:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72301404/20230515_RAW_BeckyTrish_FC_monday__1352cffa7b434eb3102bc627ba26cb15.0.jpg)
WWE Monday Night Raw comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (May 22, 2023) from the GIANT Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming Night of Champions Premium Live Event scheduled for this coming Saturday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Advertised for tonight: Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus will come together for a contract signing to make their match this weekend official, Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar will once again be in the same building ahead of their rematch, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn will find a partner to take on Imperium in a six-man tag team match, and a whole lot more.
Come right back here at 8 pm 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 MAY 22
Frankfurt’s thrashers will rule tonight, they’re well known for their bloody fight. Wodka and cognac are our leaders, we’ve the best, and I’m gonna liveblog this here pro wrestling show for you, folks.
The show opens with with Cody Rhodes being attacked by Brock Lesnar as he enters the building!
He tosses Cody around backstage, throwing him into road cases and what appear to be beer kegs before grabbing one and smashing his arm with it!
Paul Heyman is in the ring, mic in hand.
He assures us he had nothing to do with what we just saw but he knows that was just a small sample of the beating that the Beast is going to dole out on Cody Rhodes.
He goes on to talk about how Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa are going to bring the tag titles back to the Bloodline before welcoming us to Monday Night Raw.
Enter Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.
Heyman scurries out of there and Sami Zayn gets on the mic and asks where he went, saying he must think they have a score to settle but truth is they’re feeling pretty good. They’re heading into the biggest possible title defense they could have, and he’s not ashamed to say it, this one is very personal for him.
There’s nothing left to say because he already said everything he has to say straight to Roman’s face, and Kevin Owens has something he wants to say. A couple weeks ago Reigns dedicated the victory he thinks he’s going to have to the Wild Samoans, Afa and Sika, and it inspired him to do the same.
Owens dedicates his own presumptive victory to the true pillars of the Bloodline, Jimmy and Jey Uso. Sami says they can’t forget they have business to take care of tonight, in six-man tag team action against Imperium.
Enter Imperium.
They surround the ring but Matt Riddle jumps in for the save! Imperium leave and then come back for an attack but the babyface team manage to fend them off!
Commentary hypes up the rest of tonight’s show.
Ricochet makes his entrance and we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get a recap of Brock Lesnar’s attack on Cody Rhodes, because Raw is three hours long. (Three hours long.)
Byron Saxton catches Adam Pearce coming out of Cody’s locker room and Pearce refuses to offer any updates, even when pressed about reports that Rhodes may have a broken arm.
Bronson Reed gets an inset promo about how he’s gonna teach Ricochet that actions have consequences tonight.
Bronson Reed vs. Ricochet
Ricochet chopping the big man down with leg kicks, baseball slide denied but an enzuigiri puts Reed to one knee! Bronson freight trains him, elbow drop, freight train rolling crossbody block sends Rick to the floor! Diving shoulder block to the floor and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Reed with a delayed vertical, Ricochet trying to fight out with knees, he slips away, boots up in the corner but a Samoan Drop catches him for two! Jawbreaker on the apron gets Rick some breathing space, up top, land on his feet, off the ropes, baseball slide takes Bronson’s knee out!
A flurry of punches, basement superkick, rolling solebutt, standing shooting star press... NOPE! Quebrada connects, Reed with a goozle, leg kicks break Ricochet free but Bronson swats his leg out of mid-kick and then swats the One and Only to the floor!
Waiting for him, cannonball attempted but Ricochet clocks him with a rising knee and cuts him off! Enzuigiri from the apron, back inside, springboard blocked with a kick! Bronson with a corner body avalanche, ripcord snap scoop powerslam, headed up top...
Bronson Reed wins by pinfall with a 747 Splash.
Apollo Crews is interviewed backstage.
He hopes Cody Rhodes is okay and he’s excited to be back—
Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley roll up.
Dom complains about Apollo Who taking up Mami’s interview time and Crews says he’s everything that Mysterio isn’t. Dominik says Rhea has something to say and she grabs the mic and calls Natalya out. She says she’s had a legendary career and this Saturday she’s going to make an example out of her and she’s going to end her career.
Crews interrupts and says this is his interview, Dom complains about it, Apollo steps up to him and Rhea issues a challenge on his behalf.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get the next part of Corey Graves’ sitdown interview with Seth Rollins.
He talks about Roman Reigns, saying he loves him but he doesn’t like him. He’ll always have love for him for being there when everyone else in the world was their enemy, but the person he’s become, he has no respect for. He thinks Roman has been poisoned by his own ego and by the title, taking opportunities away from everyone else.
He talks about pushing the industry forward and how he wants challenges, and he puts AJ Styles over as one of the greatest in-ring performers of all time, truly special.
We get footage of Shinsuke Nakamura and Damian Priest having a confrontation during Raw Talk last week to set up a match this week.
Finn Balor and Damian Priest are interviewed backstage.
Priest yells at poor Byron in Spanish and Finn backs him off, demanding Saxton congratulate them on beating the tag champions and talking up his match against Nakamura tonight and how he’s gonna leave just a little bit left so Damian can pick the bones.
Candice LeRae makes her entrance to take us to break.
Back from commercial, we get a Zoey Stark hype reel.
Candice LeRae vs. Zoey Stark
Stark hot out the gates, pouncing on LeRae in the corner, whip across, kicks, half nelson suplex! Reverse chinlock applied, jawbreaker for the escape, dropkick cracks across Zoey’s jaw in the middle of the ring! Snapmare, step-up senton sends Stark to the apron and a dropkick puts her on the floor!
Springboard crossbody takes Zoey out, Nikki Cross dances with Candice to celebrate but Zoey takes advantage and spears them both! Back inside...
Zoey Stark wins by pinfall with Z360.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, Mustafa Ali is interviewed.
He admits that his title match against GUNTHER is way too real for him to summon up some pat positivity when his career has been failure after failure after failure.
Brock Lesnar shoulder blocks the camera on his way through Gorilla and tells Ali to get a life.
He makes his entrance and gets on the mic and asks Hershey what they want to talk about. He says Cody Rhodes isn’t here tonight and he won’t be fighting him on Saturday, either. But don’t you worry, Brock Lesnar won’t let us down, because he’s gonna issue an open challenge for anybody back there to fight him at Night of Champions.
All you gotta do is step out and face him, right now.
Enter Cody Rhodes, arm in a sling and towel around his neck.
He gets in the ring and confronts Brock, immediately ripping his sling off! Lesnar takes him down into the Kimura Lock! He wrenches it in at length and leaves him laying after one parting stomp to the injured arm!
Medics check on Cody and we go to break.
Back from commercial we get a recap of what we just saw because three hours is too long for a wrestling show.
Alpha Academy (Chad Gable & Otis Dozovic) vs. Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar)
Gable and Erik to start, little bit of mat grappling, Ivar tags in and Vikings are in control. Eventually Otis gets a tag and freight trains his way through both Raiders, Caterpillar strikes on Erik! Ivar sidesteps a charge, Chad tags back in, Erik blasts him with a knee and Maxxine Dupri gets into it with Valhalla at ringside!
Gable catches Erik in the aftermath...
Alpha Academy win by pinfall with a bridging O’Connor roll from Chad Gable on Erik.
Byron Saxton tries to get an update on Cody Rhodes again and Adam Pearce gets shoo’d off by the American Nightmare.
Shinsuke Nakamura makes his entrance to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Indus Sher get a promo package hyping themselves up as akin to the crashing thunder and so on.
Finn Balor vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Collar and elbow, Balor with a go-behind, waistlock takedown, Nakamura reverses to a hammerlock, reversed to a rear chinlock, shift to a wristlock, Shinsuke reaching for the ropes, rolling through to reverse to a hammerlock! Balor with a headlock takeover, headscissors reversal, do the exchange the other way and Finn lays kicks in to the head!
Big knee from Shinsuke, kicks in the corner, Good Vibrations, to an enzuigiri when Balor grabs his foot! Setting him up in the corner, the big knee connects, off the ropes, baseball slide sends Finn to the floor! Jockeying for position over a suplex on the apron but Priest pulls him to the floor for a cheap shot while Finn keeps the referee occupied and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Finn in control with kicks but Shinsuke’s fired up with fighting spirit and catches a kick! Standing up, elbow to the knee, forearm to the jaw, scoop, reversed, upkick counters! Boots up, countered, sliding German suplex connects!
Following it with knees back in the ring, inverted exploder blocked with overhead elbows, victory roll pin from Finn for two! Sling Blade connects, but Nakamura is ready to counter the shotgun dropkick with a kick of his own! Fired up in the corner but Balor counters with a double stomp!
Finn up top, nobody home on Coup de Grace, Kinshasa to the back of the neck and both men are down and out! Shinsuke up first, but Damian Priest pulls his buddy out of the ring! Nakamura takes Priest out with a diving knee, strikes against the barricade, and a big right hand sends him into the timekeeper’s area!
Balor from behind with a dropkick into the barricade, back inside, up top...
Finn Balors wins by pinfall with Coup de Grace.
Commentary talks about next week’s four-way for the vacant WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.
Raquel Rodriguez makes her entrance to send us to break.
Raquel Rodriguez vs. Sonya Deville
Deville with an early nearfall off of a Knee Trembler, another knee strike off the second rope gets another nearfall! Rodriguez with a big boot into the corkscrew Vader Bomb, one-arm lift...
Raquel Rodriguez wins by pinfall with the one-armed powerbomb.
Post-match, Shotzi Blackheart makes the save when the heels try to jump Raquel and it sure looks like she’s Rodriguez’s replacement tag team partner.
Adam Pearce is getting an update on how Cody Rhodes isn’t being cooperative with medical staff when Trish Stratus rolls up.
She says she has some thoughts about tonight’s contract signing, including they should have a no-touch environment. Pearce says he doesn’t think they need that policy and excuses himself, and we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get a Matt Riddle hype reel.
Back from commercial, Becky Lynch makes her entrance, followed shortly thereafter by Trish Stratus.
Stratus gets on the mic and notes that this is her first-ever contract signing and is delighted to discover that she’s in Hershey, PA, just like the chocolate! Becky’s so used to contract signings and it’s all thanks to Trish fixing women’s wrestling.
She talks about being number one in WWE without needing a broken nose to get there, and Lynch says she’s “it”? What happens when she gets beat at Night of Champions? That makes Trish “it”, doesn’t it? Will Becky crawl back in a dark deep place and “go through her stuff” again.
Stratus says she’s got Lynch figured out and she sees her weak spots, and she’s her own worst enemy. Trish says it’s ironic that this is her first contract signing because it’s Becky’s last, and signs the contract. Lynch takes her glasses off and gets on the mic.
She says Trish is scared, that’s why she went to Adam Pearce but don’t worry she’s not gonna hurt her. She’s scared because time is passing her by, everybody else getting better while she stays the same, and the fans remember her as better than she is, and Becky is even better than that.
Don’t worry about why Lynch was gone, worry that she’s back. She wants her flowers? Okay she’ll say it to her face, and she thanks Stratus for being everything she hopes she’ll never become, vapid, trashy, cold, and not “it.”
If Trish thinks barking like a dog is embarrassing, just wait until she whoops her ass at Night of Champions. “Welcome to the big time, bitch— woof, woof!”
At this, Stratus flips the table and storms off.
We get another recap of Cody getting his ass kicked by Brock earlier.
Adam Pearce is on the phone, saying Rhodes’ arm is mangled and he keeps getting rid of medical personnel when they try to evaluate them, which is why he’s calling whoever he’s calling.
Dominik Mysterio makes his entrance accompanied by Rhea Ripley to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Raquel Rodriguez and Shotzi Blackheart are interviewed.
Shotzi says she respects Raquel and wants her to know she has her back anytime she needs it, and Rodriguez says she’s found her new tag team partner and they’re gonna win the titles together.
Apollo Crews vs. Dominik Mysterio
Side headlock, shot off, shoulder block, drop down, slide under, waistlock, Mysterio blocks the O’Connor roll but gets down to a hard back elbow! Delayed vertical suplex, back and forth, Dominik wants the Three Amigos but only gets one and goes right into a cover!
Off the ropes, big fallaway slam from Apollo! Duck under a 619 attempt, Crews pulls him to the floor and slams him! Rhea Ripley runs interference, Mysterio puts Apollo into the steps and then Rhea throws him into the post! Back inside...
Dominik Mysterio wins by pinfall with a Shadows Over Hell frog splash.
An AJ Styles video package follows and we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get the last part of the Seth Rollins interview.
He talks about how the new WHC is a chance to push the industry forward and he’s going all in on it.
Commentary hypes up the Night of Champions card as it stands.
Imperium make their entrance and we go to break.
Back from commercial, commentary informs us Money in the Bank qualifiers will start next week.
Imperium (Giovanni Vinci, GUNTHER, & Ludwig Kaiser) vs. Kevin Owens, Matt Riddle, & Sami Zayn
Imperium taking control early over Matt Riddle, working him over, he ducks a chop from GUNTHER and lays kicks in! The Ring General kicks his leg out from under him and then lays him out with a huge chop to send us to break!
Back from commercial, Riddle fighting it out with Kaiser, GUNTHER in, Matt ducking and dodging, Ludwig clears the apron and the Ring General cracks Riddle with a lariat for two! Matt with a German suplex, tag to Owens and he comes in hot, stomping a mudhole in Vinci!
Cover for two, Imperium with a Total Elimination on the apron and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Zayn in hot on Kaiser, clear the apron, springboard leapfrog, Michinoku Driver... NOPE! Blue Thunder Driver follows but Vinci breaks it up! The match breaks down, into “everybody do something cool” territory, GUNTHER blocks the Helluva Kick with the Gojira Clutch! Riddle off the top with the corkscrew moonsault to break it up!
Back body drop dsends Kaiser to the floor, Vinci with a charging lariat, Helluva Kick in return, tag to KO, he comes off the top...
Kevin Owens, Matt Riddle, & Sami Zayn win by pinfall with a senton atomico from Owens on Giovanni Vinci.
Cody Rhodes waves off another knock on his locker room door.
Triple H walks in anyway and tells Cody to have a seat and says he understands how angry is he is. Rhodes says he respects what he’s trying to do and he understands it, and Hunter tells him he needs medical attention. Cody insists he doesn’t need medical attention and HHH says he can tell it’s broken just by looking at it and he knows from the look on his face that it’s broken.
Nobody questions his toughness and says he knows he’s afraid, and Cody stands up saying that he doesn’t have anything left to be afraid of. Triple H says he knows that if it gets looked at he won’t be allowed to go to Night of Champions.
Rhodes says he has legs and he’s fine, HHH says he let him go to the ring with a torn pec against Seth Rollins but this is way worse. Cody talks about missing a year and says that being a coward would be worse and Hunter knows that he would fight if he were in his shoes.
So he’s going to Night of Champions and he is going to fight Brock Lesnar. Cody sits back down and starts packing up and HHH pats his thigh and his shoulder before leaving a pensive American Nightmare alone with his busted arm.
That’s the show, folks.
Loading comments...