The 5^th December 2011 episode of Monday Night Raw starts with John Cena making his way to the ring and talking about being on Piper’s Pit last week and reiterating his position that fans have the right to do what they want in terms of choosing whether to boo or cheer him.

He brings his attention to CM Punk’s match with Alberto Del Rio last week and says that there is now time for a number one contender, which prompts Del Rio to make his presence known. Del Rio says that he should be the champion after the stipulation about CM Punk getting disqualified, as he shows the clip of the way the match ended last week.

Cena’s response it to simply reiterate the fact that Del Rio still lost. “Excuse Me!” heralds a further interruption, this time of Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler, with Ziggler pointing out his own win against Randy Orton last week and saying that he should get the title shot to be the first ever simultaneous United States and WWE Champion.

John Cena says that Dolph Ziggler claims to put on the best matches every night, yet won’t face the one person who deserves a United States Championship match, that person being Zack Ryder.

The Miz marks yet another interruption as his music hits and he makes his way to the ring, pointing out how he won in the main event at WrestleMania and his actions over the past couple of weeks in taking out R-Truth and John Cena, and says that he should be the one to become the next WWE Champion.

The interruptions don’t stop, as Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Raw John Laurinaitis makes his way out onto the stage to make his presence known. He says that although CM Punk claims Laurinaitis is unable to be spontaneous, that is untrue, and that is why The Miz, Alberto Del Rio, and Dolph Ziggler will be in matches later on against SmackDown! Superstars, and if they win their matches, then they will be in the WWE Championship match at the TLC Pay-Per-View in two weeks.

He also says that there will be a contract signing for the match with CM Punk later on, but as for John Cena, he invites him to see him backstage as he has something else lined up for him that he likes to call a “social experiment”.

After a video recapping the match between Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler last week, The Miz takes on Randy Orton in a match to determine if The Miz will be a part of the WWE Championship match at TLC.

The match ends with The Miz getting the victory as a result of a count-out, when Wade Barrett’s music hits and he makes his way out and distracts Orton outside the ring, long enough for Orton to fail to answer the ten-count. Afterwards, it appears that Orton is going to take out his anger on The Miz, but instead he gets jumped from behind by Barrett, who is evidently sending a message of his own to not discount him.

After a video hyping the 2012 début of the WWE Network, and an interaction backstage between John Laurinaitis, Zack Ryder, and John Cena, in which Cena is informed that Ryder is his opponent, with the stipulations that if Ryder wins, he gets his United States Championship match, but if Cena wins, Cena gets a spot in the WWE Championship match.

Elsewhere backstage an interaction between Kevin Nash and David Otunga reveals that John Laurinaitis has scheduled a Ladder match between Nash and Triple H at TLC, with a sledgehammer hanging above the ladder and it’s retrieval meaning that it can be used legally without any repercussions whatsoever.

After video recapping the cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Mark Henry and Daniel Bryan last week on the Live SmackDown! Holiday Special (click here for our SmackDown! report), Alberto Del Rio is pitted against Daniel Bryan for his shot to be a part of the WWE Championship match at TLC.

The match sees Del Rio get the victory, when he makes Bryan tap out to the cross-armbreaker.

Next up, after a video hyping Beth Phoenix and Natalya that is interrupted in the middle by another video that hypes the return of a mystery person on 2^nd January 2012, Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres (accompanied by Alicia Fox) go against Beth Phoenix and Natalya in a tag team match which sees Kelly get the victory, when she rolls up Beth in a small package for the 3-count.

Now, Zack Ryder takes on John Cena in a match with the earlier mentioned stipulations, which sees John Cena get the victory and become a part of the WWE Championship match at TLC. Afterwards, Ryder isn’t very happy, so Cena leaves and goes to see John Laurinaitis.

Cena demands that Laurinaitis be genuinely creative and a visionary, and listen to the fans by giving Zack Ryder his United States Championship match anyway. Laurinaitis says that he gave him a shot and he blew it, and that it was a choice of either Ryder who would blow it, or Cena would blow it for him.

Laurinaitis says that he will give Ryder another opportunity to earn a United States Championship match against Dolph Ziggler, but that it is on one condition – that Cena give up his place in the WWE Championship match at TLC.

John Cena isn’t very happy at what he is being asked, but he acknowledges that he is only got to where he is today by being given opportunities, and that Ryder deserves to have the same, so he agrees to the condition.

After a video hyping the “resurrection” of Kane, Zack Ryder is pitted against Mark Henry in a match with no count-outs or disqualifications. The match sees Ryder get the victory and his United States Championship match at TLC, when Cena interferes and hits Henry with an Attitude Adjustment before dragging Ryder over to cover Henry for the 3-count.

An interaction backstage between Vickie Guerrero, Dolph Ziggler, and Jack Swagger, sees Vickie inform Ziggler that she couldn’t get Laurinaitis to reverse Ryder’s victory, but that she knows that his own opponent in his upcoming match will be Sheamus, and it also sees Ziggler telling Swagger not to accompany him to the ring for said match.

Back in the arena, Kevin Nash goes against Santino Marella in a match which sees Nash get the victory, when he hits Marella with the jackknife powerbomb for the 3-count. Afterwards, Nash grabs the sledgehammer that he brought with him and teases using it on Marella, before leaving.

Next, Dolph Ziggler (accompanied by Vickie Guerrero) takes on Sheamus in a match to determine whether Ziggler will be a part of the WWE Championship match at TLC, and which sees Sheamus get the victory, when Sheamus takes advantage of the distraction provided by Zack Ryder, and hits Ziggler with the Brogue Kick for the 3-count.

Afterwards, Ryder hits Ziggler with the Rough Ryder, before taunting Ziggler with the United States Championship and then leaving.

Now, it’s time for the contract signing for the WWE Championship match at TLC, which will involve The Miz, Alberto Del Rio, and CM Punk. John Laurinaitis reveals that the match at TLC will be a Triple Threat Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, with each person then hyping themselves and talking about how they will win at TLC, which includes the great line by CM Punk to Alberto Del Rio where he says “Please, if you say ‘Because it’s your destiny’, I swear to jeebus I’m going to start drinking”.

Once that is over and they have all signed the contract, CM Punk asks if they can get on to the fighting, as that is how these contract signings always end. Laurinaitis denies that there will be any fighting and instead invites the WWE.com photographer to take a photo to mark the occasion and also wishes the participants luck for the match.

CM Punk comments that even John Laurinaitis’ contract signings are boring, and says that they were supposed to end in pier-six brawl; a brouhaha. He says that if you want something to be done right, you have to do it yourself, as he then does exactly that and attacks The Miz and Alberto Del Rio.

Punk is the one to stand tall at the end as he catches both men with a knee in the corner, follows it up with a bulldog through the table to Del Rio, and a GTS to The Miz, and celebrates in the ring with the WWE Championship as Raw goes off the air.