[Editor's Note: Raw recaps are still being gone over, and submissions are still open. This was one of the best at the moment so has been used this week]

- Match Summaries:

Brie Bella defeated Eve Torres by pinfall. New WWE Diva’s Champion.

Sin Cara defeated Primo Colon by pinfall.

CORRE defeated APPLE by pinfall.

Jerry “the King” Lawler defeated Jack Swagger by pinfall.

Gauntlet match:
Dolph Ziggler defeated Randy Orton by pinfall.
R-Truth defeated Dolph Ziggler by pinfall.
R-Truth defeated John Morrison by pinfall.
R-Truth and John Cena were double-disqualified due to interference from The Miz and Vice President of Corporate Communications Alex Riley.

WWE Raw emanated from Bridgeport, CT, and a good crowd was on-hand for a WWE Raw that contributed to X-treme Rules by setting up two matches for that pay-per-view event and by putting over a face who had been ignored for Wrestlemania.

Award-winning journalist and only undefeated WWE Superstar Michael Cole was announced on air as he made his way to his protective glass box. Decent pop of boos from the crowd.

The opening promo set up the main event for the evening. John Cena came out…in his bright red shirt…to a good pop and recapped the fact that Wrestlemania 28’s main event was announced a year in advance and that this match, being the biggest match ever, should be for the WWE Title. That means that “the guy who wrestles every week” would have to win the title prior to the match, and he wanted to challenge The Miz. Randy Orton’s music hits, and the crowd erupted. Orton claimed that Cena just didn’t get it done at Wrestlemania, and that He should be the one to challenge The Miz. John Morrison came out and said that Orton and Cena arguing over a title shot is nothing new and that any discussion of title shots must include John Morrison. Vickie and Dolph Ziggler came out, with Vickie getting a huge pop as usual. Vickie pointed out that she pinned Morrision; so she should get a title shot…well, at least Ziggler should. Finally, R-Truth
came down and demanded a title shot since he had never had a World Title shot or WWE Title shot on either brand. After Ziggler pointed out, “There’s a reason for that,” the anonymous Raw GM weighed-in, via Cole’s I-Pad.

The GM set up a 5-man gauntlet match, and the winner would be the #1 contender for The Miz’ title and challenge him for it at X-treme Rules.

There was a teaser for Jerry Lawler v. Jack Swagger, in which Cole promised to “slap the barbecue” out of Jim Ross’ mouth if Ross interfered. If Lawler wins, he gets a rematch against Cole at X-treme Rules and can pick the match stipulations. If Swagger wins, Cole avoids a royal beat-down and does not have to fight Lawler.

There was a teaser for a major announcement by Edge later in the program and an acknowledgement of a major buzz surrounding whether Edge would retire or not.

There was a vignette of a faceless Diva (obviously Awesome Kong) growling and flicking the head off a blonde doll, representing _____ (insert name of blonde WWE Diva here).

Brie Bella challenged Eve for the WWE Diva’s title. Eve had the clever idea of bringing a permanent marker into the ring and insisted that the referee mark the hand of Brie in hopes of rendering their little switch-offs impossible. There was some action, but the highlight of mid-match was Jerry Lawler’s assertion that one of Cole’s parents wanted a boy; the other a girl; so both were happy when Cole was born. The end of the match involved a Bella switch. When the referee forced the switch-back, Brie took advantage of the distraction, pinning Eve. Winner and new WWE Diva’s Champion: Brie Bella.

Backstage, Gail Kim told Eve that she was sorry Eve lost. Eve took it badly and was like, “Whatever. I know what all you divas are like in the locker room,” and blew Gail Kim off. Natalya also gave condolences and was met with the same response by Eve, who then walked off in a huff. Gail and Natalya were left standing there looking at each other, pretty sure that they don’t act like that.

Sin Cara v. Primo Colon. Sin Cara loves to point at his opponent as if he were a bigger superstar…but some of his moves were ones that I have never seen before. Sin Cara performed a back-flip after stepping on the chest of Primo, who was standing up at the time. Sin Cara reversed a Primo Powerbomb into a powerbomb of his own…which I had to re-watch to see how he did it. Primo had his moments of advantage, as well. However, immediately after yelling, “I got this” from the top rope, things took a turn for the worse for Primo. Sin Cara ended up performing a finishing move that looked like a reverse Rock-Bottom…from the top rope…with a flip and earned a pinfall. Hopefully Sin Cara will name this move and make it easier on people who are writing about his matches. Hopefully Sin Cara can execute this move on a larger opponent. Winner: Sin Cara.

The CORRE came out and, with all four of them standing in the ring, Wade Barrett acknowledged that their previous-week’s attack on The Rock and Cena failed, but by no fault of his own. Barrett was doing his part, but others were not holding up their end of the bargain. Justin Gabriel ripped the mic from Barrett’s hand, got in his face, and forcefully reminded Barrett that it was the 450 splash that has taken out WWE Superstars and that he is a three-time tag team champion. Heath Slater, then grabbed the mic and, looking at Gabriel, added that “we” were three time tag team champions and, looking at Barrett, no one can take that away from them. Zeke then chimed in that Barrett’s group had no credibility until he came along and started body-slamming The Big Show and providing the muscle for the group.

At this point, tempers were heating up, but then Santino Morella’s music hit. Santino appeared at the entrance with Evan Bourne, Mark Henry, and Daniel Bryan. Santino announced that the were the APPLE (Allied People Powered by Loathing Everything), and, in the name of Vladimir Kozlov, they challenged The CORRE to a fight.

Eight-man tag-team match: The CORRE v. APPLE. There were a few one-on-one segments within the eight-man tag match. Ringside commentary focused on which member of APPLE was which type of apple, the onset of apple oxidation, and Cole made little jokes about the match being “the pits.” Ultimately in the match, chaos broke out just before its merciful conclusion. Gabriel saved Slater from an imminent Cobra strike, allowing Slater to execute his finish on Santino and score the pinfall. Winners: The CORRE, by pinfall.

Jim Ross came out to ringside and tried to get into Cole’s protective case by shaking it repeatedly. Swagger came down to intervene, where he was met by the King. Referees separated the men, but Jim Ross’ hands had a vice grip on Cole’s plastic fortress as the show cut to commercial.

Jerry Lawler v. Jack Swagger. This match had a slow work-rate. Each move was simple and unconnected to the following moves. For example, Swagger punched Lawler and knocked him down, then hopped around the ring with his arms out. Then Lawler did the same thing and mimicked Swagger. The end of the match was interesting, as the King turned to look at Cole who had climbed to the ring-apron. Distracted, the King was victimized by a Swagger clothesline. However, Jim Ross then attacked Cole. Swagger was distracted as he watched this, and this distraction allowed Lawler to roll-up Swagger for the pinfall. Winner: Jerry Lawler by pinfall.

After the match, Cole got in Swagger’s face and demanded to know what happened. Swagger said that Cole distracted him. Call called him an idiot…well, he asked Swagger if he was an idiot. Then, he slapped Swagger and sent Swagger into a rage. Swagger chased Cole out of the ring. As Cole stood on the entrance ramp, Lawler grabbed the mic and wanted to talk about X-treme Rules. Lawler suggested a tag-team match: Lawler and JR against Cole and Swagger.

Prior to the commercial, there was a promo about the HHH v. The Undertaker match from Wrestlemania, focused on the comments from other superstars. Commentary from Christian, Stone Cold, The Big Show, CM Punk, Edge, Randy Orton, Pat Patterson, John Cena, and The Rock was mixed in with still-shots from the match.

Backstage, prior to Edge coming out for his announcement, Edge and Cena stood backstage chatting, and this ended with a handshake.

After commercial, Edge came out, dressed in jeans. Edge grabbed the mic and began his speech by apologizing if it was disjointed and if he started rambling. Edge continued that wrestling hurts physically and that it is very real. Eight years ago, he broke his neck and had a surprising-sounding surgery to repair his spine. Recently he had not been feeling well, but he passed physical tests prior to Wrestlemania and was able to compete. An MRI following Wrestlemania indicated that now, he must retire. He is happy that the tests caught it now…because if the injury progressed unchecked, Edge eventually would have lost the ability to walk.

The crowd had been hanging on every word up to this point. Then, the crowd’s applause for Edge caused him to stop, get a little overwhelmed, and then continue. Then, the “THANK YOU EDGE” chants began. Edge continued that in some ways he felt as if he was letting the fans down and letting down the people with whom he works. He also felt angry that his body let him down and that he was not able to go out on his own terms. He recounted that Christian spoke with him and reassured him that he had wreslted his entire career on his own terms, and now he can retire as World Champion. Edge feels honored that his last match was a successful World Title Defense at Wrestlemania. Edge then recounted his early love for wrestling and attending matches at Maple Leaf Garden in Toronto, his seeing Wrestlemania VI at Skydome watching Hogan v. Ultimate Warrior and the decision at that point that he was definitely going to become a superstar. Edge briefly
recounted his different character storylines, including his membership in the Brood, his goofy face character as part of the tag team with Christian, and his hated heel character. He never knew he would end up as the individual with the most championships in WWE history. Edge hopes that he is respected by his peers and by the fans. Edge gave it his all every night, and the fans gave it right back to him. Edge implied that he has no regrets. He would do it all over again if he had the chance. THANK YOU EDGE chants continued as Edge left the ring and exited up the ramp. Edge really seemed to enjoy his final back-to-the-crowd pose as he exited to backstage.

After commercial, it showed Edge walking through a gauntlet of superstars backstage. The superstars broke kayfabe, as face and heel alike were in line shaking hands and seeing off Edge. First in line was Dolph Ziggler, who hugged Edge for a good full second longer than anyone else. I think there was also a Dustin-Rhodes-in-a-button-down-shirt sighting.

The Miz and Alex Riley joined the broadcast team at ringside for the main event gauntlet match.

Main event gauntlet match. Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler were the first two entrants. The match was short and sweet, with most of the commentary from the Miz being about how he’s defeated four of the five participants, except for Ziggler. The Miz added that Vickie Guerrero was right in that maybe the Miz should face her. In the match, after an Orton-styled DDT, Orton signaled for the RKO by punching the mat a dozen or so times. When he got up, he saw Otunga and McGillicutty from the New Nexxus rush the ring apron. Orton lunged for them, allowing Ziggler to roll him up for the pinfall. After the match, Otunga, McGillicutty, and Mason Ryan administered a beat-down that culminated in a Mason Ryan powerbomb. Orton is left lying there.

The ring cleared, and Ziggler awaits his next opponent….R-Truth. I sarcastically wondered to myself who was going to win this match. During this match, The Miz discusseds the fact that he is still upset about all of the attention that Rock v. Cena is getting. The Miz called out Stone Cold, and that should be bigger news. The conversation was better than the match thus far, which was dominated in the early going by Ziggler. However, R-Truth turned the tide and has some promising moments in the match. R-Truth then hit a move that actually looks like a finishing hold and pinned Ziggler for the three-count. I clearly did not see that coming.

R-Truth’s next opponent was John Morrison. The match began with a great series of near-falls by both men. The crowd did not seem to appreciate these, however. Morrison executed what looked like a standing Starship Pain from a hand-stand position in the center of the ring. Then, Morrison delivered a stiff kick to Truth after bouncing off the second rope. The Miz wondered aloud why Morrison did not go for the cover…perhaps some foreshadowing??? Immediately following, Morrison went for the Starship Pain from the top rope. R-Truth avoided the impact. Truth then hit a lateral press and covered Morrison, earning the three-count.

R-Truth’s next opponent was John Cena. Cena came out to a mix of cheers and boos. The Miz commented that it was no surprise that Super-Cena would have an advantage in the gauntlet match. During the early action of the match, the female fans cheered LET’S GO CENA, followed by the males in the audience chanting CENA SUCKS! Cena hit a series of loud-sounding suplexes on Truth but was only able to secure two-counts. Truth kicked out of four or five two-counts, and Cena, by the third kick-out, was looking to the referee for some help and selling his frustration. A couple of times the camera panned to The Miz’ face, and it was clear that he was watching the match intently. R-Truth then started to generate some momentum after a beautiful hip-toss to Cena and a corkscrew shoulder-block that Cena sold, even though it did not really connect. The Miz now looked concerned and was clearly thinking about something. Cena regained the advantage and
delivered the five-knuckle shuffle to Truth. The Miz and Alex Riley entered the ring as Cena lifts Truth for the Attitude Adjustment and proceeded to attack the two of them, resulting in the bell ringing and a ruling of double disqualification.

The Miz grabbed the mic and iterates that, since both men lost, then neither of them were the #1 contender. The anonymous GM then issued an e-mail, read by Lawler, and announced that BOTH men were the #1 contender. Thus, the WWE Championship match at X-treme Rules will be a Triple Threat match. The Miz was shocked. Cena and R-Truth then turned the tables on The Miz and Alex Riley, clearing the ring of both men after an Attitude Adjustment is delivered to Riley. Cena’s music began. The two challengers stood face to face, shake hands, then pat each other on the shoulder. Each successive pat on the shoulder became a little more aggressive, and Cena ended up pushing Truth into the ring ropes. Truth caught his momentum and stopped himself from bouncing back. Truth exited the ring. Truth’s music hit as he began to back himself up the ramp, keeping an eye on Cena the entire time as the credits rolled.

- Highlights:
Edge retired from the WWE due to health concerns.
Triple Threat Match for WWE Title set for X-treme Rules: The Miz v. John Cena v. R-Truth.
Tag Team Match set for X-treme Rules: Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross v. Michael Cole and Jack Swagger.
Eve loses the Diva’s title and hints at a heel turn.

Source: wrestlingtruth.com