The 20^th August 2012 episode of Monday Night Raw starts with Brock Lesnar’s music hitting and him making his way to the ring with Paul Heyman, where Paul Heyman says that at SummerSlam when he faced Triple H (click here for our SummerSlam report), it was a very uncomfortable match to watch – not only because of Triple H’s legendary ability to withstand punishment.

Talking about when he was on commentary eleven years ago, he says that he watched Triple H’s quadriceps get torn from the bone and yet saw Triple H continued the match to the end. Heyman says that a torn quadriceps couldn’t stop Triple H, but that Brock Lesnar could as he defeated Triple H to tap out.

Heyman says that Lesnar forced Triple H to quit on his own family, company, friends, and fans, and that Triple H’s dignity and manhood was taken by Lesnar as he forced him down to the canvas and left him as a beaten and battered former shell of a man.

He says that he doesn’t feel sorry for Triple H, and that none of the fans should either, as it wasn’t just a fight that Triple H couldn’t win, but a very fight that Triple H told the referee to let the rules be bent and broken for as it was a fight to the finish.

Paul Heyman invites the referee of the match, Scott Armstrong, to come down to the ring and he says that there is something that Brock Lesnar has to say to him. Armstrong eventually makes his way to the ring, albeit very slowly, and Heyman says that Lesnar has two words for him – and Lesnar tells him “Good job”.

Due to the fact that Brock Lesnar took down Triple H, Heyman proclaims him to be the new “King Of Kings”, “Master Of The Brocktagon”, and the “Conqueror of the WWE Universe”, which means that each and every one of the fans are now the loyal subjects of Lesnar.

After a Tout from CM Punk is shown in which Punk says that he wants to name his next opponent to challenge him for the WWE Championship, and a WWE.com video recapping the backstage celebration of R-Truth and Kofi Kingston after their match at SummerSlam, R-Truth, Kofi Kingston, and Sin Cara take on Cody Rhodes, Darren Young, and Titus O’Neil in a Six-Man Tag Team match.

The match sees Cara get the victory for his team, when he counters Rhodes’ attempt to take off his mask and instead takes him down and pins him for the 3-count.

After an interaction backstage involving AJ and David Otunga, in which she makes a match between Otunga and an opponent of her choosing, and Matt Striker interviewing AJ about Punk’s Tout in which she says that she likes the idea and that Punk can choose anybody that he wants pending her approval, Ryback is pitted against Mike Spinner and Andy Tepares in a 2-On-1 Handicap match.

The match sees Ryback get the victory as a result of a disqualification, when Jinder Mahal interrupts the match and attacks Ryback in full view of the referee, putting him in the Camel Clutch until Ryback is able to break it and force Mahal to bail out of the ring.

Ryback then goes back to what he was going to do before Mahal rudely interrupted him, and hits Spinner and Tepares with a double muscle-buster.

After an interaction backstage involving Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler, and AJ, in which AJ makes a match between Ziggler and Jericho for later on in the episode, with the stipulations that if Jericho wins, he wins Ziggler’s Money In The Bank contract, and that if Ziggler wins, Jericho’s contract is terminated, Alberto Del Rio makes his way to the ring after being introduced as always by Ricardo Rodriguez.

Del Rio says that he should be standing in front of all the peasants as the new World Heavyweight Champion, but he isn’t as he got robbed by the referee and Sheamus at SummerSlam, as he then shows a photo of his foot being on the bottom rope.

He says that he is not going to stand there and take it, so he demands another title match against Sheamus right now, and he is answered by AJ’s music hitting and her making her way out onto the stage.

AJ says that she has no authority over the World Heavyweight Championship scene as that is Booker T’s on SmackDown!, but she can put him in a match right now, as she introduces him to his opponent – Randy Orton.

Sheamus’ music hits and he makes his way down to join commentary for the match, which sees Orton take advantage of the distraction provided by Del Rio being angry at Sheamus, and hit Del Rio with an RKO for the 3-count.

After a video recapping the United States Championship match between Santino Marella and Antonio Cesaro on the SummerSlam Pre-Show, and a video recapping Damien Sandow’s attack on Brodus Clay two weeks ago, “Funkasaurus” Brodus Clay (accompanied by Cameron and Naomi) goes against Damien Sandow in a match which sees Sandow get the victory, when he rolls up Clay for the 3-count.

Afterwards, Clay hits Sandow with a suplex and follows it up a jumping body splash, and then him dancing with Cameron, Naomi, and kids from the crowd.

After showing tweets from WWE Superstars and Divas regarding the match between Brock Lesnar and Triple H at SummerSlam and whether it means that it was Triple H’s final match, Michael Cole and Jerry “The King” Lawler interview Shawn Michaels live via satellite about it.

Shawn Michaels says that you can’t prepare yourself to face your own professional mortality, so he knows how Triple H is feeling, and he thinks that what we saw at SummerSlam could be the end of an amazing career.

He says that Triple H is a warrior and always has been, as well as a man of honour and integrity, which Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman would know nothing about. Michaels says that Triple H went out there every night and get everything he had, and that SummerSlam was no exception as that is just who he is.

Michaels says that he appeared over the last few weeks as he wanted to support his friend, but he realises that it was stupid as he became a distraction and burden, and he isn’t sure whether things would have gone differently if he had been in Triple H’s corner at SummerSlam, but last week he didn’t tell Triple H the truth that he didn’t think that he could beat Brock Lesnar.

He says that it is not easy to look someone in the eye and tell them that he thinks that things are over for them and that time has run its course, but addressing Triple H, he says that he has nothing to be ashamed of, and that he is one of the greatest Superstars to ever live, and that he has always respected, been proud of, and loved him, and along with the entire WWE Universe he thanks him for a job well done.

Next, David Otunga takes on The Big Show in a match which sees Show get the victory, when he hits Otunga with the Weapon of Mass Destruction for the 3-count.

After a WWE.com video of The Big Show being interviewed after the Triple Threat WWE Championship match at SummerSlam, and a video recapping Kane’s search for Daniel Bryan after their match at SummerSlam, Kane and Zack Ryder are pitted against Daniel Bryan and The Miz in a Tag Team match.

The match sees the match never officially end, as The Miz and Daniel Bryan bail out, and Kane takes his anger out on the ring steps, timekeeper, and finally Ryder as he hits Ryder with a Tombstone Piledriver and then leaves.

After a WWE.com video of John Cena being interviewed after the Triple Threat WWE Championship match at SummerSlam, Matt Striker interviews CM Punk, where Punk says that his next opponent is John Cena, on one condition that he will name later on in the ring.

Now, Layla joins commentary as Eve Torres, Alicia Fox, Tamina, Aksana, Rosa Mendes, Natalya, and Kaitlyn go against each other in a Divas Battle Royal to determine the Number One Contender to the Divas Championship, which sees Kaitlyn get the victory when she hits Eve with a clothesline that sends her over the ropes and to the floor to eliminate her.

After a Tout is shown of Brock Lesnar saying that he is leaving the WWE and is never coming back as he has done everything he came to do, a video hyping Wade Barrett, and an interaction backstage involving Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler, Dolph Ziggler takes on Chris Jericho in a match which has the stipulations that if Ziggler wins, Jericho’s contract is terminated, and that if Jericho wins, he gets Ziggler’s Money In The Bank contract.

The match sees Ziggler get the victory and cause Jericho’s contract to be terminated, when Ziggler counters Jericho’s Lionsault attempt by bringing his knees up, and then follows it up with a Zig-Zag to Jericho for the 3-count.

Afterwards, Ziggler and Vickie celebrate for a while until Jericho snatches the Money In The Bank briefcase and attacks Ziggler with it, followed by hitting him with a Codebreaker.

After a trailer of “The Day”, CM Punk’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring, where he then decides to exit it and approach Jerry Lawler for an apology for Lawler’s comments a few weeks ago.

Lawler says that he meant no malice by his comments, but that at the time he felt like Punk had turned his back. Punk tells Lawler to have the respect for him to tell him to his face that he was wrong and apologise, but at this point John Cena’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring, prompting Punk to re-enter the ring himself too.

Punk says that he has been taking a back seat to Cena, Triple H, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson out of respect, but that respect is a two-way street, yet it hasn’t ever been reciprocated the way it should be towards himself.

He says that he is the WWE Champion and has been for nine months, and that at airports he is greeted and then asked why he wasn’t in the main event the previous night, wherein he tells people that any match that he is in is the main event, and that it is out of respect that he lets Cena go on last.

CM Punk says that taking a back seat no longer makes any sense, especially considering the fact that John Cena is the person who he defeated over a year ago at Money In The Bank for the WWE Championship and then last year at SummerSlam too, and that the fans can’t respect the fact that he has to take a back seat to the guy who he beat on Sunday at SummerSlam.

He tells Cena that he is the Number One Contender to the title that belongs to Punk, is because Punk is going to beat him again, because he has to beat him again. Punk says that he thinks about it and that every time he has defeated Punk it hasn’t mattered, as he looks into the crowd and sees the “Cenation” and it dawns on him what he has to have Cena do.

Punk says that is the one condition, that if Cena wants what he knows he wants, then what Cena has to do is admit live right now that CM Punk is the Best In The World.

John Cena says that he may be throwing away the chance at a championship, but that he is not going to call Punk the best in the world. He says that this is because to compete every night, he has to believe that he himself is the best.

He agrees that Punk is firmly in the back seat despite being the WWE Champion for 274 days, but he says that this is because in all that time, all people remember is the night that Punk blew Vince McMahon a kiss and left town.

Cena says that he is not here to stroke Punk’s ego, but is there to offer him vindication. He says to prove it as he is not saying that Punk is the best in the world, so Punk can choose whoever he wants even if it isn’t him, as he is confident in his abilities that he will get another shot at the WWE Championship.

He says not to choose him and see what happens, but that there is one match that can define the one word that Punk is searching for, as Night Of Champions is in Cena’s home town, so if Punk walks into Cena’s home town as the WWE Champion against him and walks out the champion, that is the moment that will define Punk’s existence.

John Cena says that he isn’t saying that CM Punk can’t do it, as there is a mutual respect between them, so right now he says that the choice is Punk’s to choose anybody, but not to come out and demand respect from the fans, as if Punk doesn’t choose Cena for the biggest match at Night Of Champions, Punk has no respect for the fans or for himself.

Instead of answering what John Cena has just said, Punk continues where he left off before Cena arrived, as he invites Lawler into the ring. He says that he thinks that Lawler went too far and owes him an apology, but Lawler says that he thinks it’s a misunderstanding, but if it is what Punk wants, he apologises.

Lawler starts to leave, but Punk stops him as he says that he is not finished. He says that if Cena doesn’t want to say it, Lawler is the “Minister of Propaganda” for the WWE Universe and that they hear what Lawler is saying, so he wants Lawler to say that Punk is the Best In The World.

Jerry Lawler says that he has spent years at the announce table and built a rapport with the WWE Universe, but he says that he can’t say that. Lawler then starts to leave, so Punk takes him down from behind with a kick to the back of the head.

CM Punk crouches near the downed Lawler, as Raw goes off the air.