Posted in: Doctor's Orders
Doctor's Orders: You Made a Believer Out of Me, PUNK...Goodbye. (plus Summerslam Champions League Knockout Stage)
By Dr. CMV1
Jul 13, 2011 - 1:46:58 PM

It was the summer of 2006 when ECW came back on the air as a third brand of the WWE. I watched it religiously during that first eight or nine months and one of the reasons was to see what all the fuss was about as it pertained to a new guy named CM Punk. I had gone to Wrestlemania 22 in Chicago with LOP Forums moderator and blogger, PEN15, who had regaled about the Chicago Made, Straight Edge Superstar and his abilities. He had started a “CM Punk” chant aimed at Maria during Wrestlemania Axxess and had been quick to point out CM Punk as one of the guys on John Cena’s gangster car during the Mania main-event. So, I was intrigued to see what Punk brought to the table upon his debut. Admittedly, I was very impressed with his debut matches against the larger Mike Knox and how he handled himself in his vignettes, promos, and early basic storylines.

Then, I sort of lost interest in Punk…

I saw him show some flashes of being a very good wrestler, particularly in his stint as the ECW Champion, but I was just not seeing this guy as being some messiah worthy of all that praise he received before ever doing anything in the WWE. I will readily admit to being a “WWE guy.” I may not have grown up that way – I grew up with the USWA and NWA – but that is what I have morphed into over the last 15 years. Thus, I do not really care what a guy does in the independents or in TNA. I, most of all, want to see what a guy can do on the brand that I watch. Despite numerous arguments in Punk’s favor, I really was not seeing “it.” I was seeing a really strong in-ring performer with above average microphone skills, but I was not seeing what everyone else had seen. To me, he was like a prolific college basketball player making the transition to the professional ranks and doing alright, but never recapturing the magic that made him special in the NCAA. The NBA is a completely different beast. It’s just fine to be remembered as great on that lower level, but at the end of the day – to me – it’s about what you do on the biggest stage. I was not seeing much from Punk. He was fast becoming little more than a role player, in my eyes.

I remember going to Wrestlemania 24 in Orlando and being not only shocked, but slightly disappointed when Punk won the Money in the Bank ladder match. My stance was, “what the hell has this guy done in the WWE?” I felt somewhat justified when his first run as the World Champion was very forgettable, largely because he was booked like a fluke victor and not a legitimate titleholder that could be counted on to carry a brand. Why should they have booked him any other way? They had spent no time building him up in feuds prior to his Money in the Bank win (at least not on a brand that the majority of the audience cared about) and no time building him up in feuds after his Money in the Bank win. Granted, a lot of the blame for that lack of build falls on the WWE, but I had not seen much from Punk to warrant many opportunities. He was over…but so was Matt Hardy.

More of the same “above average” work followed after he lost the title in perhaps the most telling item of his first two years in the company. Some called the manner in which he lost the belt a way of “protecting” CM Punk, while I referred to it as “they don’t give a damn about CM Punk and he was so lacking in importance as the World Champion that they took the title off of him and replaced him in the match in which he was supposed to defend the belt and, furthermore, nobody blinked an eye.” The argument opposite mine was shorter, but mine was RIGHT. CM Punk didn’t matter…and like most superstars that don’t matter, Punk went back into the doldrums otherwise known as the mid-card scene to win the World Tag and Intercontinental titles, respectively, having short and insignificant reigns with each belt. He was 2008’s version of Kofi Kingston, just with a forgettable 2-month reign as World Champion. Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s not as if I was not rooting for CM Punk. It’s not as if I didn’t want to be a huge Punk fan. But imagine you are living in Chicago back in the mid-80’s and you don’t own a TV. Everything you read and everything you hear, though, revolves around this new guy playing for the Bulls named Michael Jordan. You build up anticipation to finally get to see what all of the hype is about. You wait for about two years after you first hear/read about him and you buy a ticket to go see Jordan play. After two years of hearing how he’s this awesome, perfect basketball player, he proceeds to go out and score 15 points on 5 of 15 shooting with 3 rebounds and 2 assists and the Bulls lose. HEY! What the hell happened to the basketball God I’d been hearing about? That’s about how I was feeling about CM Punk heading into 2009…

Low and behold, he managed to win Money in the Bank for a second time at Wrestlemania 25 and again shock and slightly annoy me. Clearly, the guy had something going for him to be given two straight opportunities of that magnitude, but where the hell was that “something” on TV? Because I damn sure had seen no such thing that would make me think CM Punk had that rare “it” factor to make him a top guy that stayed at or near the apex of the card. To me, his entire three year run was highlighted by a moment at the 2006 Survivor Series when a pro-ECW Philadelphia crowd chanted his name while Triple H (quietly and offhandedly) insulted him by referring to him as the “Future of ECW.”

That’s when June 7, 2009 came along…

After his second Money in the Bank Ladder Match victory, I had honestly expected Punk to cash in during the Judgment Day PPV in May (which was held in his hometown of Chicago), but that did not happen. Thus, I really was not thinking about it anymore and quietly hoping that he’d be built up before winning the title again or just lose the title shot to someone else ala Kennedy in 2007. I was reading the PPV results of Extreme Rules 2009 on this site when I saw that Jeff Hardy had won the title from Edge in a ladder match. Goodnight and good luck, Jeff. I was about to turn off the lights when I decided to flip over to another site to find out the quality of the match (Note to current PPV reviewers on LOP – you can recap AND review…it’s better to do both so that people like me don’t have to go elsewhere). In doing so, I saw:

“Match 9: Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Champion”

Wait a second…

That one caught me off guard. Punk was a babyface. Jeff was arguably the most over babyface in the company. That was a rather heelish move by the Above Aver-Edge Superstar. The possibilities of where they went from there were pretty intriguing. I started to think about the ROH videos that I had been sent a few years back when I began collecting indie footage to attempt to gain a broader perspective of American pro-wrestling (CMV1 note – that never panned out; I just didn’t have time). I remembered the stuff that I had briefly seen of Punk in his heel gimmick and cautiously hoped that maybe it would be unleashed on the big stage. Maybe I’d finally get to see some “Jordan” out of Punk instead so much “BJ Armstrong.” Alas, CM Punk began changing into a character that was actually interesting. I mean, allow me to point out why a babyface Straight Edge character is not interesting. I’m not Straight Edge. Straight Edge PUNKS wrote “Drunk Ass” on my car in high school in that window chalk crap that takes a ton of elbow grease to remove. I have no interest in investing in a good guy that quietly goes about his way of life as a non-drinker. Hey, I like to have a few cocktails from time-to-time…sue me. But the new and improved, outspoken heel Punk was something I could get behind. Quite frankly, I could get behind about 85% of what Punk was saying during those initial (and might I add brilliant) promos hurled toward Jeff Hardy. I have not had a medication in six years. In fact, I make my living in a paradigm of healthcare that preaches much the same principles (of that aspect) of Straight Edge living. I do not do drugs. I also think Jeff Hardy is a (talented but) completely idiotic and moronic dingbat. Suddenly, I have plenty in common with the loud, candid CM Punk.

And I became a fan.

That summer, while Punk was tearing it up, I thought about my friends who had hyped him up so much and it harkened me back to the Notre Dame football season in 2009 (to use another Chicago-area sports analogy). My dad and I are huge Notre Dame fans (I because of him), but he doesn’t read up on the team like I do. He doesn’t read sports magazines like I do. So, I knew a ton about Jimmy Clausen – quite possibly the most hyped college football recruit of the modern era that was once called “the Lebron James of football.” Clausen was a golden boy quarterback that held a press conference at the college football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana (just a few miles from Notre Dame campus). I told my dad about this guy and how he rolled up in a hummer limo and proclaimed that Notre Dame would win a few national titles while he was there. TONS OF HYPE. Clausen pretty much sucked ass his first two years…and my dad let me hear about it much like I chastised Punk for being so above average and nothing more for his first two years. In year three, though, Clausen started to kick ass. He was flat out awesome that entire season in 2009, gutting out big play after big play…my dad became a fan. I felt completely vindicated for having hyped him up so much (despite them not winning much). I wondered if my pro-Punk fans felt that same level of vindication in the summer of 2009.

It took approximately 10 weeks for CM Punk to win me over completely and have me not only on his bandwagon, but leading the charge for his ascent to TOP GUY status, not just in the short-term but for the long haul. If one John Bradshaw Layfield could wow the higher ups with his exquisite (and surprising) microphone work en route to a 280 day title run and a co-main-event at Wrestlemania, then surely Punk could do the same with a gimmick that had a ton of potential to be a game changer. Thus, I went from irritated that Punk won the MITB ladder match to appalled that he lost the World Heavyweight Championship to the Undertaker. How interesting that I go from having little comprehension as to why CM Punk was given MITB to having little comprehension as to why CM Punk had the World title taken away from him? What a huge missed opportunity for the WWE to not have allowed Punk to run with the ball when he was on a hot streak. The Lakers never took Kobe Bryant out of a game when he was on fire just because they had Shaq. You don’t cut the legs out from under a rising superstar – and I don’t mean superstar in the sense that the WWE does; I’m talking about a superstar as in the potential next big thing in the wrestling industry. That’s what happened, though.

On October 4, 2009, the Associated Wrestling Press reported that the WWE traded a hot commodity as their World Champion for a 45 year old in need of a hip replacement. Source: WWE.ORG

From just prior to the summer of 2009 onward, Punk did nothing but prove what all those people that had seen him in the indie ranks had been saying prior to his WWE debut. He showed that he could be a truly revolutionary character in the business at most and, at the very least, he could be a long-time show stealer that main-evented numerous Wrestlemanias and go on to be remembered as one of the best all-around stars in WWE history. From the Straight Edge Society and the work he did with Rey Mysterio to the splendid commentary he provided while recovering from an injury to the phenomenal performances he put in as the leader of the New Nexus and his saga with Randy Orton to the present, where he’s delivered two of the most memorable Raw segments in several years JUST in the last three weeks.

And that’s that. Sadly, the story will end on Sunday in all likelihood, leaving us to wonder “What If” about Punk before we ever got to see him reach his potential. No Wrestlemania main-events. Not another World title reign since the aforementioned loss to the Taker. A few stints here and there as a major player are all the guy has to show for a brilliant (almost) two years. It’s a shame.

You know what? I’ve got plenty more to say on this subject just like CM Punk has plenty more he could accomplish. Like Punk, though, is cutting his career short, I’m going to cut this column short. I don’t want to play the game of “What if?” If Punk decides to stick around, then I’ll finish what I have to say.

Otherwise, farewell Chicago-Made Punk…we barely knew ye…


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Summerslam Champions League Standings

Group A

HBK vs. Triple H – 9 pts (52-7 differential)
Austin vs. Angle – 6 pts (31-28)
Warrior vs. Macho – 3 pts (24-35)
Nexus vs. WWE – 0 pts (11-48)

Group B

Bret vs. Bulldog – 9 pts (41-18)
Eddie vs. Mysterio – 6 pts (34-25)
Rock-HHH-Angle – 0 pts (24-35)
Cena vs. Jericho – 0 pts (19-40)

Group C

Edge vs. Taker – 9 pts (38-21)
Eddie vs. Angle – 3 pts (29-30)
Benoit vs. Orton – 3 pts (26-33)
HBK vs. Razor – 3 pts (25-34)

(CMV1 note – Wow. Eddie vs. Angle advances out of nowhere, going from last to second in the group thanks in large part to Taker vs. Edge dominating Benoit vs. Orton in the voting to put the match that crowned the youngest World Champion in history out of the running. Two matches that were largely regarded as four-star or better affairs get knocked out in favor of a 13-minute match between two in-ring legends – and IWC favorites – that is largely regarded as a middle of the road 3.5 star affair)

Group D

TLC 1 – 9 pts (45-14)
Bret vs. Taker – 3 pts (33-26)
RVD vs. Benoit – 3 pts (21-38)
Orton vs. Cena – 3 pts (19-40)

(CMV1 note – Much like Group C, we had a match that had previously gotten zero wins in the voting, and thus no points, winning their final group match to nearly shake things up. However, Bret vs. Taker performed well enough throughout the voting to, despite only winning one of its voting match-ups, advance based on a strong differential that saw it lose narrowly in each of its two losses but win pretty convincingly in its first voting match-up)

Group E

Bret vs. Owen – 9 pts (40-18)
HBK vs. Hogan – 6 pts (31-28)
Taker vs. Orton – 3 pts (24-34)
Hardy vs. RVD – 0 pts (22-37)

Group F

The Rock vs. Brock – 9 pts (42-17)
CM Punk vs. Hardy – 6 pts (41-18)
Mankind vs. Trips – 3 pts (19-39)
Edge vs. John Cena – 0 pts (16-43)

(CMV1 note – Rock vs. Brock narrowly wins the group by squeaking out an uber close 8-7 victory over Punk vs. Hardy)

Group G

Mr. Perfect vs. Bret – 9 pts (37-22)
Mysterio vs. Angle – 6 pts (36-23)
Austin vs. Undertaker – 3 pts (27-32)
DX vs. Legacy – 0 pts (18-41)

(CMV1 note – I love the Mysterio-Angle match, but I never expected it to advance in a group that also featured two matches that I put in my Mr. Summerslam series last year as “Classics”)

Group H

Brock vs. Angle – 9 pts (46-13)
Rock vs. Triple H – 6 pts (34-25)
Cena vs. Batista – 3 pts (17-42)
Owen vs. Austin – 0 pts (21-38)

Summerslam Champions League Knockout Stage

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

Shawn Michaels-Triple H in a Non-Sanctioned Street Fight ('02) VS. Kurt Angle - Eddie Guerrero ('04)

Bret Hart-The British Bulldog ('92) VS. Kurt Angle-Stone Cold Steve Austin (’01)

Undertaker - Edge in a Hell in a Cell Match ('08) VS. Shawn Michaels - Hulk Hogan ('05)

The Hardy Boyz - The Dudley Boyz - Edge and Christian in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match ('00) VS. Rey Mysterio - Eddie Guerrero in a Ladder Match ('05)

Bret Hart -Owen Hart in a Steel Cage Match ('94) VS. Bret Hart - Undertaker ('97)

The Rock - Brock Lesnar ('02) VS. Kurt Angle - Rey Mysterio ('02)

Bret Hart - Mr. Perfect ('91) VS. Triple H - The Rock in a Ladder Match ('98)

Kurt Angle -Brock Lesnar ('03) VS. Jeff Hardy - CM Punk in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match (’09)

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!