Winners And Grades On May 22, 2023

WWE Raw advertised Brock Lesnar and Cody Rhodes under one roof ahead of their showdown at WWE Night of Champions. Raw also advertised Matt Riddle, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens vs. IMPERIUM, a Becky Lynch-Trish Stratus contract signing and Finn Balor vs. Shinsuke Nakamura.

Last week’s broadcast of WWE Raw garnered 1.720 million viewers.

WWE Raw Results on May 22, 2023

• Bronson Reed def. Ricochet
• Zoey Stark def. Candice LeRae
• Alpha Academy def. Viking Raiders
• Finn Balor def. Shinsuke Nakamura
• Raquel Gonzalez def. Chelsea Green
• Dominik Mysterio def. Apollo Crews
• Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Matt Riddle def. IMPERIUM

WWE Raw Ratings

• May 15, 2023 | 1.720 million
• May 8, 2023 | 1.790 million
• May 1, 2023 | 1.778 million
• April 24, 2023 | 1.815 million
• April 17, 2023 | 1.815 million

• WWE Raw Venue: GIANT Center (Hershey, Pa.)
• WWE Raw Tickets Distributed: 8,919
• WWE Raw Tickets Available: 1

WWE Raw Winners And Grades

Paul Heyman, Sami Zayn And Kevin Owens Open Raw

Paul Heyman opened Raw with a go-home promo before disappearing by the time Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens got into the ring.

Kevin Owens, who was in a messy mood tonight, dedicated his victory at Night of Champions to Jimmy and Jey Uso.

IMPERIUM went to confront Sami and Kevin, which brought out Matt Riddle to a huge pop.

Opening Segment Grade: C+

Bronson Reed Def. Ricochet

There was a fantastic spot where Bronson Reed was cut off by a sick knee from Ricochet while diving to the outside. This sparked “this is awesome” chants.

This Bronson Reed push has been a lot of fun.

Backstage, Cathy Kelly welcomed Apollo Crews in “his return to Raw,” despite the fact that Crews returned last week with theme music during a battle royal. Crews seems destined for a feud with Dominik Mysterio.

Bronson Reed vs. Ricochet Grade: B+

Zoey Stark Def. Candice LeRae

WWE continued playing up the ongoing tease between Nikki Cross and Candice LeRae in the world’s slowest-moving storyline

Zoey Stark is clearly a pet project of the new administration as she received a video package—where she was on a motorcycle—prior to her match.

Zoey Stark vs. Candice LeRae Grade: B-

Cody Rhodes Confronts Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar injured Cody Rhodes’ arm during a backstage attack, and from that point on, Rhodes’ status was (kayfabe) up in the air.

Cody Rhodes answered Brock Lesnar’s challenge later on in the night, only to be immediately trapped in a Kimura. Rhodes figures to be selling the hello out of his arm come Night of Champions.

Brock Lesnar-Cody Rhodes Grade: B

Alpha Academy Def. The Viking Raiders

The Alpha Academy has quietly gone from Maxxine Dupri trying to steal Otis to Maxxine becoming their manager.

Fans chanted “we want Otis” as WWE continues dragging its feet going all-in on old Otis.

Maxxine Dupri accidentally helped Alpha Academy win this match as these three are starting to find their way together.

Alpha Academy vs. Viking Raiders Grade: B-

Finn Balor Def. Shinsuke Nakamura

This was hailed by Corey Graves as “a dream match for some,” and by “some” he means New Japan fans.

A lot of this match was a cat-and-mouse between Shinsuke Nakamura and Damian Priest.

This match lived up to all of its Internet Wrestling fanfare as a hard-hitting, back-and-forth crowd-pleaser.

Finn Balor vs. Shinsuke Nakamura Grade: B+

Raquel Rodriguez Def. Chelsea Green

Raquel Rodriguez’s mystery tag team partner for Night of Champions was Shotzi, who had another beautifully wild dive to the outside. I was holding out hope it would be Zelina Vega, who could have made a great Scooby Doo-Scrappy Doo pairing with Raquel.

Raquel Rodriguez vs. Chelsea Green Grade: C+

Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus Contract Signing

Backstage, Trish Stratus demanded a no-touch policy but Adam Pearce rebuffed her.

This was a very good go-home segment, but one with a flat ending as Trish Stratus flipped a table toward Becky Lynch who no-sold it.

Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus Contract Signing Grade: B

Dominik Mysterio Def. Apollo Crews

For as much heat as he gets during his promos, the same cannot always be said about Dominik Mysterio’s matches. Fans were once again chanting “we want Mami!”

Mysterio won with an impressive frog splash across the ring on Apollo Crews. WWE is dedicated to building his credibility as a competitor, as they should be.

Seth Rollins was featured in several more backstage interview segments, and the gist of just about every interview was to forget about that “selfish” Roman Reigns by creating more opportunities through a new title.

Dominik Mysterio vs. Apollo Crews Grade: C+

Riddle, Owens and Zayn Def. IMPERIUM

This match started at 100 mph and didn’t really let up from there.

Corey Graves continued to play up the possibility of Cody Rhodes not being medically cleared to take on Brock Lesnar, which was essentially the hook for this show.

Kevin Owens scored the winning pinfall over Giovanni Vinci as GUNTHER’s six-man tag record is the exact opposite of his unblemished singles record.

The final segment was Triple H convincing Cody Rhodes to get medical attention. Rhodes snapped at Triple H when Triple H suggested Rhodes was “afraid” that he had a broken arm. Rhodes then insisted he was going to Night of Champions to fight Brock Lesnar, similar to what Triple H would have done in the same position.

Riddle, Zayn and Owens vs. IMPERIUM Grade: B+