Tonight’s WWE RAW live from the MVP Arena in Albany, New York on USA Network.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Raquel Rodriguez and Shotzi vs. Ronda Rousey Shayna Baszler vs. Damage CTRL (IYO SKY and Bayley) vs. Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville
The Miz vs. Ricochet in a Money in the Bank qualifying match.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bronson Reed in a Money in the Bank qualifying match.
Judgment Day is going “on the hunt” for Undisputed Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.
New World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins’ title reign begins.
Imperium vs. Alpha Academy, with the winning team getting a future title match.
One of the great things about, and pitfalls of, live TV is that anything can happen. And that was the case last night for Becky Lynch, who made her triumphant return to “WWE Raw,” only to find herself being interrupted by her own theme music while trying to cut a promo. Fortunately, Lynch dealt with the situation quickly backstage. Posting a video on her Instagram, the former WWE Women’s Champion was seen confronting the culprit who played her music too early. While the problem seemed resolved, an angry Lynch proceeded to nail the sound guy with a forearm, sending him flying back into his seat.
It’s understandable why Lynch was so upset, given that this was her first appearance on “Raw” in nearly a month. “The Man” hasn’t been seen since she was betrayed by Trish Stratus on April 10, following her and Stratus dropping the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship to Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. Despite being champions with Lita, Lynch defended the titles with Stratus after Lita was unable to compete due to a backstage attack, which Stratus later confessed to. While Lynch has returned to TV, Lita has not been seen since.
Since the betrayal, Stratus has made several appearances on “Raw” making harsh comments towards Lynch, including last night when she brought up Lynch’s two-year-old daughter. While no match between Stratus and Lynch has been announced, it would appear the two are well on their way to colliding in the ring in the near-distant future.
WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network and emanate from the ystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, FL.
Fallout from Backlash
The launch of the new Raw roster, which was established in this year’s 2023 WWE Draft.
The World Heavyweight Championship tournament is set to begin. Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, The Miz, Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Damian Priest will be featured in the tournament matches.
The social media storyline between Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville is expected to continue.
Possibly see more on the feud between Beck Lynch and WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus
The 2023 WWE Draft will kick off on tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown and then carry over to Monday’s edition of RAW.
On Thursday, WWE posted a complete list of stars eligible to be drafted on each night. While the NXT brand will be involved, the names who could potentially be called up from that specific brand have not been announced.
You can check out a complete list of the eligible names below:
Night One: Friday on SmackDown
Becky Lynch
Bianca Belair
Bobby Lashley
Candice LeRae
Chelsea Green & Sonya Deville
Cody Rhodes
Damage CTRL (Bayley, IYO SKY & Dakota Kai)
Dexter Lumis
Dolph Ziggler
Drew McIntyre
Edge
Hit Row (Top Dolla & Ashante “Thee” Adonis w/ B-Fab)
Imperium (GUNTHER, Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci)
Lacey Evans
Matt Riddle
Maximum Male Models (ma.cé, mån.sôör & Maxxine Dupri)
Mustafa Ali
Natalya
Omos (w/ MVP)
Shinsuke Nakamura
The Bloodline (Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa)
The Miz
The O.C. (AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson & Michin)
The Street Profits
Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar w/ Valhalla)
Select NXT Superstars
Night Two: This Monday on Raw
Akira Tozawa
Alpha Academy (Otis & Chad Gable)
Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo
Asuka
Austin Theory
Baron Corbin
Braun Strowman & Ricochet
Brock Lesnar
Bronson Reed
Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin
Charlotte Flair
Dana Brooke
Elias
Emma
Johnny Gargano
Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio)
Karrion Kross (w/ Scarlett)
Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
LA Knight
Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez
Nikki Cross
Piper Niven
Rhea Ripley
Rick Boogs
Riddick Moss
Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler
Seth Rollins
Shotzi
Tamina
Tegan Nox
The Brawling Brutes (Sheamus, Ridge Holland & Butch)
The LWO (Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde & Zelina Vega)
According to F4WOnline, although Vince McMahon was not at tonight’s Raw in Chicago, he has still made major changes to Monday’s show.
PWInsider said they were told there had been some major changes to Monday’s Raw script, which were done remotely at Vince McMahon’s request.
PWInsider in their Elite subscription section said that McMahon changed finishes on several matches. The report also notes the match between The Street Profits and Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin was added to the show after McMahon’s changes.
Fightful reported that Piper Niven and Candice LeRae were scheduled for a backstage segment, then a match, but that The Street Profits vs. Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin was done instead.
PWInsider Elite and Fightconcluded by noting It was also reported that “a number of segments” with the female talents were cut from the show. That would include a backstage segment that was planned with Candice LeRae and Piper Niven. There reportedly was another segment cut that involved Adam Pearce, Sonya Deville, and other female talent. The decision to cut that segment was reportedly made so that they could spend more time on setting up the six-woman tag team match with Damage CTRL. It is interesting that LeRae and Niven were cut because they were also cut at the last minute on the Raw after Mania. Vince McMahon was backstage and running that show.