Posted in: Doctor's Orders
The Doctor's Note: 700 Words on CM Punk (The Adult Male Voice) and Christian vs. Orton (plus Summerslam Champions League)
By Dr. CMV1
Jul 30, 2011 - 9:18:25 AM

CM Punk is back! CM Punk is back!

I’m not sure the WWE could have chosen a more bland way to do it, but CM Punk is back!

I’ll stop right there, though. I’m not here to talk about being let down. I was excited to see Punk back in the WWE holding up his championship opposite John Cena hoisting his newly won version of the title. I could sit here and talk about rushing through two PPV matches and one big payoff all in the span of two hours, but I won’t dwell on that. The usual positive hat is snug atop my head and we’re moving forward out of Criticsville. CM Punk is back! Assuming that the obvious direction is the obvious direction, he and Cena will give us our first World title unification match in ten years at Summerslam in two weeks. The biggest thing that I’m excited about is just seeing them have round 2 in their PPV match series. We’re a wrestling audience conditioned to see one regular singles match followed by a half dozen gimmick return matches, but I come from a generation where you WANTED and CRAVED the opportunity to see two guys try to top their previous efforts in normal matches. It matters not if you thought Cena vs. Punk at Money in the Bank was a four-star match or a five-star match (I watched it again and it’s still a five-star match, to me); you should want to see them to try to out-do themselves. Guys with competitive spirits and passion for the business like Cena and Punk possess are perfectly capable, especially if they add another layer to their story with their mic work in the next two weeks. They can’t recreate Chicago, but they can create a new Los Angeles for the summer classic. Title vs. title will help, of course.

Personally, I would like to see Punk positioned as the rebellious answer to what our sect of the audience wants to see. No corporate pandering, no thanking Triple H…nothing of the sort. In order for this angle to avoid becoming just another missed opportunity for something great in the long-term, Punk must retain his anti-WWE sentiments. Cena has been fed to the kids and the ladies for years now, ignoring us adult males in the process. I think a lot of us have grown to enjoy booing him (even though some of us actually like the guy) and Cena/WWE have done well to just go with the flow and understand that we will boo while the audience he caters to will cheer. But it’s time we got someone for us to legitimately want to cheer. We need our “anti-babyface” babyface. Punk possesses all the qualities necessary to give us that and he proved in the last four weeks that he can do it all within the PG parameters. He hasn’t used one curse word. All he has done is tell the TRUTH. If Punk keeps speaking truth and the WWE allows him to be what WE WANT, then they’ll have the best of both worlds and awesome, unique rivals with a story based not on some conjured up piece of fiction, but on fundamental differences in ideals.

Speaking of wrestlers going out and simply trying to out-do themselves, Christian and Randy Orton have been doing that for months now. That’s why I have continued to enjoy the hell out of their feud even though it has been going on for so long. It has not been flashy, but it’s been an old school pro-wrestling feud with logical plot twists. I’m excited to see that the (likely) blow-off will take place at Summerslam. They’ve earned it. I say “Bravo” to the two of them. In the modern age of the WWE with so many PPVs and so little time in between, you have to applaud two guys that can make a main-event feud accomplish in roughly two-three months what it used to take wrestlers six-eight months or longer to achieve. I believe this has been the first excellent series of top level matches since Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho tore the house down on TV and PPV for about 10 weeks in 2009. Much like that series, Christian vs. Orton has been a very pleasant surprise that has seen two guys click in the ring and produce matches with near fall sequences that we don’t see much now that the Guerrero, Benoit, Michaels, and Angle types that spoiled us back in the day are gone.

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Summerslam Champions League Knockout Stage: Final Four-Five

(CMV1 note – I thought Bret vs. Perfect might get the win over the classic match with Bulldog after the first five voters chose the bout from Summerslam ’91, but then Bulldog-Bret took over. Also, I decided to vote this round, so we had an even number. Taker-Edge and Rock-Brock tied! So, we’re going to have a triple threat match in one our semi-finals)

Shawn Michaels-Triple H in a Non-Sanctioned Street Fight ('02) VS. Bret Hart -Owen Hart in a Steel Cage Match ('94)

Bret Hart-The British Bulldog ('92) VS. Undertaker - Edge in a Hell in a Cell Match ('08) VS. The Rock - Brock Lesnar ('02)