WWE Raw Preview (5/8): Backlash Fallout, World Title Tournament Begins

The roster adjustments made during the 2023 WWE Draft will come into effect tonight on "WWE Raw" at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. The Backlash fallout will also be felt, while the tournament for the new World Heavyweight Championship will get underway. It was confirmed yesterday that Seth "Freakin" Rollins, The Judgment Day's Finn Bálor and Damian Priest, two-time WWE Champion The Miz, Cody Rhodes, and Shinsuke Nakamura will all be involved for the red brand. Two triple threat matches are set to take place this evening with the winners of those bouts advancing to the finals later in the show. The wrestler who emerges victorious from that singles match will go on to face the winner from "WWE SmackDown's" tournament bouts at the Night of Champions premium live event in Saudi Arabia later this month. 

At this past Saturday night's Backlash event in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Rhodes defeated Brock Lesnar in the main event. "The American Nightmare" managed to roll Lesnar's Kimura Lock into a pin to secure the victory. It's unclear what is next for "The Beast," as he is currently a free agent following the 2023 WWE Draft. We may learn more about Lesnar's future this evening and if he still wants to get his hands on Rhodes, with it still yet to be revealed why he viciously attacked the former WWE Intercontinental Champion on the "Raw" after WrestleMania 39. 

There will be plenty of fresh arrivals on "Raw" later tonight. Reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER, Ludwig Kaiser, and Giovanni Vinci of Imperium are some of the names switching from "SmackDown," while JD McDonagh, Apollo Crews, Odyssey Jones, Indi Hartwell, Zoey Stark, Kayden Carter, Katana Chance, and Indus Sher's Jinder Mahal, Veer, and Sanga all join the "Raw" roster from "WWE NXT."