WWE RAW 1000 Results: Winners, Highlights, Twitter Reaction and More

Legends from every era were on hand in what was a legendary night in the history of sports entertainment. Raw has been airing since January 11, 1993, and it has spanned a cultural movement that has influenced millions of fans across the world.

The festivities started with an outstanding montage that was a good five minutes full of some of the greatest moments in the history of the show. Any fan that has been following the sport for more than a few months had to be thrilled with it.

From there the festivities kicked off with a DX reunion with Triple-H and The Heartbreak Kid, which would eventually also include Billy Gunn, Road Dogg and X-Pac. There was no question the crowd was thrilled to see the return of “The Attitude Era.”

Undertaker, Dude Love, Rey Mysterio, Rock, Sin Cara, Bret Hart, Lita and APA were all on hand to engage in the festivities, which had the crowd loud and proud for the entire three-hour show.

Here are the results, highlights and Twitter reaction to an epic night in the WWE Universe.

Winners

Sheamus, Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara defeat Dolph Ziggler, Chris Jericho and Alberto Del Rio

For some reason, this was joined in progress, and it screwed up the entire match.

Plenty of enjoyable wrestling ensued, but it left me wanting more. It didn’t advance any storylines and wasn’t 1,000th-episode worthy in my book.

Brodus Clay defeats Jack Swagger

Clay’s intro was five times longer than the actual match.

Squash city.

The Miz defeats Christian for Intercontinental Championship Belt

It looks like Miz may be back in the good graces of the powers at be.

He soundly defeated a hobbled Christian in a match that was one of the most forgettable moments of the night, although it should be interesting to see where Miz goes from here.

Lita defeats Heath Slater

Slater is a joke, and it’s rather comical to watch him get destroyed each and every week. This time around, APA was brought out to ensure Slater got thoroughly embarrassed yet again.  

Lita won this one almost instantly with a Litasult, but it was clearly about the APA appearance.

Kane and Undertaker defeat Jinder Mahal, Reks, Hawkins, Hunico, Camacho and McIntyre

The Brothers of Destruction were great. They put on a show that had the crowd in an absolute frenzy.

They destroyed everybody in their path and did a couple of signature moves simultaneously. Really cool moment that fans will remember for quite some time.

John Cena defeats CM Punk via DQ (Punk Retains WWE Championship Belt)

Mr. Money in the Bank looked poised to take home the win and regain the perch atop the WWE Universe.

In a match loaded with spectacular moves on both sides, the ref got knocked out and mass confusion ensued.

Eventually, Big Show got into the mix and put a hurtin’ on Cena. Punk tried to land a GTS on an injured Cena, only for it to get reversed into a STF.

Show broke it up and a DQ was called. Then The Rock came barreling in to drop a People’s Elbow, only to have Punk destroy him with a flying clothesline.

Punk got a mixed reaction from the crowd as his face turned sour, suggesting he had turned heel and will be one going forward. It was an insane way to end the show, and it left more questions than answers moving forward.

Highlights

AJ Announced as New Raw General Manager

Rough night for Daniel Bryan.

He entered the ring thinking AJ was about to become his wife, with Slick presiding over the festivities.

Instead, Vince McMahon came from backstage to announce that AJ is going to be the new general manager of Raw.

Ouch.

She skips off stage and Bryan begins to go into a bizarre rant that is put to a halt by The Rock, who hijacks the spotlight and begins to tell fans about his plans.

After he’s finished, he hits Bryan with a Rock Bottom to leave Mr. Yes! with no clear path right now in the WWE Universe. It will be interesting to see where the creative team goes with his character.

Rock Announces He’ll Be in the Ring at Royal Rumble

After igniting the crowd into an absolute frenzy, he proceeded to rip Bryan before getting into why he was there.

The Rock told 15,000 screaming fans that he’ll be fighting whoever the WWE champion is at the time at the Royal Rumble PPV in January.

He once again displayed the charisma and mic presence that has made him arguably the greatest WWE star of all time.

Brock Lesnar Accepts Triple-H’s SummerSlam Challenge

We all knew it was coming, but I didn’t expect Stephanie McMahon to ensure it happened by beating up Paul Heyman.

Lesnar rushed to the ring and engaged Triple-H in the tease of the century. Let the buildup begin.

Twitter Reaction

With so many explosive performances, it was no surprise that Twitter was on fire the entire night.

Before the festivities started, CM Punk could barely hold in his excitement as the show inched closer:

"

Yup. Tonights show is going to rule.

— CM Punk (@CMPunk) July 23, 2012"

Not Bill Walton compares all of the old WWE legends to a few major-league sports teams in New York:

"

With #Raw1000 appearances by Shawn Michaels, The Rock & Bret Hart, WWE is rolling out more old athletes tonight than the Knicks & Yankees.

— Not Bill Walton (@NotBillWalton) July 24, 2012"

Raw 1000 was a full three hours, and that’s going to be the new formula for the show moving forward. The WWE Creative parody account is thrilled:

"

Glad we're booking next year's Royal Rumble already, because weekly 3 hour RAW's write themselves #RAWTonight

— WWE Creative Humor (@WWECreative_ish) July 24, 2012"

After a brief promo between Cena and Rock exchanging words, the feeling was that a WrestleMania rematch seemed destined to happen. Bleacher Report’s own Donny Wood was ready:

"

Cena vs. The Rock 2: The Once in a lifetime match for a second time! #WWE #RAW1000

— Donald Wood (@Donald_Wood) July 24, 2012"

Looks like he may have jumped the gun.

One of the big former stars not to make an appearance was Stone Cold. While he was featured in one of the montages, he didn’t show up in the arena. Robert Littal of Black Sports Online was wondering where he was at, and throws in a joke as well:

"

I don't know if Stone Cold is coming out, depends on if he is still complaining to Directv

— Robert Littal (@BlkSportsOnline) July 24, 2012"

Littal was complimentary of the way everything went down in the final match of the night between Punk and Cena:

"

WWE played that well....Immediate interest in Rock vs. Punk now...John Cena should have never went back to Jorts

— Robert Littal (@BlkSportsOnline) July 24, 2012"

Summary

It was a night to honor the legends of the past.

The sheer amount of former stars that were able to make the event was really cool, and it was just what long-time fans wanted to see.

While there was certainly some forgettable moments (anything Charlie Sheen), overall, it was a spectacular show that lived up to fans' lofty expectations.

The storylines of multiple stars (John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Miz, Dolph Ziggler) are at a crossroads.

They did an outstanding job of setting the stage for the next 1,000 episodes while reliving the past. 

Follow Eric Ball on Twitter.