John Cena

"Whether you like it or you hate it, you'd better start to respect it. " Those were the (paraphrased) words of WWE Champion CM Punk on tonight's edition of Monday Night Raw, hot off the heels of a controversial finish to his match at SummerSlam. Many have complained and said that the Punk heel turn has fallen flat on its face, but the thing is, it's not clear whether or not Punk has actually turned into a villain. What has Punk done lately that is overtly heelish? More than anything, he's almost transcended the traditional babyface-heel lines to simply be CM Punk.

Th 25th edition of SummerSlam ended with Brock Lesnar standing tall, having defeated Triple H by tap out with the Kimura Lock. Though their match certainly had some slow points, it was a simple, effective, and (in my opinion) necessary conclusion to this match. With Lesnar winning in clean fashion, he remains a "killer," Triple H doesn't lose anything in defeat, and the Kimura continues to be seen as a devastating finishing maneuver. Lesnar has been announced to appear in the opening segment on Raw on Monday night.

When it comes to WWE pay-per-views, four events on a crowded calendar stand out as special each year: Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series. Collectively known as the "Big Four," these are usually supercards for WWE standard and turning points in the major ongoing stories in the company. This year, the event is also representing a change from recent trends, as more than just a handful of matches are being announced before the show. Recently, it hasn't been surprising to see three or even four bouts added to PPVs without advance notice.

It's been half a month since WWE announced an official partnership with Tout , the online video service that allows users to post 15-second videos in a similar environment to Twitter. Since that announcement, some interesting things have happened in the WWE Tout-iverse. We have seen official integration of fan Touts onWWE Raw,in response to questions posed by Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler. It appears from doing a search Monday night that there are several hundred Touts being created live during the course of Raw. This number is expected to grow as Tout becomes more popular, particularly among the WWE Universe.

Tonight's Raw marked a milestone -- episode 1,001. In many ways, this show was more important than last week's historic 1,000th episode. The legends are gone, the big names have disappeared and the anticipation of John Cena cashing in his Money in the Bank is gone. The real tests of the three-hour Raw era would begin tonight, as the company had to rely on its everyday amenities to create a compelling beginning to the next 1,000 episodes. And much of the weight would fall on one man -- WWE Champion CM Punk, who shocked the wrestling world by taking out both John Cena and The Rock at the end of last week's show, turning his back on the WWE fans in the process.

Tonight on a three-hour edition of Raw, Vince McMahon returns to WWE TV for the first time since October 2011.  This is a very interesting situation for many reasons. For one, ratings in the United States have taken a dip. Though Nielsen ratings are not a completely accurate measure of performance, it is often used by many as a measuring stick of success. In the past four episodes, Raw has seen this trend: June 4: 2.92 rating May 28 (Memorial Day): 2.72 rating May 21: 3.0 rating May 14: 2.9 rating The average rating for Raw in 2012, from the beginning of February to the end of April, in the U.S. is 3.16.

Be a star. Those three words radiate from the television every week during WWE programming, generally in reference to the company's anti-bullying campaign. The problem is that while WWE promotes all these positive messages, its top heroes aren't exactly living the lifestyle they're pushing. World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus has been known to bully his opponents, WWE Champion CM Punk isn't always the most respectful man on the microphone and, tonight, WWE's poster child John Cena -- with the ability to pick his opponent for the evening -- chose an announcer.

Sometimes the small things make all the difference in professional wrestling. Too often, critics -- especially those on the Internet -- nitpick every decision WWE makes and find the logical or creative flaws. Many times, this creates an unnecessary sense or allegation of failure. But on tonight's Raw, WWE (or, more specifically, general manager John Laurinaitis) made a mistake that is almost unforgivable. While I personally wasn't offended by Sunday's match between John Cena and Laurinaitis at Over the Limit , many people have lashed out against the match.

WWE has a long track record of revising its own history. Former enemies all of a sudden are best friends, a certain former world champion has been erased completely from history, and the list continues. But Monday night on Raw, general manager John Laurinaitis took it upon himself to not only rewrite WWE history, but also that of All Japan Pro Wrestling, where Laurinaitis competed as Johnny Ace from 1990 to 2000. Laurinaitis claimed to be the greatest star in the history of Japan, comparing his impact on the industry to the careers of Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and The Rock rolled into one. In all honesty, I think Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa is even a bigger star in Japan than Laurinaitis was during his heyday.John Laurinaitis rewrites wrestling history to build feud with John Cena on WWE's Monday Night Raw Believing his own hype, Laurinaitis said it's those skills that will enable him to beat John Cena at Over the Limit later this month.

If WrestleMania is the fiscal end of the WWE“season,” then Extreme Rules is the first PPV of the new year - it certainly felt that way, with seemingly several new wrinkles being tested out. In what can be described as a “perfect storm” of a stellar Chicago crowd, excellent matches with several clever finishes, refreshing commentary and WWE rarities including violence, blood and referee assault, WWE's Extreme Rules Pay Per View certainly delivered....