WWE RAW Results: June 25, 2012

Punishment in the bank.

With the landmark 1,000th episode of RAW just four weeks away, the 996th edition of WWE Monday Night RAW came to you, live, from the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, IN. After being suspended for a controversial incident in Brazil, “The Best in the World at What He Does” returns to RAW as six-time World Champion Chris Jericho appears on RAW for the first time in over a month. With the WWE Board of Directors still debating a new permanent General Manager for both RAW & SmackDown, the second week of special Interim General Managers would see former GM Vickie Guerrero take the reins of both shows for one week only.

Match Results

• 3-Way Elimination Match: Non-Title: CM Punk (with A.J.) def. Kane by pin following the GTS. Daniel Bryan def. CM Punk by pin following a kick to the head.
• Big Show def. Brodus Clay by pin by countering a slam attempt.
• United States Championship: Santino Marella (c) def. Jack Swagger by pin following the Cobra Strike to retain.
• Sycho Sid def. Heath Slater by pin following the release powerbomb.
• #1 Contender’s Contract-on-a-Pole Match for the World Heavyweight Title: Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez) fight to a No Contest after neither man is able to gain possession of the contract.
• Divas Summertime Beach Battle Royal: A.J. def. Vickie Guerrero, Layla, Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Tamina Snuka, Rosa Mendes, Kaitlyn, Alicia Fox, Aksana, & Maxine.
• Chris Jericho def. John Cena by DQ after Big Show interferes.

Detailed Results

The show kicks off backstage as the delusional A.J. appears to be speaking to Daniel Bryan, Kane, and CM Punk. A.J. tells Bryan that, even if Bryan does not want to show it, she knows that he still has feelings for her. A.J. then tells Kane that, when she sees Kane, she just wants to go “wild”, but they both know that Kane is not a man, but a “monster”. A.J. then gets to CM Punk, saying that she thinks that it is best if they all go their “separate ways”. It is then revealed that A.J. was talking to a mirror!

Vickie Guerrero officially opens the show as Vickie reminds everyone that the WWE Board of Directors have voted to have her run this week’s RAW and SmackDown as the Interim General Manager. Through a deafening amount of boos from the crowd, Vickie proclaims that there is no doubt that the Board will decide to make her the permanent GM before Vickie announces a 3-Way Elimination Match for the opening bout of the evening.

Per the orders of Interim General Manager Vickie Guerrero, the opening match of the night saw a 3-Way Elimination Match as WWE Champion CM Punk, “The Yes Man” Daniel Bryan, and “The Big Red Monster” Kane faced off in a non-title match! During the match, A.J. emerges and skips around the ring, distracting Kane long enough for CM Punk to hit the GTS on Kane, eliminating Kane from the match. Daniel Bryan then takes advantage, delivering a kick to the skull of CM Punk en route to pinning the WWE Champion for the win!

Backstage, Interim GM Vickie Guerrero settles an argument between Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio by announcing that the two Superstars will square off in a Contract-on-a-Pole Match where the winner will earn a World Heavyweight Title match this Friday night on SmackDown.

After being assaulted and laid out by Big Show several weeks ago, “The Funkasaurus” was looking for revenge as Brodus Clay went one-on-one with “The World’s Largest Athlete” Big Show. While Brodus Clay took it to Big Show early on, Show gets a shot in on Brodus’ knee to gain the advantage. Then, when Big Show goes for the W.M.D., Brodus is able to avoid contact, but when “The Funkasaurus” tries to hoist Big Show up, Brodus’ knee gives out on him, resulting in Big Show landing on top of Brodus, pinning him for the win. After the match, referees and EMT’s tend to Brodus Clay, having to assist the injured Superstar out of the ring, but Big Show re-emerges, knocking Brodus out with the W.M.D.!

The big news was revealed during RAW that, on next week’s RAW, Brock Lesnar will appear, in person, to answer Triple H’s SummerSlam challenge! Will Brock accept the challenge or will he stick to his guns and deny the fight?

Backstage, Kane confronts A.J., explaining that he takes pleasure in hurting others and even he finds A.J. unstable. Kane then adds that it is best if they just stay away from each other before walking away from A.J., who begins to cry before laughing about the situation.

The United States Championship was up for grabs for the first time on RAW since April as Santino Marella defended the gold against “The All-American American” Jack Swagger. In the end, it was Santino Marella hitting the Cobra Strike on Jack Swagger en route to picking up the win and retaining the United States Title.

After taking to Twitter to promise an announcement that would “make history”, John Cena appeared on RAW. After using Star Wars references to recall the last month of activity in the WWE, involving John Laurinaitis getting fired by Mr. McMahon at No Way Out, Cena was set to make his announcement. However, he is interrupted by the returning Chris Jericho, who says that Cena needs to make his announcement and get the hell out of his ring. Cena explains that, if Big Show was to win the RAW Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match and get a guaranteed shot at the WWE Title, there would be no stopping him. Cena then reveals that, to stop Big Show, he will take part in the Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match for the first time ever! Jericho says that he “invented” the Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match and has been in three of them, saying the match is not something to do for “fun” as it is a serious match. Jericho continues that he knows what it is like to be in those matches before announcing that he too will be a part of the RAW Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match!

Interim GM Vickie Guerrero then comes out to announce that the RAW Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match will feature only former WWE Champions as Kane will join John Cena, Big Show, and Chris Jericho in the match! Cena then marvels at the decision, saying that Vickie would make a good permanent GM as long as she just repeats the decisions of the WWE Board of Directors and makes no decisions on her own. Vickie takes offense to this and makes the blockbuster announcement that Chris Jericho will go one-on-one with John Cena in the main event of RAW!

After Vader’s surprise appearance two weeks ago, as well as Mick Foley and Roddy Piper’s appearances last week, it was then time for another past RAW Superstar to make an appearance. However, Heath Slater decides to interrupt, proclaiming that he is one of the “top Superstars” on RAW and he “rules the world”! Slater is then interrupted by a true “psycho” as, for the first time in fifteen years, two-time WWE Champion Sycho Sid steps into a RAW ring! Though Slater was able to get a couple of shots in on the legend, Sid fought back, dropping Slater with his patented release powerbomb en route to picking up the win.

With a World Heavyweight Title opportunity suspended in the corner, “The Mexican Aristocrat” Alberto Del Rio, with personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez, went one-on-one with “The Show-Off” Dolph Ziggler in a Contract-on-a-Pole Match with the winner earning a World Heavyweight Title shot against Sheamus this Friday on SmackDown. In one of the most unique instances in history, Dolph Ziggler flings the contract off of the pole to the mat. The referee rules that the match must continue until either Ziggler or Del Rio gain possession of the contract. Both men then scramble to try and get sole possession, but the contract ends up on the outside of the ring before both Dolph and Del Rio tumble to the outside of the ring on the outside. The World Heavyweight Champion himself, Sheamus, then comes out to inform them that Vickie Guerrero has ruled that he will be defending the World Heavyweight Title in a Triple Threat Match against both men this Friday on SmackDown!

It was announced during RAW that, per his pinning of the WWE Champion earlier on RAW, Daniel Bryan will challenge CM Punk for the WWE Championship at Money-in-the-Bank!

With Divas Champion Layla, Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Rosa Mendes, Alicia Fox, Tamina Snuka, Maxine, Aksana, Kaitlyn, A.J., and even Interim GM Vickie Guerrero in the ring, it was then time for the Divas Summertime Beach Battle Royal The first Diva to go was Maxine as Alicia Fox sends her on her way, followed by Tamina Snuka eliminating Aksana and Tamina also eliminating Alicia Fox. Working together, Natalya & Beth Phoenix eliminate Kaitlyn while Layla eliminates Rosa Mendes. Beth Phoenix eliminates Tamina Snuka before inadvertently eliminating Natalya. With Phoenix distracted by her accidental elimination of Natalya, Layla takes advantage to eliminate “The Glamazon”. With only Layla, A.J., and Vickie Guerrero left, A.J. uses a distraction by Beth Phoenix to eliminate the Divas Champion. The unstable Diva then kicks Vickie out of the ring to pick up the win.

Then it was time for the main event as, three weeks before they join Kane and Big Show in the WWE Championship Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match, familiar rivals squared off as twelve-time World Champion John Cena went one-on-one with six-time World Champion Chris Jericho. With John Cena closing in on a victory, Big Show comes out, distracting Cena long enough for Jericho to take advantage as Jericho locks in the Walls of Jericho on Cena. Big Show then enters the ring and, with Cena prone, Show lands a big leg drop on the head and neck of Cena, giving Cena the disqualification win. Jericho is then quick to exit the ring before Show drops Cena with a huge chokeslam. Big Show then furthers the punishment by locking in the Colossal Clutch, doing his best to try and break Cena in half with the devastating submission hold.

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