The 12^th September 2011 episode of Monday Night Raw starts with Undisputed WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio in the ring with Ricardo Rodriguez. He asks if the crowd are going to boo him, and he says that it’s okay as he can take that, but what he can’t take is being disrespected.

He says that last week he was hit with an Attitude Adjustment by John Cena, and the WWE Universe all made fun of him. Del Rio says that he is the WWE Champion and nobody makes fun of him, also mentioning that he took out Rey Mysterio, retired Edge, beat CM Punk at SummerSlam, and he says that he is the man who will defeat Cena at Night Of Champions.

Alberto Del Rio calls himself the “Greatest of the Great”, but Bret Hart apparently takes exception to that as his music hits and he makes his way to the ring. Hart says that he didn’t come out to disrespect Del Rio, but to give him some good advice and education, as it seems obvious to him when he looks at him, that he is a man who doesn’t know what it means to be a champion.

Del Rio tells Hart that he destroyed Mysterio and did the same to Edge, so if he wants the same done to him… Hart stops him there and says that if he calls himself a champion beating up on already-injured wrestlers, he is all style and no substance, but a little flash, so he should become a real champion and have pride.

Bret Hart says a man who faces all challenges, wrestles day-in and day-out, and leaves it all in the ring, is how someone becomes “The Best There Is, The Best There Was, And The Best There Ever Will Be”.

Del Rio says that Hart looks like a “bump”, that he looks like a homeless person and one of the illegal Canadians that he hires to clean his house. He proclaims himself to be the best and says that he is going to make an example out of Hart – but John Cena’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring.

Cena says that he disagrees with Del Rio as he looks at Hart and not only doesn’t see what Del Rio describes, but rather sees a WWE Hall Of Famer. He continues by saying that he doesn’t have visual proof, but it seems that Del Rio finally has a set of jalapeños as he is standing in the ring with him instead of running away like he has over the past month.

He says that it is a shame however, as he is out there to tell Del Rio to leave, and he says to get in his car which he then starts to describe before stopping and suggesting that Del Rio has no idea what he is even talking about.

John Cena tells Alberto Del Rio to go back to Mexico, taking a cab if he has to, and party like there is no tomorrow, as he is the WWE Champion for only six more days. He says that he has told the camera, the people, Tattoo from Fantasy Island (referring to Ricardo Rodriguez), and though it is a shame that Del Rio is the last he is going to tell, he says that at least he is man enough to look him in the eyes and tell him that he’s going to beat him at Night Of Champions on Sunday.

Alberto Del Rio asks why they should wait and suggest giving the crowd what they want, which Cena is all for, but Del Rio says to give the crowd the match they want – John Cena against… Ricardo Rodriguez.

He says that Rodriguez wants to make him pay for hitting him in the face, despite Rodriguez’s obvious protestations to the contrary. Cena says that if Del Rio wants to wait until Sunday for their own match, that is fine, but if he wants to make a special match for a special crowd, he suggests that Del Rio put the WWE Championship on the line against Bret Hart on this episode of Raw.

Vice President of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis makes his presence known and suggests on behalf of COO Triple H that they give everyone what they really want to see, a tag team match that pits the team of Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez against John Cena and Bret “The Hitman” Hart.

Next up, John Morrison and Alex Riley take on Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler (accompanied by Vickie Guerrero) in a match which sees Riley get the victory when he hits Swagger with the fireman’s carry cutter for the 3-count, and despite Ziggler’s perfect positioning to break it up, he does not do so and instead watches on.

Going backstage, Josh Mathews interviews R-Truth and The Miz about whether their feelings towards COO Triple H have changed as despite their claims of there being a conspiracy, Triple H has approved their WWE Tag Team Championship match against “Air Boom” at Night Of Champions.

The Miz snatches the microphone away as he and R-Truth walk away through the halls and The Miz comments that everything is supposed to be okay now that they have what they want, but he says that is laughable, as is CM Punk considering himself a martyr.

He says that all everybody is talking about is the face-off between Triple H and CM Punk, except this time they are going to tell the truth. The Miz says that if he really wanted to tell the truth, CM Punk would change his name from CM to BS.

R-Truth says that he kind of respects Triple H’s decision, but when The Miz plays the really game with him, he reveals that he doesn’t really, saying “ninja, please”, but The Miz has to quickly clarify with him what he says, as The Miz apparently thought he heard a different word than “ninja”.

He says that he wants Triple H to lose on Sunday too as he wants him out of there as the COO, so he suggests to The Miz that they show the crowd the “real truth”. Truth says that Triple H is the COO, which spells “coo”, and two times spells “coocoo”, which he says is exactly what Triple H is if he thinks that they are going to let him off the hook.

R-Truth says that he and The Miz should be in the main event at every Pay-Per-View, which they will prove on Sunday at Night Of Champions, and right now too. The Miz says that the truth is that on Sunday Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston are going to get got, and R-Truth says that is Awesome.

Now, The Miz (accompanied by R-Truth) is pitted against Kofi Kingston (accompanied by Evan Bourne) in a match which sees The Miz get the victory when he hits Kingston with the Skull-Crushing Finale for the 3-count.

Backstage again, Teddy Long informs Vickie Guerrero that Dolph Ziggler will be in a Fatal Four Way match against Jack Swagger, Alex Riley, and John Morrison for the United States Championship.

Vickie expresses annoyance at Ziggler having three opponents and then yells at Kelly Kelly asking what she is looking at. Vickie tells Kelly that she can’t wait until Sunday when Beth Phoenix beats her for the Divas Championship, and comments that even she could beat Kelly, which Long overhears and decides to put that to the test, making the match for later on in this episode.

After a video recapping the tag team match between the team of Jerry “The King” Lawler and Zack Ryder and the team of David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty, McGillicutty and Otunga are in the ring and ask Lawler if they know who they are and who McGillicutty’s father is.

Lawler tells McGillicutty that he knew his father, and McGillicutty is nothing like him, and as for Otunga, another lawyer is just what they need, but though he graduated from Harvard, he obviously failed his charisma class.

He reveals his partner for this tag team match as Sheamus, and this match sees Sheamus get the victory for his team when he hits Otunga with a Brogue Kick, followed up with one for McGillicutty and ended with a high-cross powerbomb for the 3-count.

Next, Bret “The Hitman” Hart and John Cena go against Ricardo Rodriguez and Alberto Del Rio in a match which sees Del Rio walk away up the ramp and Hart get the victory for his team as Rodriguez gets hit with an Attitude Adjustment from John Cena and is then forced to tap out to the Sharpshooter subsequently applied by Bret Hart.

After a video commemorating September 11^th and the days afterwards, Kelly Kelly takes on Vickie Guerrero (accompanied by Dolph Ziggler) in a match which sees Kelly take advantage of the distraction provided by Swagger hitting Ziggler on the outside, and roll up Vickie for the 3-count.

Afterwards, while the argument continues on the outside, Beth Phoenix attempts to enter the ring but she is met with a kick from Kelly, who then exits the ring and leaves up the ramp, raising her title aloft in celebration.

After a video hyping Triple H, Josh Mathews interviews Mark Henry but Henry tells him not to say and word and just to listen, as he says that he also hopes that Randy Orton is listening. Henry says that people wonder why he attacked decimated Kane and The Big Show, and put Sheamus through the barricade at SummerSlam.

He says that fifteen years of him being looked over, receiving no respect, not being number one contender or World Heavyweight Champion, all of this brought him to this point of becoming the World Heavyweight Champion and he promises that on Sunday, Orton is going to enter his “Hall of Pain”.

After a video recapping Mark Henry’s attack on Randy Orton last week on SmackDown! (click here for our SmackDown! report), Randy Orton is pitted against Cody Rhodes (accompanied by his assistants with the paper bags) in a match which sees Rhodes get the victory when he takes advantage of the distraction provided by Mark Henry as he hits Orton with his mask and then hits the Cross-Rhodes for the 3-count.

Afterwards, Henry hits Orton with a steel chair and then demands the World Heavyweight Championship be passed to him, which it is and he then holds it aloft as he stands over a downed Orton and taunts him.

After a WWE Rewind video recapping Kevin Nash’s firing by Triple H last week, Triple H and CM Punk make their way to the ring for a face-off. CM Punk says that he is fascinated that the entire world is watching and waiting to see what they have to say to each other, so if he doesn’t mind, he’ll start.

He says that he respects Triple H, especially for firing Nash last week, but that doesn’t mean that he likes him, which he knows doesn’t matter to Triple H as he doesn’t like Punk either. Punk says that he knows this because he has heard things but also because of the reaction that he has seen from him at any time that they have been in the ring together.

Punk talks about how Triple H called him a pompous and undersized internet darling who couldn’t hang with the likes of Triple H when he first entered the WWE, and when Triple H says that has changed a little, Punk says that is the problem as the fact that his perception of him has only changed a bit is not good enough.

He compares Triple H to Vince McMahon, saying that they both stand still and let everything pass them by, and share the same opinions and philosophies that a guy who looks like Punk doesn’t belong in a ring with a guy who looks like Triple H.

CM Punk talks about how both McMahon and Triple H have a weird fixation that a main-event calibre Superstar is supposed to look like a body-builder and are afforded ten times the opportunities, which Triple H denies and lists examples to the contrary such as Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, Mick Foley, and Bret Hart.

Triple H says that if Punk wants to use it as an excuse for his failures, then to go ahead. He says that Punk keeps worrying about his opinion all the time, but his opinion doesn’t matter, but the WWE Universe’s does.

CM Punk points out the crowd’s reaction to him now, which Triple H says is only today and that is where he’s changed his opinion about him, but that it is the first six years that he has bitched about when he didn’t get the reaction that he has a problem with.

Triple H says that it’s why Punk claims to be held back, but the reality is that he hasn’t been held back, and that his opinion doesn’t matter, only the WWE Universe’s does and when he gets over with them, he’ll get everything he ever wanted out of the business.

He says that he won’t have to beg and plead to be on the 7-11 cups, but rather that 7-11 will call up and demand to have Punk on the cups. CM Punk asks that if they are listening to the crowd today, then where are his WWE ice-cream bars?

CM Punk says to spare him the imaginary brass ring speech as he has had many over the years already, and taking us back to Survivor Series in 2006, he talks about how he was in a match captained by Degeneration-X, but the crowd was chanting for Punk and not DX, and he says that the story didn’t have a happy ending as he grabbed the imaginary brass ring and went nowhere with it.

He says that what we see with him is what you get, so he’d rather be hated for something he is rather than be loved for something he is not. Triple H lists opportunities that he says Punk has been given, and suggests that Punk look in the mirror and perhaps admit that he’s not the best in the world.

Reminding us about Punk’s story about Cena a few weeks ago, Triple H says that John Cena is a guy who came from nothing and made himself the biggest guy in the industry, and though some love him and some hate him, he sells out arenas around the world by himself.

Triple H says that if he’s asked his opinion he’ll tell the truth, and sometimes he is right and other times he is wrong, like when he says that a guy is going to go far but then doesn’t, or that a guy will go nowhere but turns out to be John Cena and goes the furthest you can in the business.

He says that all CM Punk has to do is win them over, which makes Punk ask if he’s listening to the crowd like he claims to be. Triple H says that today the crowd is on his side, but he says that last year the reaction wasn’t the same and says that Punk knows that to be a fact.

Triple H says that CM Punk just started to get these reactions, but not to look back over the past six years and play the martyr, claiming to have been held down as it is a load of crap. CM Punk says that over the last six years he has earned everything by busting his ass and sacrificing himself for the business and has been handed nothing.

Triple H congratulates him and says that is how you get somewhere in the WWE, but this is not about business and is personal because despite him trying to keep it strictly business, CM Punk made it personal.

He says that Punk will step in the ring on Sunday for a No Disqualification match with a man who will kick his ass. Punk says that he is the best in the world and will kick Triple H’s ass, that he will make him go to sleep and pin him.

CM Punk wants to say the reason that it will be so satisfying to kick his ass in the ring, but says that it isn’t CM Punk talking to Triple H, but rather Phil Brooks talking to Paul Levesque, but before he can say the reason, his microphone cuts out.

He tries Triple H’s microphone which is working, but that ends up being silenced as well, which makes Punk demand that he do something about it if he’s supposed to be the COO. Triple H demands another microphone and gets one, asking someone named Frank what the hell is going on.

Triple H tells Punk to lay the pipe bomb on him, so Punk takes the microphone and nails him in the head with it before imitating the DX “suck it” taunt, then leaving while Triple H gets back to his feet as Raw goes off the air.