. As for Cody Rhodes, he’s been stealing from him for years, so tonight he’s getting trounced and Balor is coming to collect.
A special preview of Dave Bautista’s movie follows and sends us to break.
Back from commercial, Miz is in the ring and on the mic and complaining.
He kvetches about being disrespected at Raw XXX and getting teamed up on and eliminated first at the Royal Rumble and getting “first man out” chants at the airport. Of course the crowd chants that at him and he treats them like the children he claims they are with the “hand goes up, mouth goes shut” gimmick.
He’s also upset that he didn’t get an Elimination Chamber qualifier and says he won’t leave the ring until he gets the opportunities he deserves.
Enter Adam Pearce.
He says lucky for Miz, he’s got a guy been beating his door down all night for an opportunity like that, the newest member of the Raw roster— RICK BOOGS!
Boogs air guitars his way to the ring but Miz scoffs at the idea of wrestling him in a $10,000 suit. Pearce won’t let him out of it and this match is official!
Rick Boogs vs. the Miz
Boogs right in with a back suplex facebuster into the turnbuckles, fired up, air drums, left hand from the A-Lister! Rick steels up and hoists him, tossing Karelin lift! <ilitary press...
Rick Boogs wins by pinfall with a military press World’s Strongest Slam.
Alpha Academy are walking backstage and past Maximum Male Models.
The boys call Otis disgusting and grotesque, but Maxxine Dupri says he’s perfect, and we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get a video package recapping the closing segment of the Royal Rumble and commentary informs us we’ll get a followup on SmackDown.
Bayley makes her entrance and gets on the mic.
She says everybody is talking about how Damage CTRL took Becky Lynch out and made history and they were dominant in the Royal Rumble, elimination after elimination after elimination after elimination! But she has to say her personal favorite was singlehandedly eliminating our man Becky Lynch!
Now, thank goodness, she’s finally done with Becky Lynch and the story is over and done with.
Enter Becky Lynch.
She calls Bayley a stupid fool and tells her to shut up, they’re not done until she says they’re done. She already won the Royal Rumble, she didn’t need to win it again, she just needed to make sure none of Damage CTRL won. Bayley accuses her of making excuses but Lynch points out all the excuses the Role Model has employed to avoid having to prove that she’s better.
Bayley claims she’s just smart and Lynch should read a book or something. Bayley tells her she’s not good enough, not even good enough for her husband, Seth Rollins, who only married her because he knocked her up. Becky says this started ten years ago in Orlando and next week Raw is in Orlando, so end this where it began and give her the steel cage match.
Bayley says there’s no chance and Lynch says she thought about that and she’ll be right back. Becky heads to the back as Bayley shouts about not having time for this. Lynch returns with Dakota Kai’s leg trapped in a steel chair! She steps on Dakota’s good leg and asks Bayley what it’s gonna be.
Chair in hand, she winds up and Bayley screams that she accepts and Becky can have her match. Lynch says she can bring her friends next week but she might want to go check on IYO in the back. Bayley checks on a sobbing Dakota Kai as we cut away and go to break.
Back from commercial, Adam Pearce is interviewed.
He confirms the steel cage match between Becky Lynch and Bayley for next week as well as a #1 contender’s match for Bianca Belair’s Raw Women’s Championship at Elimination Chamber, in the chamber. The first four entrants are the last four in the Rumble— Raquel Rodriguez, Asuka, Liv Morgan, and Nikki Cross.
The other two will be set by qualifying matches, with the first being a four-way on next week’s show— Candice LeRae vs. Mia Yim vs. Piper Niven vs. the returning Carmella.
Chelsea Green rolls up to complain about the unacceptable accomodations she’s been given. She’s not just any superstar, she’s Chelsea Green, and where is her private dressing room and Swiss chocolate? Adam leads her offscreen to deal with some of her issues.
We get a Dolph Ziggler interview from earlier where Mustafa Ali takes charge and Ziggler promises to steal the show tonight.
Bronson Reed vs. Dolph Ziggler (Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match)
Ziggler keeping his distance, bieled into the corner but he gets away, dropkick and a Stinger Splash, but Reed runs him over! Reverse chinlock to grind Dolph down, Ziggler struggles to his feet and hits a Stunner to counter but Bronson is right back on him with the chinlock!
Dolph back to his feet, jawbreaker this time, back elbow on the charge, a boot on another, sidestep the third! Charging in, big DDT connects... NOPE! Float over, Zig Zag... NOT ENOUGH! Pressing the attack, Fameasser gets countered into a powerbomb! Reed up top...
Bronson Reed wins by pinfall with the 747 Splash, qualifying for the Elimination Chamber.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, Carmella is interviewed.
She says she’s gonna win a spot in the Chamber and win the match.
Asuka rolls up dressed real nice and Mella says she’s not scared of her. Asuka smiles and laughs and blue mist starts dripping out of her mouth.
We get a recap of Rick Boogs’ injury last year and return tonight.
Backstage, Boogs is laughing with the Street Profits when an interview rolls up.
He says it feels like he’s climbing a mountain in a loincloth and he wants to scream at the top of his lungs, so he does. Being back in front of the WWE Universe is electric, like riding the lightning, and he’s back now. Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins put him over but Elias is also here and he poo-poos Rick’s guitar playing, saying he can shred but he’s got no soul, but with a little guidance...
We’re informed that Dawkins has Damian Priest and Ford has Elias in qualifying matches next week. Elias says he’s an American icon like Elvis or Johnny Cash and he’s gonna be the next United States Champion, but Angelo tells him not so fast ‘cause actually he’s gonna win.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, commentary hypes up next week’s show.
“American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes vs. Finn Balor
Rhodes hot out the gates, he gets a delayed vertical suplex and Balor bails to the arms of his waiting Judgment Day pals on the floor and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Rhodes reverses an up and over, Alabama Slam blocked with a handful of tights, double stomp rolled away from, drop down slap blocked and Balor lays stomps in! Smashing Cody’s face into the turnbuckles, wrenching his arm over the ropes, big chops, snapmare, off the ropes for the Penalty Kick... NOPE!
Putting boots to Rhodes in the ropes, Cody blocks a kick and hits a vicious dragon screw and follows it up with Beautiful Disaster! American Nightmare fired up, off the ropes with a dive, fending off interference from Judgment Day on the floor, back in, snap scoop powerslam... SO CLOSE!
Cody Cutter reversed into the inverted facelock elbow drop for two and we go to break!
Back from commercial, jockeying for position in the turnbuckles... CODY RHODES DELAYED VERTICAL SUPERPLEX! Both men down and out, to their feet and trading punches, front kick from Balor, off the ropes... CODY CUTTER CAN’T KEEP FINN BALOR DOWN! Rhodes fired up, inverted facelock reversed, upkick gets a Sling Blade!
Finn in the corner, charging... SUPERKICK CUTS HIM DOWN TO SIZE BUT DOESN’T END IT! Leg pick, spinning toehold, reversed to a small package for two! Trying for the figure four leglock again but Balor kicks him to the floor where Judgment Day are waiting!
EDGE IS HERE AND DAMIAN PRIEST JUMPS THE BARRICADE TO FIGHT HIM OFF! Edge takes Priest out, punches send Dominik Mysterio running and he cuts him down with a spear! Rhea Ripley attacks Edge and beats him down but again Beth Phoenix is here with a spear to even the odds!
Back in the ring, double leg into a double stomp and Balor’s got the momentum! Shotgun dropkick connects, he goes up top but Edge pops up on the apron to stare him down and it gives Cody enough time to roll out of the way! Inverted facelock, Cross Rhodes, hanging onto it, three in total...
Cody Rhodes wins by pinfall with Cross Rhodes.
Post-match, Dominik checks on Rhea Ripley as Cody stands tall.
That’s the show, folks.
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