WWE RAW Notes: Chad Gable Wins #1 Contender Match for IC Title, Sami Zayn Suffered Storyline Injury, New Day Surprise Return

Aug 7, 2023

Chad Gable Wins #1 Contender Fatal Four-Way Match for Intercontinental Title

Monday’s WWE RAW show in Minneapolis, Minnesota featured WWE official Adam Pearce announcing a Fatal Four-way match to determine the next official contender for Gunther and his Intercontinental Championship. This match was revealed to feature Ricochet, Matt Riddle, Tommaso Ciampa, and Chad Gable.

The finish to this match involved Riddle hitting Ciampa with a Bro Derek for a nearfall that was broken up by a diving headbutt from Gable. Gable then attempted a Chaos Theory to Riddle only for Ricochet to interrupt it up with a Recoil to Riddle. Gable then tried another Chaos Theory to Ricochet only for it to be interrupted again by Ciampa who hit a Fameasser to Ricochet. Gable then tried for a third time to hit a Chaos Theory to Ciampa and succeeded for the pinfall victory. Gable celebrated his victory in front of his hometown crowd and his family.

Way to go, @WWEGable!

Following one of the biggest wins of his career on #WWERaw, the new number one contender for the #ICTitle celebrates with his son in a touching moment. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/E9Kr4OjdXz
— WWE (@WWE) August 8, 2023

As a result of his victory, Gable will be the next official challenger for Gunther’s Intercontinental Championship.

Sami Zayn Suffered Storyline Injury, Potentially Written Off for Legit Injury

Monday’s RAW show in Minneapolis also featured Sami Zayn suffering a storyline injury at the hands of JD McDonagh.

Earlier in the show, Zayn got involved in a brawl between Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins and Judgement Day to setup a 6-Man Tag Team match for later in the show. In a follow-up backstage segment McDonagh was chatting with Finn Balor before being interrupted by Damien Priest. After some heated banter between Priest and Balor that was broken up by Rhea Ripley, McDonagh suggested for Priest to get rid of his Money in the Bank briefcase since it was causing a wedge in the group. Balor then left with McDonagh.

Later in the show, Shinsuke Nakamura’s backstage interview segment was interrupted by McDonagh beating up Zayn in the background that was broken up by WWE officials. In a follow-up segment, Seth Rollins revealed that Zayn was not medically cleared for tonight’s 6-Man Tag Team match, which led to Nakamura offering to be Zayn’s replacement for the match.

What the hell?!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/V9UFyGPrTK
— WWE (@WWE) August 8, 2023

In an interesting note, this storyline injury could be WWE’s way of writing out Zayn due to him recently suffering a legit elbow injury based on the big lump that was shown on his elbow.

Sami's elbow looks gnarly.#WWERAW pic.twitter.com/eWqoTSlQKX
— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) August 8, 2023

New Day Makes Surprise Return at Monday’s RAW Show

Monday’s RAW show in Minneapolis also featured New Day’s Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston making their surprise returns to WWE.

New Day’s return was setup following a video promo involving Viking Raiders and Valhalla issuing an open challenge to any team so that they could become their next sacrifice. After the Viking Raiders made their entrance for the match, New Day’s music played and Woods and Kingston answering the challenge.