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This week's Monday Night Raw started off with a wound-up tag team champions venting their frustrations and a tease for a tag team match later in the night. There was also an Intercontinental Championship Battle Royal, the Women's Tag Team Championships were supposed to be on the line, and Cody Rhodes was in the house. Not only that, but WWE continued to bring people to Raw who had been drafted just a couple of weeks ago.Here are your winners and losers for Raw, May 15, 2023:
Winner: Opening Raw Promo
Both Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were at a 10 on the energy scale as the show began. Zayn had a message for Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa after it was announced the champs would have to defend their titles at Night of Champions. Judgment Day then came out to say that they were next in line if The Bloodline get that titles back and that led to a fight between teams, with Zayn eventually clearing the ring with a chair.
This was a high-energy way to start the show and the crowd was into it. Zayn prompting the crowd to boo Dominik was fun too and it kept the trend going that the live audience won't let him speak. A tag match was teased for later in the show.
Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura
After he ate the pin last week in the Triple Threat contender's match, Nakamura picked up a solid win over The Miz. Nakamura showcased his strong style techniques early and carried most of the offense. Unfortunately, it also looked like The Miz might have suffered some kind of arm injury as he was constantly shaking it off in the last half of the match. He continued, but it will be interesting to see if an injury is announced. Nakamura hit the Kinshasa for the victory.
Backstage, it was revealed Liv Morgan wasn't medically cleared to compete so the tag match had to be postponed. A singles match between Raquel Rodriguez and Chelsea Green would take place instead.
Winner/Loser: Gunther Makes Raw Debut
WWE made a big to-do out of Gunther's return to WWE and debut on Raw. The Ring General announced the IC Battle Royal and names were brought to the ring during the commercial break. With little time to have the match drag out, competitors were eliminated at a rapid pace. Akira Tozawa, Baron Corbin, Dexter Lumis, Maximum Male Models, JD McDonagh, and Dolph Ziggler went quickly. McDonagh attacked Ziggler after being eliminated, seemingly setting up a feud between the two.
The end featured some of the brand's biggest mid-card stars and having Mustafa Ali win is an interesting choice, likely because of where Night of Champions is taking place. Watching Ricochet and Bronson Reed go toe-to-toe was fun. Ali got the fireworks to go with his win, but does anyone really think he'll win at the pay-per-view?
The downside of the match was that WWE put a number of new Raw arrivals in the match and they were eliminated with ease. It didn't make for an auspicious start to their Raw runs. it also took away from some of the vignettes for these same stars that popped up throughout the rest of the three-hour show.
Winner: Becky Lynch Fired Up
An impassioned Becky Lynch got to say the things she was cut off from saying last week. She gave a brief rehash of the history of Trish's return and called out Stratus. It was short and simple but Lynch did a great job in her delivery. When Lynch is on, she's really good. Tonight was one of those nights.
Loser: Xavier Woods and Dominik Rematch
For some reason, WWE ran it back with a rematch between Dominik and Xavier Woods. The match itself (beyond the ending) was fine, but it seemed like an odd decision to pull out the old Raw trend of having rematches for no apparent reason. The fact that Woods lost again thanks to Rhea Ripley's interference only makes it even more baffling that WWE would practically replay 15 minutes from last week. Nothing new was introduced or solved here.
Woods did show up again later in the main event to battle with Dom, suggesting this rivalry is not over.
Winner: Indus Sheer Debut
Sometimes a good ol' enhancement talent beat down is a wise decision. The Indus Sheer debut on Raw was one of those times. Jinder Mahal introduced the tag team and they beat the living tar out of their opponents. It was a physical lashing and it immediately set the duo up as threats in the tag team division.
Mahal spoke a lot of Hindi as he talked about his monsters and while that's not a bad thing, WWE might need to find a happy medium between staying true to the team's heritage and talking smack in a manner that all fans will be able to follow along.
Winner: Cody Rhodes Promo
Cody continues to prove why he's one of the best promos in WWE. He told the story of the scorpion and the frog, trying to show that it's just in the nature of some species to sting (or in Lesnar's case, hunt) even if it means their own demise. Rhodes then talked about how Lesnar was once the next big thing, but now he's just an obstacle in Cody's way as he becomes the top dog in WWE. The crowd continues to love Cody and the "Whoas" during his entrance get louder and louder every week.
Winner: Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler Return
It wasn't ideal that the tag team titles weren't on the line, but the singles match between Green and Rodriguez was pretty good. The reason the match was changed was possibly revealed after the contest as Ronda Rousey attacked Raquel and she and Shayna Baszler threatened to keep attacking one-half of the tag team champions until they agreed to defend the titles.
It makes more sense for there to be no Liv when Rousey and Baszler play the numbers game. It gives them a distinct advantage and makes them more despicable heels.
Winner/Loser: Chaotic Tag Match Ending
The end of the show saw a number of unholy alliances as Imperium worked with Judgment Day and Paul Heyman -- who was apparently on the phone with Roman Reigns -- to dispatch of Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. Why all of these groups were working together wasn't clear but it could have simply been a setup for next week's six-man tag match where Owens and Zayn will choose a mystery partner to take on Imperium.
