WWE is just two days removed from SummerSlam and tonight they were back in action with Monday Night Raw. Cody Rhodes is coming off the biggest win of his WWE career this weekend when he defeated Brock Lesnar and was opening the show tonight.
He wanted to talk about Lesnar, he said facing him was both an honor and a misery and Lesnar showing him respect after their match shocked him. He followed that by saying his mom said Brock acknowledged him (Hey Roman). Rhodes continued by declaring that he thinks he can defeat anyone and just as he said that out came the World Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins.
Rollins said last time he tried to address the future of his title, Rhodes was the first man to come out, but he was attacked by Lesnar before he could say anything. So, Rollins wanted to give Rhodes an opportunity and the chance to prove he could beat anyone, but we got another interruption. Out from the back came The Judgement Day, missing Finn Bálor, Damian Priest was going on that J-Day runs Raw and its title scene.
As Priest was still rambling, Bálor emerged from the crowd and attacked Rollins from behind while Dirty Dom and Priest attacked Cody. With J-Day now having a man advantage, Sami Zayn made his way out to even the odds. Once the brawl wrapped up, Cody threw out the challenge of Cody, Zayn and Rollins against Priest, Bálor and Dom.
We now saw a clip from earlier today with Ricochet, Matt Riddle, Chad Gable and Tommaso Ciampa in Adam Pearce’s office. He said that he knows all these men have been struggling recently, but tonight he wants to give them all an opportunity at greatness. Pearce announced a fatal-four-way between these men, with the winner earning an Intercontinental Championship match against Gunther!
Ricochet vs. Chad Gable vs. Matt Riddle vs. Tommaso Ciampa — No.1 Contender’s Match for the Intercontinental Championship
This match began with some quick action and all four men were trying to steal a roll-up, that escalated to some high flying from Ricochet and technical wizardry from Gable. There was then the insane spot of a triple German suplex from the top rope. Riddle suplexed Ricochet from the top, Ciampa got him from the second rope and Gable got him from the bottom rope.
Riddle then got on a bit of a roll and hit Ciampa with a superplex from the top rope, but as they crashed Gable and Ricochet came crashing onto them from the top ropes. Gable turned into a crash test dummy at one point, he was hit with a Floating Bro from Riddle and a tope from Ricochet all on the outside. Anytime it seemed like we were reaching the end, there would be even more action. Gable attempted to hit the O’Connor Roll German Suplex on all three of his opponents, but it was the one on Ciampa that would connect to get the win. Chad Gable has earned himself a championship match with “The Ring General” Gunther.
Winner: Chad Gable
Backstage there were some photoshoots going on, and The Miz wanted to get his photos done quickly. Unfortunately for Miz, he would have to wait because The Megastar LA Knight was getting his pictures taken. Nothing like a Megastar sighting on Monday Night Raw!
Miz later got some time in the ring to complain about LA Knight and talk about him eliminating him from the SummerSlam battle royal. He said he is tired of the lack of respect from new talent and that is when the music hit, LA Knight has arrived on Raw! YEAH!
What time is it?
It's @RealLAKnight's time!#WWERawpic.twitter.com/hqmV7N1pFA— WWE (@WWE) August 8, 2023
LA tried to introduce himself to Miz, but he was not interested in talking to him and he is sick of newcomers riding on his coattails. He said LA is just him without all the achievements and success, but he is just it right now and he called him an attitude-era fanboy playing cosplay. Knight warned Miz not to get personal, but Miz said he takes everything in regard to his career personally.
Knight said for the last 20 years he has been out making himself unstoppable, while the WWE bet on the wrong horse. He said Miz has lasted 20 years because he let people slap him around, but he didn’t come to WWE because he is not one to be messed with. He said he is now on the climb while Miz’s career is in the toilet, but he is happy to use Miz as a stepping stone. Miz yelled back that Knight is not on his level, but Knight said he is looking him right in the eye so Miz should prove to everyone that Knight is not on his level.
Miz then decided to take a cheap shot at Knight, but he ended up being hit with a BFT and LA Knight was standing tall!
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bronson Reed
It feels like we have seen this match every week since June and I must say week by week the matches are getting worse. In this week’s edition of the match, it was Nakamura knocking Reed off with a Kinshasa. Let’s see if we get to see this match again next week!
Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura
Becky Lynch is just seven days out from her rematch with Trish Stratus and she said after all she has gone through she is so close to the end. She did not get to say much else before she was interrupted by Zoey Stark, who came out saying Lynch already lost to Stratus and herself. Lynch responded by saying Stark is too good for her own good, she has all the talent in the ring, but she is too stupid.
Stark said she knows she is amazing, but she does not play second fiddle to Trish and Lynch is just jealous that Trish chose her. We now have another interruption, Shayna Baszler made her way out who just defeated Ronda Rousey at SummerSlam. Baszler said she drove Rousey out of WWE and before we knew it Stark was in Baszler’s face. Out of nowhere, we were having a match between Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark.
Shayna Baszler vs. Zoey Stark
Baszler tried to lock in a submission right away, but Stark then began focusing on all the injuries Baszler endured at SummerSlam. These women were really leaving it all in the ring, Stark was pulling out springboards and planchas like we haven’t seen from her before. However, in the end, it was Baszler coming out on top after hitting Stark with the World’s Baddest Slam.
Winner: Shayna Baszler
Finn Bálor was now backstage chatting with JD McDonagh about SummerSlam when he was confronted by Damian Priest. Both men were blaming each other for what happened to Bálor on the weekend. There are some serious issues in J-Day and it took Rhea Ripley to stop them from going at it. McDonagh then decided to say that the Money in the Bank briefcase is coming between them and Priest should get rid of it. Could Bálor have some plans in the work with Devlin?
Just as I suspected, later in the show McDonagh attacked Sami Zayn backstage, leaving him with what looked like a dislocated elbow. McDonagh just did a solid for J-Day as they will now have an advantage in the main event.
It was later revealed that Zayn would not be medically cleared for the main event, so Shinsuke Nakamura decided to step up and replace Zayn in this six-man tag.
Otis vs. Ludwig Kaiser
This match came to be after Kaiser showed an interest in Maxxine Dupri earlier tonight, so Otis needed to stand up for his woman. Imperium would use their numbers game to steal a win for Kaiser, Vinci distracted the referee, Gunther booted Otis and Kaiser won with the enzigiri.
Winner: Ludwig Kaiser
The Viking Raider vs. The New Day
What a moment this is, The New Day is back! It has been months since they’ve been seen as Kofi Kingston was recovering from ankle surgery. Kingston and Xavier Woods started the bout hot, but it was not long before the ring rust began to show. However, once Kofi got the hot tag he was all over Ivar and he hit him with a Boom Drop and SOS.
Kingston dropped Ivar with a Trouble in Paradise and then floated over the top rope taking Erik out on the floor. This allowed Woods to hit his beautiful diving elbow from the top and get the win for The New Day!
Winners: The New Day
It was announced earlier today that Sonya Deville, one-half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, suffered a torn ACL and will be out indefinitely. The fate of the women’s tag titles will need to be decided in the near future.
As Judgement Day was making its entrance for the main event, Rhea Ripley was jumped from behind by Raquel Rodriguez! This turned into an all-out brawl, Rodriguez was looking for revenge and then it turned into a bigger brawl when Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell came to back up Raquel. Ripley and Rodriguez are on a true collision course.
Finn Bálor, Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins & Shinsuke Nakamura
The problems between Bálor and Priest were showing as soon as the bell sounded, Bálor wanted to start the match and Priest tagged himself in. Dom was able to stop their little argument by tagging in and volunteering to start the match instead. Despite the early issues, with some guidance from Ripley on the outside Priest and Bálor started working together well.
This great teamwork allowed Judgement Day to beat down Nakamura and Rollins, Bálor hit Rollins with a running dropkick into the barricade. After a commercial break, Dirty Dom tries to hit Rollins with the three amigos, but he does not succeed and Rhodes is finally tagged in. Rhodes took out all three members of J-Day and hit Bálor with a Cody Cutter. However, J-Day then began to cheat and attempted to use Priest’s briefcase to get the win. However, out from the crowd came the injured Sami Zayn to take out Priest!
Thanks to the help of Zayn, Rhodes was able to hit Bálor with a Cross Rhodes and get the victory for his team.
Winners: Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins & Shinsuke Nakamura
World Heavyweight Champion @WWERollins just got ambushed!#WWERawpic.twitter.com/K5c0elaRKu
— WWE (@WWE) August 8, 2023
Following the match Rhodes, Zayn and Rollins were celebrating, but Nakamura was hanging back in the corner. As soon as Rollins turned around he had his head taken off by a Kinshasa from Nakamura!
Shinsuke has turned heel and he is coming for the World Heavyweight Championship!
