So, John Cena is officially WWE Champion again, but CM Punk is out to laugh in his face with the real title. Perfect, especially given that Punk came out to Cult of Personality, his ROH Summer of Punk music.
This is the Summer of Punk 2. Normally, I would urge patience, to let the angle take it’s time, but this is the Summer of Punk 2. When does Summer culminate for WWE? Summerslam. That, unfortunately, means that, at the end CM Punk loses. He loses in an amazing way and gets his big ovation, but he loses… and then he leaves. And we’re all the poorer for it.
That raises the question of how he loses – how he leaves. Do they just do 1 on 1 with Cena again? I sure as hell hope not. They won’t top their epic Chicago Money in the Bank match. A Hell in the Cell works if they’re willing to ignore PG, and a Ladder Match does if they’re not. If they really have balls, they have him win at Summerslam in whatever match, then they do a four-way with Punk, Cena, Rey and either Del Rio or Miz, with Punk “really†leaving after he beats everyone. He can then either lose with the odds against him, or win and have Del Rio cash in, making Alberto a ridiculously over heel for costing Punk. Either way, it’s exciting, and Punk stole Raw in under a minute by showing up with a particular song. Now, onto the rest of Raw (there was a really cool ROH Summer of Punk MV here, but ROH hates free advertising).
This week was, besides Punk, about answering questions from last week’s show – some well, some poorly. The Triple H era was to be about new talent, and really, what seems most interesting is the renewed focus on the mid-card already. Evan Bourne got to have a good match with Dolph Ziggler. Kofi Kingston gave Del Rio his win back in a very good match (fixing my curiosity about how they put a solid mid-carder over a soon-to-be main eventer). Those two matches, with in ring content better than anything in last week’s tournament, would be enough, but we got more.
John Morrison returned for a major feud with R-Truth. Morrison is not a favorite of mine as he is of many, but Truth is so good on the mic right now that he can carry anyone, and Morrison is so good in the ring, Truth can be elevated as well. It’s a perfect match and hopefully they get the time to make it special.
The other piece of the mid-card that we got was more unfortunate. Triple H will be humiliated Michael Cole in the hopes that he (kayfabe) quits. Now, I’m all for the return of Jim Ross, who is far better at his job than Cole will ever be, but Cole’s story is done. I don’t want to see him humiliated regularly. If he decided to be smarmy on his own, this angle could work as him being a manager and forced, ahem, wear a weasel suit and the like. But with him just minding his own business? No thanks.
We also got the return of Zack Ryder to WWE Television. WWE can keep pretending his YouTube videos didn’t get him over and that those that watch those aren’t a huge percentage of their fanbase, but they’d have to also pretend to be deaf. The guy gets a huge pop and needs a push, badly. They want guys to get over by using social media, then they have to properly reward the guy who’s done it best. And if you haven’t been watching Z! True Long Island Story, well, get started:
And finally, we have Rey Mysterio and John Cena. I’m not entirely sure why they did the double title switch. It seems like this is the spot where patience would have most benefited the company. Cena could have challenged next week, or even at Summerslam without really hurting the angle. Of course, WWE were trying not to mention Punk, and in their world that means everyone will immediately forget him, so it had to be pushed forward a bit. Rey and Cena had a good match that will be over-hyped due to near-falls and a hot crowd, but also be immediately overshadowed by Punk. Still, Rey having a claim to the title – it was his second match of the night and Cena’s first – and Miz having his injury to blame, along with Del Rio holding Money in the Bank and TWO Champions create an unpredictable, wildly entertaining WWE Title scene for the first time in the better part of a decade. A+ Raw.
