WWE RAW May 8, 2023 Preview & Match Card
WWE RAW on May 8, 2023, will be live from Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, FL, and will deal with the fallout from Backlash 2023.
RAW side of World Heavyweight Championship tournament will take place on the show to find one of the challengers at Night of Champions 2023. Draft 2023 will go into affect and we might know whether RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair holds onto her title or not. Check below for the complete preview and match card for WWE RAW May 8, 2023 episode.
World Heavyweight Tournament
The inaugural champion for the new World Heavyweight Championship will be crowned at Night of Champions 2023 event in Saudi Arabia later this month. One out of the two participants of that match will be identified on this show via a tournament. Two triple threat matches will take place to start RAW on May 8. The winners of these two matches will later clash in the main event and the winner of the main event will be one of the contenders for the new World title.
From RAW side, Cody Rhodes, Damian Priest, Finn Bálor, Seth “Freakin” Rollins, Shinsuke Nakamura and The Miz, will be taking part in this tournament. Who emerges victorious from RAW side of bracket?
Draft Enforced
WWE Draft 2023 see a lot of changes to both RAW and SmackDown rosters. Those changes will come into affect with episode, which would mean the Bloodline’s rivalry with Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Matt Riddle is now finished as well as the rivalry between Judgment Day and LWO. New NXT call ups will also appear on RAW from this week onwards including Indi Hartwell, Indus Sher, Zoey Stark, JD McDonagh and many other.
However, there are some issues which needs to be addressed. RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair was drafted to SmackDown while SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley was drafted to RAW. How will WWE make this right? Will we see another title swap between the champions and it happened in 2021 between Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch? Bianca Belair is now the longest reigning women’s champion after surpassing Bayley’s record. Will this reign be recognized if the title swap takes place?
What Else to Expect?
Cody Rhodes was able to beat Brock Lesnar when he countered a Kimura lock into a pin. However, Lesnar had already damaged his arm by that time. Will it affect Cody’s chances to compete for the new World Heavyweight Championship?
What will be next for the Judgment Day? Will we see them go after Undisputed Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn?
