WWE RAW Live Coverage - September 11th, 2023

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Ripley defends her Women's World Title against Rodriguez with "Dirty" Dom barred from ringside

Tonight, Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley will face Raquel Rodriguez for the title once more. This comes following The Nightmare’s victory at WWE Payback where she was assisted by fellow Judgment Day member “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio. This time, Mysterio will be banned from ringside, providing Rodriguez an even playing field in her quest to win the Women’s World Championship from The Eradicator. Can Rodriguez capitalize on her golden chance?


:raw:

– We are LIVE inside the Scope Arena in Norfolk, VA. where the commentators welcome us to the show.

– Michael Cole, Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves run down the lineup for tonight's show and then the Jey Uso theme hits. Out comes "Main Event" Jey Uso to kick off this week's show.

– "Main Event" Jey Uso settles in the ring and grabs a mic. He says how good it feels to be out of The Bloodline and on his own.

Before he can say anything else, the theme for Kevin Owens hits and out comes "The Prize Fighter." He settles in the ring and tells Jey he thinks he meant to say how good it feels to be on The Kevin Owens Show. He then relates to him being someone others don't want around.

He mentions Drew McIntyre as just one of many who has mentioned that they don't want Jey here. He then mentions how Cody Rhodes and even Sami Zayn seem to be embracing him. He says he has a ways to go before he proves to him he's not the same scumbag he was with The Bloodline.

As Owens continues, he is interrupted by the theme for The Judgment Day. Out come Finn Balor, Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio saying Jey shouldn't have to prove himself to Kevin Owens. He says he doesn't have to prove himself to The Judgment Day. They respect him. Damian tells Kevin he doesn't speak for the locker room.

Dom goes to speak and Norfolk gives Boston a run for their money in terms of the loudest drowning out everything "Dirty" Dom says boo-sessions. Owens mentions that Sami Zayn isn't here but it doesn't matter. He says he'll fight all three of them. He's here for a fight. Jey tells Kevin not to worry about Sami because he's here too.

Jey says Kevin told him to earn his respect, right? He suggests they take on The Judgment Day together in tonight's main event. Kevin says let's do it and the two beat down The Judgment Day, who flees from the ring as Jey and Kevin stand tall. We head into a commercial break.

Jey Uso & Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor & Damian Priest

When we return, Balor and Owens are in the ring and apparently this match is going down right now. Balor does well early on, but Owens fights back and makes the tag. Priest also tags in and we see Priest taking it to Jey. Jey fights back and sends Priest out to the floor. Balor runs in but Jey sends him out too.

He hits a big dive for a huge pop. Dom interferes and attacks the injured knee of Owens as we head into a mid-match commercial break.

When we return we see Owens being beaten down until he finally makes the hot tag to Jey. Jey comes in like a man possessed, taking out everything that moves as the crowd goes wild.

Owens tags back in and struggles his way into the offensive lead after another run in control for Priest and Balor for a few minutes. Owens hits a wild brainbuster off the top rope. Jey accidentally takes out Owens and then Priest knocks him out to the floor. Balor hits a Coup de Grace and gets the pin.

Winners: Finn Balor & Damian Priest

– We see Raquel Rodriguez warming up backstage when Natalya walks in and talks to her off-mic as we head into a commercial.

– When we return, we see Kevin Owens limping backstage when he is approached by Jey Uso. Uso apologizes and calls the mistake in the match a miscue. Owens says he knows all he needs to know and tells Uso to go find his new Bloodline. He says they're in The Judgment Day locker room. "Go ahead and dye your hair purple while you're at it, Uce!"

– Now we are shown highlights of GUNTHER's title defense over Chad Gable on last week's show. We return live and see a nice car pulling up. Out comes GUNTHER and Imperium in suits.

The Miz vs. Akira Tozawa

From there, we return inside the arena where we hear the familiar sounds of the theme song of The Miz. "The A-Lister" heads to the ring and will get a chance at revenge against Akira Tozawa, whom he lost to thanks to LA Knight a few weeks ago.

As Miz settles in the ring, Cole talks about today being September 11th and introduces a touching, emotional video package on the subject. We then head to a pre-match commercial break.

When we return from the break, we see Tozawa making his way down to the ring as highlights from his win over Miz three weeks ago on Raw are shown. The bell sounds and Miz immediately starts beating Tozawa down with ease. He hits three Skull Crushing Finales and wins.

Winner: The Miz

– We shoot backstage where Byron Saxton is standing by with his guest at this time, Raquel Rodriguez. She says reality is worse than a nightmare because Rhea Ripley will be in for a nightmare tonight. She vows to walk out as the new WWE Women's World Champion.

– Back inside the Scope Arena where we hear the Imperium theme. Out comes the longest reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion of all-time, GUNTHER, accompanied by Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci.

As the trio heads to the ring for GUNTHER's Intercontinental Championship Celebration, we shift gears and head into a quick commercial break.

– When we return, I mean Jackie Redmond, is shown backstage with her guest at this time, Shayna Baszler. As "The Queen of Spades" begins talking, Chelsea Green walks up with both titles. She mentions her partner not being cleared and offers Baszler to be her new partner. Baszler instead challenges her to a fight.

Baszler walks off. Green says she'll regret that and goes to walk away but Piper Niven stops her. She takes one of the titles off her shoulder and walks off.

– Back inside the arena, we get a nice long intro from the new teacher's pet of WWE as of late on the microphone, Ludwig Kaiser. He introduces the longest Intercontinental Champion in history, "The Ring General" GUNTHER.

The ring is decked out with a podium for him to stand on to be a few feet above Vinci and Kaiser. He stands on it with the big Imperium logo columns behind him. The ring is all black, too. Michael Cole points out the pomp and circumstance for GUNTHER breaking a 35-year old record in WWE.

As he continues talking, we hear "SHOOSH!" and out comes Chad Gable by himself with a microphone in hand. He talks normal and in a serious voice about how their fight last week was one for the ages. He says no one came as close to him to beating him. He mentions his kid crying in the crowd.

Gable pushes for a rematch and vows to make sure his child will be in the crowd smiling this time. GUNTHER accuses Gable of using his kid to get some spotlight. He calls him a disgusting father. Gable attacks him but the three-on-one disadvantage is quickly apparent. Otis runs out and makes the save.

They end up beating Otis down, too. Tommaso Ciampa runs out with a steel chair and chases the three of them off. He, Gable and Otis stand tall in the ring.

– We see footage of Drew McIntyre and Riddle's issue with Kofi Kingston and post-match interaction backstage and then we see "earlier today" footage of Xavier Woods confronting Drew about exactly that.

– A match is made between the two and then we return in the arena where Xavier Woods' theme hits. Out comes The New Day member looking all-business. He settles in the ring as we head into a pre-match commercial break.

– When we return from the break, Jackie Redmond approaches Alpha Academy and Tommaso Ciampa, who challenge Imperium to a six-man carnage match for later tonight.

Xavier Woods vs. Drew McIntyre

Back live in the arena, we hear the sword swipe and then out comes "The Scottish Warrior" Drew McIntyre with his massive sword in-hand. He heads to the ring for our next match of the evening.

The bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with this one. Woods starts off well but after a Glasgow Kiss, we see McIntyre shift the offensive momentum in his favor. The action spills to the floor where Drew sends Xavier flying over the commentary desk.

On that note, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as this match continues. When we return, we see Woods hit a power bomb off the top-rope on McIntyre. He follows up with a top-rope leg drop for a close near fall attempt.

McIntyre hits a couple of belly to belly suplexes and calls for the Claymore Kick, but Woods sees it coming and blasts Drew with a super kick of his own. Seconds later, Drew does hit a Claymore and scores the pin. Good match.

Winner: Drew McIntyre

– We head to a commercial break after the match. When we return, we see some love for the Connor's Cure charity and then we hear the familiar sounds of the theme song for WWE's new John Cena, "The American Nightmare."

– Cody Rhodes makes his way out and the fans sing along with his theme as fireworks explode. Cody makes his way to the ring for the first time since his appearance on "The Grayson Waller Effect" at WWE Payback 2023.

He settles in the ring and does his opening catchphrase. "So, Norfolk, what do you want to talk about?" He says he wants to talk about "Main Event" Jey Uso. Before he can say anything else, out comes Dominik Mysterio to the loudest booing ever talking about how Cody brought Jey to Raw.

Dom gets in the ring and talks trash to Cody and then grabs his tie. That's where Cody lost it, blasting Dom with a big punch before being attacked from behind by JD McDonagh. Cody ends up fighting back and beating down Dom and McDonagh, sending them running and standing tall with a big smile on his face.

– We shoot backstage and we see Jey Uso walking. Up walks Drew McIntyre who basically tells him he doesn't trust him either, much like Kevin Owens. Jey challenges him to a fight for next week's show. Drew accepts.

Chelsea Green vs. Shayna Baszler

Now we return inside the Scope Arena, where one-half of the WWE Women's Tag-Team Champions, Chelsea Green, makes her way to the ring with her forced partner, Piper Niven. Her match with Shayna Baszler is up next.

We head to a quick pre-match commercial break. When we return, we see Shayna Baszler make her way to the ring as footage of her recent victory over Zoey Stark is shown. The bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with this one.

Baszler dominates this one from bell-to-bell, winning what was essentially a squash match. Afterwards, she attacks Piper Niven and brawls with she and Green. Zoey Stark runs down and we see a stand off between the two sides.

Winner: Shayna Baszler

– We go to a Shinsuke Nakamura vignette after the match. "The King of Strong Style" addresses his ongoing rivalry with Seth "Freakin'" Rollins. Once this wraps up, we return inside the arena where the WWE World Heavyweight Champion makes his way out.

As Seth "Freakin'" Rollins settles inside the ring, we head to a quick commercial break. When we return, Rollins addresses the comments Nakamura made about him in the video package. He agrees and says he is a liar. He talks about his history in The Shield, The Authority and being The Messiah.

He continues, while wearing blue star-shaped sunglasses and a big, enormous fluffy teal blue robe/coat, explaining that he figured out what the fans wanted him to be. Himself. If you could see the visual, you could better appreciate that line.

Nakamura then appears on the big screen from backstage and is shown attacking Ricochet. He sends a warning to Rollins and tells him he's coming for him.

– We shoot backstage where The Judgment Day continue their attempts to recruit Jey Uso. Finn Balor approaches "Main Event" Jey, fresh off his opening match this evening (irony?) and tells him everyone in The Judgment Day likes him and trusts him, unlike Kevin Owens and Drew McIntyre. He tells him The Judgment Day doors are always open.

Six-Man Carnage Match: Alpha Academy & Tommaso Ciampa vs. Imperium

Now it's time for six-man carnage match action, as we return inside the Scope Arena to the sounds of "SHOOSH! SHOOSH PLEASE!" Alpha Academy head to the ring with Maxxine Dupri, where they team up with Tommaso Ciampa -- next.

On that note, we shift gears and head into a quick pre-match commercial break. When we return from the break, Tommaso Ciampa's Taz-sounding theme hits and out he comes to the ring to join Chad Gable and Otis for this six man carnage bout.

The theme for Imperium hits next and out comes the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion in WWE history, "The Ring General" GUNTHER, accompanied by Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser. The trio head to the ring and settle inside, where their theme music dies down.

From there, the bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with this one. Ciampa and Vinci kick things off for their respective teams. Ciampa jumps into the early offensive lead. Gable tags in and picks up where he left off, taking it to Vinci until he is backed into the Imperium corner, where Kaiser tags in and takes over.

Vinci tags back in and picks up where Kaiser left off. They through Gable out to the floor and then GUNTHER heads over to pick the bones and roll him back into the ring. Kaiser takes over in the ring and taunts Otis and Ciampa as he continues beating down Gable. We head to a mid-match commercial break as Imperium continues to dominate.

When we return from the break, we see Imperium continuing to take turns on Gable until he finally tags out. Ciampa takes the hot tag and comes into the ring beating down any-and-everyone in sight as the Norfolk crowd cheers him on. Otis tags in and the crowd noise picks up as he hits some of his trademark spots.

Otis misses a spear in the corner and hits the ring post shoulder first. This lets Kaiser make the tag. GUNTHER tags in. He dares Gable to tag in as well. He does. The two begin going at it. GUNTHER hits Gable with a German suplex to quiet the crowd. Gable fights back and gets GUNTHER in the ankle lock.

Vinci tags in and Gable gets him in the Ankle lock. He hits Chaos Theory and goes for the cover but GUNTHER breaks it up. He gets the ankle lock back on him and when GUNTHER goes to break it up again, Ciampa stops him. Vinci taps out.

Winners: Alpha Academy & Tommaso Ciampa

– After the match, we go backstage and The Judgment Day all agree that they should continue to try and recruit "Main Event" Jey Uso.

Dom says he wishes he could be in Rhea Ripley's corner for her title defense tonight. She says she does, too, but just like they're gonna handle the Jey Uso business, she's gonna handle hers. "Because Mami is always on top!" We head to a commercial break.

– When we return from the break, Michael Cole announces Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Ricochet for next week's show. We then shoot backstage where Adam Pearce has a contract for the NXT Women's Championship showdown between Tiffany Stratton and Becky Lynch.

Tiffany asks what she did to Lynch for her to come after her and the NXT Women's Championship. Lynch says when she came to her show to get attention for her rinky dink little title reign, she hit her radar. They each sign the dotted line for their title showdown tomorrow night.

:womensworldchamp:

WWE Women's World Championship: Rhea Ripley (C) vs. Raquel Rodriguez

Now we head back inside the Scope Arena where we hear the familiar sounds of Raquel Rodriguez's theme song. As the challenger for our championship main event settles in the ring, her music fades down.

The theme for Rhea Ripley plays and out comes "Mami" with her WWE Women's World Championship in-hand. As The Judgment Day member heads to the ring, we shift gears and head into a quick pre-match commercial break.

When we return from the break, Samantha Irvin handles the formal pre-match ring introductions for our championship main event. The challenger and champion are introduced as the lights go down. The lights come back up, the bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with this one.

As soon as the match begins, Rodriguez charges across the ring and clotheslines Ripley. She follows that up by Donkey Kong'ing her into the mat. She goes for the cover but Ripley kicks out. Now Raquel shows her power on display again by picking up Rhea and squeezing her in a big bear hug.

Ripley fights back and heads to the top-rope, where she leaps off and connects with a missile drop kick. Now she taps into her inner-Roman Reigns / Kevin Holland (the latter for you UFC fans!) as she begins talking as much as she's fighting, trash-taunting her opponent as she gives her the business.

The action spills out to the floor where Rodriguez fights back into the offensive lead by connecting with a drop kick that sends Ripley crashing into the barricade. On that note, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as our final match of the evening continues.

When we settle in from the final commercial of the evening, we see Ripley back in control of the action in the ring, as she has Rodriguez locked in a leg submission on the mat. Rodriguez fights free and starts to take over until both ladies come off the ropes and land a big boot at the same time. Now both are down and out.

Ripley looks for the Rip-Tide but Rodriguez avoids it. Ripley decks Rodriguez and heads to the top-rope, where she connects with a frog splash for a close near fall attempt. The action spills out to the floor where Rodriguez sends Ripley crashing into the commentary desk and a bomb on the apron.

As she goes to head back into the ring, she is attacked out of nowhere by Nia Jax. Michael Cole erupts like it's the biggest thing ever and the crowd boos loudly as Jax smirks and struts around the ringside area. Rodriguez slowly gets up but walks into a big kick from Ripley and then a Rip-Tide. Ripley scores the pin and retains.

Winner and STILL WWE Women's World Champion: Rhea Ripley

– Once the match ends, Ripley celebrates until Nia Jax heads into the ring and beats her down. She then hits a big splash off the middle rope onto the champ and leaves her laying. That's how this week's show goes off the air.