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WWE Raw Recap: A Maelstrom of Mediocrity and Missed Opportunities

From stale feuds to forgettable debuts, the May 15 WWE Raw was a smorgasbord of squandered potential. Here's a breakdown of this lackluster circus act.

The latest installment of WWE Raw on May 15, 2023 was brimming with cheap theatrics, questionable confrontations, and debuts that were as impressive as a wet firework. So just another Monday for the WWE Universe. Mustafa Ali scrounged up a victory in a high-stakes Battle Royal, earning a shot at losing to Intercontinental Champion Gunther on a grander stage than he normally loses on, while Shinsuke Nakamura got a win over The Miz in a match that led to zero change in momentum for either competitor. Becky Lynch threw down the gauntlet to WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus for a match at WWE Night of Champions, promising to squander Stratus's 2023 heel run at a show designed to promote Saudi Arabian propaganda. The night also witnessed the awkward staredowns between Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar, and a squabble between Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn and The Judgment Day.

Sad you missed it? Don't worry. We'll get you all caught up.

The circus started with a petty spat between Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn and The Judgment Day. Despite their attempts to put on a show, Owens and Zayn were visibly flustered by The Judgment Day, hinting at a feud as fresh and exciting as stale popcorn.

Shinsuke Nakamura, in his inaugural Raw match after being drafted, wrestled with The Miz. The showdown concluded in Nakamura's favor after he managed to dodge Miz's Skull-Crushing Finale and hit the Kinshasa for the win. Unfortunately, this does nothing for either man, because one of them beat The Miz, and the other was beaten by Shinsuke Nakamura.

Gunther, the Intercontinental Champion, made a grand entrance in his Raw debut, in which he cut a promo vowing to defend his title… just not this week. A high-stakes Battle Royal saw Mustafa Ali win the honor of jobbing to Gunther at WWE Night of Champions.

Becky Lynch issued a challenge to Trish Stratus for a match at WWE Night of Champions, and hopefully that won't be the end of Trish's 2023 revival run because it would be nice for that match to happen on a show we actually plan to watch.

Dominik Mysterio, with a little hand-holding from Smackdown Women's Champion Rhea Ripley, managed to score a win over Xavier Woods.

Veer and Sanga of Indus Sher made their WWE Raw debut by bulldozing jobbers Drake Thompson and Lavar Barbie.

Cody Rhodes, in an apparent attempt to stay relevant while his current rival can't even be bothered to show up for work claimed that Lesnar is just an obstacle on the path to him finally completing his story and winning the WWE Championship. Cody seems to have confused Lesnar with the WWE booking team, which is never going to let the guy who founded AEW win a world title. By this time next year, he'll be back in the Stardust costume.

Raquel Rodriguez pulled off a victory over Chelsea Green in a filler match designed to set up the next challengers for the Women's Tag Team Championship. Post-match, Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler huffed and puffed their way to the ring, demanding a title opportunity and illustrating their point by beating the crap out of Rodriguez.

Finally, in a non-title match that was as thrilling as watching paint dry, The Judgment Day's Finn Bálor and Damian Priest managed to defeat Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn with an assist from Gunther and his Imperium buddies. So Judgment Day is just warming up the champions for Imperium? Or is it the other way around? Or are both warming them up for Roman?

In a nutshell, the May 15 episode of WWE Raw was a hodgepodge of uninspired melodrama and lackluster action. The biggest highlights of the night consisted of wrestlers issuing challenges for matches in the future, while the matches we did get were nothing to write home about. Maybe the upcoming Saudi PLE just puts us in a bad mood? Or maybe it's the fact that WWE can't really advance major storylines at a show whose intended audience is the Saudi ministry of propaganda and not actual wrestling fans. Hopefully, Raw can get back on track next month after Night of Champions ends and the show actually has a world champion for the first time in years.

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