Raw Winners and Losers: Lynch Gets Falls Count Anywhere Win In Go-Home To Payback Show

The celebration of Bray Wyatt and Terry Funk continued on Monday Night Raw this week, but more focus was given to setting up Payback, which was scheduled for Saturday night. The opening segment of the show had Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens demonstrating that there are still problems within the ranks of Judgment Day, while the finale featured Becky Lynch and Zoey Stark in a Fall Count Anywhere Match.

Raquel Rodriguez demonstrated to Rhea Ripley why she should be concerned, Chad Gable and Ludwig Kaiser performed a classic, and The Miz showed his fans just how entertaining and humorous he can be in between.

Winner: Priest Doesn’t Want McDonagh’s Help

Sami Zayn opened the performance with an enthusiastic audience singing along to his entrance music, but Damian Priest’s theme cut him off. The first match of the evening featured simply the two guys, without assistance from their respective partners.

Sadly for Zayn, it wasn’t able to remain a lone contest. JD McDonagh made an appearance and caused enough trouble to deny Zayn the victory. After the game, a frustrated Priest shoved McDonagh and walked away. While McDonagh was watching, he was unaware that Kevin Owens and Zayn were standing by, hoping he would turn around. While Priest was present, they beat him to death.

McDonagh will undoubtedly take part in the upcoming tag title match between the champions and Priest, along with Finn Balor, at Payback.

Winner: The Miz Impersontes LA Knight

Although Knight wasn’t the Megastar, his song was a hit. The Miz cut a great promo while dressed as Knight, fully highlighting and overemphasizing all of Knight’s catchphrases. He took a jab at how anyone can play the role of a talentless star with a few catchy sayings when he finally broke character. He said that when he faced Knight at Payback, he would demonstrate that he was superior.

The Miz keeps showcasing his versatility as a performer. He occasionally uses these impressions, and they are usually pretty accurate.

Winner: Viking Raiders Earn Big Win

The Viking Raiders scored a significant victory in a protracted and entertaining tag bout that had a chaotic end. Although they essentially competed against Matt Riddle, Drew McIntyre, and New Day who were all involved in the chaotic climax, they technically only defeated New Day. Ivar threw Kofi Kingston into where they were sitting, and McIntyre was furious. He began hurling chairs, struck Woods inadvertently, and The Raiders gained ground.

The Viking Raiders remain a top tag team on Raw thanks to this victory. They needed a win like this to remain competitive, therefore it was a wise decision to not only let them take the match, but to do it cleanly with a Ragnarok after a tough battle.

When the lights were out and the fireflies were lighting up the arena, WWE re-aired the Bray Wyatt tribute film that they had previously shown before cutting to commercial.

Winner: Chad Gable Vs. Ludwig Kaiser

An incredible match between two of WWE’s best current workers ended in a disqualification as Giovani Vinci jumped in to stop the pinning attempt on Kaiser. A contest that displayed the excellence of both competitors turned into a beating on Gable to send a message before next week when Gunther defends his Intercontinental Championship against Gable.

Even when a few spots didn’t go as planned in this match, the participants regrouped and produced what was probably better. Gable appeared powerful in this situation but was unable to win the numbers game. Fantastic part that lasted almost 30 minutes.

Winner/Loser: Nakamura Attacks Rollins

The following section was a promo from Seth Rollins, and while the speech itself was fine, this rivalry felt rushed. Nakamura’s threat to practically disable Rollins is pretty important and requires more time than a hurried bout on Saturday. This is just starting to get interesting. The idea behind this is to use their match at Payback as little more than a means of continuing to fuel this feud and turning it into a legitimate grudge match with a larger reward.

When Rollins was ambushed from behind by Nakamura, he defeated the title once more and left the ring.

Loser: Ciampa Steals Win With Ugly Pin

Tommaso Ciampa prevailed in a grueling bout against Bronson Reed by pinning him in one of the most bizarre pins in recent memory. Both guys lost their equilibrium when Ciampa tried to reverse a fireman’s carry into a pin. While Reed tried to get his shoulder down and Ciampa tried to get back into a pinning position, they caused the official to count instead of changing and coming up with a better finish.

Not only has Reed now lost several crucial one-on-one contests, but the manner in which he lost this one also didn’t do him any favors and detracts from Ciampa’s victory, which was meant to be framed as a significant achievement and a significant upset.

Winner: Raquel Proves Her Toughness

In a promotional video, Ripley and Dirty Dom made it apparent that they were skipping over Raquel Rodriguez. She came to the ring to let them know she wasn’t going away. Raquel had a response for every time Rhea tried to make an offensive move, and eventually she sent her reeling. Rhea had clearly understood the message.

Winner: Lynch Overcomes Numbers Disadvantage

Becky Lynch defeated Zoey Stark in a Falls Count Anywhere Match despite being in a situation that she should not have been able to win. Trish Stratus frequently interjected during the nearly all-two-on-one battle, but Stark and Stratus’ errors in judgment ultimately proved to be their undoing. All three ladies were battling close to one of the production setups when the contest moved into the audience. Stratus was unintentionally struck by Stark, who then forced her through a table. After that, Lynch was able to defeat Stark with a Man-Handle Slam.

Lynch was overcome with emotion as the event came to a close and held up the Bray Wyatt armband as she celebrated her victory. She appeared to experience every emotion associated with that loss live on camera, and when the broadcast was ending, she openly sobbed. It was a sweet moment, but it was also difficult to see because it was obvious that the loss had an affect.