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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Last week, we gave New York Mets fans a heads up to avoid check out Citi Field on Friday before the Mets played the Milwaukee Brewers, as Nick Cannon and a local radio station, 92.3 NOW, were hosting a pre-game event at which the host of “America’s Got Talent” would attempt to break the world record for the most hugs in one hour. The point of his “Hug It Out” effort, which was not made clear by most news sources last week, was to collect toys for the Mets Care Room at the New York Hospital of Queens.

So first the good news – Cannon and 92.3 collected 1,698 toys for the hospital. The bad news is that he fell short of Nick Vujicic’s 2010 record of 1,749 hugs by 52. But before we go making fun of Cannon for failing, let’s put blame where it belongs – on the Mets.

Reported attendance for Friday’s 6-1 loss to the Brewers was 24,470, but at least one fan account suggests that the game crowd – and Cannon’s hug total – were much lower than what has been reported in the past few days.

Regardless, it was a commendable effort by Cannon, a guy that we love to make fun of for being crammed down our throats by NBC and MTV, and maybe next year he’ll do the smart thing and hold his event at a New York Yankees game. Just don’t do it at a Los Angeles Dodgers game. That would end badly.

After the jump, you can check out the crowd of Mets fans that did show up for bro grabs with Cannon, as well as his oh-so-hilarious facial expressions. (WARNING: Do not punch your monitors.)

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All things considered, the New York Mets haven’t had too terrible of a season. Sure, they haven’t seen Johan Santana pitch in what feels like a decade, Jose Reyes has had his MVP-type season derailed by annoying little injuries, and David Wright has been more like David Wrong *rim shot, slide whistle, sad trombone*. But at least they’re only 3 games below .500 in a division that was won in April, and they didn’t freak out and trade Reyes or Wright, so as to maintain a little promise for the future.

But in a very strange attempt to lure fans to the ballpark this Friday, the Mets are offering the first 100 fans at Citi Field free tickets if they hug actor/DJ/MC/fake husband Nick Cannon. No word yet if they’re offering Burberry cologne removal.

Cannon, who is also the host of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” is planning to hug more than 1,800 people to break the existing record of hugs given out in an hour.

The first 100 fans to line up to hug Cannon will receive Mets tickets for that night’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers at 7:10 p.m. Everyone who hugs Cannon to help him break the record will receive a commemorative t-shirt. (Via The New York Mets)

And I just so happen to have a sneak preview of that free t-shirt after the jump.

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In a story indicative of the type of sports blog I’m running, Homer the Dragon of the Charlotte Knights set the world record for “Most Hugs Given by a Mascot in a 24-hour Span” on Friday by hugging 5,615 people in the Charlotte area in 24 hours. 5,615 people tied trying to set the world record for “most hugs received by a mascot in a 24-hour span” at “f**king one.”

This project, called “Homer Hugs for Hope”, began at Knights Stadium last night. Over the past 24 hours Homer appeared at the Epicenter, LYNX light rail, Bank of America plaza, Discovery Place, WCNC-TV studios, Carolina Place Mall and local elementary schools all in search of a hug. His final hours came during the Knights game Friday night.

The Knights “Homer Hugs for Hope” raised over $3,000 for local schools, Community Blood Center of the Carolinas, and the Disaster Relief Initiative.

Okay, so I dress up like a dragon and hug people at the mall and they put me in jail. Okay, great.

It’s pretty funny that a team called the Knights has a dragon mascot. Shouldn’t he be the mascot for the visiting team, and the Knights have to kill him? Well, regardless, “dress up and hug things” is now a record, so juxtapose that with Guinness’ recent rejection of the Phillippines world record submission for most circumcisions in one day. Maybe if they’d sliced Filipino baby junk for disaster relief they would’ve qualified.

[MiLB]