Floyd Mayweather as Guest Host of WWE Monday Night Raw

Last time we saw Floyd Mayweather hook up with the WWE, it was as one of the featured parts of WrestleMania 24 in 2008. That was during Money's brief retirement from boxing, so it wasn't a total surprise to see him in the ring with the Big Show, and the appearance seemed to benefit both parties.

It was a little more surprising to hear that Mayweather would be the guest host of tonight's episode of Raw, as Floyd is busy (one hopes) preparing for his September comeback fight against Juan Manuel Marquez. But the show was in Las Vegas, so it's not like he had to cross the country to do it.

For those unfamiliar with the WWE's guest host deal, the company has been bringing in various people from different forms of sports and entertainment to appear each Monday. In lieu of a "general manager" character, the host has the ability to make matches.

What's in it for the celebs? A chance to plug whatever project they have coming up on a show that may not be what it once was but is still viewed by a couple million people each week.

Unlike other recent guest hosts, Mayweather didn't actually make an appearance until the top of the second hour of the show. Accompanied by his usual large entourage, Money came to the ring when called out by Big Show and his running buddy Chris Jericho.

Floyd wasted no time plugging his pay-per-view fight, saying it was more important than giving Show another taste of his fists. Jericho gave him some credit for being a great showman and self-promoter but said he thought JMM would knock Mayweather out.

As Show got in Floyd's face, good guy wrestler MVP came to his verbal defense. After some verbal sparring, Mayweather granted MVP's request for a tag team match against the two heels with a partner of his choosing, who ended up being Mark Henry.

Floyd sat ringside for the match and ended up playing a critical role, sliding some brass knuckles to MVP to help him knock out Jericho and win the match. He stood in the ring and celebrated with MVP and Henry.

Backstage, Mayweather helped Vince McMahon warm up for his appearance in tonight's main event. When Vince asked if he would have had a chance against Muhammad Ali, Floyd told him he would because he had more money. Nice.

Carlito dropped by and called Mayweather a horrible guest host, but DX teammates Triple H and Shawn Michaels begged to differ. HHH made a comment about getting busy with McMahon's daughter, and Vince showed he learned something from Floyd's tutelage, I suppose, by dropping Carlito with a single punch.

All in all not a ton of camera time for Money, but at least he got to hype the fight on a top rated cable show. He also showed more personality than he did during his previous WWE stint and seemed less wooden on the microphone.

Posted by The Franchise