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Punk is already more or less a babyface. He's giving the requisite lip service to being a heel and each and every one of you sucking for the integrity of the feud, but he was a face to the crowd last night and he'll be an even bigger one at the PPV. I'm not saying that Punk is about to lead the INTERNET RENAISSANCE WHERE WE ALL TAKE BACK WRESTLING AND GET ALL THE SCRIPTWRITERS FIRED, but whenever he comes back, perhaps Monday, he's going to be a rebel face with being-a-dick tendencies.
This angle has been very cool and fun to watch, but the highlight for me doesn't involve anything Punk said. My highlight of this whole thing was Vince yelling at Cena twice last week to wipe the smile off his face.
I suggested to Punk via Twitter that since MitB is in the same building as WM22 and since it's been brought up already, he should recreate Cena's entrance on Sunday. Maybe even have Colt and Luke in his entourage carrying Tommy guns. He's the new Untouchable. Full circle.
Well played WWE. You gotten me to watch a Raw in it's entirety for the first time in what seems to be a mighty long time, and you've also managed to get me to watch a PPV that isn't a Wrestlemania or Royal Rumble for the first time in years too. Kudos.
This was a pretty entertaining Raw. I mean the main failings of Raw were still on display, which is seemingly needing 20 minutes to deliver 5 minutes worth of content. I can't imagine sitting down and giving RAW my 100% total undivided attention for 2 hours, but for light entertainment while I fiddled about on the Internet and kept an eye on the Tour de France, it was superb.
I did have an early irritation though. I don't see the point in jobbing out your tag team champs in a handicap match. I mean I get that you want to create a "ooh how will the champ get out of this" feel, and the TT champs should give a certain credibility to that, but that match did them no favours. I can understand that Cena can best them in a pure competition, and that if he keeps the upper hand throughout the match he would be able to slow the tags and maybe pull it out. But a decent tag team (and surely the tag champs should be "decent") should know how to use the tag rules to their advantage and wear him down using The Numbers GameTM. And if they don't, then how the hell are they tag champs in the first place?
How would Arn & Ole have worked that match? Did Demolition ever get jobbed out to Hogan by himself? How about the British Bulldogs?
Ah, forget it. I'm comparing apples to oranges and coming off like a grumpy old curmudgeon. Tag Team wrestling has been dead for years. Get over it.
It feels like every divas feud I've seen (which isn't that many really) since Trish retired is sold by the WWE as being based in jealousy? Kelly is jealous of the Bella's looks? whatever. Calling Kelly too skinny was funny. They all look like they could do with a steak dinner. I did laugh at the Bellas saying 'Oh and that really smells bad' when Kelly did the stinkface to whoever the non-entity* was that she was wrestling.
And how stupid is Kelly to attack one Bella and ignore the other one standing Right There! What did she think was going to happen? I'm not sure of the etiquette for the ladies, but in a blokes fight, you would at least kick one in the stones to keep them occupied before you attacked the other.
* ah, I see it was Melina. Thankfully geemoney was on top of things.
The main story.... I was originally of the view that the current Punk angle would end up as just another mechanism to further establish Cena as top of the food chain. That was because this angle had the potential to be challenging, destructive, different, confident and reflective. And to my mind, the WWE of the last X years has had not any interest in anything like that.
Now I'm not so sure.
I'm pretty sure Vince smells money here.
I know Vince is happy to humiliate himself physically, get Stunnered or Sharp-shootered however many times. But what he's done here is bring himself back on screen from a period of reduced visibility and then allowed himself to be bested verbally as both a negotiator and a business man, all in the build of an angle, rather than the payoff. He was about to "sign" a bad contract until Cena interrupted.
Yep, Punk basically gave him a prostate exam out there. Vince smells money. You could almost see the dollar signs flash in his eyes, Scrooge McDuck style when the crowd cheered at the mention of the Ice Cream bars.
Cena. Wooden. No Emotion. Can't Keep Up. Tried for a Rock style run-on poop joke but lacks the panache to pull it off. You could almost hear the crowd pull out their iPhones to check Twitter while he was talking.
There was some talk above comparing who Punk is most similar to, and the Piper comparison came up. This feels right. Unfortunately, Cena is no Hogan, despite being pushed like him for years.
I have no fucking idea how they're going to play it on Sunday. And that's great! I truly envy those of you attending the show live. If Cena wins, tear up a seat for me.
And I bet Vince really does have stinky breath!
EDIT: Final word. Vince's hair has never quite been the same since that Donald Trump head shaving thing.
I loved how ice cream bars got the loudest cheer of the night.
CM Punk has me mesmerized when I watch now. I wonder what he's going to say next. No one has mentioned his great "Whattamanuveur" Vince impression he did in front of Vince.
I love stories like Punk being one of the gangsters in Cena's entrance and now facing him at a ppv, just like Edge watching WM6 in Toronto and then later wrestling a Wrestlemania in the same building and later tagging with Hogan.
I did have an early irritation though. I don't see the point in jobbing out your tag team champs in a handicap match. I mean I get that you want to create a "ooh how will the champ get out of this" feel, and the TT champs should give a certain credibility to that, but that match did them no favours. I can understand that Cena can best them in a pure competition, and that if he keeps the upper hand throughout the match he would be able to slow the tags and maybe pull it out. But a decent tag team (and surely the tag champs should be "decent") should know how to use the tag rules to their advantage and wear him down using The Numbers GameTM. And if they don't, then how the hell are they tag champs in the first place?
(edited by Big G on 12.7.11 1334)
I'm just tired of their hard on for handicap matches PERIOD. I put that gimmick a peg lower than Lumberjack Matches, yet they do the damn things almost every week it seems.
Sighting: WWE's CM Punk cooks his own pizza at Ian's
By Luis Gomez
9:28 a.m. CDT, July 9, 2011 WWE Superstar CM Punk visited Ian’s Pizza in Wrigleyville Thursday to make the G.T.S. pizza, which Ian's named after Punk’s signature move. The former WWE champion was accompanied by WWE Diva Beth Phoenix and Ring of Honor wrestler Colt Cabana.
Originally posted by Big GI'm pretty sure Vince smells money here.
I know Vince is happy to humiliate himself physically, get Stunnered or Sharp-shootered however many times. But what he's done here is bring himself back on screen from a period of reduced visibility and then allowed himself to be bested verbally as both a negotiator and a business man, all in the build of an angle, rather than the payoff. He was about to "sign" a bad contract until Cena interrupted.
Yep, Punk basically gave him a prostate exam out there. Vince smells money. You could almost see the dollar signs flash in his eyes, Scrooge McDuck style when the crowd cheered at the mention of the Ice Cream bars.
Cena. Wooden. No Emotion. Can't Keep Up. Tried for a Rock style run-on poop joke but lacks the panache to pull it off. You could almost hear the crowd pull out their iPhones to check Twitter while he was talking.
There was some talk above comparing who Punk is most similar to, and the Piper comparison came up. This feels right. Unfortunately, Cena is no Hogan, despite being pushed like him for years.
This is a -perfect- explanation of why I've been apathetic towards WWE for about 5 years now and why my interest has recently been piqued. I haven't yet been swayed to start watching full time again, but I certainly am curious and excited enough to start reading this forum again and seek out clips of the CM Punk segments.
WWE had its run of PG material with Cena as the center of the universe. But, for the same reason that adults don't watch Saturday morning cartoons, a lot of its fanbase got bored and left. I hope whatever is planned for Sunday goes off successfully and becomes the first step towards switching back to a smarter, more engaging product. I was in high school during the height of the Austin/Rock era. That type of wrestling product is remembered fondly by many, many people who are now in their mid to late 20's, who by now are out of college, have decent jobs, and have lots of cash to burn. It would be very smart for WWE to begin moving back in the "Attitude" direction , and this CM Punk fellow seems like a great tool to do it with.
Lloyd: When I met Mary, I got that old fashioned romantic feeling, where I'd do anything to bone her. Harry: That's a special feeling.
I could be crazy, but I don't think Cena ever beat "the late, great Eddie Guerrero" at anything of consequence. The only feud I remember them having was when Cena stole Eddie's rims, and then Eddie beat him in a parking lot battle.
Hooch is crazy.
Go Pack Go! (Champs!) Let's Go Riders! (0-2, T-3rd West)
Originally posted by hansen9jI could be crazy, but I don't think Cena ever beat "the late, great Eddie Guerrero" at anything of consequence. The only feud I remember them having was when Cena stole Eddie's rims, and then Eddie beat him in a parking lot battle.
I just showed the closing segment to my gf. Her first reaction was that while Vince was outside the ring, he switched the contracts, and that Punk tore up the original. Vince still has the one with Punk's signature (assuming he did sign it and wasn't just screwing with Vince).
We looked at it again carefully, and no such switch took place, but it'd be a neat out for them.
Thanks a lot Mike Myers. Now I can't hear anyone like Drew McIntyre speak with a Scottish brogue and not picture a big green cartoon ogre. I wonder if Shrek would have been as successful if the lead had been voiced by Chris Farley as originally planned.
Thread ahead: The WWE Title: "that thing has been far too ugly for far too long" Next thread: CM Punk interviewed by GQ Previous thread: twitter vs. Vince McMahon
Interesting that you mentioned Nunzio in the CW title picture, as despite his ability you don't hear that much about him beyond being a cornerman for Palumbo and Bull.