also interfered in the match after Laurinaitis sent a text at ringside. On the October 10 edition of Raw, following a kayfabe strike by members of the WWE roster as a result of Triple H's management, Vince McMahon introduced Laurinaitis as the new Interim General Manager of Raw. That same night, Laurinaitis fired Jim Ross and reinstated The Miz and R-Truth, who had been suspended following repeated attacks. After a few weeks of impartiality during which he pledged that he would listen to the WWE fans using his slogan of "People Power", Laurinaitis began showing bias against WWE Champion CM Punk, who had repeatedly criticized Laurinaitis and questioned his integrity over the past few months. On the December 26 edition of Raw, Laurinaitis placed Punk in a gauntlet match against three opponents; whoever pinned Punk would earn a shot at the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble. Punk agreed to the match under the condition that if he beat all three, then he would receive a match against Laurinaitis himself afterwards. During the match, Laurinaitis distracted Punk, allowing Dolph Ziggler to pin Punk and earn a title shot. The following week on Raw, Laurinaitis distracted Punk once again, causing him to be counted-out in his title match against Ziggler, thus retaining the championship. Laurinaitis then scheduled a WWE Championship match between Punk and Ziggler at the Royal Rumble, in which he named himself guest referee. Laurinaitis continued to cause Punk to lose to Ziggler throughout January which ultimately led to Punk attacking Laurinaitis in retaliation, claiming that he was abusing his power. Laurinaitis began to declare himself as the soon to be permanent General Manager. In response to this, the Board of Directors ordered that his position as Interim General Manager would be taken under review by Chief Operating Officer Triple H. At the Royal Rumble, Laurinaitis brought in another official and Punk defeated Ziggler. On January 30 edition of Raw, Laurinaitis was set to have a performance review by Triple H. During the review, Triple H degraded Laurinaitis and his actions, but before the final decision he was interrupted by The Undertaker. The Board of Directors then decided on February 7, 2012, to retain Laurinaitis as Interim General Manager. Laurinaitis subsequently began a feud with SmackDown general manager Theodore Long. The respective General Managers of Raw and SmackDown swapped places for one night only with Laurinaitis in charge of