The General Wrestling Thread

[EmpireWF]

Bill Simmons tweeted that they taped the podcast with CM Punk today and it will go up late in the morning.

Should be interesting.

It'll be up here when they upload it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/archive?id=2864045

[Warner2BruceTD]

Bill Simmons tweeted that they taped the podcast with CM Punk today and it will go up late in the morning.

Should be interesting.

It'll be up here when they upload it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/...ive?id=2864045

I think it's lost a lot of luster after this past Monday. The whole thing is pretty flat at this point.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Delirious unmasked, hanging out with a lot of wrestlers.

 

[EmpireWF]

I think it's lost a lot of luster after this past Monday. The whole thing is pretty flat at this point.

I'll wait to hear Punk on Monday before I drop trow and take a massive deuce on it.

[EmpireWF]

Simmons w/ Punk posted

http://c.espnradio.com/audio/677919/simmons_2011-07-27-122419.mp3

[manchild24]

Following CM Punk's return to WWE on Monday's RAW his new theme song "Cult of Personality" skyrocketed on the iTunes sales charts, breaking the Top 200

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I think it's lost a lot of luster after this past Monday. The whole thing is pretty flat at this point.

I think its lost luster with .01% of whatever number they draw from the likes of W2B and other internet dweebs, but the angle is still hotter than anything they've done in a long time to pretty much everyone.

I dislike the turn it took and think they are blowing their load hella early on this, but its still a huge angle to most fans and is far from flat.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I think its lost luster with .01% of whatever number they draw from the likes of W2B and other internet dweebs, but the angle is still hotter than anything they've done in a long time to pretty much everyone.

I dislike the turn it took and think they are blowing their load hella early on this, but its still a huge angle to most fans and is far from flat.

Its no longer interesting to the point that I care enough to listen to the Simmons podcast or invest my time in it any longer. Its no longer different or fresh, its just another angle. I agree its still hot (I guess), but there isn't anything special about it anymore.

I'm just saying it peaked early. Punk should still be crashing indy shows and goofing off with Cabana. The mystery is gone, I can't suspend my disbelief anymore.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Its no longer interesting to the point that I care enough to listen to the Simmons podcast or invest my time in it any longer. Its no longer different or fresh, its just another angle. I agree its still hot (I guess), but there isn't anything special about it anymore.

I'm just saying it peaked early. Punk should still be crashing indy shows and goofing off with Cabana. The mystery is gone, I can't suspend my disbelief anymore.

I agree with you that the mystery is no longer there.

I would have had Cena go on a run with the title until Survivor Series and keep the viral videos going and have Punk stay fresh that way.

[BigBiss]

Did they shot gun it, you bet, but look at the timing. how else were they going to make a big splash for summer slam

[Warner2BruceTD]

Did they shot gun it, you bet, but look at the timing. how else were they going to make a big splash for summer slam

A week before SummerSlam?

Shit, Punk wouldn't even have to wrestle on that show to help bring interest or pop the buyrate. They would just have to make it clear he's showing up.

They could have done this 3 or 4 weeks from now, after letting it fester and keeping people guessing for another month.

They panicked.

[dave]

A week before SummerSlam?

Shit, Punk wouldn't even have to wrestle on that show to help bring interest or pop the buyrate. They would just have to make it clear he's showing up.

They could have done this 3 or 4 weeks from now, after letting it fester and keeping people guessing for another month.

They panicked.

Agreed.

They could have put on a solid card with a hint that Punk might show up.

To be honest, I think this whole thing has benefitted John Cena a lot. He looks like a stand-up guy and has had two damn good matches since it began (Punk and Mysterio). I was kinda hoping for the Mysterio upset Monday night, but knew better.

[EmpireWF]

Did they shot gun it, you bet, but look at the timing. how else were they going to make a big splash for summer slam

that's it. They booked themselves into a corner with the short turnaround between MITB and SS. Can't believe there's only 2 more RAWs until the PPV.

But hey, Punk coming out, not talking and leading to a unification match with Cena is better than one of their six other scripts (seriously). Meltzer said one of the plans was for HHH to go heel, pedigree Punk and lead to Del Rio winning the belt. The matches for SS would have been Punk vs. HHH, ADR vs. Cena and the Smackdown stuff.

Instead, appears we have Punk vs. Cena, the Smackdown stuff plus whatever they find for ADR.

[s@ppisgod]

But the main draw wasn't CM Punk. It was CM Punk going rogue. I agree with W2B, as usual. If Punk gate-crashes Raw and says he's going to sabotage the Summerslam main event, isn't that just as big of a draw as him and Cena? And Summerslam should do solid anyway. It usually does with half the momentum they have now. Wasn't the beauty of the Punk thing that they got everyone interested in a 2nd tier PPV? Even stretching it out to the next Raw PPV would likely mean three really solid buyrates in a row. Not to mention the online pub they get for Punk's shenanigans...
SAMSUNG-SGH-A887/A887UCIJ1 SHP/VPP/R5 NetFront/3.5 SMM-MMS/1.2.0 profile/MIDP-2.1 configuration/CLDC-1.1

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Alright...I see where this Punk shit is going.

I'm riding with Warner2Bruce...I'm done. Time to watch flippy japs.

Monday's RAW featured Triple H's first night in charge as well as the surprise return of WWE title holder CM Punk.

According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there were actually six different scripts written for RAW - one of which would have resulted in Triple H laying out CM Punk with a pedigree.

Although the obvious scenario would be for WWE to capitalize on CM Punk's recent popularity and push him to the moon, most of the scenarios presented for Monday's RAW were not to get Punk over, but to emphasize Triple H's new role as Vince McMahon's successor.

Prior to WWE settling on what we saw unfold on Monday night, the original plan for CM Punk's return was for him to get attacked and pedigreed by Triple H. Alberto Del Rio then would have come out, cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase against John Cena at SummerSlam.

While this would have certainly put Triple H over as a major heel and led to an eventual program with a babyface CM Punk cooler heads prevailed and the angle of Punk getting squashed on the night of his return was scrapped.