WWE Raw Results: Biggest Winners, Losers and Moments from May 8

The May 8 episode of Raw featured WWE Creative sleepwalking its way through an international edition of the broadcast from London, with a show centered around Dean Ambrose, The Miz and the Intercontinental Championship.

While it was a welcome change, the IC title being treated as the most coveted prize on the show, the lack of stakes and storyline development severely hurt its overall quality.

New No. 1 contenders to the tag team titles were crowned and the foundation for a storyline involving Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss was laid, but there was not enough elsewhere on the show worth getting excited about or investing one's self in.

Even a pay-per-view-length match between Seth Rollins and Samoa Joe was unable to inspire an unusually quiet fanbase in the United Kingdom.

That does not mean the show was without its big winners.

Despite the lackluster effort by WWE Creative, there were Superstars that benefited from the show. There were also those who were not so lucky.

Find out now where your favorite Superstar falls in this week's recap of the May 8 episode of WWE's flagship show.

Winner: Intercontinental Championship

A week ago, the intercontinental title was devalued and diminished when Finn Balor and Seth Rollins expressed their desire to challenge for the WWE Universal Championship, then settled for a No. 1 Contender match, which also involved The Miz, that would crown the top challenger to Dean Ambrose's Intercontinental Championship.

The wrong from a week ago was righted Monday night as the title dominated the proceedings.

Ambrose and Miz were named co-general managers. Balor defeated Miz after Ambrose restarted the match and The Hollywood A-Lister returned the favor, costing The Lunatic Fringe a non-title match against Bray Wyatt in the night's main event.

The case can be made for Miz and Ambrose not losing their respective matches one week before the two meet in a major championship bout, but their defeats were handled in a way that added heat to their program while simultaneously giving Balor and Wyatt victories as both of those Superstars continue building momentum for themselves.

After disrespecting the title last week, treating it as if it was a consolation prize for Superstars who do not have access to universal champion Brock Lesnar, the title was shoved to the forefront in an attempt to relegitimize it. 

The booking strategy worked Monday. Now it will be interesting to see if the company can continue building momentum and credibility for the title or if it shoves it back to the midcard when The Beast Incarnate re-emerges from his hibernation.

Losers: Seth Rollins and Samoa Joe

Seth Rollins and Samoa Joe are embroiled in a rivalry that should be so much more enthralling and mean so much more than it currently does.

Monday night, WWE Creative attempted to add some heat to it with a backstage brawl and a rematch from Payback, but the fans in the United Kingdom were not biting.

The match went 15 minutes and ended in disqualification. Despite strong enough in-ring work by the Superstars involved, the audience was quiet, never fully investing itself in the action. Some of that lackluster response can be attributed to the ungodly length of a Raw television taping, but at some point, the general apathy that has accompanied the Rollins-Joe rivalry has to be put on the shoulders of the performers themselves as well as the writing staff that has failed them.

A lack of intensity and the inability by WWE Creative to follow up Rollins' monumental victory over Triple H with anything even remotely close to a substantial push has led to a massively disappointing and thoroughly unfulfilling program.

There is still time to salvage the program but not without some chances taken by WWE Creative. Right now, the one-dimensional booking is not cutting it.

Winners: Sheamus and Cesaro

Sheamus and Cesaro tore through the Raw tag team division Monday night, defeating the competition and earning themselves a shot at the tag titles currently held by The Hardy Boyz.

The winners of Tag Team Turmoil, they started the match with Enzo Amore and Big Cass and proceeded to defeat every team that followed. It was a sign of Creative's faith in the tandem that they were booked as strongly as they were.

Clearly the superior team, they will now challenge the duo they came so close to dethroning at Payback, Matt and Jeff Hardy, as they continue their run as lead heels in the Raw division.

While it was a fantastic use of Sheamus and Cesaro's meaner, nastier, more underhanded characters, it does call into question how fans are ever supposed to take the other teams seriously when they were systematically picked apart and eliminated by The Celtic Warrior and Swiss Superman.

That is another question for another time, though. For now, Sheamus and Cesaro emerge from Monday's broadcast the hottest team in the division thanks to their complete and utter domination of the competition during this week's high-profile tag team contest.

Loser: Continuity

Last week's episode of Raw culminated with Bray Wyatt obliterating Finn Balor with Sister Abigail, thus costing him a shot at the Intercontinental Championship.

Monday night, there was no follow-up.

Not even a single attempt by Balor to avenge the assault at the hands of The Reaper of Souls. Mentions of the attack, if any, were few and far between.

The complete and utter lack of continuity in regards to that rivalry severely hurt what should have been a much hotter episode of Raw. That failure to write the latest chapter in that rivalry only added to the "house show" feel of the broadcast.

Rather than a significant development, primarily between Balor and Wyatt after the way the show ended a week earlier, the lack of continuity and story progression led to a Raw that felt very much insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Worst of all, it made Balor look like a chump.

Who takes a sneak attack beating like the one he endured at the hands of Wyatt and does not seek vengeance or retribution when the opportunity arises? 

Winner: Nia Jax

Nia Jax's rollercoaster ride of a main roster run has been an oftentimes frustrating one, but after Monday's broadcast, it appears as though the talented competitor finally has a direction.

Approaching Raw women's champion Alexa Bliss backstage, she called the Goddess of WWE's bluff. After asking the former cheerleader if she really though Jax was great, and getting an affirmative answer out of her, Jax told the titleholder that if that is the case, she wants a championship opportunity.

From there, she labeled herself Bliss' new best friend, to which the champion looked more than confused.

A week ago, fans popped at the interaction between Bliss and Jax, hoping the larger competitor would shut the yapping champion's mouth. It was a bit of foreshadowing, as was Monday's segment, of an eventual showdown between Little Miss Bliss and the dominant Jax.

While a heel vs. heel match may not be the most thrilling option, the storyline potential is plentiful and should lead to a fantastic stretch of television.