Monday Night Raw Review - May 15, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Judgment Day Confronted Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens

Zayn's promo addressing The Bloodline and explaining that he's excited to finally give Roman Reigns his comeuppance for everything he's done to him and Owens was terrific. His energy left me looking forward to the tag title match, even though I'm still not completely sold on it being the best idea. The rest of the segment played out nicely to set up the night's main event and the hot crowd was a plus.

Shinsuke Nakamura def. The Miz

I feared these two were headed for an odd couple tag team based on their interactions in recent weeks, but I'm glad that hasn't happened (yet). Having Nakamura run through Miz made much more sense, except it didn't mean a ton because Miz gets his ass handed to him so frequently. The match didn't have much heat as a result, but the crowd did come alive for the final stretch when Nakamura got back on offense. There's no reason for this rivalry to continue.

Mustafa Ali Won an Intercontinental Championship No. 1 Contender's Battle Royal

I'll use the same sentence I do for most wrestling Battle Royals: This was basically every Battle Royal you've ever seen. There's so many of them across all of the promotions that they tend to bleed together, but I've also seen worse. They planted seeds for a few future matchups and there were a handful of people who could have realistically won. That said, Ali winning was quite the shocker. Maybe Gunther vs. Ali will end up being competitive and not a straight-up squash, but it feels more like a Raw match than a pay-per-view match to me.

Becky Lynch Challenged Trish Stratus to a Match at Night of Champions

Unfortunately, this feud hasn't lit the world on fire since it started, but this was the best thing to happen so far. Lynch's mic work in this segment was strong and I appreciated the intensity. She and Stratus will have their contract signing next week before they face off at Night of Champions. The question is, will it be a one-off with Lynch winning, or will there be multiple matches between them heading into SummerSlam?

Dominik Mysterio def. Xavier Woods

This was a rematch from last week's show. Their initial encounter was well wrestled, but I wasn't exactly clamoring for another outing between them. They had another quality contest here and Dominik winning for a second straight time was the right call. Doing 50/50 booking would have been silly and Dominik has too much heat right now just to be beaten by Xavier Woods of all people in a random Raw match. I still think Kofi Kingston will be back soon to set up The New Day vs. Judgment Day.

Indus Sher def. Local Athletes

This is technically Veer's third stint on Raw. He previously served as a heavy for Jinder Mahal in 2021 and then had a brief singles run in 2022. Neither panned out, so I hope he can be more successful this time because his explosive intensity is excellent. They didn't have a chance to do much in NXT before being called up to the main roster in the Draft, but this was a nice way to establish their dominance. They can be what AOP should have been years ago.

Cody Rhodes Addressed Brock Lesnar

Every time I think Rhodes is going to cut a repetitive promo (most of his Raw appearances since WrestleMania 39 have involved him talking), he hits a home run. That was once again the case here. He hyped up his Night of Champions clash with Lesnar by explaining his reasons for wanting to win and why fans should care. He's had to do most of the heavy lifting during this feud due to Lesnar getting virtually no mic time. I hope Rhodes wins again at Night of Champions because there isn't much more to explore beyond then.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Raquel Rodriguez def. Chelsea Green

Rodriguez and Liv Morgan were originally scheduled to defend the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against Green and Sonya Deville on this show, but Morgan's apparently hurt and thus the match had to be delayed. Rodriguez vs. Green was fine, but Green losing doesn't make her and Deville look like threats to the titles whatsoever. I assume we'll still see the two teams collide eventually, but Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler returning afterward and attacking Rodriguez indicates that's the bigger bout WWE is building to, possibly as soon as Night of Champions.

The Judgment Day (Finn Balor and Damian Priest) def. Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens (Non-Title)

Despite the star power in this match, the crowd was quiet for a majority of it and I can't say I blame them. It was a very well-worked main event, but the tag titles weren't on the line and it was obvious there would be shenanigans based on what was teased throughout the night. I hate when champions lose non-title matches, but Imperium costing Zayn and Owens the win made sense as they prepare to face them in a six-man tag team match on next week's show. Riddle has to Zayn and Owens' mystery partner, right?

Overall Show

This wasn't an awful edition of Raw by any means, but much like last week, the three hours definitely dragged and didn't feature enough compelling content. Honestly, the biggest highlight to me was Corey Graves' sit-down interview with Seth Rollins, which aired in two parts. In fact, there will be more of that next week as well. The vignettes for NXT talent were also well done and I hope that continues because that approach to introducing new faces can be effective. Despite Raw falling flat two weeks in a row, Night of Champions is shaping up to be a strong card.

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