When it was announced at Raw 1000 that the Rock would be challenging the currents champ for the WWE championship at the Royal Rumble, it seemed that it would be almost a foregone conclusion that he would be winning that match. After all if The Rock wants to be champion again, you can bet that the company will be bending over backwards to make sure that happens. And could there be a better time that the months between the Rumble and WrestleMania? And so, like he had before with his match with Cena, The Rock had effectively made it impossible to really get invested in a storyline. After all what does it matter who’s champion now, when we all know that in just a few months that Rock is going to take the belt and be defending it at Mania. Is there any way that we can really get excited about the title scene now? Oh wait that’s right. Punk somehow has the ability to make everything he touches worth investing in.
This could really be just another “Punk is the Greatest thing ever” column, and after his words with the Rock last night, it would probably be well justified. But since most of us are easily in the corner of Punk being amazing, I want to take this moment to use Punk’s work (and to a lesser extent, The Rock’s) on Monday to highlight something else.
For the most part, Punk and Rock worked together to create a truly great segment on Monday. There were some falters here and there, and I’m going to lay most of that blame on Rock. The cookiepuss chant (spelling?) didn’t really add anything and instead had a bit of an awkward feeling, but by and large Punk and Rock gave a pretty good example on how to build a feud correctly. Punk comes out talks about how good he is and how each of the heroes of us the fans has failed to defeat him. And how the Rock, our greatest hero of all is going to be just the latest in the line to fail. To sum it all up, “The Rock is good, but I’m better.”
Then out comes the Rock. And a few unnecessary chants aside, basically say that Punk’s title run has been amazing, and something worth recognition. But that Punk’s days are numbered (literally) and The Rock will still be the one standing tall at the end. To sum it all up, “Punk is good, but I’m better.”
Both men have built up the match as important, one that will go down in history, and both have said that their opponent will truly present a challenge, but that they will overcome. The Rock specifically mentioned Punk taking him out at Raw 1000. This is now a match that I want to see. Two of the top guys facing the biggest challenge of their respective careers? Shut up and take my money.
But then lets go back to the very beginning of Raw, back to another feud going on right now, one between Cena and Ziggler. The promo work between these two is almost the exact opposite from what we saw Punk and Rock deliver. Cena, mostly through crude jokes, considers Ziggler a waist of time, no talent star who could never achieve the skill level that he, Cena, possesses. Ziggler on the other hand implies that Cena is fast on the Road to being a has been and cannot keep up with the ways of the far superior, fresh superstar that is Ziggler. So if Ziggler wins, it shouldn’t be a big deal because Cena is no longer a threatening opponent and if Cena wins, it shouldn’t be a big deal because Ziggler was never that good to begin with.
No clearly as a fan of what Ziggler has displayed over the past two years, I clearly don’t believe this, but that’s not what matters here. The fact is that a feud based entirely around tearing your opponent down is not one that is worth getting excited over. And while the sheer in ring talent of Ziggler is enough to keep the TV on during their match, despite the terrible ending, (you know what I’m talking about) the reason that I want to give the company money for Royal Rumble now is because of things said by Rock and Punk.
