In the very first match of the night tonight on WWE Monday Night Raw, the finals of the WWE Championship tournament will begin the show, with Rey Mysterio taking on The Miz to crown a new champion.  Here's the announcement, via WWE.com:

The final round of the WWE Championship Tournament kicks off Raw tonight at 9/8 CT as Rey Mysterio and The Miz clash Raw to determine the undisputed holder of WWE's golden prize. Who will be crowned the new WWE Champion?

Undisputed WWE Champion?  I know a certain fellow who might take issue with that statement.  It would appear that WWE Champion CM Punk is not going to be at Raw tonight, but there's little proof other than some of his comments on twitter, and the majority of those have been about what graphic novel he was reading.  Regardless of whether or not Punk is present tonight, I'm certain we'll find out soon enough what the champ thinks of the situation. 

For live updates on tonight's Raw, follow us @cagesideseats on Twitter, where we'll be tweeting thoughts throughout the broadcast.  Also, join us here for the liveblog and results post when the show begins!