I can’t tell you how close I was to dedicating another entire column to the wonder that is CM Punk. Now that isn’t going to happen but we do need to take a look at the amazing match from Money in the Bank on Sunday. Suffice to say Punk and Cena’s match was the kind of match that you pray to see when you put up your money for a PPV. Often WWE fails to deliver, but this Sunday Punk and Cena put on the most memorable match of the year for WWE. Like all of Chicago I was cheering wholeheartedly for Punk. And did they ever cheer. No other superstar today can get a pop anywhere close to the one that Punk gets in Chicago. By the time wrestlers were kicking out of finishers, I myself was having an audible reaction despite sitting alone on my couch. To top everything off, that’s probably the cleanest win anybody has gotten over Super Cena in a very long while. I mean Cena was still distracted by the interference (can’t have the kids thinking their hero is anything less that perfect) but at least Punk wasn’t the one who cheated to win the title. That was a face vs. face match on Sunday and if anyone in the ring could be considered a heel, judging by audience reaction, that could be Cena.
In other PPV thoughts:
In recent memory, Smackdown has been a clear B show to the A show of Raw. Even though the two are supposed to be equal but different shows, Raw is clearly the flagship show. However, as of late, Smackdown has really been on the ball, in some cases even improving over Raw. Between the two MITB matches, Smackdown’s was the stronger match, and the third match from Smackdown was Big Show vs. Mark Henry, compared to the Diva’s match from Raw, something I had honestly forgotten about up until now when I could only name five matches from Sunday.
As for our MITB winners, Del Rio seemed almost a guaranteed winner with the push he has gotten from WWE. I don’t know how long it will be before he cashes it in but I hope that he holds on to the case for a while. First of all, because the current state of the WWE champion is so cluttered right now, that cashing in just adds another complication right now, plus Del Rio should be able to mine some great promo material from having the briefcase.
As for the more surprising winner, a year ago Daniel Bryan was in the middle of being fired and now, he is a number one contender of sorts for the Heavyweight championship. Did I ever expect that? No. Am I thrilled that it has happened? You bet. My one concern is that contracts tend to be cashed in after a champion is already worn out from a match, the actions of a heel or at least a wrestler with heelish tendencies. Bryan is neither of those, so will he turn heel to cash in? Or will he honorably cash in on a fresh competitor thus possibly being the first unsuccessful cash in?
And we can’t end without talking about how Monday’s Raw concluded. I think we all knew that Vince’s time as an on screen character would not be going on much longer. In fact I was a bit surprised to see him at all after his last WrestleMania match. Even his brief appearances here and now didn’t feel like the heel Mr. McMahon character but instead just Vince making big announcements (things like Rock’s return and Tough Enough winner) only in this recent storyline with Punk has Vince done anything that could be considered heel actions. It seemed as though McMahon was back for another extended storyline, only for him to be relieved of duty by Triple H in a surprise appearance. I knew that Triple H would most likely replace Vince but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon, or so out of the blue.
If Mr. McMahon really is gone, that’s not how I wanted the character to leave. Forced out of his job? Sure. Having a crowd mock him as he is defeated? Ok with that too. The guy is a heel after all. But to just have him stand there as his fate is laid out before him as almost an after thought to the whole Punk angle, the character who has given us a lot of entertainment over the years, disserves a grander exit than that. I want Vince for a little while longer. I want to see him go at the end of his own feud, not randomly at the end of a tournament long Raw, and yea I would like some time to get a real, strong “Thank You, Vince†chant going.
What this storyline does allow for is some big changes to take place over the next few weeks. It’s already been set up that Triple H (as well as “the familyâ€) disagrees with some of Vince’s business decisions. We’ve also seen Triple H reverse McMahon decisions with Cena not getting fired on Monday (a rather clever way to sidestep that stipulation by the way and keep us from three weeks of unemployed Cena ambushing every main event) but it doesn’t have to stop there. Maybe Triple H can start calling titles belts again. Or maybe he can give Zack Ryder some ring time. The possibilities are endless.
Unrelated thought: Last week a comment asked me how long a feud should go on between two wrestlers, when I mentioned that I thought the Randy and Christian feud had gone on too long. It’s a question that varies from feud to feud and there is no exact length of time answer that works for every single feud. Obviously the most important thing is that the feud remains entertaining. Not just the in ring action but the storyline as well. As far as in ring, The Christian and Orton feud is still going strong. From their first fight on Smackdown to the one this past Sunday, every single time the two of them have had a match it was an entertaining, worthwhile display of in ring ability. Throughout this feud, the two of them have never once produced a sub-par match together. The problem however lies in the story because every time they fought, Randy always won, leading to a one sided rivalry where every time Christian spoke, he said some variation of “Give me one more chance. One more chance to beat you.†and all of us asked, “How many chances do you need?â€
When in ring feels stale (looking at you Miz and Alex Riley) its time to stop a match, but Story problems can be saved. The title change on Sunday did that. And for the first time on Friday, we will get to see how these two interact when the shoe is on the other foot (or belt is on the other wrestler.)
