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WWE RAW TV REPORT
AUGUST 28, 2023
MEMPHIS, TENN. AT FEDEX FORUM
AIRED LIVE ON USA
Commentators: Michael Cole, Wade Barrett
Ring Announcer: Samantha Irvin
[HOUR ONE]
-An “In Memorium” graphic was shown for both Terry Funk and Windham Rotunda.
(1) SAMI ZAYN vs. DAMIAN PRIEST
They went right to the arena for Sami Zayn’s entrance theme. They went to Michael Cole and Wade Barrett at ringside. Cole acknowledged that two wrestlers died last week and said they are going to try to do tonight what they did their entire careers and “entertain the WWE Universe.” Priest made his entrance next.
The bell rang four minutes into the hour. Cole talked about the issues between Priest and Finn Balor, including the Money in the Bank briefcase for months and now the arrival of J.D. McDonagh. Barrett said Priest’s concern about McDonagh is a misjudgment because he’s proven to be nothing but an asset to The Judgment Day. Cole talked about Priest & Balor challenging Sami & Kevin Owens for the WWE Tag Team Titles at Payback, and questioned whether they could get along long enough to prevail.
At 2:00 Sami landed an Arabian moonsault onto Priest at ringside. Cole called it “a unique take on a moonsault.” As Priest took over, Cole said Priest was once known in his “sports entertainment career” as “Punisher.” Priest face-planted Sami into the announce desk. Cole asked if he could somehow get back into the match as they cut to a break. [c]
Sami landed a sitout powerbomb after the break for a two count at 9:00. Sami landed a running flip dive to ringside and then his Blue Thunder Bomb for a near fall. Priest attempted a Razor’s Edge, but Sami slipped free and then threw Priest into the corner with an exploder suplex. McDonagh arrived at ringside and tripped up Sami as he set up his Helluva Kick. Priest then caught Sami with a quick South of Heaven chokeslam for the win.
WINNER: Priest in 12:00.
(Keller’s Analysis: Good match, and good commentary with Cole and Priest about the Judgment Day situation.)
-Afterward, Priest yelled at McDonagh and shoved him. McDonagh asked what his problem was, but Priest just left. Cole said Priest has told McDonagh to stay out of his business. Kevin Owens joined Sami in the ring and they attacked McDonagh. Priest watched as Sami landed a Helluva Kick.
-Cole recapped the latest with Shinsuke Nakamura and Seth Rollins. Cole said Seth is irate and he plans to call Nakamura out to the ring.
-They showed New Day warming up backstage. Xavier Woods was doing pull-ups and Kofi Kingston was doing Tai Chi movements. They cut to The Viking Raiders standing around acting eerie backstage. [c]
-Drew McIntyre was standing backstage and noticed Akira Tozawa staring over his shoulder. “You look great,” Tozawa said. Drew shot him a look and Tozawa slinked away. Matt Riddle walked in and asked what he thinks. Drew showed it was a photo of Drew in “Bro” tights. Riddle said every great team has matching gear. Drew said they should see if things work out before they make big changes. Riddle asked if he was hinting at wanting matching kilts. Riddle said they should scout the Raiders so they’re more ready next time they face them. Drew said he’s onto something. He said he’d like a front row seat to see those “idiots” get beat. Riddle asked, “New Day?” Drew said he meant the Raiders.
-They went to Cole and Barrett at ringside who hyped Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Rodriguez. They threw to a video package on that match with soundbites from Rodriguez. [c]
-Cole hyped John Cena’s return to Smackdown next month and his first tour of India.
-L.A. Knight’s music played and Miz came out dressed as Knight. Barrett went bonkers for the prospects of Knight surprising them on Raw. Miz mocked Knight’s tone of voice and catch phrases. He leaned hard into the “Yeah’s.” He said the fans are discerning so he knows he needs more than catch phrases to earn their cheers. He grabbed a black bag and pulled out t-shirts to bribe the fans to cheer him.
Miz dropped the act and said anyone can pander and make up a phony name that sounds like something on Cinemax in 1997. He said he doesn’t do catch phrases. He said when he says he is awesome, it’s not a catch phrase, it’s reality. He said fans don’t cheer losers, and in five days at Payback, Knight will be a loser. He said the game belongs to “M-I-Z. Yeah!”
Cole said Miz is jealous and upset with the attention that Knight is getting. Barrett said he can’t wait to see Knight give the phony A-lister a whooping. Cole shook his head in dismay, then shifted to hyping the Seth vs. Nakamura match.
-They replayed snippets of Nakamura’s pre-recorded promo last week.
-They cut backstage to Ricochet approaching Seth Rollins, who was staring off. Ricochet got the sense Seth didn’t want to talk and moved on.
-The New Day made their entrance. [c]
(2) THE NEW DAY (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) vs. THE VIKING RAIDERS (Erik & Ivar w/Valhala)
Drew and Riddle came out to watch the match. Cole said the Raiders said the gods are angry with them and they will do anything to win back their favor, which means creating a spectacle. The bell rang 46 minutes into the hour. Cole said he met with Jerry Lawler earlier. He said Lawler complimented the work Barrett is doing on commentary in his former chair. The Raiders controlled the match. At 4:00 New Day made a comeback. Kofi leaped over the top rope into Ivar. They cut to a break as Kofi danced on the table next to Xavier. [c]
The Raiders took over again after the break. They kept cutting to Drew and Riddle watching at ringside.
[HOUR TWO]
At 15:00 Xavier tagged in Kofi. He set up a move on the ropes but slipped a little. He recovered and splashed Ivar on the back. Erik broke up the cover. Ivar ducked a Trouble in Paradise and dumped Kofi over the top rope. Ivar tumbled over with him. Kofi leaped off the steps, but Ivar caught him and dropped him across the steps. Ivar slammed Kofi into Drew and Riddle at ringside.
Drew threw an office chair at Ivar in the ring and then threw the other one, but it hit Xavier. Ivar flipped off the ring apron at Drew. Ivar threw Kofi into the ring, then tagged in Erik. They gave Kofi their double powerbomb finisher for the win. Kofi checked on Xavier afterward. Kofi took issue with Drew throwing the chair at Xavier. Drew said it was an accident and then threw the chair at ringside into the ring in frustration
WINNERS: Raiders in 17:00.
-Balor told Priest backstage they need to focus in preparation for Saturday. Priest told Balor that McDonagh is a distraction who doesn’t matter. Balor said McDonagh’s the only reason he beat Sami, but he left him alone after the match. Priest said he left him alone because he doesn’t care about him. Ripley yelled at them to stop bickering. She said she and Dirty Dom are the only two handling Judgement Day business. She told them to make things right on Saturday and remind everybody that The Judgment Day win when it matters. She said if The Judgment Day don’t all walk out with gold after Payback, there will be changes. [c]
-A Smackdown plug hyped Jimmy Uso appearing on Smackdown on Friday.
-They went to Cole and Barrett at ringside who mentioned the deaths of Terry Funk and Bray Wyatt. Cole threw to a lengthy video tribute to Bray.
-Backstage, Kofi came out of the New Day locker room and assured Drew that it’s all good and they know he didn’t throw the chair at Xavier on purpose. Drew told Riddle next week they’ll take care of the Viking Raiders’ problem. He said he has to talk to Adam Pearce to be sure he doesn’t have to take in to get his hands on them. Riddle didn’t understand. (I think Drew is wanting a Texas Tornado style tag.)
-Imperium made their ring entrance. Gunther stood on the announce desk and talked about how Chad Gable made history by being the first person to beat him in more than 500 days. He said his win was on a technicality, so he didn’t really succeed in beating him because he is still standing there as their champion. He said he has succeeded in doing one thing. “Pissing me off!” he yelled. He ranted in German briefly. He said Gable now has his attention and focus. He said he will defend his IC Title against Gable next week on Raw. He said he has to face Kaiser first.
Gable interrupted and did his catch phrases. He said he’ll beat Gunther next week with a three count in the ring and take his title.
(Keller’s Analysis: Gunther’s presence is so strong right now. He is so distinct.) [c]
(3) LUDWIG KAISER (w/Gunther, Giovani Vinci) vs. CHAD GABLE (w/Otis, Maxxine Dupri)
The bell rang 28 minutes into the hour. Cole said if Gunther beats Gable next week, Gunther will likely end up the longest reigning IC Champion of all time as he’ll be just days away from the record. They cut to a break at 1:00 with Gable in control. [c]
At 8:00 Kaiser took over by chopping Gable to the floor. He landed a running forearm and they cut to a break. [c]
With Kaiser still in control, Cole said Kaiser is “so fun to watch; he is a machine in the ring.” Gable back-suplexed Kaiser into a bridge. Vinci attacked Gable to prompt a DQ.
WINNER: Gable in 18:00 via DQ.
(Keller’s Analysis: Very good action throughout. Gable couldn’t lose this week with the title shot coming up next week, but I’m also okay that they protected Kaiser from a loss since it might indicate they have their eye on him for a more serious push now.)
-Afterward, Otis made the save. Kaiser and Vinci soon knocked him out of the ring and turned to double-teaming Gable. Gunther walked back out and stood over Gable for a second. Then he went for his powerbomb finisher, but Gable slipped free and applied an anklelock. Vinci and Kaiser broke it up immediately. Gunther then did deliver his powerbomb to Gable.
-They showed Seth backstage. [c]
-They showed postcard images of Memphis.
-Cole shifted to a tribute to Bob Barker, who died days earlier. Cole said he is one of the best guest hosts of Raw ever. They showed highlights.
-Seth made his entrance. Fans sang his song for a while. He said he was going to keep it short and simple. He told Nakamura to say what he’s got to say to his face. When Nakamura didn’t answer, Seth said they can just go party on Beale Street instead. They began singing his song again, but then another Nakamura vignette interrupted. Nakamura was in a karate uniform working out. He said he wants to destroy Seth and he wants his wife to know the reason she has to help him out of bed in the morning. “I’m the reason he won’t be able to walk his daughter down the aisle,” he said via captions. “Because he can be broken. His body has betrayed him so I am going to destroy his back and put him out of his misery. He has no honor, he has no code, he has no future.”
[HOUR THREE]
Back to Seth in the ring, he took off his sunglasses as fans booed. “That’s it, huh?” he said. “From the legendary Shinsuke Nakamura we get a video package, huh?” He said what he wants to know is what happened to the Nakamura who headlined the Tokyo Dome and who lit the world on fire when he came to NXT. He said Saturday when the bell rings, he will maul Nakamura and he won’t stop until someone pulls him off of him. He said Nakamura will then know that he won’t take his title, his future, or his family. Nakamura attacked Seth from behind and then put him a chinlock and had more words for him. Nakamura kicked Seth and left to his music. Cole said Seth is focused and he has taken Seth out of his game.
(Keller’s Analysis: Really good final segment to hype their main event on Saturday. Payback needed this match hype to deliver above expectations and it has.)
-Sami and KO stood in the locker room. Sami talked about how The Judgment Day always seem to use their numbers advantage to survive. He told KO to explain to them how it’ll go down this time. KO said they’re sick of it so they went to Adam Pearce and got a special match. He said at Payback, it’ll be a Steel City Street Fight with no rules. KO said a lot of crazy things have happened in Pittsburgh including him getting thrown off the top of a cage before. “We are ending this once and for all!” KO said.
-As Tommaso Ciampa began his ring entrance, Bronson Reed attacked him from behind. Ciampa got up and met Bronson in the ring and went after him. Ciampa kneed him and knocked him to the floor. Ciampa leaped off the ring apron and kneed Bronson. They cut to a break as Ciampa yelled down at Bronson. [c]
(4) BRONSON REED vs. TOMMASO CIAMPA
The match was joined in progress after the break ten minutes into the hour. After several hard-hitting minutes, Ciampa scored a leverage pin that wasn’t as smooth as they intended.
WINNER: Ciampa in about 6:00.
-In a backstage interview, Becky discussed her match against Trish in a cage at Payback and asked if she has any second thoughts battling Zoey Stark tonight, just days before the big cage match. Becky said this path isn’t easy, but she’s doesn’t want the easy way. She said she’s bringing chaos with her tonight.
-Rhea Ripley and Dominik made their entrance. [c]
-Ripley and Dom stood mid-ring. Ripley talked about facing Rodriguez. She said Rodriguez will never outsmart her because she’s an idiot. Rodriguez ran out and went after Ripley. Dom distracted Rodriguez, giving Ripley a chance to take over and headbutt her. Rodriguez blocked a Riptide and then clotheslined Ripley, who then retreated. [c]
-Cole hyped the IC Title match on Raw next week. Barrett announced Drew & Riddle vs. The Raiders will be a Tornado Tag match.
-They showed NXT Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton standing at ringside.
-A Terry Funk tribute video aired.
-Becky Lynch made her ring entrance. [c]
(5) BECKY LYNCH vs. ZOEY STARK (w/Trish Stratus) – Falls Count Anywhere match
Zoey and Trish made their entrance to Zoey’s theme. Cole said there are no rules and pinfalls can take place anywhere in the arena and anywhere in the city. The bell rang 43 minutes into the hour. Becky went after Stark with a kendo stick at the start. After Trish got involved, Becky beat her up and chased her up the ramp with a kendo stick. They cut to a break at 5:00. [c]
Back from the break, Becky and Stark were fighting at ringside. Becky scored a two count with a Becksploder against the ringside barricade. They fought with a bunch of chairs for a while, then took it to the announce desk where Stark kicked Becky in the head. Trish intervened and delivered a bulldog off the announce desk through a folding table. Becky fought back, but Stark stopped Becky from giving Trish a Manhandle Slam on the table. Stark then mistakenly knocked Trish off the table and crashing through another table at ringside. Becky then delivered a Manhandle Slam off the table for the win. “What a match!” exclaimed Cole as Becky’s music played.
WINNER: Lynch in 16:00.
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