WWE teased on their Twitter account after last night’s RAW that the CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar match will take place at this year’s SummerSlam pay-per-view. PWInsider reports that’s the word going around backstage also. The feud was decided on a few weeks back. No word yet what their plans are for Money in the Bank.
Speaking of Punk, he reportedly kept to himself backstage at the Payback pay-per-view on Sunday.
The following column is from our partner Ray at WrestlingRambles.com. You can follow him on Twitter @RayTheRambler.
You could say I am a lover of television. There is nothing quite like television when the TV show is at its finest. One thing that all great TV shows have are great cliffhangers. The cliffhanger is the ending of an episode that leaves in the audience in suspense. It makes the audience want more. At WWE Payback, we were left wanting more. We were left wondering, what’s next for CM Punk? Who will be in contention for the WWE title now that John Cena has successfully defended his championship against Ryback? We found out all the answers last night on Monday Night Raw. By the time Raw ended, the WWE universe were left in suspense and social media blew up with fans praising Raw and in admiration of WWE’s storytelling.
It has been a while since I enjoyed an episode of Raw as much as I had last night. In fact, it actually made me question why I was watching WWE because let’s face it, it hasn’t been very good since the Royal Rumble. During my break from watching wrestling, I watched shows like Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Arrested Development and they all have one thing in common; my desire to watch the next episode. The eager anticipation of wanting to watch the next episode was there. For the first time in over half a year, I can’t wait to watch Raw next Monday night.
Why? Well lets see. Here are the main points of what happened last night and why I enjoyed it so much:
CM Punk interrupted Alberto Del Rio to request a match with him because he said he was ”the best” and, we all know CM Punk is the best in the world so he was defending his honor.
Finally Christian has returned to WWE. It has been a long time and I got goosebumps when his entrance theme hit. I know you did too!
The Diva’s division are doing wonders in recent weeks; finally they are becoming relevant again. Kaityln and AJ Lee have the potential to be the next Trish and Lita. Both are beautiful, sexy, good talkers and great in-ring wrestlers. They have it all. They also have a connection with each other that so many Diva’s in the past have failed to have. They have been given the ball by the WWE to make the Diva’s relevant again, don’t screw it up!
Mark Henry, in my opinion, made the promo of the year last night. I think maybe it was the best promo since CM Punk’s infamous ”pipe bomp” promo that happened 2 years ago now. His ”retirement” speech was so believable. It shows how much of an asshole he is by bringing his family into it. He generated real heat from the crowd and received boos when he slammed Cena to the mat. It showed how effective his speech was. Getting booed for slamming Cena, what? Tremendous promo.
Who’s got the power? Poor Vickie Guerrero is just trying to carry out her role and responsibilities as managing supervisor of Monday night Raw but is constantly hounded by the power held in the hands of the McMahon’s. Vickie doesn’t know if she should be listening to Vince, Triple H or even Stephanie. Each of the character’s are her boss and each are telling her different things. I don’t know where this is headed but it makes intriguing TV.
Dolph Ziggler showed Alberto Del Rio what he is made of. We’re now seeing a whole new side to Ziggler. Perhaps him losing the belt is the best thing to happen for his WWE career. The double turn was a genius move by WWE. We don’t want to cheer for Del Rio and we don’t want to boo Ziggler. So what did they do? They turned them. I love it!
The closing of the show centralized around two Paul Heyman guys. One is left wondering if Heyman set Brock up to attack Punk or did Brock not like the comments made about him by the best in the world? All should be revealed next week and I am eagerly anticipating CM Punk’s reaction to the F-5.
Those are just the main points. So much happened last night it is worth your time watching, even if you have not been watching in a few months. Fresh storylines are being developed as well as new stars which is what you’ve all been asking for, right?
This is the type of programming I love and want to see every week. Even if the ratings are bad this week, which is unlikely in my opinion, WWE needs to be consistent and carry out this programming on a weekly basis.
What is going to happen next week? I don’t know but, I can’t wait to find out. This weeks episode of Raw is MUST SEE television so again. If you have yet to see it, it is worth a couple of hours of your time.
Thanks for reading everybody, I hope you enjoyed my column. If you did you can tweet me your feedback via Twitter and if you didn’t, you can tweet me too!
Follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/RayTheRambler and Wrestling Rambles https://twitter.com/WrestlinRambles and of course my website http://wrestlingrambles.com/.
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John Cena commented on last night’s Chicago crowd for WWE Payback, writing on Twitter:
“I will say this as absolute truth. Every time @WWE has an event in #Chicago @WWEUniverse in #Chicago makes it feel like #WrestleMania”
Mark Henry has taken to Twitter to essentially tease a retirement announcement tomorrow. This is likely a work as his promo from last Monday’s RAW showed him angry and promising to unleash his anger onto others. Unless there was a change of heart, take these tweets with a grain of salt.
He tweeted:
Whether you loved or hated me in my career.I was all ways there for you.i appreciate u all. Good or bad I will live forever with u the fans.
— TheMarkHenry (@TheMarkHenry) June 17, 2013
I found a place.
— TheMarkHenry (@TheMarkHenry) June 17, 2013
#raw #wwe I have spoke to my family and hope to talk to all of you fans tomorrow live from Grand Rapids. Guys Father Time is undefeated.
— TheMarkHenry (@TheMarkHenry) June 17, 2013
The following column is from our partner Ray at WrestlingRambles.com. You can follow him on Twitter @RayTheRambler.
The Best in the World, CM Punk, returns tonight at WWE Payback. This will be his first appearance in two months and the entire internet wrestling community is buzzing with anticipation of his return. I think I speak for the majority of wrestling fans out there by saying we missed CM Punk. However his absence wasn’t the worst thing for him. It gave him time off to recover and refresh his body and also to recover his psychological condition. It gave us time to miss him. Like the famous saying goes, ”Absence makes the heart grow fonder” and CM Punk’s absence from our TV screen proves that.
Now we can’t wait for the cult of personality theme to him. The Chicago crowd are going to blow the roof off the place! They have always gotten behind their fellow native, CM Punk, and they have had no problem in past telling us that. Tonight will be no different.
My question is, what’s in store for the best in the world? Many are saying he isn’t going to show up. That sounds absurd in my opinion. There will be a lot of fans ordering Payback because of CM Punk’s return and if he doesn’t show up, it’s going to tarnish WWE’s future business. If I decide to pay for Payback and he doesn’t show up, I’m telling you it will be a helluva long time before I buy another WWE Pay-Per-View!
Others are saying CM Punk will leave the evil mastermind, Paul Heyman. This seems more likely than him no-showing. It has been almost a year since he was a baby face and throughout his entire heel run, fans were still cheering him in amounts. The guy is just so good at what he does fans don’t want to hate or boo him. CM Punk is the best in the world after all.
Or will Paul Heyman turn on CM Punk? I think it would be a golden opportunity for sometime during his match with Jericho for Brock Lesnar to come out and destroy CM Punk. Perhaps Heyman felt cheated when Punk walked out two months back? And maybe he wants revenge? This would be a great opportunity to then set up a match between Punk and Lesnar at Money in the Bank. Also it would be two top stars out of the title picture, a great chance to give Daniel Bryan a shot in the WWE title scene.
The possibilities are endless and I think that is the pinnacle of why the entire internet wrestling community is absolutely buzzing with anticipation of his return. Hopefully something unpredictable happens with whatever is in store for CM Punk tonight because, that’s when pro wrestling is at its best; when it’s unpredictable. It makes it exciting and must see. It’s why we love it and watch it when it’s in dire need of change.
Or perhaps the question should be…what’s in store for Chris Jericho tonight? A great story has unpredictability and putting emphases on Jericho over Punk might be a smarter way to go about booking this match. The attention is on Punk so maybe the better option is to centralize the finish around Jericho…perhaps he will turn heel? Who knows. We gotta tune in to find out!
What do you think is in store for CM Punk tonight? Will he turn baby face? Will he remain a heel? Will Jericho turn heel? Will Lesnar get involved? Let me know your thoughts below. All newcomers are welcome to comment. Please ”like” this column via Facebook button below and ”share” the column to your Twitter followers via the Twitter button below. Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to give me your thoughts.
Follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/RayTheRambler and Wrestling Rambles https://twitter.com/WrestlinRambles and of course my website http://wrestlingrambles.com/. Keep checking WrestleChat everyday!
Similar to the infamous dated “Best in the World” shirt that CM Punk released back at WWE “Money in the Bank” in Chicago a few years ago, it looks like the WWE is going a similar route tonight. Here’s a picture via @DudeMcnude on Twitter of the limited edition CM Punk shirt available at tonight’s WWE “Payback”:
Apparently we will be seeing a lot of Jimmy Uso and Naomi’s relationship on WWE’s Total Divas show. The Total Divas have been filming in Las Vegas all week and Jimmy has been right there with Naomi. Here’s another photo from her Instagram:
- As noted before, Big Show is out with an injury. He’s expected back in mid-July.
- After Rey Mysterio’s most recent visit to doctors in Florida, his return to the ring has been pushed back to early August. As noted yesterday, there’s talk of having him feud with Dean Ambrose or Jack Swagger.
Many wrestling fans were aware that Natalya and Tyson Kidd were in a serious relationship, but I don’t think any of us knew exactly how serious it is. Natalya and Tyson are actually engaged to be married, per The Bella Twins Twitter account. The Bella’s tweeted that it was Natalya’s bachelorette party and that they were celebrating tonight in Vegas. The night-on-the-town is also being shot for the upcoming E! Network “Total Divas” reality show.
The tweet reads:
Total Divas takin’ over Las Vegas!! Happy Bachelorette to @natbynature!!! @eonline@e_tv_pr twitter.com/nicoleandbri/s…
— The Bella Twins (@nicoleandbri) June 13, 2013
WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes had to be hospitalized over the weekend due to an infection in his left foot, apparently from a snake bite. Dusty commented on the incident via Twitter:
“out with infection in left foot ! snake bite !! @WWEUniverse”
via ESPN.com:
Cincinnati Bengals cornerback (and former TNA Wrestling star) Adam “Pacman” Jones tweeted Monday that he has been arrested for an incident in which he was “protecting” himself.
Cincinnati City Prosecutor Charlie Rubenstein told the Cincinnati Enquirer that Jones was arrested on one count of assault for punching a female patron outside of a downtown bar.
Jones agent, Peter Schaffer told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter that Jones was approached by two intoxicated women who wanted to have their picture taken with the football player last Wednesday. When Jones refused, one of the women threw a beer bottle at him and Jones responded by slapping her. Jones had attended the Cincinnati Reds’ game that night with several teammates, according to Schaffer.
“Just got arrested for protecting myself, I will not let this break me or change what I have work so hard for,” Jones wrote Monday on Twitter.
Jones was a former TNA Tag Team Champion with Ron Killings and Consequences Creed.
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Expect to see WWE Champion John Cena on the “Total Divas” reality series next month on E! Cena noted on Twitter he had a “great week” with the E! News crew and a “special someone.” The current WWE Champion is in a public relationship with Nikki Bella. The following is from Cena’s verified Twitter:
Ok @wweuniverse #raw in Richmond! Also @eonline @e!News had a gr8 week with your crew and a #specialsomeone
— John Cena (@JohnCena) June 10, 2013
Hulk Hogan wrote the following on Twitter:
“Perfect timing to start serious training again,last time around the block for me so this is gonna be really intense, transformation time. HH”
TNA has been teasing an eventual Hulk Hogan vs. Bully Ray match. Bound for Glory does seem to be the logical place for it.
Mark Henry broke his Twitter silence Sunday night commenting on his current condition.
“The only reason I’m breaking my silence to the twitter world is to tell u I’m not retiring!!!! I have hate in my heart that’s too dangerous.”
“It’s best to be away till I’m right I feel I my hurt someone or do damage to my family by going to jail.tired of holding back.”
“I will return when I’m healthy,not because the roster is thin. I AM HURT! Don’t hide on the web you got my # call me with that bull sh@t.”
“Back to silence!”
The NAWC launches Season 7 with another installment of “Is This Offensive?”, Vince comments about “Uncle Paul’s” heritage, HHH building and burying Curtis Axel at the same time, and another Dixie Carter “BIG ANNOUNCEMENT” with typical results. BUT, there’s always GOOD news to be had! Dolph Ziggler will be on TV againb soon, Daniel Bryan is all over WWE TV, and Jack Swagger is OFF IT! TUNE IN to see what other nonsense ensues!
Stream or download the show HERE.
