Tonight in the WWE Raw Open Discussion Thread:

Last week’s Raw ended in a brutal showdown between Mr. McMahon and WWE Champion CM Punk. The WWE Universe is still buzzing about the epic encounter! Now that The Chairman has demanded Punk choose his Hell in a Cell opponent on tonight’s Raw, what will unfold? Here are five reasons Raw is must-see tonight at 8/7 CT on USA Network. (via WWE.com)

1. “The Band” (Heath Slater, Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre) need to add a drummer, so I’m hoping it doesn’t turn out to be Mason Ryan and ruin my whole space opera fan fiction thing. Keeping my fingers crossed for Brodus Clay, so The Band can also add back-up dancers.

2. Rhodes Scholars vs. Sinsterio will face off in the finals of the WWE Tag Team Championship number one contenders tournament. This should take up the entire second hour of the show, assuming real life works exactly like my dreams.

3. CM Punk must choose his opponent for Hell In A Cell. His choice will be “that guy I punched in the crowd last week,” because according to the Internet, that was a work.

4. Kofi Kingston notices Daniel Bryan wearing a pink sweatband and finally becomes aware of Breast Cancer, then spends three hours wandering around backstage telling people about it.

5. John Cena tell us what he thinks about young stars such as Justin Gabriel (“gay”), Seth Rollins (“smells like a llama’s dingleberries”), Kaitlyn (“fell out of the Hee Haw tree and hit every branch on the way down!”) and Tyson Kidd (“extended fart sounds”).

Remember, my 10 favorite comments from tonight’s WWE Raw open discussion thread will be featured in tomorrow’s Best And Worst Of WWE Raw column. To nominate a comment for top 10 status, please reply to it with a +1.

Enjoy the show, friends.

Pre-show notes:

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather, follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and like us on Facebook.

- Comments, shares, likes and Facebook pokes or whatever are appreciated. Sharing the column with new eyes every week to ensure I never go a week without someone reading one line of one column in two years of columns telling me I’m a smark-mark who doesn’t know anything about wrestling is the most important thing in the world to me.

- Re: The Best And Worst Of King Of Trios, it might not be happening. I know, I know. I’ve done this thing since becoming a full-time blogger where I turn everything fun I do into work. I can’t watch wrestling without it being work, I can’t watch TV without it being work, I can’t travel, etc. Every time I sit down to write about Trios I remember how great it was, and how much fun I had, and how little I want someone on a forum somewhere linking it and calling me gay slurs because Mr. Touchdown isn’t 6-foot-5. I may end up keeping that for myself.

- If you’ve only bookmarked the Best And Worst tag, consider looking at the rest of the site from time to time, would you? Sure, the sports are real (why would anybody like REAL sports), but I’m still writing about them, and if you put up with my Kofi Kingston opinions here, maybe you can put up with my thoughts on Rampage Jackson or whoever somewhere else.

Anyway, please enjoy the Best And Worst Of WWE Raw for October 1, 2012.

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Pre-show notes:

- If you guys don’t mind clicking the like button on this post or sharing it on Twitter, I’d be greatly appreciative. Comments are also appreciated, especially if they have something to do with anything in the column, and not just what you think of John Cena’s pink shirt.

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather, follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and like us on Facebook.

- Subway is a terrible restaurant.

- I wasn’t able to watch Night Of Champions, so the existence of that report is pending. Not a lot happened, honestly, that wasn’t indirectly recapped by this column. I might just call it and prep myself for a massive Hell In A Cell report. Or I might skip that too and just start reviewing Kaiju Big Battel DVDs. Regardless, tons of writing in here, so enjoy.

The Best And Worst Of WWE Raw for September 17, 2012, is after the jump.

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I feel your pain, Ziggler Shirt Guy.

Pre-show notes:

- Comments, shares, likes, what-have-you are really appreciated. Especially this week, when there’s a lot of sad stuff to talk about.

- Thanks as always to Casey/THESTINGER of Hammerlock Dialectic for GIFs.

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather, follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and like us on Facebook.

- There’s a little bit about the scheduling of next week’s reports at the end of the column, so make sure you check that out.

Here’s the Best And Worst Of WWE Raw for September 10, 2012. The bad one.

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Pre-show notes:

- Raw’s 1000+ show run peaks during this report, so read at your own risk.

- Comments, clicking the like button, Twitter shares and whatever else you can do to share this with people on the computer are appreciated. As an added incentive this week, sharing this post on one of these guys will unlock the Jack Swagger “Good Luck On Mars” Badge (pictured, left). If you’re a regular reader of the column, you’ll want this badge like Swagger’s wife wants to pay for a round of speech therapy.

- Thanks as always to Casey/THESTINGER of Hammerlock Dialectic for his stellar GIF additions to the weekly report.

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather, follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and like us on Facebook.

- Also, don’t forget, the With Leather Pro Wrestling Community is having its first get-together at Chikara’s King Of Trios 2012 in Easton, Pennsylvania, so if you’re anywhere in the area or are coming in for the show, let us know so we can high-five you. It’s going to be a grand time. I don’t know if it’s going to be much more than people standing around awkwardly, but it happens in like two weeks so hurry up and say you’ll come.

Please enjoy the Best and Worst of WWE Raw for September 3, 2012: Hug It Out Edition.

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Pre-show notes:

- Comments, clicking the like button, Twitter shares and whatever else you can do to share this with people on the computer are appreciated. You’re probably tired of me shilling this idea to you, and if you are, you probably aren’t reading this anyway. I get paid based on how often you do that, so help a brother out.

- Thanks to Casey, whose excellent GIFs make their return to the column. They’re pretty epic this week, so make sure your comments below include a brief “thanks for taking time out of your day to help Brandon with this, THESTINGER”.

- If you’re the type who only reads this column and doesn’t keep up with With Leather, be sure to check out our Golden Treasury Of Cheesy Late-80s Early-90s WWF Promo Photos. It’s even better than it sounds.

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather, follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and like us on Facebook.

- Also, don’t forget, the With Leather Pro Wrestling Community is having its first get-together at Chikara’s King Of Trios 2012 in Easton, Pennsylvania, so if you’re anywhere in the area or are coming in for the show, let us know so we can high-five you. It’s going to be a grand time. I bought my plane tickets yesterday. It’s on.

Please enjoy the Best and Worst of WWE Raw for August 28, 2012. Stick around for a live report at the end.

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