Winners And Grades On May 8, 2023

After a piping-hot weekend of great shows in Puerto Rico, WWE Raw advertised two Triple Threat matches for its newest silver medal in the form of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The winners of the two Triple Threat matches will compete one-on-one for the right to advance to Night of Champions and crown a new paper champion after WWE was too scared to pull the trigger on Cody Rhodes.

The first Triple Threat match pitted Cody Rhodes, The Miz and Finn Balor, while the second Triple Threat match was a tilt between Seth Rollins, Damian Priest and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Last week’s broadcast of WWE Raw garnered 1.778 million viewers as Raw was down for Night 2 of the WWE Draft just days after SmackDown drew a massive number for Night 1.

WWE Raw Results on May 8, 2023

• Seth Rollins def. Shinsuke Nakamura and Damian Priest
• Mustafa Ali def. Otis
• Finn Balor def. The Miz and Cody Rhodes
• Rhea Ripley def. Dana Brooke
• Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens def. IMPERIUM
• Zoey Stark def. Nikki Cross
• Dominik Mysterio def. Xavier Woods
• Seth Rollins def. Finn Balor

WWE Raw Ratings

• May 1, 2023 | 1.778 million
• April 24, 2023 | 1.815 million
• April 17, 2023 | 1.815 million
• April 10, 2023 | 1.818 million
• April 3, 2023 | 2.260 million

• WWE Raw Venue: Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena (Jacksonville, Fla.)
• WWE Raw Tickets Distributed: 8,137
• WWE Raw Tickets Available: 229

WWE Raw Winners And Grades

Seth Rollins Def. Shinsuke Nakamura and Damian Priest

Cody Rhodes, WWE’s top babyface, opened the show and was cheered wildly in Jacksonville. After leaving the Jacksonville-based AEW after fickle fans booed him out of the promotion, Rhodes was treated like a conquering hero. Even Rhodes’ veiled reference to AEW received cheers.

Damian Priest was once again great in this match, and it’s never too late to really push the guy.

WWE teased another showdown between Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes as Rollins walked out, but with Brock Lesnar in the building and Rollins highly unlikely to beat Rhodes, I think it’ll be a miracle if WWE’s top babyface advances in this world title tournament. Think about how crazy of a sentence that is. WWE continues to overthink this Cody Rhodes storyline.

Rollins-Priest-Nakamura Triple Threat Grade: A-

Mustafa Ali Def. Otis

Otis continued to receive babyface reactions especially when he takes his shirt off.

Otis went back and forth between Maxxine Dupri and Chad Gable, and fans booed when Otis went to Maxxine Dupri’s corner and cheered when he went to Chad Gable.

Otis lost to Mustafa Ali, which means he had better make a decision on where his loyalties lie real quick.

Mustafa Ali vs. Otis Grade: C+

Finn Balor Def. The Miz and Cody Rhodes; Brock Lesnar Attacks

Unlike the previous Triple Threat Match, which relied on a lot of isolating one star while the other two brawled, this match started out with all three wrestlers mixing it up. When WWE came back from break, the match defaulted to the traditional WWE Triple Threat format.

Cody Rhodes was selling his shoulder throughout, which did not bode well for his chances to move on to Night of Champions.

As predicted, Brock Lesnar—who received massive heat—attacked Cody Rhodes, opening up the door for Finn Balor to defeat The Miz.

Brock Lesnar saying “I wanna fight!” is the new “give me what I want!” Lesnar then challenged Rhodes to “a fight.”

Rhodes-Balor-Miz Grade: B-

Rhea Ripley Def. Dana Brooke

Rhea Ripley still has her SmackDown Women’s Championship even though whe was drafted to Raw and the Raw rosters lock tonight.

Rhea Ripley beat Dana Brooke in a squash match that was exactly what you’d think it was. Ripley’s next non-believable challenger will be Natalya.

Ripley vs. Brooke Grade: C+

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens Def. IMPERIUM

The fact that Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are in a meaningless match against IMPERIUM tells me they are still thinking about what to do with Zayn and Owens post-Bloodline.

This was a good match with a lot of action and it ended with a sudden Helluva Kick to Ludwig Kaiser.

Zayn-Owens vs. IMPERIUM Grade: B

Zoey Stark Def. Nikki Cross

Kevin Patrick may have backed into a very good nickname for Nikki Kross as the little bundle of chaos.

Corey Graves wasted no time putting Zoey Stark over. Clearly WWE is on a mission to give Zoey a push in short order.

Zoey Starks vs. Nikki Cross Grade: B-

Trish Stratus Declares Becky Lynch As Missing

Trish Stratus shamed Becky Lynch’s daughter for not knowing her colors. Stratus then leveled up as a heel by borrowing from the 2005 Shawn Michaels in Montreal playbook. Lynch’s theme music hit, only for Lynch to not show up.

Lynch’s music hit a second time, only for Lynch to actually show up.

Becky Lynch-Trish Segment: B

Dominik Mysterio Def. Xavier Woods

Xavier Woods is so much better than the “good hand” role he’s backed into since Big E went down with injury, but it’s made for some very entertaining matches.

Dominik Mysterio’s victory over Xavier Woods, as predictable as it may be, felt like a big deal.

Xavier Woods vs. Finn Balor Grade: B

Seth Rollins Def. Finn Balor

Before Raw went to break, Finn Balor hit a buckle bomb into the barricade similar to the infamous spot from their 2016 Universal Championship final.

Finn Balor was bleeding from the mouth by the end of this match as the stiff hits during this feud keep coming.

The predictable Rollins-Balor match came during a very entertaining first quarter of Lakers-Warriors. Raw couldn’t have ended soon enough.

Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor: B+