The go-home episode of Monday Night Raw turned out to be intense and fans seem to be excited for Payback 2023. After a heartwarming tribute to Bray Wyatt and Terry Funk on Friday Night SmackDown last week, the WWE Universe expected Raw to be something similar.

Michael Cole, at the start of the show, revealed that Raw this week would also be a tribute to the late Hall of Famer Terry Funk and the legendary Bray Wyatt. Similar to SmackDown, WWE played a video package on the decorated career and life of Bray Wyatt, and his chair was then seen on the stage.

It was also announced that Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens will defend their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships against Finn Balor and Damian Priest at Payback 2023. After a shocking revelation last week on Raw, fans expected Seth Rollins and Shinsuke Nakamura to come face to face just days before their battle at Payback. Also on this week's episode of Monday Night Raw, Becky Lynch and Zoey Stark were advertised to face each other in a falls count anywhere match.

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With Payback approaching, Raw turned out to be a decent episode to fuel things up for the premium live event. Let’s have a look at what happened during the show.

8 Damian Priest defeated Sami Zayn

Sami Zayn and Damian Priest kicked off the show with some intense action. Though Zayn was not 100% last week after the sudden attack from JD McDonagh a couple of weeks ago, the former Intercontinental Champion seemed better this week.

After some hard-hitting action, Damian Priest tried to dominate the tag team champion when the latter locked in the Helluva Kick. However, before he could connect with Priest, JD McDonagh distracted him, leading to Priest winning the battle.

Damian Priest, however, pushed McDonagh and walked back. Owens and Zayn then attacked McDonagh with a Stunner and a Helluva Kick, sending a message to The Judgment Day ahead of Payback.

The Judgment Day was seen backstage on Raw later where Balor was furious at Priest for leaving McDonagh laid out in the ring. Rhea Ripley once again came out as the moderator and cooled things down among the faction.

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7 The Miz imitated LA Knight

This Miz came out to LA Knight’s theme song and mocked him in a hilarious segment. After returning to his original character, Miz said that it was too easy to be LA Knight and that the party would be over when he defeats Knight at Payback. The segment turned out to be one of the best promos of The A-lister’s career.

6 The Viking Raiders defeated The New Day

Before the match could start, Drew McIntyre and Matt Riddle came out to take a better look at the tag team battle between New Day and The Viking Raiders. While the match was anticipated to be a dominating show for the Vikings, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods gave a tough fight.

After some intense action, the Raiders took control to keep Kingston and Woods down, dominating one of the best tag teams in the industry. However, chaos broke out when Ivar launched Kingston into Drew McIntyre and Matt Riddle. A double team from the Raiders was enough to end The New Day’s night with a loss.

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5 Gunther announced a rematch against Chad Gable for next week's Raw

"The Ring General" Gunther stood on the announcer’s desk and addressed his loss against Chad Gable last week on Raw. The champion then announced a rematch with Gable for next week's Raw when the latter came out to face Ludwig Kaiser.

The match kicked off with Kaiser and Gable tearing each other apart to stand supreme and end up with a victory. After an intense and hard-hitting battle, Giovanni Vinci attacked Gable to end the match with a disqualification. Chaos broke out, ending up with Imperium standing tall.

4 Seth Rollins called out Shinsuke Nakamura

Seth Rollins came out and gave a tribute to Bray Wyatt before calling out his challenger for Payback, Shinsuke Nakamura, for a face-to-face interaction. However, a video package of The King of Strong Style was shown where he vowed to break the champion and also said that he was the reason Rollins wouldn’t be able to walk his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day.

Rollins then said that his broken back wouldn’t stand in the way of his taking Nakamura down at Payback 2023. Nakamura then attacked Rollins from behind followed by a brutal kick to the face. The King of Strong Style gave a massive message to Rollins ahead of their battle at Payback 2023.

3 Tommaso Ciampa defeated Bronson Reed

Bronson Reed attacked Tommaso Ciampa before the match could start. However, the latter fought back and took Reed down when the bell rang. Brutal action then kicked off and Reed started his domination against Ciampa. However, the latter fought back and was able to keep the big man’s shoulder down to end up with a victory.

2 Raquel Rodriguez attacks Rhea Ripley

Before her much-anticipated battle against Raquel Rodriguez at Payback, Rhea Ripley came out to send a message to her challenger. The Women’s World Champion called Rodriguez "an idiot" and claimed that she would walk out of Payback as a champion when Raquel came out.

A brawl then broke out between both women which eventually led to Rodriguez delivering the fallaway slam to the champion. Dominik then tried to distract the challenger. However, things ended up with Raquel taking Rhea down and sending her a message for Payback.

1 Becky Lynch def Zoey Stark

Becky Lynch vs. Zoey Stark kicked off with some brutal kendo stick strikes which was enjoyed by the WWE Universe. Trish Stratus, from the ringside, helped Stark with some weapons, making sure Lynch was not 100% for the upcoming steel cage match at Payback 2023.

Lynch then attacked Stratus with a kendo stick, resulting in Stark attacking The Man with a chair. After some intense and brutal action throughout the match, Stark accidentally sent Stratus through the table when Lynch delivered a Manhandle Slam to Stark to get the win.