Can’t Punk Me
Four letters, one word: Punk.
CM Punk’s arduous journey to a WWE championship is complete. I have no idea how it will end or what the journey to that
end looks like. And that’s the most interesting part for me coming out of an event that I felt was meh overall. Even the main event was solid but lacked an extra gear to take it over the top. Once it devolved into a bunch of finishers, I remembered watching Return of the King in theaters and constantly getting faked out by multiple endings. That’s a common thing in professional sports entertainment wrestling these days that while I’m used to and sometimes like, I still can’t entirely endorse. But in my effort to start these recaps with some positivity since, well, look outside, I choose to focus on the positives.
In this case, it’s all about potential.
While I stand by my prediction that a Jey Uso win carried more intrigue, Punk’s win signals some unpredictability on Monday nights. Yes, The Vision and LA Knight will certainly have their say, but Punk on top is different. We’ve seen Jey and know what that’s like. We’ve seen Seth Rollins multiple times. Punk, strangely enough, is an unknown commodity. At least this version. How does this affect Paul Heyman? Is a rematch with Seth definitely on the table? Does Bron Breakker take the championship off Punk’s shoulders? Does Jey get a rematch or is his defeat another step in his turn to the dark side? Or do they use Punk’s time with the title to bring up a newcomer to the main event scene?
Raw can spin its wheels and get into a predictable rhythm. This breaks that now and possibly points towards something exciting. I’m not sure if Punk is the guy to carry a title for a long period of time at this point in his career, but I’m more than willing to see him try.
Album Cuts
- Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre was an awesome opening match. They provided a ton of drama in the third act that made an obvious outcome not that obvious. The story revolved around one major question: Would Cody do something worthy of a disqualification and lose the championship? And that all stemmed from Cody benefiting from some questionable ref calls in the past while Drew found himself on the wrong side of those calls. It all went down after the cliche but necessary ref bump. Drew and Cody jockeys for position near a corner while the ref stood directly behind Cody. It’s almost as if he wanted to get knocked out. Refs gotta be better, seriously.
- Drew tempted Cody earlier in the match when he brought the championship into the ring. Cody picked it up but, of course, tossed it while the ref stood right next to him. But with the ref down for the (three) count, the tune changed. Drew, again, picked up the championship and made a beeline for the champ. Cody ducked and Drew dropped the title. That’s important to note, so don’t forget it. Both men collided with cross bodies in the middle of the ring. As they stirred to their feet, Drew went for the title again only for Cody to catch him off guard and lock him in the DDT position. BUT Cody did something curious here: he looked at the ref twice. First right before he went for Drew’s head, and before DDTing Drew on top of the title. The American Nightmare then tossed his title out of the ring as the ref stood up, then hit Drew with a Cross Rhodes for the win. Cody’s never been without his heel tendencies but this made those traits hard to ignore. It’s an interesting move that hopefully portends a turn. And a real heel turn, not the meta thing Cody was doing towards the end of his AEW run. No thank you.
- Speaking of turns, the newly minted heel version of Jade Cargill now has a championship on her waist. Thanks to Tiffany Stratton’s knee injury, this wasn’t so much a match as it was a mauling. It was a glorified squash that showcased Jade’s dominance over a very weakened opponent. The WWE Women’s Champion is dead, long live the WWE Women’s Champion! No real drama, no real “action.” Like I said, this was all about making Jade look beastly.
- Dirty Dom keeps outsmarting his opponents. That’s the story for Dom vs. Penta vs. Rusev. As the announce team said, he’s not going to match his opponents in power or speed, but he will beat them on sheer brain power. That doesn’t mean we won’t get some brain farts though, like when Dom tried the Eddie Guerrero chair spot…in a no DQ match. It was a nice character moment that also made Dom’s next move necessary. When the match turned into a Penta vs. Rusev one-on-one, the man formerly known as The Redeemer knocked Penta out of the sky with a Machka Kick, then slapped him in The Accolade. Penta was ready to tap. The man’s hands were ready to slap Rusev’s knee and then bell rang multiple times. That’s it, right? We have a new champ? Rusev certainly thought so but the ref never signaled for it. Dirty Dom rang the bell, essentially breaking up the submission attempt without getting the least bit physical as he stood outside the ring. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Not since the early 1990s has a hammer loomed so large over everything. Unlike that Hammer, this one did hurt ‘em. Penta regrouped after Rusev went after Dom with the intensity of a thousand suns, then tried using the hammer against Dom. Only Penta missed and hit Rusev. Dom then took out Penta, hit the Frog Splash on Rusev, then walked out of Salt Lake City with both championships on his shoulders. This is my pick for match of the night. Good stuff all around.
- Who will John Cena face in his last match? The one emanating from my hometown? A 16-man tournament will determine that. Starting the second week of November, a cast of characters throughout the territory duke it out for that honor. They’re going for some symmetry here with John handing someone the same opportunity Kurt Angle offered him all those years ago. However, it’s not quite the same. The odds of them choosing an up-and comer from NXT or Evolve for John Cena’s last match are slim to none. But hey, they’re trying.
As I said up top, this was a very meh edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event. I rocked with the opening and the triple threat but even then, the event just didn’t move me as a whole. Maybe because the outcomes were predictable? Two title changes is usually something to spill tons of ink over but not here. The good news is Survivor Series is right around the corner, so things can only go up from here.
What say you, Cage Siders? Who gets Punk first?
