CM Punk; WWE Has Me Hooked Again (2012 Official Pro Wrestling Thread)

[PrinceEatMeat]

I was happy to see Brock. He should be a welcome addition for the next year, especially if he works 4-5 PPV's and the occasional Raw (but not wrestling for free). He's the biggest draw in PPV nowadays, though I don't think there will be near the crossover of MMA fans buying WWE shows as there was the other way around.

 

The potential with him is interesting. Maybe they build to he and Taker next year, or will it be Rock? It would be an interesting move to put the belt on Lesnar and have that be Rock's opponent next year. Since Laurinitis said that Punk has to worry about a "natural disaster", I would think that means he and Lesnar will work together in time (or I was reading too much into it, but I don't think that was coincidence). Brock could win and drop the belt to Rock at Mania on his way out. Then have Rock vacate the title and hold a tournament. Those are almost always a good way to establish new guys.

 

Johnny was talking about Lord Tensai, because his name means "natural disaster".

[brettac1]

That's too bad.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Well, Raw sucked last night. I'm loving the Jericho/Punk feud though. Jericho is absolutely fantastic in his heel role. It's getting really personal, which makes it better in my opinion. I also like how they are booking Lesnar, and where the feud with Cena is going. They haven't had a brawl like that in any feud for awhile, so it felt fresh. Lesnar will probably look rusty at Extreme Rules, but if he continues to be booked right he should be good. I hope he ends up feuding with Punk at some point, even though it's been rumored that he won't. That would preferably not happen until Lesnar has gotten into better ring shape though. That's about all I'm liking on Raw right now. I'm thinking things are just kind of stalled at the moment until after the draft. Then maybe they'll get some fresh feuds going, and Laurinaitis running both shows will fit more. There's a lot of guys in limbo right now, and storylines are just developing.

[patrickgpe]

There's a lot of guys in limbo right now, and storylines are just developing.

 

they have had 5? new wrestlers debut since wrestlemania, so i am thinking the annual spring cleaning will be pretty large this year. I know the bella twins are gone after this month.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Yep, exactly. I think things will pick up after they release a ton of people, and then have the draft. New guys will start getting storylines, and things will get clearer. Usually the month after WrestleMania is just a few continued feuds and everyone else waits around.

[JimH5]

I'm disappointed that so many in the crowd are chanting "Albert" during the Tensai matches. Give the guy a chance to introduce his new character.

 

I want to see the big scary villan, not listen to a bunch of goofs chanting because they want you to know that they're "in the know."

[PrinceEatMeat]

Well, it's basically people chanting because they think it's stupid that he didn't just come back as Albert. I tend to agree, because so many people know who he was and aren't really buying into the new character. I don't mind it I guess, but not sure it's necessary to have him by Lord Tensai to get him over. Cole and King are even acknowledging that he used to be a WWE superstar, which I find weird. Then they just say he dominated Japan. They could just say that anyway, and not have to change his character, so it doesn't make sense. It would probably make more sense if they just didn't acknowledge it all.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Basically all they had to do to get him over was have him beat Cena. Now he's legitimate. Doesn't really matter what his character is. He could've been built as a monster just being Albert too. Just a bigger and badder Albert. But anyways, Raw was alright. I'm liking how the Punk/Y2J feud is going. The Lesnar/Cena feud is also going well so far. The rest of it was kind of blah. Was glad to see Bryan get time. Love that they are going with the Yes! chants. He even changed his special move to the Yes! Lock. Would've liked to see Brodus Clay get to have an actual match with Ziggler instead of that interference crap.

[Invader3K]

Call me crazy, but I kind of like Tensai's gimmick. Albert went to Japan and became an overgrown version of the Great Muta. Works for me.

[JimH5]

Call me crazy, but I kind of like Tensai's gimmick. Albert went to Japan and became an overgrown version of the Great Muta. Works for me.

 

I don't think you're crazy--I like it, too.

 

I'm a big fan of the pagentry of his entrance, I like the Japanese accomplice. I like the head markings, the japanese influence of his moves. He's a good athlete, he seems limber enough. Love the Baron Von Raschke claw at the end of matches, the green mist. . .He's got me hooked.

[Raw Biz]

Call me crazy, but I kind of like Tensai's gimmick. Albert went to Japan and became an overgrown version of the Great Muta. Works for me.

 

I don't think you're crazy--I like it, too.

 

I'm a big fan of the pagentry of his entrance, I like the Japanese accomplice. I like the head markings, the japanese influence of his moves. He's a good athlete, he seems limber enough. Love the Baron Von Raschke claw at the end of matches, the green mist. . .He's got me hooked.

 

I don't think people have a problem with the gimmick. It's that they refuse to acknowledge him as A-Train or Albert and want to call him Lord Tensai. Why can't he continue to be A-Train or Albert and just be a bad dude who dominated in Japan who now took on the Japanese influences? I understand when low-level or unknown guys change names but its stupid when well-known guys do it.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Call me crazy, but I kind of like Tensai's gimmick. Albert went to Japan and became an overgrown version of the Great Muta. Works for me.

 

I don't think you're crazy--I like it, too.

 

I'm a big fan of the pagentry of his entrance, I like the Japanese accomplice. I like the head markings, the japanese influence of his moves. He's a good athlete, he seems limber enough. Love the Baron Von Raschke claw at the end of matches, the green mist. . .He's got me hooked.

 

I don't think people have a problem with the gimmick. It's that they refuse to acknowledge him as A-Train or Albert and want to call him Lord Tensai. Why can't he continue to be A-Train or Albert and just be a bad dude who dominated in Japan who now took on the Japanese influences? I understand when low-level or unknown guys change names but its stupid when well-known guys do it.

 

Exactly. Just like I said before. It makes no sense to not just have him keep his old name. They could still use the whole thing with how he dominated Japan, but he doesn't need to be Lord Tensai. Almost everyone knows that he was Albert. It's not the same as Skip Sheffield becoming Ryback. Albert was a well known guy who was in WWE for a good number of years.

[JimH5]

Sure, but the whole industry is filled with guys who have taken on various personas throughout their careers.

 

Triple H, Kane, Foley, Stone Cold, Ziggler. . .its not like Albert/Tensai is the first guy to take on a new role.

[PrinceEatMeat]

New personas yes, but Tensai is a completely new character and name. HHH basically just went from Hunter Hearst Hemsley to HHH, not a huge change. Kane has pretty much been the same, except he was Isaac Yankem, but again that was for a very short time like Skip Sheffield. Ziggler was only in the Spirit Squad for a short time, and not many people knew who he was when he came back. Stone Cold developed from The Ringmaster, but again that was just his initial character for a short time like the other guys. Foley basically just had a bunch of alternate personalities as his characters. Albert was Albert or A-Train for his entire time with WWE from 1999-2004. It's not like those other guys you mentioned were their initial characters for 5-6 years and all of a sudden changed. I guess it's a little different because he was gone for awhile, but it sure seems like most people remember who he was. Most guys end up something a little different than their debut characters, or morph into a new characters. This just seems different to me. I don't mind it really, it just seems pointless to change his name in this sense. Especially when they acknowledge who he was in the past.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Anyone see Extreme Rules. I think it was overall better than WrestleMania. Sheamus/Bryan and Punk/Jericho were both absolutely fantastic. Cena/Lesnar was ok, but was more for the angle and story it told. I wasn't a huge fan of all the MMA stuff from Lesnar. I was hoping to see the 02-04 wrestler we are used to. It seemed more because he was being built as a monster and that it was an extreme rules match. Cena winning didn't really hurt Brock at all in this situation. It did the job. The other supporting matches also were pretty good. A lot better than the matches low on the card at WrestleMania. For those who missed it though, definitely check out Sheamus/Bryan and Punk/Jericho. Two awesome matches. Punk/Jericho was a lot better than their Mania match in my opinion. It was one of the best matches of the last year, if not THE best match. Also, it looks like Cena is taking some time off and being written off TV based on the promo he cut at the end. We'll see for sure tomorrow night. I know he had previously mentioned he'd be taking time off to film some movies at some point this year. Now could be that time. Except it's booked as an injury angle to build up Lesnar.

[Raw Biz]

I saw the Jericho/Punk match and Lesnar/Cena. I thought Jericho/Punk was a lot better than the mania match as well. And I loved Lesnar/Cena. I'm more into MMA than wrestling at this point so I thought it was really cool that they blended the two. I loved the worked shoot aspect of it because Lesnar really did cut Cena open with some vicious elbows. For a minute, I thought Brock was legitimately trying to hurt Cena.

 

All of the kimuras were pretty cool too, even though Cena's arm should've snapped in half every time (since its one of the most difficult submissions to actually get out of once you're caught). I really wanted to Brock to win but of course Super Cena couldn't lose two in-a-row. I think it would've been better had he lost because then he could've taken some time off to "reflect on his performance/career" or some crap and Brock would have looked like an absolute beast. Although Brock still gets over some because he absolutely destroyed Cena until the end when it took Cena punching Brock with a chain to win.

 

Definitely looking forward to Raw tonight. I'm just wondering who Brock will feud with now. I heard he will likely face Orton at SummerSlam but that's 4 months away and that's way too long for Creative to set up feuds nowadays.

[PrinceEatMeat]

There are rumors he will feud with HHH, or his feud with Orton could just start right away. In my opinion, they kind of needed to have Cena get the win in that match. As much as everyone hates his gimmick, they had to build him back up as the babyface who overcomes the odds. He got the win, but clearly still lost in the end with how Brock decimated and injured him. That's the way they'll play it, so Brock looks strong and Cena isn't in essence an afterthought while he's gone. He needed to maintain some credibility, so he can still come back strong. It would've been interesting to see how they would've played his character if he had lost though, and just been stretchered off and not returned for months. They did what they had to do to keep him relevant though. He sells tickets and merchandise, and Vince can't jeopardize that. Like it or not, that's just how it is. I've learned to accept it. I thought he and Brock both did a great job in that match, and with selling the whole story. It definitely worked in my opinion. However, there's still time to screw it up. They have to finish the angle well, and book it the right way. We'll see what happens on Raw tonight.

[Raw Biz]

I agree that he had to win if they want to keep that Super Cena character. But I hate it. The guy will sell merch no matter what. And yeah I get that ultimately everything is about the money. It would just be nice to see him as something different. Even if he didn't turn heel, maybe turn into something of anti-hero, just something different than his usual crap. Hogan was the good guy for so long it was amazing when he did something different. But obviously that wasn't with Vince and he probably would have never let that happen.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Yeah, there's no way Vince would've had the balls to turn Hogan heel like Bischoff did. Hogan did return to WWE as a heel with the NWO, but that was a different situation. I don't see Cena ever getting turned honestly. At least not any time soon. It's possible if some other guys step up as big time stars. I would've liked to see Cena's character change too, but I knew it wouldn't happen. I was waiting for something like that to be booked to finally have him recover from his loss to The Rock. They probably could've gone a lot of different ways with it, but ultimately they just decided to pull things back together. Disappointing for sure, but hopefully Cena will at least be gone for awhile so we get something different to watch.

[thablingster]

Twitter was ablaze with Super Cena taunts after the match last night. I, too, liked the MMA feel they gave it. Cena sold well for Brock and really built him up, which is why him winning didn't really bother me all that much.

 

I think WWE oversold the use of doctors a bit during the PPV, but they probably did that to enforce the "extreme rules" mentality. They did a decent job of foreshadowing stuff (e.g.: during the Big Show-Rhodes match they mentioned how had Rhodes put himself through the table on the disaster kick he'd have lost, only to have Show put himself through a table 5 minutes later).

 

Bryan-Sheamus, Orton-Punk, Cena-Lesnar were all high quality matches. Even Dolph-Clay was redeemable. My meter of care for Layla coming back is at zero, but good for her.

[radman12484]

CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Title at Over The Limit.

 

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!

[PrinceEatMeat]

Punk vs. Bryan is gonna be an instant classic! Glad they are finally getting a PPV match against each other. EPIC! Also, I actually didn't mind the Laurinaitis stuff tonight. Going off on Cena at the end was unexpected, but I liked it. We'll have to see where they go with it though. There's still a ton of questions out there though. I know they just needed to get Lesnar off TV for awhile, then he'll come back somehow and eventually face HHH and then Orton. Not sure how they'll book it though. And what will Jericho do now? Not sure where they're gonna pull the rest of the Over The Limit card from. I'm guessing Sheamus/ADR for the WHC, but what else? And it seems like they've totally given up on the brand extension for good now. With a SmackDown guy going after the WWE title, that seals it. Also, tons of SmackDown guys were in the beat the clock. They might as well just officially announce that it's over, so some better guys can appear on SmackDown too to get ratings.

[brwrsfan]

I don't understand the Cena situation. He gave that speech after the Lesnar match, and the fans actually seemed realy receptive to it. Perfect time to let him go film a movie or whatever he needed to do. Instead, that speech basically gets erased, as he's on Raw the next night and now is going to fight Lauranitis? Seriously?

 

Bryan vs Punk should be great. Punk has had the title closing in on a year now, it's one of the logger WWE title runs in recent memory as it seems they think that belt is more of a joke these days and needs to be passed all over the place.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I don't understand the Cena situation. He gave that speech after the Lesnar match, and the fans actually seemed realy receptive to it. Perfect time to let him go film a movie or whatever he needed to do. Instead, that speech basically gets erased, as he's on Raw the next night and now is going to fight Lauranitis? Seriously?

 

Bryan vs Punk should be great. Punk has had the title closing in on a year now, it's one of the logger WWE title runs in recent memory as it seems they think that belt is more of a joke these days and needs to be passed all over the place.

 

My guess is that Laurinaitis and whoever else helps him will "take out" Cena at Over the Limit, and then he'll disappear for awhile. Just so that JL is the one who gets it done. Maybe not though, we'll see.

[TracyThom]

This is Husky Harris' new gimmick. It's obviously a Waylon Mercy/Cape Fear Max Cady rip-off, but it has potential.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k07XrroeVpM