Reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho was involved in several controversies on Monday evening. Jericho was told last week that he would face CM Punk, the former champion, in a steel cage match for the title during last week's episode of Raw. What he wasn't told was that this would be the first match on the card for this evening, further frustrating the already banged-up champion. The two men would spend nearly twenty minutes attempting to scramble over each other to be the first to scale their way out of the cage, with former champion Punk appearing to dominate for most of the match. 

In the end, it would be Jericho who would prevail, after an inadvertent head butt by Jericho sent Punk reeling back towards the middle of the ring, while Jericho haphazardly stumbled backwards through the open cage door. After the match, Jericho would seek out WWE Raw General Manager Mike Adamle, taking issue with being booked to wrestle in four high-profile matches in a three-week time span, and demanded that the rookie G.M. needed to learn how to take care of his champions. The two men left to talk in private. 
Later in the evening, John "Bradshaw" Layfield lodged a protest in the middle of the ring after his match, demanding that G.M. Adamle declare him to be the #1 Contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. This brought out another former champion, the injured Randy Orton, who told Layfield that he was not impressed with Layfield's performances as of late, and that he was no more worthy to be named the top contender than anybody else who had been making those claims lately. This brought out WWE Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella and girlfriend WWE Women's Champion Beth Phoenix, both of whom have been unhappy with Orton's remarks about them. The four individuals argued, which then brought out yet another former champion, Dave Batista, to continue the arguments. 
G.M. Adamle then appeared on the arena video screens, informing all of the individuals that he would be consulting with current champion Chris Jericho to determine the top contender, which would be announced later in the evening. This would lead to Dave Batista attempting to influence the decisions by attacking Layfield, Marella and Phoenix in the ring, while Randy Orton quickly left. 
The evening would end on a surprising note for the champion, however. Chris Jericho returned to the ring, informing the fans and G.M. Adamle that his preference would be that John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Dave Batista would face each other at the WWE "No Mercy" pay-per-view later this month to determine the top contender, and afterwards Jericho would immediately defend the championship against the winner. Adamle came out in front of the live crowd and stated that while he agreed with the idea of the two men fighting for the top contender position at the pay-per-view, he did not like the idea of either of them having to wrestle a second match that night. Instead, the men would face the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at another point in time. 
Jericho took exception to this, he wanted to defend the title at the show. Adamle informed Jericho that he would be defending the title against an opponent who asked for a shot at the title earlier in the evening. The fans speculated that this was the returning Shawn Michaels, and they were proven correct when Michaels made his presence in front of the fans. Michaels, who recently defeated Jericho in a vicious "unsanctioned" fight just a few weeks ago at the WWE "Unforgiven" pay-per-view, declared that he wanted one more shot at Jericho to satisfy his personal vendetta as well as chance to claim the championship for himself. Michaels stated that the stipulation would be for a Ladder Match. 
Full match results for the evening:

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WWE Raw Results from Memphis, TN for September 15, 2008