WWE Raw: Live Updates, Match Results, Highlights and Reaction from May 1

Doc-Chris MuellerMay 1, 2023

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live blog for WWE Raw on May 1 in Fort Worth, Texas.

This week's episode is the second and final night of the WWE draft, so we are going to find out which brand several Superstars will call home from now on.

Also set for this week's show was the return of Brock Lesnar. He and Cody Rhodes face each other at Backlash this weekend, so that was the main topic of discussion.

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Erik Beaston will still have you covered with the regular recap and grades, and this will be a space for a more detailed description of what happened during each match and segment.

The latest segment and match will be listed at the top of the page, so make sure to refresh throughout the show for more updated results.

Seth Rollins vs. Solo Sikoa

Sikoa was able to use his power to force Rollins into the corner, but he became annoyed when the crowd kept singing Rollins' music. The Visionary encouraged the crowd to keep going as he taunted his opponent.

Sikoa wiped out Rollins with a heel kick as the show cut to the final break of the night. We returned to see The Visionary beginning to make a comeback after hitting an enziguri.

Rollins hit a series of chops, punches and kicks that sent The Street Champ out of the ring. He followed up with a couple of suicide dives.

Sikoa took control when they got back into the ring and hit a huge side slam for a near-fall. Rollins slapped him and insulted him, so the Bloodline enforcer hit him with another side slam before mounting him for some punches to the face.

The Usos showed up to cause a disqualification, but Riddle, Owens and Zayn were close behind them. A huge brawl broke out right before the show ended abruptly.

Winner: Seth Rollins by disqualification

The Final Draft Picks

The final round of the draft was revealed by Teddy Long and JBL.

Raw gets Alpha Academy
SmackDown gets Rick Boogs
Raw gets Katana Chance and Kayden Carter
SmackDown gets Cameron Grimes

The Judgment Day vs. Latino World Order

The Judgment Day came out and gave a promo that addressed all of their current storylines. When it was Dominik's turn to speak, the crowd kept booing so loudly that he couldn't talk.

Rey, Zelina Vega and Santos Escobar came out and gave their own brief promo about Backlash before the show cut to a break.

Vega and Ripley started for their teams in this mixed six-person tag match. Bálor was the odd man out while Dom and Priest served as Mami's partners.

Escobar and Priest tagged in and had a quick exchange that saw the former hit a series of moves before The Archer of Infamy laid him out with a big right hand.

We returned from a break to see Escobar still being dominated by Priest, but the leader of LDF hit a dropkick out of nowhere to give himself some breathing room.

Rey and Dom both got the tag, and the father started beating his son all over the ring. Ripley broke up a pin and pressed Rey above her head, but Vega hit a 619 to save him.

Priest tagged in and was immediately put into position for the 619. Bálor tripped Rey while the ref was turned around. Rey got him back into position, but the Irishman saved Priest again so he could hit South of Heaven for the win.

Winners: The Judgment Day

Round 5 Picks

Molly Holly and Road Dogg read out the picks for the fifth round of the draft.

Raw gets Braun Strowman and Ricochet
SmackDown gets Shotzi
Raw gets Bronson Reed
SmackDown gets Pretty Deadly

Omos vs. Anthony Alanis

Corey Graves made a cheap Alanis Morissette joke at the expense of the jobber before the match began.

Alanis slapped Omos in the face before The Nigerian Giant scooped him up and dropped him face-first on the top turnbuckle. He easily won the match with his two-handed chokeslam.

Winner: Omos

The Draft Continues with Round 4

RVD was there to read out the fourth-round picks, and this time he made sure he had the notecard facing the right way. He was joined by Eric Bischoff.

Raw gets Trish Stratus
SmackDown gets Karrion Kross
Raw gets Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler
SmackDown gets LA Knight

Miz TV

The Miz was out next for an episode of Miz TV. He welcomed his guest, Shinsuke Nakamura. The A-Lister danced to his music as The Artist made his way to the ring.

They had the usual kind of exchange that happens on this show. Nakamura taught him how to say something in Japanese that apparently translated to "the guy with tiny balls."

They brawled a bit until the show went to a break.

Matt Riddle vs. Jimmy Uso

Jey accompanied his brother to the ring for this match, but Sikoa wasn't there because he has a match with Rollins to prepare for later in the night.

The Original Bro went right after Jimmy with some right hands, but as soon as the ref had his back turned, Jey hit a kick that gave Jimmy the upper hand.

Owens got in Jey's face and then pretended to take a fall. Zayn tossed Jey a chair and then told the ref he hit KO. The ref bought it and sent Jey packing to the back.

The match picked up in intensity after the break now that the focus was on the action in the ring and not what was going on at ringside.

Jimmy nailed Riddle with a superkick for a two-count as he was becoming more and more frustrated. The Bro was able to recover and score the win.

Winner: Matt Riddle

Round 3 Finally Takes Place

After a commercial break, Shawn Michaels finally read out the third round of picks.

Raw gets Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez
SmackDown gets Asuka
Raw gets Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods
SmackDown gets Sheamus, Butch and Ridge Holland

Riddle had a quick backstage segment with KO and Zayn before they made their way to the ring for Riddle's match against Jimmy Uso.

Round 3 of the Draft is Delayed

Shawn Michaels and Adam Pearce were out to read the next round of draft picks, but before they could start, Lesnar's music hit.

The Beast came out in his best duster and cowboy hat to talk about being the only real cowboy in Texas. Pearce brought out several security guards to convince him to leave. The Beast said it would take more men than that, so Pearce brought out several more.

Before anything could happen, Rhodes' music hit and he attacked Lesnar from behind. The security guards rushed the ring and held Rhodes back while The Beast watched from the aisle.

Alpha Academy vs. Braun Strowman and Ricochet

Ricochet and Chad Gable started for their teams with a fast-paced exchange of holds and reversals. Neither man could get a clear upper hand until Ricochet hit a headscissor takedown followed by a dropkick.

Maxxine Dupri watched as Ricochet flipped out of a German suplex before Gable hit a rolling German suplex to put him down. Both men tagged in their partners, and the crowd went wild for the two big men squaring off.

Otis and Strowman went at each other hard, but it was The Monster Among Monsters who got the better of his opponent with a running crossbody and a bodyslam. Ricochet tagged in and climbed onto his shoulders to hit a swanton for the win.

Winners: Bricochet

More Draft Picks

Booker T and Queen Sharmell were out to read the Raw and SmackDown picks after the break:

Raw gets Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
SmackDown gets The Usos
Raw gets Finn Bálor, Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio
SmackDown gets Rey Mysterio and Legado Del Fantasma collectively as the LWO.

Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez vs. Bayley and Dakota Kai

The women's tag team division was highlighted this week when Morgan and Rodriguez faced Bayley and Kai in a non-title match.

Morgan and Kai started off with a lockup and a few pin attempts. They went back and forth with counters and two-counts until Morgan drilled Kai with a dropkick.

Bayley was able to tag in and hit a bodyslam, but then Morgan tagged in Rodriguez. The powerhouse and Morgan hit a couple of double-team moves, but they were unable to get the pin.

The ref refused to allow a tag when Kai touched Bayley's foot, but when the ref was distracted trying to force Kai back to her corner, Bayley cheated to take control.

We returned from a break to see Morgan trying to fight out of Damage CTRL's corner. Rodriguez finally got the hot tag and went on a rampage against both opponents.

She scored a two-count with a twisting senton to Kai before she tagged in Morgan to hit a splash from her shoulders. Bayley tripped Rodriguez and Morgan crashed down onto Kai's knees.

Rodriguez barely broke up a pin, but Bayley ended up winning with a sunset flip a moment later anyway.

Winners: Bayley and Dakota Kai

This wasn't a title match, but beating the champions will likely earn Damage CTRL another shot at the belts in the near future.

The Advocate Makes An Appearance

Paul Heyman came out after Triple H was done to pass along some messages from The Tribal Chief to the WWE Universe.

He talked about how he, Reigns and Solo Sikoa have been drafted to SmackDown, but we still don't know where The Usos will end up.

He teased the possibility of Reigns winning the World Heavyweight Championship and got a loud boo from the crowd. Thankfully, Rollins interrupted him before he could say too much more.

The Visionary let the crowd sing his music for a long time while he had a funny interaction with Heyman in the corner. He also promised to win the world title at Night of Champions.

Heyman pretended to call Reigns, so Rollins got the crowd to sing so he couldn't hear the call. Sikoa eventually made his way to the ring when Heyman was physically threatened.

This led to Heyman saying Rollins would be facing Sikoa later in the night because Reigns was pulling strings to make it happen. The Visionary was all too happy to hear this.

The Draft Continues

Raw opened with a video recap of the first night of the draft and the Superstars who were already picked. Triple H came out on the stage to kick things off and reveal the first round of picks.

He said since Roman Reigns has been drafted to SmackDown, the new world title will belong to a Raw star. He also said Brock Lesnar is exempt from the draft because he negotiated his contract to be a free agent.

Here is the list of draft picks: