Tag: Shinsuke Nakamura

WWE Raw results 05/29/23: New women’s tag champs, Rollins and Styles join forces

See who emerged as the new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions after a Fatal 4-Way on WWE Raw in Albany.

It’s been a tough few weeks for Raquel Rodriguez, but maybe that will change tonight on WWE Raw from Albany.

Not that Raquel has been losing too many races recently, mind you. As one half of the Women’s Tag Team Champions, Rodriguez hadn’t lost a tag team match since WrestleMania 39. Alas, when partner Liv Morgan was injured (during one of those victories), WWE stripped them of the titles.

Rodriguez got to be part of one of the four teams that competed for the championship tonight, but she needed a partner. Enter Shotzi, who has history with Raquel and figures to be someone who can capably fill in for Morgan even if not quite replace her.

Can they win (back) the titles? Perhaps, but a Fatal 4-Way is always a crap shoot, and the other three teams — Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler, Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville, and Bayley and IYO SKY — all figure to be serious contenders.

WWE hasn’t promoted anything else specifically for this show from Albany, but we know Money in the Bank qualifying matches are due to start. We’re expecting at least one apiece on the men’s and women’s sides.

And there will be fallout from Saturday’s Night of Champions show in Saudi Arabia, to be sure. Seth Rollins promised he’d be on hand, World Heavyweight Championship around his waist, for tonight’s Raw. It’s possible we might learn who will be first up to challenge him for the new big gold belt.

If Cody Rhodes is up for it after battling Brock Lesnar with an injured arm, he could be in the house as well. Can he pick himself back up again after experiencing another dose of adversity? And are things done between him and the Beast Incarnate?

WWE Raw results from Albany:

  • New World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins makes a memorable entrance through the crowd, and after repeating his intention to be a fighting champion, he’s joined by a congratulatory AJ Styles; their mutual show of respect is interrupted by The Judgment Day, and after exchanging insults, Rollins and Styles agree to take on any two of them tonight

  • Adam Pearce is on the phone trying to make the match approved, and both Rollins and Styles want it to happen
  • Ricochet def. The Miz by pinfall in a Money in the Bank qualifying match
  • Trish Stratus brags about doing exactly what she said she’d do in beating Becky Lynch, and she’s proud to introduce a superstar who reminds Trish of a young her, Zoey Stark; Lynch of course comes looking for both of them, which proves foolhardy as she is beaten down with a Z-360 from Stark and a big right hand from Stratus, then left crumpled in the corner with a “thank you Trish” shirt over her

  • Indus Sher def. local talent by pinfall
  • A video segment shows the Bloodline drama from Night of Champions once again, though apparently Roman Reigns’ 1000-day title reign celebration is still on for SmackDown
  • Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn are feeling pretty good tonight after the “worst night of Roman Reign’s life,” but Imperium comes out to take exception to them representing Raw, and the “new and improved” Alpha Academy (with Maxxine Dupri now part of the team) makes the champs laugh by dissing Imperium

  • Imperium (Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser) def. Alpha Academy by pinfall with Owens and Zayn on guest commentary; also, Valhalla chases Dupri to the back
  • Raquel Rodriguez and Shotzi are asked if they’ve built up enough chemistry, a question that gets mocked by Bayley and IYO SKY before Raquel fires right back at Bayley
  • Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler def. Raquel Rodriguez and Shotzi, Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville and Damage CTRL (Bayley and IYO SKY) in a Fatal 4-Way match when Rousey made Shotzi tap out to an armbar to become the new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions
  • Dolph Ziggler vs. JD McDonagh goes to a double countout, to the mild displeasure of the fans, with McDonagh continuing to assault Ziggler after the bell and stomping his head on top of the steel steps
  • Left arm still in a sling, Cody Rhodes takes the ring to say he hopes Brock Lesnar isn’t satisfied with their two matches being tied 1-1 and issues an open challenge for a third fight, any time, any place, finishing by saying Lesnar wasn’t “man enough to make me tap out”

  • Gunther tells Matt Riddle he wants him to win the Money in the Bank Ladder match and cash it in on the IC title just so he can have fun beating Riddle
  • Shinsuke Nakamura def. Bronson Reed by pinfall in a Money in the Bank qualifying match
  • Rhea Ripley tells Byron Saxton she destroyed Natalya at Night of Champions, and the Judgment Day won’t tell him which two members will face Rollins and Styles
  • A video package pays tribute to the men and women who have given their lives in defense of the U.S. to commemorate Memorial Day
  • AJ Styles and Seth Rollins def. Damian Priest and Finn Balor by pinfall

WWE Raw results 05/22/23: Cody Rhodes is determined to fight Brock Lesnar

Other big happenings on Raw included Raquel Rodriguez finding a new tag team partner and Matt Riddle aiding Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.

HERSHEY, Pa. — As a fan in Section D of the Giant Center said in realization at the end of WWE Raw on Monday night, “We never got to do the whoa.”

He was talking about a certain part of Cody Rhodes‘ entrance theme, “Kingdom,” and if you’ve been watching WWE programming any time over the past year, you know the cue. It comes right after the line “Out the curtain, lights go up I’m home.”

The fans in attendance did get to see Rhodes, who was shown on screen to both open and close the show. He also made it to the ring once in-between, but his music didn’t play because WWE was trying to make it look like he shouldn’t have been out there.

That’s what happens when you get jumped by Brock Lesnar while entering the arena, which is exactly what happened Monday night. Lesnar gave Rhodes a hellacious backstage beating, concentrating on Cody’s left arm and mocking him for wanting to fight at Night of Champions.

Lesnar came to the ring about halfway through Raw, claiming that Rhodes wouldn’t be able to make this weekend’s premium live event and laying out an open challenge to anyone who would step up. Instead, Rhodes came out, arm in a sling, and attempted to thrown down with Lesnar right there.

Let’s call that a tactical error for the American Nightmare, who ended up taking even more damage to his left arm after being locked in a kimura by Lesnar. The idea was that Rhodes’ arm was broken.

But that wasn’t the last word, because the night’s main event, which saw Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Matt Riddle defeat Imperium, ended about four minutes prior to 11 p.m. ET. It felt like something would happen, and that something was Triple H visiting Rhodes in the locker room and trying to convince him that Night of Champions was out.

Rhodes refused and said he’d fight Lesnar anyway. So there’s a built-in excuse for WWE to have Cody lose and continue the feud (to SummerSlam, perhaps). It was an unconventional but not illogical way to end the final live show before a premium live event, but we’ll have to wait until Saturday to see if it all plays out in satisfactory fashion.

Read on for a rundown of everything that happened Monday night.

WWE Raw results from Hershey:

  • As noted above, Lesnar attacked Rhodes in the back, smashing his left arm between a beer keg and a metal rolldown door
  • Paul Heyman took to the microphone to claim no responsibility for what just happened but suggested that was just a taste of what would happen to Rhodes at Night of Champions
  • Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn said they were feeling pretty good about their upcoming title defense at Night of Champions, but there was also business to attend to tonight … and that business found them, with Imperium surrounding the ring, but Matt Riddle arrived to help run them off and become their partner for the main event
  • Adam Pearce refused to confirm or deny to Byron Saxton that Rhodes suffered a broken arm
  • Bronson Reed def. Ricochet by pinfall
  • Apollo Crews got his interview crashed by Dominik Mysterio, who ended up talking his way into a match, and Rhea Ripley, who warned Natalya she would end her career at Night of Champions
  • Part 3 of Corey Graves’ interview with Seth Rollins aired, including Rollins saying he loves Roman Reigns but doesn’t like Roman Reigns
  • Finn Balor had some fighting words for his opponent tonight, Shinsuke Nakamura
  • Zoey Stark def. Candice LeRae by pinfall, despite some ringside encouragement from Nikki Cross
  • Mustafa Ali was more serious than he has been recently, discussing the opportunity he has coming up this weekend … until Lesnar walked by him on his way to the ring, telling Ali to get a life as he passed
  • Barging by Adam Pearce and other officials, Rhodes made his ill-advised attempt to confront Lesnar in the ring, which ended with him in even more pain
  • A promo vignette was aired to promote Indus Sher
  • Alpha Academy def. Viking Raiders by pinfall
  • Finn Balor def. Shinsuke Nakamura by pinfall thanks to some assistance from Damian Priest
  • Raquel Rodriguez def. Sonya Deville by pinfall, then got saved from a two-on-one post-match beating by Shotzi
  • Trish Stratus proposed a “no touch policy” for her contract signing with Becky Lynch, but Pearce declined …
  • … but Stratus and Lynch mostly just trade insults during their contract signing anyway
  • Pearce gives someone a phone call to update them on the Rhodes situation
  • Rodriguez offers Shotzi a chance to be her tag team partner to try back the women’s tag team titles
  • Dominik Mysterio def. Apollo Crews by pinfall, with the usual assist from Rhea Ripley
  • The final segment of the Graves-Rollins interview aired, focused largely on Seth discussing why he wants to win the World Heavyweight Championship so badly
  • Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Matt Riddle def. Imperium by pinfall
  • Triple H tried to talk Rhodes out of competing at Night of Champions, but to no avail

After the show went off the air, Imperium attempted to come back for some revenge on Owens, Zayn and Riddle, but that backfired as Ludwig Kaiser ended up going through a table.

WWE Raw results: KO, Sami run into unholy alliance

Find out what went down on the May 15 episode of WWE Raw from Greensboro, with Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch and more.

Sometimes when you want to leave something in the past, it just keeps running to keep up with you. And sometimes that thing running at you also finds you, pulls you out of a match, destroys you outside the ring and then challenges you to a match so that the whole world is waiting for you to respond on WWE Raw.

If that sounds like your personal story, my condolences. It definitely applies to Cody Rhodes, who made the logical assumption that once he defeated Brock Lesnar at Backlash, that would be the end of things between them.

Alas.

Now WWE says we will hear from the American Nightmare tonight in Greensboro, giving his answer about whether he will accept Lesnar’s challenge to fight again at Night of Champions. As the Magic 8-Ball might say, signs point to yes.

Someone who hasn’t had to fight anyone in a little bit is WWE Intercontinental Champion Gunther since he’s newly arrived on the Raw roster. Tonight’s show will feature a battle royal to find him a No. 1 contender, which should definitely be interesting.

There’s big happenings in the women’s division as well. Tag Team Champions Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez will defend their titles against the annoying but no less dangerous threat of Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville. And Becky Lynch is scheduled to appear after surprising Trish Stratus last week, and you know she isn’t coming just to talk if Stratus is in Greensboro in person.

Update: Morgan was apparently injured last week so the tag team title match is said to be off. We’ll see how that plays out.

WWE Raw results from Greensboro:

  • Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn see the title challenge from Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa as a gift as it gives them a chance for revenge on Reigns, but a visit from The Judgment Day inevitably turns to fisticuffs

  • Shinsuke Nakamura def. The Miz by pinfall
  • Adam Pearce confirms Liv Morgan was injured on SmackDown so the tag team title match is postponed, but because of the griping from the challengers, Chelsea Green is going to have a singles match with Raquel Rodriguez
  • Corey Graves introduces his previously recorded interview with Seth Rollins, who talks about his desire to effect change all the way back to his NXT days … and of course, the chair shot heard ’round the world that ended The Shield
  • Gunther figures an introduction might be necessary considering he started his impressive Intercontinental Championship reign on SmackDown, and says one man has a chance to both become his next challenger and earn his respect; press ‘X’ to doubt that last part

  • Mustafa Ali wins a Battle Royal to become No. 1 contender for the WWE Intercontinental Championship that includes Ricochet, Apollo Crews, Bronson Reed, Matt Riddle, Chad Gable, Otis, Baron Corbin, Von Wagner, Johnny Gargano, Dexter Lumis, JD McDonagh, Riddick Moss, Elias, Shelton Benjamin, Cedric Alexander, Mace, Mansoor, Humberto, Angel, Eri, Ivar, Akira Tozawa and Xyon Quinn; last eliminating Reed and Ricochet

  • Becky Lynch says “Thank you Trish” for hitting her and calling her daughter stupid, because that turned on a light in Becky that had been off for a while … and she’ll show how thankful she is when she kicks in Trish’s head at Night of Champions

  • Rhea Ripley and Natalya have a difference in opinion about respect, and the SmackDown Women’s Champion says she will end Nattie’s career if she ever sticks her nose in the champ’s business again
  • Ali doesn’t want to hear any negativity from Alpha Academy, but Gunther says he feels regret for him for traveling halfway around the world to lose and get the beating that goes with it
  • Dominik Mysterio def. Xavier Woods by pinfall
  • A video promo hypes JD McDonagh, who says the Irish Ace is here to stay; he also says live that he attacked Dolph Ziggler during the battle royal to make a statement
  • Indus Sher deg. Local Talent by pinfall, and Jinder Mahal tells the announce team their future is written in gold
  • Imperium pays a visit to KO and Sami, who tell them they’ll fight next week
  • Cody Rhodes tells the story of the scorpion and the frog, accepts Brock Lesnar’s challenge for Night of Champions and says that Brock isn’t the Next Big Thing any more — he’s simply in Cody’s way
  • Candice LeRae takes exception to the way Zoey Stark is talking about Nikki Cross and Candice’s “family” and the two women agree to settle things in the ring next week
  • Raquel Rodriguez def. Chelsea Green by pinfall … but Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler arrive afterward to beat down Rodriguez on the stage
  • Paul Heyman has been talking to Imperium, that can’t be good

  • The second part of Graves’ interview with Rollins covers the time right up to his pursuit of the World Heavyweight Championship and his motivation for wanting to win it: to push the industry forward
  • The Judgment Day (Finn Balor and Damian Priest) def. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn by pinfall thanks to interference from Imperium

WWE Raw preview: Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch have beefs to settle

Tonight’s episode of WWE Raw also features a women’s tag team title match and a Battle Royal to determine Gunther’s No. 1 contender.

Not with each other, mind you. But both Cody Rhodes and Becky Lynch are going to be addressing enemies who have proven particularly persistent on tonight’s episode of WWE from Greensboro, NC.

Rhodes defeated Brock Lesnar at Backlash, thinking he had put the Beast Incarnate behind him as he moved on to the World Heavyweight Championship Tournament. Alas, Lesnar has other plans (as he often does), attacking Rhodes mid-match and leaving no doubt that he wanted to keep their feud going.

What choice does the American Nightmare have but to accept Lesnar’s … um, request for another match at Night of Champions? Probably nonw, but we’ll find out tonight.

As for Lynch, she’s already clapped back at Trish Stratus for mocking her for being absent in recent weeks. The Man especially wasn’t going to let jokes about her young daughter slide, so now Stratus is likely going to have to agree to a match as well — but then again, that may be what she wanted all along. In any case, Lynch will get a chance to address Stratus in Greensboro.

Is there any wrestling on this card, you may ask? Yes, yes there is. For starters, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez will once again defend their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship, this time against Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville. After accidentally talking his way into it last week, The Miz will face Shinsuke Nakamura. And a Battle Royal will determine the No. 1 contender for the Ring General himself, Gunther, now that he’s going to be defending his Intercontinental Championship on Monday nights.

This all sounds like fun, right? We think so too. We’ll be tuned in to USA at 8 p.m. tonight to see how it all goes down, so please join us back here on Wrestling Junkie if you’re unable to do the same.

WWE Raw results: Seth Rollins advances to semifinals of World Title Tournament

See how the Visionary made it through to the next round of the tournament.

Seth Rollins is the first to make his ring walk, and he stops and has a short staredown with Cody Rhodes on the ramp. Damian Priest gets a pre-match interview and proves how anxious he is to get going, attacking Rollins and Shinsuke Nakamura the second the bell rings.

Priest is eventually sent to the floor, leaving Shinsuke and Rollins to look each other right in the eyes. The King of Strong Style wins their brief encounter, then drops a leg on the back of Priest’s neck on the apron.

After commercials, the action has moved back to the ring, where Rollins is bossing Nakamura before diving off the top rope for a cross body that takes down both his foes. His suicide dive takes out Priest, then another one nails Nakamura on the opposite side of the ring.

Rollins wants more but catches a Priest right hand to the face; Nakamura comes right at Priest, who is selling left leg damage from his Backlash match as he fights.

Nakamura hits a flying knee from the corner on Priest, who is covered but kicks out at two. Rollins tries to roll up Nakamura and gets two, and there’s some nice action with all three men that leads to a Priest Flatliner on Rollins for another near fall.

Now all three men are down as the fans cheer to try to get them back in action. No one can get the upper hand as they battle again, but Nakamura gets Rollins in a sleeper that lasts only until a discus lariat lays him out.

Rollins heads to the top rope but gets crotched by Priest. Damian tries for the Razor’s Edge, but it’s countered by a Stomp that almost gets Seth the victory until Shinsuke breaks up the pin.

Shinsuke and Rollins yell at each other, then progress to throwing hands. Nakamura finally emerges with an inverted exploder suplex, and he wants a Kinshasa but gets run over by Priest instead.

Nakamura battles to avoid the South of Heaven, and the fans come to life as they see him lock on a kneebar. Alas, Rollins comes out of nowhere to attack Shinsuke, and a Pedigree seals the deal as he advances to the Raw semifinal.

Click here for full WWE Raw results from Jacksonville.

WWE Raw results: Cody Rhodes’ misfortune is Seth Rollins’ gain in World Title tourney

Brock Lesnar made his presence felt on Raw in a way that directly affected the tournament.

If there’s such a thing as May Madness (and if there is, we’re likely going to hear about it from Legal), WWE’s got it for tonight’s episode of Raw from Jacksonville.

Why, you could very reasonably ask? Because the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament, kicks off tonight, that’s why. Two Triple Threat matches will narrow a field of six down to two, with the winners doing battle later this very night to determine who will go on to Night of Champions later this month to fight for the right to be the inaugural wearer of the new big gold belt.

WWE has helpfully revealed who will be in each of the first round tournament matches. One will see Cody Rhodes, Finn Balor and The Miz square off, while the other features Damian Priest, Seth Rollins and Shinsuke Nakamura. Those combinations set the stage for lots of fun possibilities for the Raw semifinal, including things like an all Judgment Day affait.

(Of course, we have our own ideas on how things should play out.)

The other segment WWE is promoting ahead of the episode is the return of Trish Stratus. The women’s wrestling icon and WWE Hall of Famer seems to have gotten the better of Becky Lynch both physically and psychologically over the past few weeks, as Lynch hasn’t been on TV for a while. But Stratus might not want to be too cocky when she appears on Raw tonight, because when The Man comes back around, there just might be hell to pay.

It’s also the first show where the post-WWE Draft rosters are in effect on Raw, so expect to see some new faces as well.

WWE Raw results from Jacksonville:

(click on any match with a link for full details)

  • Cody Rhodes says he discovered at Backlash that Brock Lesnar could be defeated, and that he’s now completely focused on the World Heavyweight Championship, so he says let the tournament begin
  • Damian Priest doesn’t really want to discuss his loss to Bad Bunny but does think he and Finn Balor will battle in the semifinal later tonight
  • Seth Rollins def. Shinsuke Nakamura and Damian Priest in a World Heavyweight Championship Tournament first round match by pinning Nakamura
  • “You’ll still be Imperium in five minutes, right?” Imperium wants Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn to know Gunther is coming to Raw next week, but their insistence on not being bothered seems like it’s going to lead to a match
  • Mustafa Ali def. Otis by pinfall
  • The Miz reminds the world that he’s a history maker and will have respect put on his name when he wins the tournament\
  • Finn Balor def. Cody Rhodes and The Miz in a World Heavyweight Championship Tournament first round match after Brock Lesnar attacks Rhodes and Balor pins Miz
  • Rhea Ripley def. Dana Brooke by submission, then is confronted by Natalya but leaves without any fisticuffs breaking out
  • A video package shows all of the NXT performers who got drafted to Raw, and one of them, Zoey Stark, challenges Nikki Cross for her first Raw match
  • Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn def. Imperium (Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser) by pinfall
  • Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green are busy getting signatures on their petition to get a rematch for the tag team titles, and The Way is nearly all back together backstage
  • Zoey Stark def. Nikki Cross by pinfall
  • Dominik Mysterio and Xavier Woods talk their way into a match later tonight, while Akira Tozawa wanders off
  • Trish Stratus is worried because Becky Lynch is missing, and says Lynch will be found but won’t be coming to “her” show … except she’s 100% wrong, and The Man gives her a quick beating before insisting she’s come around to kick Trish’s ass
  • Dominik Mysterio def. Xavier Woods by pinfall
  • Indus Sher says they’ve been waiting for their chance to strike; The Miz accidentally ends up with a match against Nakamura next week; Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez find out Deville and Green started their petition thinking they would be facing Damage CTRL for the tag team titles
  • Rhodes says this is the second time that Lesnar has attacked him from behind for no reason, so he says “let’s fight” at Night of Champions
  • Seth Rollins def. Finn Balor by pinfall to win the World Heavyweight Championship Tournament semifinal

WWE SmackDown results: Bad Bunny unites with the LWO

Bad Bunny and Cody Rhodes are looking to make a final point or two ahead of their respective Backlash matches.

WWE Backlash is almost ready to ignite the fans of San Juan, Puerto Rico, but they’ll get a chance to see some of their favorite wrestlers — and the biggest recording artist in the world — a night ahead of time tonight on WWE SmackDown.

Bad Bunny was announced some time ago as the host of Backlash, which made all the sense in the world. But he’s been embroiled in some drama involving The Judgment Day since WrestleMania, and it all boiled over once Damian Priest put him through an announce table.

As tends to happen in WWE, Bad Bunny came looking for Priest with a kendo stick, and the two men ended up getting booked for a San Juan Street Fight for Saturday night. Before that takes place, we’ll see if Bad Bunny gets the final word on SmackDown.

Another superstar who figures to want to say his piece ahead of a big Backlash match is Cody Rhodes. What will the American Nightmare want to talk about ahead of his showdown with Brock Lesnar?

Matches? Yep, there have been a couple of those promoted for SmackDown as well. Shinsuke Nakamura will take on Karrion Kross in singles action, while the Viking Raiders take on Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows of The O.C. in a tag team match.

Neither of those jumps out as a main event, so figure we’ll get another prominent match added to the card during the show that will fill that spot and whip the crowd into a proper pre-Backlash frenzy.

WWE SmackDown results from San Juan:

  • Rey Mysterio and the LWO hit the ring but are quickly joined by The Judgment Day, and San Juan hates Dominik Mysterio as much as any U.S. audience, and they end up agreeing to a mixed tag match before Dom gets in a cheap shot on his dad
  • The O.C. def. The Viking Raiders by pinfall
  • Michael Cole and Wade Barrett promote the World Heavyweight Championship tournament taking place next week
  • Bianca Belair talks about how important SmackDown is to her before she’s interrupted by Damage CTRL; Bayley calls her conceited, and Belair gets assistance from Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez when it inevitably turns into a fight

  • Karrion Kross delivers one last warning to Shinsuke Nakamura
  • The Usos are getting psyched for their Backlash match, but Solo Sikoa just silently wraps his thumb before finally telling his brothers they better do their part

  • Street Profits def. Imperium (Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci) by pinfall
  • A lengthy hype video for the Cody Rhodes-Brock Lesnar match is shown
  • “I don’t have any time to be scared of Brock Lesnar.” Rhodes hits the ring for his mic time, some of it in Spanish, and makes his case for calling Lesnar a gatekeeper while vowing to get back on track to finishing his story

  • Nakamura has just one thing to say to Kross: Come on!
  • Matt Riddle thinks he, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have the Bloodline right where they want them for Backlash
  • Shinsuke Nakamura def. Karrion Kross by pinfall
  • A video package provides a closer look at the NXT talent drafted to SmackDown, including Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre, Cameron Grimes, Pretty Deadly and Grayson Waller
  • Adam Pearce welcomes Cameron Grimes to SmackDown but their discussion is interrupted by the non-drafted Baron Corbin, and they end up agreeing to a match next week
  • Zelina Vega and Rey Mysterio def. Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio by pinfall, only to be attacked by The Judgment Day right after the bell, but …
  • … Bad Bunny leads the LWO to the rescue, though his kendo stick shots intended for Damian Priest are intercepted by Dom; Bad Bunny accepts and puts on an LWO shirt to end the show

WWE SmackDown preview May 5: Bad Bunny, Cody Rhodes hit Puerto Rico

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Karrion Kross and The O.C. vs. The Viking Raiders are two of the matches on Friday’s card.

Is it really a go home show if you’re already home? Bad Bunny is ready to welcome the WWE Universe to San Juan, Puerto Rico for SmackDown the night before Backlash, an event where he’ll be both host and an active combatant.

The problem for Bad Bunny is that while he’ll be able to use anything he gets his hands on in his San Juan Street Fight against Damian Priest Saturday night, Priest has the entire Judgment Day in his corner. They also may want to “welcome” him on SmackDown, so Bunny might want to have some backup just in case. The LWO, perhaps?

Another wrestler with a huge match at Backlash is the American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes, who may be losing sleep himself over the thought of tangling with Brock Lesnar on Saturday. He’s going to get his final say on SmackDown, but if Lesnar is also in the house, don’t expect things to stick to just words.

Shinsuke Nakamura is headed to Raw when the new WWE rosters go into effect Monday night, and Karrion Kross is staying on SmackDown. That makes Friday night’s show the perfect time to settle things between them in the ring before heading their separate ways.

(Cue the Journey for that.)

And after The O.C. and the Viking Raiders engaged in a six-person brawl won convincingly by AJ Styles’ group, Erik and Ivar are likely looking for some payback. They will take on Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows on SmackDown for a chance at exactly that.

The San Juan crowd is almost certain to be live for this, which should make it even more fun. Tune in to Fox at 8 p.m. ET to see it all unfold, or check out our live results here at Wrestling Junkie to stay in the know.

WWE Raw results: Seth Rollins, Solo Sikoa match becomes a 7-person brawl

Also on tonight’s card are Jimmy Uso vs. Matt Riddle and Shinsuke Nakamura on Miz TV.

Part of the Raw roster for May 8 and beyond is set. The rest of it will fall into place on tonight’s episode from Forth Worth, Texas.

Thanks to Night One of the 2023 WWE Draft, Raw has 24 wrestlers on its roster, including Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch and all of Imperium. But the other half of the WWE talent pool remains ready to be selected on Night Two, which just so happens to be tonight.

One of the big names yet to be chosen is Brock Lesnar. Not only is he generally not involved in the draft, getting to be a free agent who floats between brands, he’s also in the middle of a program with Rhodes. You’d think WWE would send them to the same brand, but it’s certainly not guaranteed since Lesnar and Rhodes will do battle at Backlash and the new rosters take effect on the following Raw.

(Note: Lesnar ended up as a free agent after all, see below.)

Two people who already know they’re going to be on Monday nights going forward are Shinsuke Nakamura and The Miz. Conveniently, we’ll see them interact tonight, as the King of Strong Style will be a guest on the A-Lister’s latest Miz TV segment.

There’s also an intriguing singles match that WWE announced this afternoon. Jimmy Uso still doesn’t know where he and Jey will be plying their trade, as The Usos are in tonight’s draft pool. But while the brothers are undoubtedly still stinging from their championship rematch loss to Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn — not to mention their failure in a bout they dedicated to the Tribal Chief — Jimmy won’t have time to reflect tonight as he’s up against Matt Riddle.

WWE Raw results from Fort Worth:

(click here for WWE Draft picks for each round tonight and click on any match with a link for more details)

  • Triple H comes out to welcome everyone to Raw and to Night Two of the WWE Draft; oh, and Brock Lesnar isn’t eligible to be drafted after all, having renegotiated his status as a free agent earlier today
  • “If he’s upset with me now, he’s really not going to like this one.” Paul Heyman says The Usos’ draft fate is TBD, but while addressing the “jokes” in the Raw locker room, he says the word “freakin'” a few too many times and accidentally summons Seth Rollins, who issues his own spoiler about winning the World Heavyweight Championship at Night of Champions; that brings out Solo Sikoa, who will face Rollins later tonight
  • Adam Pearce asks Cody Rhodes not to start up any chaos with Brock Lesnar but gets no promises
  • Bayley and Dakota Kai def. Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez by pinfall
  • Booker T (Raw) and wife Sharmell (SmackDown) head out to deliver the next round of draft picks
  • “Good luck with that.” Pearce makes the same plea to Brock Lesnar that he made to Cody, but well …
  • Braun Strowman and Ricochet def. Alpha Academy by pinfall
  • The Bad Bunny-Damian Priest hype video is played again
  • Shawn Michaels and Adam Pearce are out to announce the next round of WWE Draft picks, but Brock Lesnar decides he wants to head to the ring now, Pearce sends out a phalanx of security guards, and Rhodes tries to get him a piece of Brock and ends up getting trapped by all the guards instead
  • Matt Riddle is excited that he got drafted to the same show as the tag team champions so they can hang out all the time, but Kevin Owens is not as psyched about that
  • Matt Riddle def. Jimmy Uso by pinfall
  • Eric Bischoff (Raw) and Rob Van Dam (SmackDown) head out to make the next round of WWE Draft picks
  • Jey Uso asks why Sikoa wasn’t at ringside for Jimmy’s match, and Heyman says Solo needs to stay concentrated on his assignment tonight
  • Shinsuke Nakamura joins The Miz for Miz TV, and the A-Lister ends up eating a Kinshasa, as you might expect
  • Omos def. local talent in a quick squash match
  • Road Dogg and Molly Holly are next to introduce the Round 5 WWE Draft picks
  • The Judgment Day is happy to be staying together on Raw, and delivers messages to Zelina Vega and Bad Bunny in multiple languages, but the LWO responds with a rousing speech from Rey Mysterio
  • Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley def. Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar and Zelina Vega when Priest pins Rey Mysterio after a South of Heaven
  • Rhodes admits Lesnar is in his head but says that while Brock usually gets what he wants, he won’t on Saturday
  • Bianca Belair says it doesn’t matter what show she’s on as long as she can represent, and Damage CTRL comes by to tell her that IYO SKY will beat her at Backlash, to which Belair accuses Bayley and Dakota Kai of holding SKY back
  • Teddy Long (Raw) and JBL (SmackDown) are out to deliver the sixth and final round of draft picks
  • Xavier Woods say The New Day will inject a little more energy back into Monday nights
  • Seth Rollins vs. Solo Sikoa ends in a DQ as the Usos invade the ring, quickly followed by a brawl that involves Owens, Zayn and Riddle that ends the show

WWE SmackDown results: WWE Draft begins, The Usos come up short

Yes, the WWE Draft begins tonight, but there’s also a huge tag team title rematch in store in Corpus Christi.

It’s time to get those picks in. WWE SmackDown is hitting Corpus Christi tonight, and it’s bringing the 2023 WWE Draft with it.

Triple H has promised that this year’s draft will truly “change the game,” and assuming he wasn’t just trying to get in one more pun involving his nickname from his wrestling days, we’re looking forward to how things will get shaken up.

That’s far from the only big thing happening during this week’s SmackDown, however. There’s also the not so little matter of a rematch for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship, one now held by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn following their dramatic victory at WrestleMania 39 earlier this month.

The Usos have a chance to get their gold back, but what happens if they fail? Jey and Jimmy dedicated the match to their Tribal Chief, but if they come up short, they’re likely to face his wrath — especially since Paul Heyman has let them know Roman Reigns is already losing patience with them.

(As an aside, The Usos can also be drafted separately from Reigns and Solo Sikoa, which is something to keep an eye on over the next few days.)

The other notable match promoted ahead of tonight’s show will see Zelina Vega take on Sonya Deville. Vega bravely called for a title shot against Rhea Ripley at Backlash and got what she asked for, but now the hard work begins. She’ll be looking to get a dub against Deville to make sure she heads to Puerto Rico with some momentum.

What else do you need to get psyched for this Friday’s show? Probably not much, we’d wager.

WWE SmackDown results from Corpus Christi:

(Click here for WWE Draft picks updated throughout the night and click on any match with a link for more details)

  • Triple H introduces the first segment of the WWE Draft, announcing that the post-draft rosters will go into effect on May 8, the Raw after Backlash; with Roman Reigns as part of the first overall pick, the World Heavyweight Championship becomes exclusive to Raw
  • The Usos double down on dedicating their championship rematch to Reigns, but are joined on stage by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn and everyone agrees the time for talking is over
  • LA Knight def. Butch by pinfall
  • Heyman says tonight is the night, but Jey Uso doesn’t seem to be digging this pep talk as much as Jimmy
  • Rob Van Dam (Raw) and Michael Hayes (SmackDown) come out to the podiums to read the next two rounds of WWE Draft picks
  • The Street Profits (who are headed to SmackDown) still want the smoke
  • Street Profits def. Braun Strowman and Ricochet and LWO (Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde) by pinning Ricochet
  • Teddy Long (Raw) and JBL (SmackDown) come out to announce the Round 3 draft picks
  • Zelina Vega def. Sonya Deville by pinfall, then gets assaulted by Rhea Ripley (who also smashes Deville), who looks for Riptide but sees it countered into a DDT
  • Zelina gets props from Santos Escobar and Rey Mysterio, with Rey telling her not to worry about what anyone else thinks of her chances at Backlash
  • The O.C. heads to the ring, including the returning AJ Styles, are confronted by the Viking Raiders and Valhalla, and Styles ducks out of the way so there’s an even six-person brawl, and The O.C. quickly wins it … and Styles delivers a Phenomenal Forearm for good measure
  • Road Dogg (Raw) and Shawn Michaels (SmackDown) hit the stage to make the fourth and final round of WWE Draft picks for the night
  • Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre are interviewed after being selected for SmackDown but get challenged for their titles before they leave NXT
  • Shinsuke Nakamura is asked about heading to Raw but gets laid out by Karrion Kross
  • Heyman says he and Solo aren’t going out to the ring because the Tribal Chief wants the spotlight on The Usos, but he’s been acting sus all night
  • Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn def. The Usos by pinfall to retain the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship