The 897th edition of WWE Monday Night RAW came to you from the AT&T Center in San Antonio, TX. One week after laying out his SummerSlam opponent, WWE Champion Sheamus, and “Mr. Money-in-the-Bank” The Miz with the RKO, “The Viper” Randy Orton would go one-on-one with United States Champion & “Mr. Money-in-the-Bank” The Miz! RAW would also feature a special appearance by two of the biggest actors in films today as Will Ferrell & Mark Wahlberg will appear on RAW to promote their new film, “The Other Guys”, which will be in theaters nationwide this Friday!
>>Match Results<<
- Edge & Wade Barrett fight to a No Contest when The Nexus comes out.
- 6-Diva Tag: Alicia Fox, Jillian, & Tamina def. Eve Torres, Gail Kim, & Natalya by Alicia Fox pinning Natalya following the Fox Kick.
- Non-Title: Sheamus def. Goldust by pin following the High Cross Powerbomb.
- Loser Leaves Team WWE: John Cena def. Chris Jericho by voluntary submission to the C-STF to force Chris Jericho off of Team WWE.
- The Great Khali (with Wade Barrett & Skip Sheffield) def. Ted DiBiase (with Maryse) by submission to the Khali Vise Grip.
- Non-Title: Randy Orton def. The Miz by pin following the RKO.
>>Detailed Results<<
One week after being partially responsible for the dissention of Team WWE by attacking his teammate, The Great Khali, and trying to get Khali taken of the team, the show kicks off with “The Rated-R Superstar” Edge! Edge states that, last week, things became “crystal clear” and that he needs to listen to “one person and one person only”, himself! Edge continues that Team WWE is “falling apart” before his eyes and that he does not “respect” John Cena, he does not “trust” Chris Jericho, he does not have “faith” in The Great Khali, and that he “barely knows” R-Truth or John Morrison! Edge then states that he needs to do things his “way” and that is why he challenges Nexus leader, Wade Barrett, to a one-on-one match and that he does not want anyone sticking their nose in his business! However, Edge is interrupted by one of his teammates, R-Truth, and Edge asks R-Truth what “part” of what he said about staying out his business did he not understand and R-Truth responds by saying that he was going to ask Edge the same thing! R-Truth continues by saying that the whole thing is “much bigger” than Wade Barrett and states that Edge does not want to “listen” to John Cena and that is “fine”, but he will listen to him! R-Truth continues that Edge has had a “ton” of matches, but asks when Edge has ever had to fight for “everything” and that they are both fighting for what they love to do and they have to “fight together” or The Nexus will win! R-Truth then tells Edge that he needs to stop thinking about himself and Edge responds by saying that Wade Barrett is the “head of the snake” that is The Nexus and Edge threatens R-Truth to get out of the ring or he will get the Spear! The anonymous General Manager of RAW then chimes with an email that reads that the GM is going to “honor” the request of Edge and orders R-Truth to leave the ring so that Edge can go one-on-one with Wade Barrett next! Before exiting the ring, R-Truth wishes Edge “good luck” and reminds Edge that he is on his “own”!
After being granted his request to go one-on-one with Wade Barrett by the anonymous RAW General Manager, “The Rated-R Superstar” Edge would square off with the leader of The Nexus, Wade Barrett! In the end, Edge looked poised for victory as he set up Wade Barrett for the Spear, but Barrett quickly hopped out of the ring and would signal The Nexus to come to the ring, but once he spotted the rest of The Nexus coming to the ring, Edge made a quick exit out of the ring and escaped through the crowd, avoiding a potential assault by The Nexus! With the threat of The Nexus still very strong, can Team WWE get back on the same page?
After narrowly escaping an assault by The Nexus, Edge confronts John Cena backstage and asks Cena where he was at when he was faced with The Nexus and Cena responds by saying that no one “listens” to him, so he thought he would “listen” to Edge and let Edge do it on his own like he wanted to do and the only way that The Nexus can be dealt with is in a 7-on-7 situation! Edge responds by telling Cena “good luck with that” because Team WWE will be doing it without him, because he “quits” the team! After losing Edge off of Team WWE, John Cena is confronted by Chris Jericho, who tells Cena that if there is anyone that needs to “quit” the team, it is John Cena because Cena is just as much of a “problem” as The Nexus and for Team WWE to succeed, Cena needs to be off the team! Chris Jericho says that if Cena does not quit, he will “make” him quit before challenging Cena to a one-on-one match between them and whoever loses is off of Team WWE! Cena responds by asking Jericho if he is “crazy” and saying that The Nexus is “laughing” at them right now because they are doing the “opposite” of what they should be doing! Not phased by the pleas of John Cena, Chris Jericho asks Cena if he accepts the match or not and Cena reluctantly accepts the match! With Edge off of the team and either John Cena or Chris Jericho being forced out, how can Team WWE possibly survive just two weeks before their scheduled SummerSlam match against The Nexus?
Backstage, The Great Khali & Ranjin Singh are confronted by Nexus members David Otunga & Michael Tarver, who explain that they did not attack Khali last week because they do not attack people they “respect” and that “word has it” that if Khali loses his match against Ted DiBiase, then John Cena will take Khali off of Team WWE and that does not sound like “respect” from Cena! The Nexus members then state that, if Khali wants to go somewhere where he is not only “respected”, but “appreciated”, then the “door is always open” for Khali to join The Nexus! Could the largest member of Team WWE, The Great Khali, defect and join The Nexus?
The Divas were in 6-Diva Tag Match on RAW as former Divas Champion Eve Torres, former Women’s Champion Gail Kim, & Natalya would face the team of Divas Champion Alicia Fox, former Divas Champion Jillian, & Tamina! At the end of a chaotic match, it was a distraction by Tamina that allowed Alicia Fox to hit the Fox Kick on Natalya en route to picking up the win! After the match, Alicia Fox proclaims that hers is the “greatest reign” in the history of the Divas Championship and that, in one match or another, she has defeated all of the Divas in that match and that there is not a Diva on the RAW Roster that is “comparable” to her! This prompts the return of former Divas Champion, Melina, who enters the ring and comes face-to-face with Alicia Fox, but Fox tries to escape with Jillian thwarting that plan by tossing the Divas Champion in to the ring where Melina ultimately laid Alicia Fox out with the Sunset Split! With her sights apparently set on regaining the Divas Title she was forced to relinquish, can Melina get back in the Divas Title picture now that “The Red Carpet Diva” is back?
Two weeks before he defends the WWE Title against Randy Orton at SummerSlam, WWE Champion Sheamus was in action on RAW as Sheamus would go one-on-one with “The Bizarre Lonestar” Goldust in a non-title bout! In the end, it was Sheamus picking up an impress victory over the veteran after hitting the High Cross Powerbomb! After the match, Sheamus proclaims that “what a difference a year makes” before stating that, last year, he was battling Goldust in the now defunct ECW trying to make a “name” for himself and, one year later, there is no “trying”, there is just “sheer and utter dominance”! Sheamus proclaims that he is on “top of the world” and states that he does not need a “briefcase” like The Miz nor does he need to be a third-generation Superstar like Randy Orton, because he has accomplished what he has accomplished all by himself and that the fans come to watch him! The WWE Champion continues that he “ended” the career of Triple H and, at SummerSlam, he will do the same to Randy Orton and that he does not “need” the support of the fans because all he “needs” is the WWE Title! How will #1 Contender Randy Orton respond to the bold proclamations of WWE Champion Sheamus?
After losing Edge off of Team WWE, John Cena would go one-on-one with another member of Team WWE, Chris Jericho, in a match that Jericho requested with the stipulation that the loser will leave Team WWE! In the end, John Cena was able to counter Chris Jericho into position for his STF, but before Cena even locked in the move, Jericho immediately tapped out, meaning that Cena wins and Jericho is off of Team WWE! After the match, Cena tells Jericho that he does not want Jericho to leave the team because Jericho is “the best in the world” at what he does and can go “toe-to-toe” with anyone in the ring, but he is not going to “beg” Jericho to stay, but the “choice” is Jericho’s whether to re-enter the ring and agree to work together or “walk out” and “let everyone down” including himself! Given his options, Jericho starts to walk towards the ring in an apparent gesture that would represent him staying a part of Team WWE, but Jericho shakes his head before turning around and walking out, briefly pausing on the stage before making his exit, signaling that he is off of Team WWE! With Edge and, now, Chris Jericho off of Team WWE, there are only five members of the team left to face The Nexus at SummerSlam! What will John Cena do with Team WWE with SummerSlam rapidly approaching?
Backstage, Edge confronts Chris Jericho in the locker room and states that he “respects” Jericho for what he did out there and Jericho responds by saying that he “respects” Edge for quitting Team WWE and that John Cena needs them more than they need him and that they were doing “just fine” before getting mixed up in the situation with The Nexus! Edge states that, together, they could “own” RAW and that is why everyone tries to keep them apart before proposing that they let “bygones by bygones” before Edge & Jericho shake hands and embrace! The anonymous General Manager of RAW then chimes in with an email that reads that, just six nights before SummerSlam, Edge will team with Chris Jericho to face their former SummerSlam teammates John Cena and WWE Hall of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart with the seven members of The Nexus surrounding the ring as lumberjacks on next week’s RAW! With the showdown between Team WWE and The Nexus just six nights from next week’s RAW, can John Cena & Bret Hart survive the tag match with The Nexus waiting to strike at ringside?
After being confronted by Nexus members David Otunga & Michael Tarver earlier in the night and given the option to abandon Team WWE and join The Nexus, The Great Khali would go one-on-one with “The Fortunate Son” Ted DiBiase with Khali’s spot on Team WWE allegedly on the line! During the match, Nexus members Wade Barrett & Skip Sheffield come out and stand at ringside, which distracts Ted DiBiase long enough for The Great Khali to take advantage and ultimately lock in the Khali Vise Grip en route to picking up the submission victory! After The Nexus helped The Great Khali pick up a win over Ted DiBiase, is Khali planning to join The Nexus?
Before going one-on-one with Randy Orton in the main event, United States Champion & “Mr. Money-in-the-Bank” The Miz states that, last week, Randy Orton made a “mistake” by laying him out with the RKO and it was a “potentially skull-crushing moment in the career of Randy Orton” because, now, Orton does not have a “shred of positivity” in his future! The Miz then proclaims that Orton’s “best case scenario” is that Orton defeats Sheamus at SummerSlam to win the WWE Title, but that will set up for his “moment” because Orton just “delayed the inevitable” before proclaiming that he “will be WWE Champion”!
Then it was time for the main event as the #1 Contender for the WWE Title in just under two weeks at SummerSlam, “The Viper” Randy Orton would go one-on-one with United States Champion & “Mr. Money-in-the-Bank” The Miz with WWE Champion Sheamus from the stage! In the end, it was Randy Orton coming out of nowhere and hitting the RKO on The Miz en route to picking up the hard-fought win! After the match, WWE Champion Sheamus rushed to the ring, but once Randy Orton turned around to face Sheamus, the WWE Champion backed away from the #1 Contender! Randy Orton is certainly on a roll as SummerSlam approaches, but can Randy Orton dethrone Sheamus and win the WWE Title or will Sheamus find a way to successfully defend his gold against a very focused #1 Contender?