Winners And Grades On October 23, 2023

WWE Raw advertised the return of Logan Paul ahead of his United States Championship match against Rey Mysterio. Raw also advertised Jey Uso vs. Damian Priest, Sami Zayn vs. Drew McIntyre and Becky Lynch defending the NXT
XT
Women’s Championship against Indi Hartwell.

Last week’s broadcast of Raw garnered 1.48 million viewers.

WWE Raw Results on October 23, 2023

• The New Day def. Alpha Academy
• Johnny Gargano def. Giovanni Vinci
• Piper Niven and Chelsea Green def. Natalya and Nikki Cross
• Drew McIntyre def. Sami Zayn

WWE Raw Ratings

• October 16, 2023 | 1.48 million
• October 9, 2023 | 1.56 million
• October 2, 2023 | 1.51 million
• September 25, 2023 | 1.47 million
• September 18, 2023 | 1.33 million

• WWE Raw Venue: American Airlines Center (Dallas, Texas)
• WWE Raw Tickets Distributed: 11,726
• WWE Raw Tickets Available: 424

WWE Raw Winners And Grades

The Judgment Day Injures Cody Rhodes

WWE Raw began, the way most episodes of Raw begin, with the Judgment Day.

The Judgment Day attacked Cody Rhodes and (kayfabe) injured his leg with a stair step. Jey Uso was nowhere to be found until a backstage segment later on.

The last time Cody Rhodes had to do a job, WWE did an injury angle on his arm to give him an excuse to lose. If that pattern holds true, Damian Priest is going to get a huge career win over Cody Rhodes.

Opening Segment Grade: B

The New Day Def. Alpha Academy

Akira Tozawa has become the newest member of Alpha Academy. I love it, but hopefully WWE doesn’t turn Alpha Academy into the new Social Outcasts or 3MB.

The New Day beat Alpha Academy clean with a babyface win. Either WWE is taking its own sweet time rebuilding Chad Gable for GUNTHER, or they gave up on those plans altogether.

New Day vs. Alpha Academy Grade: B-

Becky Lynch Def. Indi Hartwell

Backstage, Rhea Ripley tried her best to recruit Seth Rollins for the Judgment Day. Of course, it didn’t work at all.

Natalya continues to play nice with up-and-coming babyfaces by wishing Indi Hartwell good luck. I’m glad they’re giving this story time before she inevitably turns.

Lyra Valkyria was shown at ringside as a human spoiler.

After Lynch’s predictable win, Candice LeRae was attacked backstage by Xia Li.

Becky Lynch vs. Indi Hartwell Grade: C+

Women’s Fatal 5-Way Contract Signing

Backstage, Adam Pearce was much more hospitable to Nick Aldis than Aldis was to him on SmackDown.

Adam Pearce doubled his security, and they still got washed by the five women competing in the Fatal 5-Way at Crown Jewel.

Pearce said Rhea Ripley would only come out once the contracts were signed. Rhea came out early and fans were all-too happy to see her. The heel Ripley even had to steamroll a “Mami” chant to keep up appearances.

The dust cleared, setting up Nia Jax and Raquel Rodriguez, and when security got involved, fans in the American Airlines Arena loudly chanted “let them fight!”

Johnny Gargano Def. Giovanni Vinci

Giovanni Vinci was instructed to send Johnny Gargano to the hospital.

WWE used this match to do an picture-in-picture promo for Five Nights at Freddie’s.

Giovanni Vinci continues to get gaslit. Vinci helped Ludwig Kaiser win a match last week, only for Kaiser’s attempt to help Vinci to backfire. Somehow, GUNTHER will find a way to blame both Kaiser and Vinci.

Johnny Gargano vs. Giovanni Vinci Grade: B

Logan Paul Meets Dominik Mysterio

Without mentioning Dillon Danis by name, Logan Paul buried him yet again by talking about how Danis was dropped by his fight league.

In a true litmus test of Dominik Mysterio’s heat, Logan Paul was the most hated man in the building until Dom showed up. I literally couldn’t even hear what he said early on. I think it was something about having a deadbeat dad.

Logan Paul resumed his feud with Samantha Irvin by insisting that she announced Logan Paul as the new United States champion. This brought out Ricochet, who brawled with Mysterio and Paul.

Logan Paul Segment: B+

Niven and Green Def. Natalya And Nikki Cross

Natalya was supposed to team with Nikki Cross, but instead, Cross left Natalya hanging and Natalya had no chance.

Maybe Nikki Cross sees through Natalya’s act and didn’t want to be part of this match. If so, that would be some layered storytelling.

Piper Niven and Chelsea Green vs. Natalya Grade: C

Drew McIntyre Def. Sami Zayn

Drew McIntyre continued to use Machiavelian tactics by telling Sami that this beating would be on Jey Uso.

Wade Barrett said Drew McIntyre hasn’t been his “jovial self” lately. Drew McIntyre is a lot of things, jovial is not one of them.

It took longer than I thought it would, but this match ultimately received “this is awesome” chants.

Zayn lost with distraction from Rhea Ripley.

Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn Grade: B+

Bronson Reed Def. Akira Tozawa

Around this time, the Texas Rangers took a 10-2 lead over the Houston Astros in the ALCS, leading to an “Astros suck” chant.

There was no heat for this match until Bronson Reed delivered the Tsunami. Now the narrative is that everything the Alpha Academy teaches is useless.

Bronson Reed vs. Akira Tozawa Grade: C

Damian Priest Def. Jey Uso

Even though this was a singles match, it had the same beats as every Judgment Day match. Outside interference (by Finn Balor) and Priest got the victory.

Cody Rhodes limped down the ramp to even the odds, and one-legged Rhodes will be a huge underdognat Crown Jewel next weekend.

Jey Uso vs. Damian Priest Grade: B-