The General Wrestling Thread

[tigga334]

-WWE Champion John Cena then comes to the ring. He announces that due to the comments that CM Punk made last week that resulted in his indefinite suspension from the company, Punk has now been stripped of his number-one contendership status to face Cena for the title at Money in the Bank. Cena then says that from now on, they're going to act as if Punk never existed in the company. Cena then says that he isn't happy about what Punk did, but then said that Punk has the right to say whatever he wants. Cena then says he's demanding answers from Vince McMahon tonight because he wants to face Punk at the pay-per-view.

you guys are right

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Please tell me you all don't believe that was "real"...

Brian Pillman would like to tell you all "hello!" from beyond the grave.

 

[krulmichael]

http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2011-06-27/mcmahon-suspends-punk

Definitely a work.

 

[dave]

Just finished watching (I always DVR Raw, hate the damn commercials and like to skip through the crappy matches).
Sure it was a work, but it almost had me believing.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Best part was...

"Hey Colt Cabana..."

 

[SHOGUN]

WOW @ the ending of tonight's RAW.

Punk was going HAM.

I want to see Punk win the belt in Chicago, R-Truth win the MITB, Punk does the summer of Punk again and loses to Cena, only for R-Truth to cash in the title shot and immediately win the belt from Cena.

 

[krulmichael]

Apparently this is what happens next week on Raw (next week's Raw is also being recorded tonight as well as it's overseas) so major spoilers for next week!

 

Source: http://www.prowrestling.net/artman/publish/WWE/article10019268.shtml

Dot Net staffer Will Pruett attended the WWE Raw show in Las Vegas, Nevada and sent the following report on the taping for the July 4 edition of Raw.

The Raw opening was shown, followed by opening pyro. They announced a Triple Threat for No. 1 contendership featuring Del Rio vs. Truth vs. Mysterio. Plus, Riley vs. Miz as well.

John Cena out to open the show. Cena spoke about the decision to suspend Punk. He says that WWE's choice sucks. He said he would never do what Punk wanted to do with the championship. He said Punk should not have been suspended for what was said.

Cena mentioned the Daniel Bryan firing and WWE officials confiscating signs. Cena is upset that Punk can't speak his mind. Cena is defending the freedom of speech. Cena said he wants answers from Vince McMahon about this situation and that he is on his way here and promises to be in the building. He said they'll talk it out in the ring tonight. Cena said that he wants to face Punk at MITB.

The MITB case is hanging above to ring.

1. Eve and Kelly Kelly beat The Bella Twins. Kelly pinned one of the Bellas. An okay match, but a lot of fans left the building after the Cena promo.

Truth was backstage on the phone with Flo the Progressive auto insurance girl about his instability. Scott Stanford asked about Truth's No. 1 contender match. Truth said he planned to hurt someone and someone was gonna get got. Del Rio approached and was called Senior Jimmy. Del Rio said he was destined to be the new WWE Champion.

2. David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty beat Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov. McGillicutty pinned Santino with a swinging neckbreaker.

Zack Ryder entered immediately following the tag match and said "Woo woo woo, you know it" and walked to the back. Then they hyped the MITB match with the exact same participants despite the No. 1 Contenders match tonight.

Cena and McMahon's confrontation was hyped graphically.

The Miz was interviewed backstage and complained about not being in the No. 1 contenders match tonight. He said Riley abused the opportunity Miz gave him. Miz said it ended tonight for Riley and delivered his Awesome catchphrase.

3. Jack Swagger beat Sgt. Slaughter. Yep, you read that right, Sgt. Slaughter. Swagger won a short match after his corner splash off the second rope. He went to apply the ankle lock post-match, but was attacked by Evan Bourne, who raised Slaughter's hand post match. Then Slaughter led the fans in The Pledge of Allegiance. Yay patriotism.

Alberto Del Rio made his entrance (minus the car) for the No. 1 contenders match.

4. Alberto Del Rio beat Rey Mysterio and R-Truth in a Triple Threat match to become No. 1 contender. Del Rio won when Rey tapped to the Cross Arm Breaker. A good 15-20 minute TV match that will most likely be the top of the second hour next week.

Dolph and Vickie came out for a promo with a United States themed cake in the ring. Vickie asked the fans to stand and sing happy birthday to Dolph. She sang to massive heat from the fans. Dolph said that these people have no idea how great it is to witness him in his prime. Dolph said the United States Title is the only title that matters and that he is all you need to make Raw perfection.

Kofi Kingston came out to the ring and said it's messed up for Dolph to have a party and not invite him. Kofi said Dolph can't beat him without Vickie in his corner. Kofi backed Vickie into the cake, then she ended up with her face and arm in it also when Kofi kicked Dolph into her.

5. Alex Riley beat The Miz. The crowd was dead for this match. The fans here aren't buying Riley, who won around 15 minutes in with a backslide when Miz was going for a reverse DDT. Not a bad match, but the fans weren't into it.

After the match, Miz attacked Riley. Miz threw him outside the ring and slammed him into the barricades and stairs. Miz gave Riley a big kick over the announce table and looked emotionally distraught.

John Cena's music played but he didn't come out. It stopped and out came Mr. McMahon to a decent reaction. He said that the C.M. Punk suspension has gotten out of hand and the camera man fixed his tie. He said Punk deserved to be suspended for what he said. He said this was about what was right for the fans. McMahon said he really suspended Punk because he wanted limo service and wanted to be on DVDs and such and he wasn't worthy. He then said he fired Punk because he deserved it and he is a punk.

Cena came out to a big reaction even in his third appearance tonight. He asked Vince if that was it? He accused Vince of kicking Punk to the curb and Vince said Punk kicked himself to the curb. Cena said Vince believes in free speech and Vince confirmed it. Cena then made fun of Vince's walk and said that Vince took everyone down because he's a fighter. He wondered why Vince wasn't a fighter now and said he wants to fight Punk. He said if Vince doesn't feel like fighting, he should hang it up.

Vince said he really suspended Punk because be doesn't want to take a chance on Cena. He doesn't want to risk Cena losing to Punk and losing the title and taking it to another organization. He said he will not be embarrassed. Vince said he's afraid of Cena not beating Punk. Cena said he wanted this match regardless of Punk's status. Cena said if he was a fan, this sounds like the match of the year to him. He asked if Vince would suspend him for saying something Vince didn't like.

Vince told Cena not to piss him off. He said not to be Hogan or any of the guys before him. Vince said he doesn't believe Cena can beat him. Cena said to take a chance and give the people what they want. Vince said he doesn't give a damn what the people want, it's his company and he does what is right for them.

Cena said he gets it. He then said it's not what he signed up for. He said he busts his ass for Vince and he believes the belt stands for something. He said Vince is worried that the belt is meaningless, but by sending Punk away he made it meaningless. Cena handed the belt to Vince and walked out. Vince stopped him and followed him up the ramp. He stood face to face with Cena on the ramp and said Punk is reinstated and he has the match.

Vince said that if Punk walks out of Chicago with the title, he is firing Cena.

Great promo to end next week's Raw!

Dark Match

1. John Cena beat R-Truth. Truth said he bet he could be Cena two times in a row and Cena said he could beat Truth in a minute. Truth dedicated the match to the Little Jimmy's. Cena said he shouldn't do this for the title since he just fought for Punk's shot. He said he'll put up $100,000. Cena took out Truth with his usual moves in 30 seconds.

 

[EmpireWF]

RAW spoiler mentioned below for next week's show

 

So, Vince reinstates Punk at the behest of Cena who threatens to forfeit the belt if he can't fight Punk. However, Vince tells him that if Punk leaves the PPV as champion, Cena's fired.

Obviously, my #1 theory changed and is now Punk winning the belt, then losing it to the MITB winner.

Will say this much, for the time being, they have raised a ton of interest in a b-PPV, Money in the Bank. Props to them for finding a way to do that and Punk for obvious reasons.


My predictions based on varying degrees of likelihood....

A (most likely) - Punk loses in his hometown to Cena and takes some time off to recharge his batteries before coming back in 2012. Cena vs. Del Rio at Summer Slam (as planned apparently).

B (Potential is there) - Punk upsets Cena and continues for however long he's signed an extension...only issue is I doubt they do Cena vs. Punk again at Summer Slam so not sure about this one.

C (Unlikely) - Punk upsets Cena to win the belt, but loses to the MITB winner (problem here is someone like Mysterio would be boo'd out of the building in Chicago against a newly crowned Punk as champ). Plus, if they still want to to Cena vs. ADR at Summer Slam, having a second title change in under a month is not ideal.

D (Better not happen) - Punk beats the ever loving shit out of Cena...but loses. Crowd's pissed in Chicago....only for the MITB winner to come out and beat Cena for the belt. Assuming it would be ADR but would they want to spoil the Summer Slam main in this type of deal? Plus, it sorta kills Punk off and makes him look like a dumbass.


-------



Funny/Interesting Twitter Reactions:

Stone Cold:
Ladies and germs-I have no idea why @CMPunk wore my shirt tonite...but it looked damn good on him...thanks @AverageJoeArt for the design.

@CMPunk just melted my 52 inch TV with a scorching hot promo...delivery, content, and attitude...one of the best promos I've ever seen.

MVP:
@CMPunk stayed at my house saturday night & we had a very in depth convo. I haven't seen the promo. But I'm sure my friend made me proud!

 

[krulmichael]

It would be awesome if this was the slow start of Cena turning heel....buuuuut alas that's just wishful thinking and pretty sure it's not going to happen.

 

[Bigpapa42]

The number of fans online who thought that promo was "real" is astounding. In this day and age, with the control they have over content, there is pretty much no chance that a worker is allowed to truly manage a shoot. As soon as they go off the reservation, cut the mic and cut the camera to something else. Props to Punk for a great promo and making it seem awfully real.

The funny thing is that I still don't think that was the best promo of Punk's career.

 

[EmpireWF]

The funny thing is that I still don't think that was the best promo of Punk's career.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9TVMdJX7bc[/ame]


?

 

[FedEx227]

The number of fans online who thought that promo was "real" is astounding. In this day and age, with the control they have over content, there is pretty much no chance that a worker is allowed to truly manage a shoot. As soon as they go off the reservation, cut the mic and cut the camera to something else. Props to Punk for a great promo and making it seem awfully real.

The funny thing is that I still don't think that was the best promo of Punk's career.

I was someone who knew it was real but really wasn't sure if they cut his mic off on purpose considering he went after Johnny Ace, Stephanie and HHH in one fell swoop.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

There is always the possibility he went further than they wanted him to, which makes it fun, but its doubtful. There is also the possibility, that because its Punk, there is the threat he will take it too far at some point. Which is what he/they want you to believe. His tweets last week were no accident, and in retrospect it would have beeen smarter for WWE to "pull" them at some point.

Who knows if he's even really even leaving. He's been planting these seeds for a few months now. Maybe he asked for a hiatus and they are turning it into an angle. Who knows. Like most great angles, the reason it came off so well is because most of it was likely his real emotions. Nobody wrote that for him.

For anyone with any doubts that this was a work, the second they hand him a live mic again should tell you all you need to know.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

My only (very) minor gripe was when they cut off the mic, he sold it in a very goofy "WWE" way. He should have kept talking for a few seconds, realised it was off, then just tossed it away and walked off.

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

- Sources report that CM Punk's entire promo at the end of RAW this week was improvised by Punk and not scripted. Nobody in the back knew what Punk was going to say until he said it live on RAW.

WWE officials told Punk to go out and say in his own words why he was leaving the company, why he wanted the WWE Title and why he wanted to leave with it in his possession. There was a discussion that when officials felt Punk was going too far, they would pull the plug on the segment and cut his mic.

It's said that Punk was upset months ago when Triple H came back to feud with The Undertaker and while some of his comments on RAW towards Vince McMahon were well thought out to appear not as a shoot to the average viewer, most believe that Punk's comments towards Triple H and John Laurinaitis were strictly a shoot.

Word also is that Punk had some notes for his speech jotted down on his wrist tape.

As far as his contract status, Punk's deal apparently expires the second week of July but he signed an extension to work through Money in the Bank. Still with last night's new storyline development, sources maintain that Punk is leaving at Money in the Bank.

 

[EmpireWF]

...from PWI

Meltzer was saying how the writers were told to write him off at MITB and there are no plans past then. But then some people think he'll take a little break and return sooner than we may think.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Sounds like Pro Wresling Insider got worked lol.

Someone on another board made a great point. Right before Punk talked about the "fourth wall", and again before he said hi to Colt Cabana, the director cut to the camera to Punk's right so he could talk directly into it.

 

[dave]

There's no chance that was a pure shoot. C.M. Punk hasn't made enough money to survive the lawsuit. This was all a work.
C.M. Punk didn't say one thing in that "shoot" that wasn't approved by Vince McMahon.
That isn't to say it wasn't delivered spectacularly, it was.

 

[SHOGUN]

The Rock on twitter...

CM Punk: it's simple business - The Rock is the main event at Wrestlemania cause it draws more money in one night, then u will in lifetime.

 

[JayDizzle]

Looks like The Rock's in on it too...

Or at least he better know it's a work considering how much time he put into the company.