ProWrestlingViews.com

Posts Tagged ‘C.M. Punk’

It’s pretty clear WWE has something big planned for Jericho’s return and although nothing’s been announced, and nothing will be until after the Elimination Chamber PPV, I think it’s become pretty obvious that it’ll be C.M. Punk vs. Chris Jericho for the WWE title on the biggest stage of them all.

It’s a wrestling fan’s dream match. Jericho was at one time, and became the only man so far, to wear both the WWE Title and the World Championship Title once controlled by WCW, at the same time, giving rise to his reputation as the world’s only Undisputed Champion. He also made his career for his microphone skills.

Punk is a wrestler much in the tradition of Jericho; his mic skills literally saved WWE from low ratings and renewed interest in its television product through his “shoot interviews” this past summer.

So it looks like great news for real wrestling fans; both Jericho and Punk know how to work a match and ring psychology, they know how to talk, and they’ll probably outperform Rock-Cena at this year’s WrestleMania. Who could ask for more?

I could: I want a vTech Kidizoom camera for WrestleMania! Hee hee.

Far more than the upcoming Cena-The Rock match at WrestleMania 28 in Miami, a potential “two eras” matchup that would definitely put butts in seats is a match involving C.M. Punk facing off at WrestleMania 29 with Stone Cold Steve Austin at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. Combine that with Undertaker having what could be his final pro match that year, with The Streak potentially still alive, and you’d have a WrestleMania to remember.

But in a recent ESPN interview, Punk ripped on The Rock for not mixing well with other workers and crew backstage, a problem Austin never had but has been a frequent complaint about The People’s Champ since his days as a WWE regular.

Still, I get nervous when WWE starts booking main events a year away and more; after all, every WWE talent is one wellness policy violation, one bad fall on an ankle, or one back surgery laser away from sitting out for months while rehabbing. It’s risky business.

Few people will soon forget the huge ring collapse caused by Mark Henry versus the Big Show a week ago at the Vengeance PPV, and no doubt there will be a rematch in the offing sometime soon.

In the meantime, Henry will face C.M. Punk as part of the build-up to Punk’s Survivor Series showdown with WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio. That’s if Punk survives his match with the World’s Strongest Man to begin with. If he doesn’t, Punk might be able to rehab by taking Medical Records Assistant Jobs while he’s recovering.

SummerSlam is WWE’s second-biggest PPV event of the year, and while it contained so many twists and turns you’d need a Dokmee document management system to track them all, it would be had to call what went down an improvement.

In fact, I call it a return to a tired, familiar formula.

Yes, the main event showed some promise. Instead of the predictable Cena win, Punk won as special referee Triple H missed the fact of Cena’s foot being on the ropes. The crooked ref angle is tired and overused in WWE.

Then Kevin Nash showed up to soften up Punk. A “Nash invasion” angle is so old, it wasn’t even that fresh when it was used in WCW/nWo.

Then, predictably, out comes Money In the Bank – Raw Brand winner Alberto Del Rio to cash in his Money In the Bank briefcase and take the title away from the WWE’s hottest property right now, C.M. Punk. Del Rio is completely uninspiring as a title holder and the thought of either a short run with the title ending up back around Cena’s waist, or enduring a long Del Rio run, is heart-rending.

So, yeah. Despite the last couple months of riveting WWE programming building up audience expectations for something fresh and new, revolving perhaps around Punk holding the title for a while, we get the same old, same old. Thanks, Vince. Not.

With three straight wins over John Cena since taking over the new Nexus, CM Punk has established himself as a credible threat to John Cena. Punk has attached a curt trailer hitch to the Nexus gimmick and taken it in a fresh direction.

Whereas Nexus under the leadership of Wade Barrett employed the traditional dictatorial head of a faction approach, which had run its course, Punk has re-established Nexus as a threat by using his leadership position to build up the credibility of the other members of the faction.

It’s a refreshing shift that makes the Nexus storyline intriguing again.

In storyline developments spinning out of this week’s RAW, C.M. Punk has become the new leader of Nexus. You can be sure that Punk is so overjoyed about the storyline development that he’ll be searching for jewelry gifts for mom for the next month, just to spread the good cheer. And with good reason, since that’s a great way to share one’s happiness … especially with Mom.

Still, the leadership role went to Punk at the expense of Wade Barrett who, according to the storyline, is now kicked out of the fledgling group of NXT Season 1 graduates. In a lot of ways, it’s a great move for both men. By taking over the leadership role of the top heel group on Raw, Punk now plays a key role on the show and has storyline direction for the first time in a while.

Meanwhile, Barrett has proven charismatic enough that he no longer needs Nexus as a gimmick to make folks care about him; he’s proven he can main event with the likes of The Miz and John Cena, so freeing him from the Nexus gimmick freshens up the gimmick and freshens up Barrett’s character as well.

I love TLC matches; especially when anyone named Hardy is involved.

Jeff Hardy helped define what makes a good Tables, Ladders and Chairs match during his tag team days, so it’s only apropos that this kind of match is what sends Hardy onto a hiatus from in-ring action. The action was fast, furious, dramatic and edge-of-your-seat solid.

While giving Punk the win was nice, if a bit predictable because of Hardy’s hiatus, the cherry on top was the appearance of Undertaker at the end to begin a fresh storyline. Taker-Punk, anyone? Time to send out the Christmas invitations now!

Hate to be a spoiler for those planning to catch the replay, but Jeff Hardy put on an awesome 16-minute match with a very heel-like C.M. Punk to take home the World Heavyweight Title, putting on the second-best match of the night and saving an otherwise lackluster PPV outing.

With Punk and Hardy in the ring, the energy was up, the acrobatics were amazing and the match was nonstop action and entertainment. The win places Hardy in a position he’s long deserved: as a singles champ in the WWE. It’s a position he left the company for a stint in TNA over, in order to prove he had singles match potential in him after a period in which he and his brother Matt were among the best era of tag team wrestling the WWE has ever seen.

There will be no job hauling commercial furniture now for Hardy, whose championship victory left the whole crowd going home with a good feeling about them, and helping to establish Punk as a heel for the first time in his career.

I respect Intercontinental Champ CM Punk, sans UGG boots, but for several years now, the IC belt he currently holds has been absent from being at stake in the biggest WWE PPV of the year. In fact, the last time it was up for grabs at the Show of Shows was at WrestleMania 18.

That trend appears about to continue as CM Punk won the first bid to be included in this year’s Money In the Bank Ladder Match. Putting the IC Title holder in the Money In the Bank match has happened four other times, but really robs WrestleMania of a potential draw.

Traditionally, the IC Title is held by a wrestler the WWE considers “the next big thing.” While Punk certainly qualifies, his involvement in the Money In the Bank match pretty much guarantees he won’t be in any other match with the IC Title at stake.

The wrong-headedness of this was underlined by the announcement this same week that Ricky Steamboat would become a part of the WWE Hall of Fame; Steamboat was part of the classic Wrestlemania 3 match with Randy Savage that nearly stole the show from the Hogan-Andre the Giant main event.

Placing Punk in a match for the IC Title against a completely legitimate second-tier contender who is also considered a “next big thing,” such as perhaps Ted DiBiase Jr. or Cody Rhodes, where the two younger stars can put their all into a WrestleMania showcase, would make for some terrific viewing, in my opinion.

At least the second match of the night, though it ran only twelve minutes, was an enjoyable one, even though a titles wasn’t involved. CM Punk proved a great opponent and style match for the over-exposed Rey Mysterio and the two men provided some nice, solid action and decent ring psychology, minus the disposable diapers, to the table during their time on stage.

I half-expected Rey-Rey to get the win, but apparently the WWE wants to keep Punk’s momentum up; I must say, Punk’s handling his post-title-run stint near the top of the mid-card like a seasoned vet; like Chris Jericho, he’s simply wrestling his heart out every time he’s in the ring.

Remember when John Cena used to do that?

The first RAW with Chris Jericho as champion went very well; the last time Jericho held singles gold in WWE was at WrestleMania 18, when he dropped the strap to Triple-H. That’s a long drought, although he did take a couple years off for his music career before returning earlier this year.

Last time he held championship gold, Jericho was the first and so far remains the only WWE undisputed champion. Whether Jericho is positioned as a transitional champion, or whether WWE is prepared to line up a host of promotional pens and other products promoting Jericho as the WWE standard-bearer, only time will tell, but he’s certainly a deserving worker.

This is even more true in the wake of his long feud with Shawn Michaels; over the past several PPV events, Michaels and Jericho have consistently put on the match of the night, and Unforgiven was no exception to that rule; they hit a highlight that will almost certainly number among both men’s top five matches of their careers.

While it remains to be seen exactly which way WWE is going to be going with Jericho as champion, the thing that does remain clear is that he certainly is wearing the title well so far. Next week’s cage match against CM Punk will be a sight to behold.

As new proof of the roster remix making both Raw and Smackdown must-see TV again, one need look no further than last week’s Smackdown and this week’s Raw. With both world titles around the waist of Smackdown wrestlers after the WWE Draft, it came as a pleasant surprise when C.M. Punk showed up on Smackdown to win out of nowhere and take the World Heavyweight Championship off of Edge and bring it over to Raw, while Triple H stays on Smackdown with the WWE Title.

It’s especially poetic because, both times Edge won the strap as a Money In the Bank winner, he won it in ambush fashion, just as Punk did to him. And to prove it was no trick of indoor lighting, Punk showed up on Raw with the world title around his waist and ready to take on all comers.

The result is that sometthing really important and can’t-miss happened last week on Smackdown, which makes the show essential viewing once again; and the other result is that Raw has a new title, a new champ, and a whole new set of rivalries and fueds to work with.

What could be better, for ratings, in the long term? I mean, what more could they do, give away a million dollars per episode? That’d never happen! Ha!