WWE Monday Night Raw 31/07/12 Video

The Raw this week passed in Colorado, and was highlighted as a tag team match between Christian & Chris Jericho vs Ziggler & Miz, CM Punk explained his actions, and his opponent at SummerSlam is Revealed.

 

Update: Final Raw 1,000 Rating; Detailed Report Inside

preliminary data for the 1,000th episode of Monday Night Raw suggested the show's best viewership in recent years. We can now confirm this to be true, as the overall 3-hour television rating was a 3.84, with an average of just over 6 million viewers.

The first hour, featuring the advertised return of Degeneration X drew the lowest rating with a 3.48, which is a huge success considering the new early start time and last week's cumulative score of a 3.44.

The second hour contained the advertised return of Brock Lesnar, an Intercontinental Championship match, the return of the Rock and of course the wedding segment between Daniel Bryan and AJ. This drew a 3.95 and was the second highest score of the night.

The third and final hour showcased the highly anticipated WWE Championship match between John Cena and CM Punk, and garnered the highest rating of the night with a 4.09! These are easily the best numbers Monday Night Raw has done since the WrestleMania build-up in 2009, drawing over 1,000,000 new viewers since last week's Money in the Bank follow-up show.

HBK Speaks on His Future, Would Punk Have Been on First Raw?

The Miami Herald recently conducted an interview with WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, and the following are some highlights.

Although he makes some wrestling-related appearances, don’t look for the Hall of Famer to renege on his retirement from in-ring competition.

“I certainly don’t get the itch,” Michaels said. “That is something that does not happen to me. I think I do get satisfied when I get to go back to do an appearance and get to be a special referee or just an autograph session. Things like that, which is something I really enjoy. Certainly, I don’t stay on the sidelines longing to be in the spotlight, but the time that I am, it’s always a great deal of fun.

I still try to do a good job and try not to phone it in. It’s almost like two different parts of your life. The first part of your life is geared toward one direction, and the second part of your life is more geared toward another. I’m guessing that is sort of where I’m at, but not forsaking or forgetting the first part by any stretch. I’m appreciative for it and thankful for it.”

[On Punk making the claim that he would have been part of the very first Raw in 1993:]

“I certainly understand the point he was trying to make,” Michaels said. “It was a different time, and there was a different attitude toward us guys, but because he is a fighter and doesn’t take a lot of guff from folks — for the same reasons that he is on now and the same reason he accomplished what he has in his career now, which is a testament to him — for all of those reasons, all the good reasons and positives because he is a fighter, I think he would have been on the first show.

I think I understand the point he was trying to make. It was a different time. There were stereotypes that needed to be broken back then, and thankfully, it was done. Hopefully, it has made a difference for Punk and the others. I think because of the type of dude he is, I don’t think he would have had anything to worry about.”

Major Heel Turn on Raw 1,000; Who is WWE Champion?

In the main event of tonight's 1,000th episode of Monday Night Raw, the Big Show forced a disqualification after attacking John Cena in his WWE Championship match against CM Punk.

After the match, CM Punk teased a heel turn when he walked out on John Cena and allowed the Big Show to continue assaulting him. This prompted the Rock to run down to the ring and make the save. As the Rock attempted to hit the People's Elbow, the WWE Champion rushed the ring once more to take him out. Punk delivered the GTS to the Rock and left the ring to a chorus of boo's from the St. Louis crowd.

If there were any doubt that Punk had in fact turned "heel", Jerry Lawler took us off the air by saying "CM Punk has turned his back on the WWE Universe."

Monday Night Raw 1000 Videos

WWE Monday Night Raw has a memorial on the one thousand episodes of the show. It's three hour special with appearances by The Rock, Brock Lesnar, Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon. The main event puts the WWE Champion CM Punk front of Mr. Money in the Bank John Cena for the WWE Championship.

 

CM Punk Involved In Incident With Fan In Airport

F4Wonline.com is reporting some details regarding an incident CM Punk had with a fan in the St. Louis airport.

A fan who was described as rude, approached CM Punk for an autograph and was turned down. This led to another fan yelling at Punk and it created a scene in the airport.

Punk then threw the fans autograph book in the trash. The airport police came and reportedly CM Punk was very irritated at this point.

Is John Cena Set To Win The WWE Title?

WWE's creative committee is rumored to be leaning towards CM Punk retaining the WWE Championship next Monday on RAW when John Cena is supposed to cash in his Money in the Bank contract. According to sources, there is a lot of talk within the organization that Cena will be the first person to not win a title directly after cashing in the briefcase. The feeling is that Cena is the one guy that can handle losing the cash in. They also could have The Big Show or The Rock cost Cena the match, which keeps Punk as champion and sidetracks Cena into another feud. There was also talk at RAW this week that there would be a major angle between John Cena and CM Punk next week where somehow Cena would keep his Money in the Bank briefcase. It's almost guaranteed that this will change numerous times before RAW next week so take this with a grain of salt for now.

Triple H recently directed that title reigns should be longer in order to build the importance of the belts. As you know by now, both CM Punk and Sheamus retained their titles at Money in the Bank.

Details Behind Cena Winning MITB & Original Plans

WZ has confirmed with sources that John Cena winning the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Match wasn't the original plan when the bout was set weeks prior.

Sources have confirmed the original plan was for Chris Jericho to win the briefcase, and then become the first superstar to cash in unsuccessfully. One of the top plans was for Jericho to attempt to cash in later in the pay-per-view after the CM Punk and Daniel Bryan match.

WWE then decided the week of the show that they would instead go with John Cena winning, which reportedly is why the CM Punk WWE Championship match got bumped from being the last on the card. WWE officials felt the PPV ending wouldn't be climactic enough if the CM Punk bout ended the show without anyone coming out to cash in the briefcase won earlier in the night.

Speculation On The Big Summer Angle Revealed Monday

For months there has been rumors of a big summer angle WWE was going to do to get people talking, similar to CM Punk last summer and Nexus the year before that.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting there is a lot of speculation that the big angle is going to happen at the end of the 1,000th Raw.

No other details are known as information is being kept very tight across the company regarding plans for this Monday.

HHH Wants Longer Title Reigns

it's being reported that Triple H's latest WWE directive is calling for longer World and WWE Title reigns so that the significance of the respective titles can be better built.

It's being said that both WWE Champion CM Punk and World Champion Sheamus are expected to hold on to their titles for the foreseeable futures, and both, especially Punk, have been successful in multiple title defenses.

Top Bouts Rumored For Summerslam

Top Bouts Rumored For SSlam As of this writing, here are the top matches currently being discussed for WWE SummerSlam next month. As always, things can change as nothing has been officially announced for the event.

-Triple H vs Brock Lesnar
-CM Punk vs John Cena for the WWE Title
-Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio vs Dolph Ziggler in a Triple Threat Match for the World Title
-Daniel Bryan vs Chris Jericho