The road to WWE Night Of Champions continues tonight.
WWE RAW returns on the USA Network at 8/7c this evening from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.
On tap for tonight’s installment of the weekly three-hour WWE on USA program is Cody Rhodes responding to Brock Lesnar’s WWE Night of Champions challenge, Becky Lynch will address WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus, plus Shinsuke Nakamura vs. The Miz.
Also scheduled is Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez vs. Sonya Deville & Chelsea Green for the WWE Women’s Tag-Team Championships, WWE Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER makes his in-ring Raw debut, as well as a Battle Royal to determine the new #1 contender to WWE Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER for WWE Night of Champions.
Featured below are complete WWE RAW results from Monday, May 15, 2023. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live from 8-11pm EST. on the USA Network.
WWE RAW RESULTS (5/15/2023)
The “WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together.” opening signature narrated by future WWE Hall of Fame legend John Cena airs to get this week’s show officially off-and-running on the USA Network.
Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn & The Judgment Day Kick Off Raw
From there, we shoot inside Greensboro Coliseum where Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves welcome us to the show. Kevin Owens’ theme hits and out he comes. He stops and Sami Zayn’s theme hits. The Undisputed WWE Tag-Team Champions head to the ring to kick off tonight’s show.
As the champs settle in the ring, we see footage from SmackDown of Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa challenging them to a match via Paul Heyman at WWE Night Of Champions, which was later confirmed. Zayn and Owens say they found out like we did when watching the show on Friday.
Zayn says it isn’t a punishment but something he and Owens consider to be a gift. An unexpected gift. They talk about how they can finally get revenge on Roman Reigns. Zayn says he and Owens both deserved to beat him for the title when they fought him.
He says Reigns has cheated his way through his entire reign and now he and Owens get the chance to check him at Night Of Champions. He then takes pleasure in talking about how, as predicted, he is watching The Bloodline crumble.
As he continues to talk, his voice cracks and he gets emotional talking about how it’s never enough for Reigns. He’s had the title for 1,000 days after unifying them both. He says now he wants the tag titles. He says he can’t have them.
Before they can say anything else, The Judgment Day theme hits. As the group heads to the ring, Owens talks about being excited to talk about anything other than The Bloodline. He says he can safely assume The Judgment Day aren’t out here to ask to hang out later.
Owens says he assumes they want to fight, so let’s fight. Zayn says it’s his fault because he started off at a ten. He says Owens is at a ten now and maybe The Judgment Day aren’t out here to fight. He says let’s see what the gentlemen, and Dom, want to say.
Damian Priest says he does want to fight. Owens says, “See!” Finn Balor then tells everyone to calm down as The Judgment Day heads inside the ring. He says if they do win at Night of Champions, there’s gonna be a whole line of Superstars waiting to challenge them for the titles. And the line starts here.
Rhea Ripley then chimes in and says just in case they forget, The Judgment Day runs Monday Night Raw. Zayn goes to talk but is cut off by a “Mami!” chant. He says him personally, he wants to hear what Dom has to say. He says he knows these people just love when he talks.
Dom asks if the people wanna know what he has to say. They boo loudly. He tries to talk and they boo so loud it drowns him out, as usual. Owens chimes in all wound up saying can we just punch them in the face already. Finally he gets his wish and the boys start duking it out. The Judgment Day exits the ring and backs off.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. The Miz
The commentary duo of Patrick and Graves run down the advertised lineup for tonight and then we return in the Greensboro Coliseum live where we hear the familiar sounds of the entrance theme song of Shinsuke Nakamura.
On that note, “The King of Strong Style” heads down to the ring to get things officially underway inside the squared circle. As the Japanese legend settles in the ring, we head to a pre-match commercial break.
When we return from the break, we see footage hyping up the tourney finals between AJ Styles and Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship at Night of Champions. We then learn that Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn will take on Finn Balor & Damian Priest later tonight.
Back in the arena live, The Miz’s theme hits and he makes his way down to the ring. When he settles inside, the bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with our first match of the evening here on Monday Night Raw.
Before the two even touch, the fans break out in a loud “Tiny Balls!” chant to reference Nakamura’s backstage segment with Miz last week. “The King of Strong Style” goes on to jump into an early offensive lead over “The Most Must-See Superstar” in WWE.
He drapes Miz’s head over the ring apron and leaps from the floor to drop a knee to the back of his head. Miz ends up recovering and hitting a neck-breaker on Nakamura over the middle rope.
The Japanese legend slumps and crashes and burns on the floor. Miz runs and blasts him with a big kick as we head to a mid-match commercial break. When we return, Nakamura blasts Miz with a big knee and then looks for an armbar.
Miz ends up escaping and planting Nakamura face-first into the mat with a big DDT. Nakamura fights back into the lead but Miz counters and nearly hits his Skull Crushing Finale. Nakamura avoids it but then Miz goes to the eyes of Nakamura and this time connects with his Skull Crushing Finale.
He goes for the cover but Nakamura gets his foot on the ropes. He ends up hitting his Kinshasha kick for the pin fall victory seconds later.
Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura
GUNTHER Has Arrived To Monday Night Raw
We shoot backstage after a video package updating fans on the status of the WWE Women’s Tag-Team Championship. We then shoot backstage and see “The Complaint Department” talking with Adam Pearce and getting into it with the champs.
We shoot to GUNTHER and Imperium walking the halls as we shoot to another commercial.
Corey Graves Sits Down With Seth “Freakin'” Rollins
We shoot to part one of a lengthy one-on-one sit down interview between Corey Graves and Seth “Freakin'” Rollins to continue the promotion for the finals of the World Heavyweight Championship tourney to crown the new Raw champ at Night of Champions.
The two talk back-and-forth about Seth Rollins’ early days in FCW and NXT and his arrival to the WWE main roster as part of The Shield. Part one of this multi-part sit down discussion wraps up after the point in Rollins’ career where he blasts Roman Reigns with a chair shot and turns heel to join The Authority.
GUNTHER Is Ready To Find Out His Next Challenger
From there, we head back inside the arena where Imperium’s theme hits and out comes GUNTHER accompanied by Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser. The three settle at ringside, where GUNTHER stands on top of the commentary desk.
Kaiser and Vinci introduce the Intercontinental Champion and then hand the mic off to him. He talks from atop the commentary desk about how he has arrived on Raw after dominating the scene for over a year on SmackDown.
GUNTHER then goes on to hype tonight’s battle royal to determine the next challenger to his I-C title at Night of Champions.
WWE Intercontinental Title Eliminator Battle Royal
Now the theme for Ricochet hits and the former I-C champ makes his way down to the ring. He settles inside and then Bronson Reed’s theme hits and “The Walking Natural Disaster” makes his way to the ring next.
We see GUNTHER looking on from atop the commentary desk and head to a pre-match commercial break. When we return, we see Mustafa Ali making his entrance in progress. Out next is Apollo Crews and then Matt Riddle, The ring is packed wall-to-wall, so expect some spurts of eliminations throughout this one.
The bell sounds after Riddle riles up GUNTHER before the match. Immediately we see Baron Corbin and Dexter Lumis eliminated. The Maximum Male Models get eliminated next. Dolph Ziggler and JD McDonagh are eliminated next. McDonagh attacks Ziggler brutally afterwards.
From there, we head to a mid-match commercial break as the action continues in this number one contender battle royal to determine GUNTHER’s title challenger for the Intercontinental Championship match at WWE Night of Champions.
When we return from the break, we see bodies dropping like flies as several additional eliminations take place. We then move to a lengthy showdown between The Viking Raiders and Alpha Academy. One member of each team ends up eliminating each other and then Bronson Reed helps eliminate the remaining two from both teams.
Everyone notices Reed and starts to gang pile on him in an attempt to get him out of there while there is still enough bodies to get the job done. They don’t, however, and Reed remains in the match. Johnny Gargano fires up and nearly gets eliminated but he hangs on.
We’re down to the final four after a few eliminations, including Johnny Gargano. We see Matt Riddle still in it and GUNTHER and Imperium attack him, leading to Bronson Reed eliminating him. Ricochet tries eliminating Reed but Reed shucks him off.
Ali and Ricochet try and eliminate Reed and they get him over but he lands on the apron. Ricochet leaps onto Reed who catches him. Ali jumps with a drop kick and eliminates both of them. Ali is the last man remaining and with the win, advances to challenge GUNTHER at Night of Champions for the I-C title.
Winner and ADVANCING to Intercontinental title match: Mustafa Ali
Becky Lynch Addresses Trish Stratus
We see a video package looking back at Brock Lesnar’s “LOOK AT THIS FACE!” “I WANNA FIGHT” savage attack of Cody Rhodes from last week. After that, we shoot backstage and we see Becky Lynch walking the hallways. We head to another commercial break on that note.
As we settle back in from the break, we hear the familiar sounds of the entrance theme song for “The Man.” On that note, out comes Becky Lynch with a fire in her eyes as she heads to the ring to address the recent actions of her former friend Trish Stratus.
Lynch settles in the ring as we are shown footage of her surprise return and attack on Trish last week. As the footage wraps up, we hear a “Becky! Becky!” chant. She begins, “The Man has come around to Greensboro!” The fans pop. She says part of being “The Man” is admitting when you’re going through some stuff.
She admits that lately she has been going through some stuff. She says when those times come you have to be able to ask for help. She says that’s what she did. She asked for help from two WWE legends — Trish Stratus and Lita. She says Lita was great. She came back and they won some gold.
“The Man” goes on to mention how Trish got close to her and says she couldn’t see what even the fans may have seen a mile away. Which is that Trish came back and aligned with Lynch to help herself like the ego maniac she is.
She says she does want to come out here and say, “Thank you, Trish.” Not for the bullocks reason she gave but for hitting her in the back of the head, standing in the ring and calling her daughter stupid, she reminded her that the only thing that matters in this life is standing up for a reason that’s important.
She gave all the badness in her head a name and a face and a target. She says she will show how thankful she is when she kicks in Trish’s head at Night of Champions. She throws the mic down to end the promo segment.
Natalya Confronts Rhea Ripley Again Backstage
We shoot backstage and see Rhea Ripley watching the Becky Lynch segment on a monitor. Cathy Kelley approaches her and says she’s been keeping a close eye on the division.
With that in mind, she asks her about the arrival to Raw of Natalya, who saved Dana Brooke from a beatdown from “Mami” last week. Ripley says Nattie has had an impressive career for herself.
Before she can say anything else, up walks Nattie to tell Ripley she knows she’s had an impressive career. Ripley then warns Nattie to never stick her nose in her business again or she’ll regret it. Up walks Dominik Mysterio. She and Dom leave together.
Xavier Woods vs. Dominik Mysterio
Back inside the arena, The New Day theme music hits and out comes the greatest trombone player on the WWE roster — Xavier Woods — for our next match of the evening. As Woods settles inside the squared circle, we head to a pre-match commercial break.
When we return from the break, we see GUNTHER and Mustafa Ali sarcastically wishing each other luck in their I-C title showdown at Night Of Champions. We then return live inside the ring where Woods is wrapping up his ring entrance.
The theme for The Judgment Day plays and out comes Dominik Mysterio and “Mami” Rhea Ripley after we see the Lambert family promoting Fast X in the front row. They are the winners of some promotional contest around the movie.
Dom cuts a promo as he walks to the ring to enormously loud boos from the fans in Greensboro. Top heel on the roster, as far as crowd reactions go. Undisputed. Dom taunts Woods for not having anyone to watch his back.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. Graves and Patrick banter back-and-forth on commentary about “Mami’s Day” over the weekend as Woods takes it to Dom early on. The fans chant “Who’s your daddy!”
We head to a mid-match commercial break after Dom starts to take over control of the offense. When we return from the break, we see Woods fire up on offense for a big comeback, but due to distraction from “Mami” at ringside, Dom steals the victory via pin fall.
Winner: Dominik Mysterio
“The Irish Ace” Is Here To Stay
A vignette for “The Irish Ace” JD McDonagh airs in black and white to formally introduce the former NXT Superstar to the WWE main roster. After it wraps up, Cathy Kelley catches up with McDonagh to ask about his attack of Dolph Ziggler earlier tonight. He says Ziggler found out what the rest of the roster is gonna find out.
Indus Sher vs. Local Enhancement Talents
Now we see the two massive Indus Sher members walking the hallways backstage as we head to another commercial break. When we return, we see Jinder Mahal lead Veer and Sanga down to the ring for their Raw tag-team debut.
Already in the ring are their two local enhancement talent opponents. Corey Graves even comments on the broadcast about how he didn’t even catch their names before Indus Sher easily dominates and takes out the duo.
Once the match wraps up, “The Modern Day Maharaja” gets in the ring and cuts a quick promo in Indian language hyping up the dominate duo of Veer and Sanga — Indus Sher. He then gets on a headset at the commentary desk and says Indus Sher are taking over Raw.
Winners: Indus Sher
Imperium Confronts The Tag Champs Backstage
We shoot backstage and we see Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn talking to each other when up pops GUNTHER and Imperium. The WWE I-C champ tells the Undisputed Tag champs that he will not tolerate the disrespect he showed his men Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser on last week’s show.
Kevin Owens pops up full of rage and says they can’t fight tonight because they already have a fight, but how about they fight next week. Zayn says they’ll find a partner and do it and then tells Owens to calm down.
“The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes Addresses Brock Lesnar
Now we shoot to the parking lot and we see pop out of a giant tour bus, “The American Nightmare” himself. Cody Rhodes flashes a big smile as he exits the vehicle and begins making his way into the arena. Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves inform us Cody is up next.
On that note, we head to another commercial break. When the break wraps up, we return live inside the Greensboro Coliseum where we hear the familiar sounds of the entrance theme of Cody Rhodes.
“The American Nightmare” emerges and heads to the ring as the fans in Greensboro sing along with his catchy-ass theme music. He settles in the ring. “So, Greensboro, North Carolina … whatta ya wanna talk about?” he begins.
He talks about how he knows this building and city well, as it hosted the first-ever Starrcade event created by his father. He talks about how Brock elected not to be here tonight. He asks if we’ve heard about the scorpion and the frog.
It’s a simple story about how to get to the other side. The frog says the scorpion will sting him. Scorpion says he won’t. Frog carries the scorpion on his back and half way across, what do you think happens? He stings him. As the poison fills up his lungs, the frog asks why? The scorpion says because it’s my nature.
He says it’s Brock Lesnar’s nature to hunt. He must always be hunting. He says while you’re hunting, let me ask you something — how’s your face? He says when he looks in the mirror, he sees an animal but also stitches and staples. He says when he looks in the mirror he sees the man who put them there.
Raquel Rodriguez vs. Chelsea Green
We shoot backstage and we see Zoey Stark and Candice LeRae jawing at each other. We then shoot back inside the arena and Raquel Rodriguez makes her way out. She heads to the ring by herself and she will be in action when we return.
On that note, we head to another commercial break. When we return from the break, we hear the familiar sounds of Chelsea Green’s theme song and out she comes accompanied by Sonya Deville.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. We see Green jump off to a good start. She dominates much of the action for the first few minutes, but struggles to finish off Rodriguez.
Rodriguez starts to fire up for an offensive comeback. She begins rag-dolling Green back-and-forth all over the ring. She hits a big spinning senton off the ropes and then hoists her up for her finisher for the pin fall victory.
Winner: Raquel Rodriguez
Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler Attack Raquel Rodriguez
Once the match wraps up, we see Raquel Rodriguez head up the ramp. Before she can pass through the curtain backstage, we see someone dive out and tackle her. Ronda Rousey takes her out and Shayna Baszler helps beat her down.
“Rowdy” Ronda gets on the mic and holds Rodriguez by her arm. She taunts her and then holds her while Baszler runs over and flattens her with a big kick. They leave her laying and head backstage.
Corey Graves Sits Down With Seth “Freakin'” Rollins — Part 2
Once the Rousey and Baszler segment ends, we shoot to another commercial break. When we return, we shoot to ringside where Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves set up part two of Graves’ sit-down one-on-one interview with Seth “Freakin'” Rollins, where they talk about his upcoming World Heavyweight Championship opportunity at WWE Night of Champions 2023.
Finn Balor & Damian Priest vs. Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens
Now we return inside the arena where we are given some segments and matches for next week’s Raw. After that, the theme for The Judgment Day plays and out comes Damian Priest and Finn Balor for our main event of the evening.
As they settle in the ring, we head to a pre-match commercial break. When we return from the break, we hear Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn’s theme playing and out comes the Undisputed tag champs for our final match of the evening.
The bell sounds and we’re off and running with this one. Balor and Zayn kick things off for their respective teams. We see Zayn jump off to an early offensive lead. As he continues to dominate, he tags in Owens and we head to a mid-match commercial break soon thereafter.
When we return from the break, we see Priest pounding Zayn over the back with a big forearm before tagging in Balor, who heads into the ring and picks up where the fellow Judgment Day member left off, taking it to the former “Honorary Uce.”
Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley are shown cheering on Balor as he continues to take it to Zayn. Zayn finally hits a big clothesline that slows Balor down and he begins crawling towards his corner for a much-needed tag. Balor stops him but Zayn kicks him off and tags Owens in.
Priest also tags in but is the ultra hyper Owens who hits the ring like a man possessed. “The Prize Fighter” takes the hot tag and runs over Priest on the floor at ringside. He rolls him back in and ducks a cheap shot from Ripley and then runs over Dom and Balor with lariats.
Back in the ring, Owens fires up and hits a big cannonball splash on Priest in the corner. Dom ends up tripping up Owens, which allows Priest to blast him from behind. This shifts the offensive momentum in the favor of The Judgment Day duo.
The referee notices this at ringside and ends up ejecting Dom and Mami from the ringside area. They bicker and complain as the crowd cheers and they head to the back. Xavier Woods runs out and attacks Dom and beats on him as they disappear to the backstage area in the midst of their brawl.
In the ring, we see Priest roll up Owens from behind as he was distracted by “The Wise Man” of The Bloodline. As Paul Heyman heads out, the commentators question what he is doing there. On this note, we head to a mid-match commercial break as the main event of the evening continues.
When we return from the break, we see Priest taking it to Owens. They head to the top rope where Priest looks for a super-plex, but Owens knocks Priest down and connects with a Swanton Bomb. He makes the much needed tag to Zayn.
Zayn hits the ring and starts taking out any-and-everything that moves. He plants Balor into the mat with a Michinoku Driver. Zayn notices Paul Heyman on the phone at the top of the ramp. He heads to the top rope but Balor recovers and blasts him with a Sling Blade.
Balor goes for a big kick on Zayn but Zayn counters with a Blue Thunder Bomb. Zayn again notices Heyman and then looks at ringside and notices GUNTHER and Imperium. Balor takes over again off the multiple distractions. Owens breaks up a pin attempt so Priest hits the ring.
Priest and Owens duke it out and Owens takes him out with a stunner. Balor knocks Owens out to the floor. Zayn suplexes Balor in the corner and then hits his kick finisher. He can’t cover him because GUNTHER and Imperium hits the ring. Owens deals with them but is taken out. Zayn leaps and splashes onto Priest on the floor.
Zayn re-enters the ring and runs at Balor in the corner. He looks for his kick finisher but Imperium again hit the ring. The distraction allows Balor to hit a John Wu drop kick in the corner. He follows that up with his top rope Coup de Grace for the pin fall victory.
After the match, we see a very happy “Wise Man” from The Bloodline, as Paul Heyman is shown with a big smile on his face at the top of the entrance ramp. Imperium is shown at ringside again as Balor and Priest celebrate their victory. This week’s show goes off the air on that note. Thanks for joining us!
Winners: Finn Balor & Damian Priest
