WWE RAW Results – August 28, 2023 – PWMania – Wrestling News

The road to WWE Payback 2023 begins winding down tonight.

WWE Monday Night Raw returns at 8/7c on USA Network this evening from the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee with the “go-home” show for this weekend’s WWE Payback 2023 premium live event.

On tap for tonight’s three-hour WWE on USA show is Becky Lynch vs. Zoey Stark in a Falls Count Anywhere match, Bronson Reed vs. Tommaso Ciampa, Chad Gable vs. Ludwig Kaiser, as well as The New Day vs. The Viking Raiders.

Featured below are complete WWE Monday Night Raw results from Monday, August 28, 2023 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live on the USA Network from 8-11pm EST.

WWE RAW RESULTS (8/28/2023)

The John Cena-led “WWE. Then. Now. Forever. Together.” opening signature airs and then we shoot to an “In Memory Of” graphic for Terry Funk and Bray Wyatt.

Sami Zayn vs. Damian Priest

Now we shoot inside the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN. where Sami Zayn’s theme hits. One-half of the Undisputed WWE World Tag-Team Champions makes his way out for our opening contest.

Zayn settles into the ring and the camera pans over to Michael Cole and company on commentary, who mention the loss of Terry Funk and Bray Wyatt last week and says tonight will be a celebration of their lives.

“Senor” Money in the Bank comes out next to the sounds of The Judgment Day theme. Damian Priest comes out by himself with his Money In The Bank briefcase in-hand. He settles in the ring and his music dies down.

The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. We see these two immediately get after it, with the action spilling out to the floor. Zayn hits a springboard moonsault onto The Judgment Day member at ringside.

As the action continues inside the ring, Zayn once again knocks Priest out to the floor. He rams him into the steel ring post. He heads back into the ring and amps up for a big dive, but Priest sends him crashing into the commentary desk as we head into a mid-match commercial break.

When we return from the break, we see Sami has taken over during the break, as he connects with a top-rope sunset flip into a power bomb for a close near fall. Zayn knocks Priest out to the floor and this time he connects after soaring over the ropes.

Back in the ring, Zayn comes off the top-rope and gets caught by the throat by Priest, who hoists him up and chokeslams him. Zayn fights back and hits a Blue Thunder Bomb for a close near fall. Priest fights back and hoists Zayn up for a power bomb, but Zayn escapes and connects with an exploder suplex in the corner.

He tries to follow up with the Helluva Kick, but JD McDonagh grabs his foot at ringside. Priest hits his choke slam finisher off the distraction and then gets the win. After the match, McDonagh heads in the ring and raises Priest’s hand, but Priest yanks his hand away and shoves McDonagh down to the mat. He walks off as McDonagh asks what his problem is.

After that, Priest heads to the back. McDonagh turns around and gets beat down by Zayn and Kevin Owens, who connects with a Stunner for a huge pop. The two leave McDonagh laying and Zayn’s theme plays again for another pop from the crowd.

Winner: Damian Priest

Matt Riddle Approaches Drew McIntyre Backstage

Once the post-match scene wraps up, we head to a commercial break. When we return, we see Drew McIntyre backstage looking at a picture of himself in green tights. Akira Tozawa says it looks good.

He walks off. Riddle comes in and says every good team has matching gear. McIntyre goes to walk away but Riddle tells him first that they should get ringside seats for The New Day vs. The Viking Raiders match. McIntyre agrees.

Road To Raquel Rodriguez vs. Rhea Ripley

We see a lengthy video package hyping the Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Rodriguez (that’s a lot of R’s!) showdown for the WWE Women’s World Championship at WWE Payback 2023. After the video, we head to another commercial break.

The Miz Parodies LA Knight, YEAH!

When we return from the break, we see media coverage of John Cena’s upcoming return to WWE and then we head back inside the FedEx Forum when the theme for LA Knight hits.

The crowd goes wild and then The Miz makes his way out dressed up as LA Knight. He looks just like him, too. He settles into the ring and does Knight’s mannerisms and his voice even sounds like him as he begins, “Let me talk to ya!”

From there, he says “YEAH!” about 10,000 times and then teases throwing a “YEAH!” LA Knight shirt to the crowd if they chant “YEAH!” They all loudly do. Miz then tears the LA Knight gear off and mocks how easy it is to be like him and get the crowd to chant.

The New Day vs. The Viking Raiders

We return from the break and we see Seth Rollins sitting on a production crate backstage looking super serious, while wearing a Windham Rotunda tribute arm band. Ricochet walks by and just sees him and keeps walking.

Now we return inside the arena where The New Day theme hits and out comes Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods for our next match of the evening. As they settle inside the squared circle, we head to a pre-match commercial break.

As we settle back in from the break, we see The New Day in the ring. Their music cuts off and then we hear “BRO!” Out comes Matt Riddle to “BRO! BRO! BRO!” chants. He stops and the sword-swipe from Drew McIntyre’s theme is heard.

“The Scottish Warrior” emerges and heads to the ring with “The Original BRO” to get a close look at our next match of the evening. The two settle in at ringside and take their seats. Their music dies down.

From there, The Viking Raiders siren sounds and out comes Erik and Ivar accompanied by Valhalla. They settle in the ring and the bell sounds to get this one officially off-and-running. Kicking things off for their respective teams are Xavier Woods and Erik.

Erik jumps into the early offensive lead, but it doesn’t last for long. Kingston picks up the speed and intensity and takes over. He hits a few high spots that pops the crowd and then we head into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.

When we return from the break, we see Ivar beating down Kingston, as the offensive momentum has shifted during the commercials. The commentary talks about the picture of Drew McIntyre that Riddle had made with the special matching tights. The New Day starts to fight back but Valhalla interferes and helps keep things in The Viking Raiders’ favor.

Things start getting crazy as the match spills out to the floor. McIntyre and Riddle get bumped out of their chairs. McIntyre loses his cool and throws the computer chair at Erik, but he moves and it takes out Woods. Ivar splashes on him with a canonball off the apron. This leads to the finish in the ring seconds later, with The Viking Raiders getting the win.

Winners: The Viking Raiders

Rhea Ripley Issues Ultimatum To The Judgment Day Ahead Of WWE Payback

We shoot backstage after the match and we see Finn Balor and Damian Priest arguing about JD McDonagh and what happened in the opener earlier tonight. Priest complains about him, leading to Zayn pointing out that the only reason he beat Sami Zayn is because of McDonagh.

As they continue to argue, Rhea Ripley yells at them to shut up. She bickers as usual about how they’re supposed to be the most dominant force in WWE, but lately they’re too busy fighting amongst themselves. She tells them if The Judgment Day don’t all leave WWE Payback with titles, there’s gonna be some big changes around here. After this, we head to another commercial break.

Tribute To Bray Wyatt

When we return from the break, we shoot to the commentary section where Michael Cole brings up the loss of WWE Superstar Bray Wyatt (Windham Rotunda) last week at the age of 36. We then shoot into the tribute video package that WWE put together in his honor.

After the package wraps up, we return inside the FedEx Forum where we see the entire crowd has their Fireflies out and they erupt in a “Thank you, Bray!” chant. Wyatt’s empty rocking chair is shown on the stage under a spotlight. We head to another commercial break after this.

Chad Gable vs. Ludwig Kaiser

As we settle back in from the break, we see Imperium making their way down to the ring. GUNTHER gets on the mic on top of the commentary desk and complains about losing to Chad Gable via count out. He says that meant nothing because he is still the Intercontinental Champion. He says now Gable has his attention and when they square off next week for the title, he’ll make him regret it.

He continues ranting but is interrupted by “SHOOSH!” and then the Alpha Academy theme song. Out comes the trio consisting of Chad Gable, Otis and Maxxine Dupri. Gable claps back at “The Ring General” on the mic and then we shift into our next match, pitting Gable against Ludwig Kaiser of Imperium.

The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. As Gable works over Kaiser early on, Cole talks on commentary about the I-C title bout between Gable and GUNTHER on next week’s show. After a couple of minutes of action, we head into a mid-match commercial break as the match continues.

When we return from the break, we see some distractions leading to Kaiser taking over temporarily. This doesn’t last, however, as Gable fights back into the offensive lead as he gets Kaiser in an armbar over the ring ropes. A few seconds later, we shift gears and head back into another commercial break.

As we settle in from that mid-match advertising time out, we see Gable fight his way back into the offensive lead again after Kaiser took over during the break. Gable goes for a moonsault but Kaiser moves and Gable lands on his feet. He knocks Kaiser out to the floor and then hits a huge top-rope moonsault onto the Imperium duo on the floor.

Back in the ring, Kaiser starts to shift the offensive momentum back into his favor with a pair of stiff European upper-cuts. Gable fights back with a muscle-up suplex on Kaiser. He goes for the cover, but Giovanni Vinci breaks it up.

Both teams brawl after the DQ. They run Otis into the ring post and then double-team Gable in the ring while GUNTHER watches. GUNTHER then gets in on the action.

Winner via DQ: Chad Gable