WWE Raw on August 28 was a fun Raw. We saw a consistently solid night of wrestling. Nothing was rated below 3.00 stars. All of the programs were given a good amount of build towards WWE Payback this weekend. Seth and Shinsuke added more heat to their feud, especially adding more after last week's heat. Judgment Day is reaching an important crossing point in their story. Becky gained momentum by beating Zoey Stark. Gunther has a date with Chad Gable next Monday. And The Miz entertainingly mocked LA Knight. The show had a solid flow and had a nice amount of matches. The promos were spaced nicely along with the moments of paying tribute to Bray and Terry. (Tributes have no effect over the rating, Bray’s was before Gunther and Terry was before the main event) Oh Yeah! We didn’t get a Judgment Day main event tonight! Something that is refreshing to the show.
WWE Raw on August 28 is the raw side of things Go Home show. Seth Rollins calls out Shinsuke Nakamura after tensions grew to great lengths between them. The New Day face the Viking Raiders. What’s next for the Judgment Day? What kind of momentum does Becky Lynch create when she faces Trish’s protege, Zoey Stark in a falls count anywhere match.
GREAT Damian Priest Vs Sami Zayn: WWE Raw August 28 2023 Opening Match
This was a fun match that was paced greatly. We saw a hot crowd at this point of the show. Starting off hot with Sami Zayn. They had great action between them before JD McDonagh distracted Sami Zayn. Damian got the win with the south of heaven but once finding out JD helped him he didn’t care. JD was left in the ring to get stunned and kicked by Sami Zayn as Damian continues to want JD to not mess with Judgment Day business.
Results: Damian Priest by Pinfall via South Of Heaven
Coby Galenzoski WR Star Rating – 3.75 Stars
Raquel promises she is working hard to make sure Rhea Ripley can’t run through the division. To be the one to overpower Rhea. This was a short video package.
GREAT The Miz Promo:
In a promo that started off with The Miz coming out to LA Knight’s theme and dressed like him. It had the crowd giving the Miz, the yeahs for LA. The Miz ripped off the attire before claiming anyone can be LA Knight. Claiming that after Payback, LA Knight will be a loser. I thought this was a fun promo.
Coby Galenzoski WR Star Rating – 3.50 Stars
GREAT New Day Vs Viking Raiders:
This was far better and got a lot of time to build in comparison to the match a few weeks ago. Great tag team action and every member got great moments. Woods took out Erik on the outside as Kofi and Ivar were in the ring. Kofi is thrown into the steps before being used as a battering ram to Drew and Matt sitting ringside. McIntyre gets bad and throws the office chairs him and Riddle were sitting on. One into the ring, the other right at Xavier. Kofi is hit with a spinning kick before being lifted by both men for the Ragnarok.
Drew, Matt and Kofi check on Xavier Woods on the outside.
Results: Viking Raiders by Pinfall via Ragnarok Assisted Powerbomb
Coby Galenzoski WR Star Rating – 3.50 Stars
Finn and Damian are talking about getting on the same page. Rhea Ripley shuts them both up before mentioning how The Judgment Day claim they run Raw but lose every week and now people want to target her. She puts her foot down and demands that Finn and Damian make things right at Payback because if The Judgment Day doesn’t have gold by the end of Payback, Mami promises there will be changes.
Kofi Kingston tells Riddle and McIntyre no hard feelings before Drew says to Riddle “We are going to fix this” Drew wanting a tornado tag match seemingly and Riddle not even getting the hint about the special stipulation, just happy Drew referred to them as we.
GREAT Gunther Promo:
Gunther demeans Chad Gable’s “Victory” over him last week. Gunther reveals that he is now “pissed off” with Chad having his attention now. He then goes on about next week being Chad Gable having another championship match. Chad comes out before saying that Gunther was right. But he found a way to beat Gunther in ten seconds and that next week he will be ready to beat him in 1…2…3 seconds.
Coby Galenzoski WR Star Rating – 3.75 Stars
GREAT Ludwig Kaiser with Vinci and Gunther Vs Chad Gable with Otis and Maxxine Dupri:
This match was given a good amount of time to build, with Ludwig being made to look really good by Gable. Chad is always so good and Kaiser looked like a great heel in the match. The match ended as Gable nearly won with the Chaos theory. Vinci attacked him and a brawl was engaged in. Gunther comes out and the numbers game is the reason Imperium stands tall.
Results: Chad Gable by DQ via Vinci’s interference.
Coby Galenzoski WR Star Rating – 3.50 Stars
AMAZING Seth Rollins Promo:
Seth Rollins calls out Shinsuke Nakamura. Not being answered as he uses the fans singing his song over Shinsuke’s theme as a dig. This promo turned to a different level as another Japanese spoken video is played with subtitles. And my god did Shinsuke Nakamura have such an aura to the promo, saying two very powerful lines. (roughly paraphrased/ not exact) “I want to be the reason your wife has to help you get out of bed in the morning. And the reason you are unable to walk your daughter down the aisle at her wedding” This became the best feud on Raw with those lines.
Seth Rollins is instantly shocked and starts to bring up the Shinsuke that rocked the world when he came to NXT. The nakamura that main evented the Toyko Dome. Shinsuke Nakamura attacks his back from behind before reminding Seth that he warned him about his back.
Both Seth and Shinsuke played their roles perfectly. Shinsuke sounds like a sadistic killer now and I am all for it.
Coby Galenzoski WR Star Rating – 4.25 Stars
GOOD Bronson Reed Vs Tommaso Ciampa:
This was a fun match, it was fast paced and hard hitting with the chops. Ciampa not being the biggest guy but being able to lift Reed is always impressive and got a good pop. Tommaso Ciampa tried to get a crucifix bomb roll up but the pinning position was rough to get too. Ciampa got the win. This was odd, We saw Ciampa come out to No One Will Survive. But once he won, Renegade his def rebel theme played.
Results: Tommaso Ciampa by Pinfall via Crucifix Bomb Pin
Coby Galenzoski WR Star Rating – 3.00 Stars
GOOD Rhea Ripley Promo:
Rhea Ripley brings up how Raquel thinks that she is the one to size up with her. How Raquel wants to knock Rhea down a peg. She claims Raquel faked the injury. Raquel came out and they brawled. Rodriguez nearly put her hands on Dominik but Rhea stopped her. Rhea was unable to hit the riptide on Raquel as Raquel clotheslined her so hard, Ripley rolled out of the ring.
Coby Galenzoski WR Star Rating – 3.25 Stars
GREAT Zoey Stark with Trish Stratus Vs Becky Lynch – Falls Count Anywhere Match:
I think this match had really good elements, we have Becky Lynch with the odds against her. Trish is clearly aiding Zoey Stark and Becky has to fight back. There are multiple moments including Trish throwing a chair from the outside over the top rope and it hits Zoey pretty much in the face. This might have been planned. Trish gets chased away but comes back. We see three rough table spots in the final moments of the match. Stratus lands on her ass hitting a stratusfaction through the table. Zoey forearms Trish off of an equipment case, Trish landed back first on the ground. And Becky seemed to overshoot the manhandle slam on the final spot of the match.
Very fun match but a number of rough bumps did occur.
Results: Becky Lynch by Pinfall via Manhandle Slam through a table in the crowd area.
Coby Galenzoski WR Star Rating – 3.50 Stars
Overall…
WWE Raw on August 28 was a fun Raw. We saw a consistently solid night of wrestling. Nothing was rated below 3.00 stars. All of the programs were given a good amount of build towards WWE Payback this weekend. Seth and Shinsuke added more heat to their feud, especially adding more after last week’s heat. Judgment Day is reaching an important crossing point in their story. Becky gained momentum by beating Zoey Stark. Gunther has a date with Chad Gable next Monday. And The Miz entertainingly mocked LA Knight.
The show had a solid flow and had a nice amount of matches. The promos were spaced nicely along with the moments of paying tribute to Bray and Terry. (Tributes have no effect over the rating, Bray’s was before Gunther and Terry was before the main event) Oh Yeah! We didn’t get a Judgment Day main event tonight! Something that is refreshing to the show.
Matches: 0.50/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.75/1 Stars
Atmosphere…: 0.75/1 Stars
Storytelling: 0.75/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 0.75/1 Stars
Overall Rating. 3.50/5 Stars
Photo Credit: WWE – August 28 2023
For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article announcing the new system here:
