I was very active on Twitter about the segment, because I thought it was outstanding. Punk delivered a great heel promo that was comparable to the worked shoot promo that skyrocketed his stock in the summer of 2011. One thing that shouldn’t go unnoticed is the fact he delivered the promo after working Ryback for nearly 20 minutes in a very physical TLC match. Promos like the one that Punk delivered on Monday don’t happen very often, and the fact he did it after a lengthy match really underscores his talent.
A lot of Punk fans, and some of my Twitter followers, got upset when I tweeted that The Rock was better than anything WWE has on the mic. Their reaction seemed to be that I thought Rock “showed Punk up” in the segment. That’s not the point I was trying to make. Too many people wanted to pick a winner, with Punk’s faithful saying he won while Rock’s faithful said he won. It was almost like what happens after a presidential debate, with both sides scrambling to defend their guy.
Anytime something happens that leaves people talking about it afterwards is a good thing. The fact is that both guys brought the energy that’s needed to have a great promo. Of course I’ve got my favourite, but without the other to play off of, it wouldn’t have mattered how great one was over the other. Everybody talks about how they miss the Attitude Era and they claim it’s because of the PG rating. To me, what’s missing is the passion that we used to see from wrestlers back then. On Raw, I think we got a taste of that passion and that’s what they (WWE) need to bring the ratings back up. It shouldn’t just be happening at the top of the card though. The mid-card guys need to show that same amount of passion to get us involved in their feuds as well. When was the last time we actually cared about a feud that wasn’t for 1 of the top 2 titles? I’m looking forward to seeing Punk and Rock go back and forth for the next 3 weeks in the lead up to their match, which I’m sure will be a candidate for match of the year. Some of the younger guys on the roster should be paying close attention to this feud!
The segment was too good to simply “pick a winner” and talk about how the other’s promo work was lame. The fact of the matter is that both men delivered an outstanding battle on the stick that we don’t see very often in today’s WWE. It was a classic segment, and is worthy of the label. This is going to be an interesting program to follow heading towards the Royal Rumble, and WWE are hoping that it will skyrocket the Royal Rumble buyrate. Combine the whole “Once in a Lifetime” stuff with Cena, and it’s not nearly as epic as CM Punk vs Rock rivalry will be!
I’ve embedded the confrontation between WWE Champion CM Punk and The Rock that closed this week’s WWE Raw below:
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Thanks for reading guys and, as always, you can follow me on Twitter @kwAsktheHeel
Karl Walker
Its fun, there's not a whole lot of things in life that are fun any more, you have your favourites cheer them, you have people you don't like you boo them. You don't have to worry about someone punching you in the face because you boo them. Because that there job and passion. Thats why i love Pro - Wrestling! Huge Wrestling Fan and Host of #AsktheHeel http://www.youtube.com/oswnetwork http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Ask-the-Heel/294249234005620
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