What Did NOT Bother Me: CM Punk Retains
It was the most logical decision. Punk is still the best heel in the business right now and reaching the 365 mark is great for his character. And wrestling, in general. That length of time for anything in wrestling these days, much more a title reign, is a pretty remarkable feat. So first, congratulations to the champ.
As far as the run-in by the NXT guys…I want to say two things:
1) To the losers that tweeted me LaBarisms last night due to Ambrose FINALLY making his debut: get a life. No offense intended toward LaBar, who I respect a great deal (he is, after all, a Chris Cash discovery), but even he would admit that he had it totally wrong about Ambrose. And the fact that some of you took Ambrose's debut last night as validation that LaBar was right all along, is sad and worrisome on so many levels.
2) Internet fans will make a much bigger deal out of this angle than casual fans will. And I'm trying to see it from both sides. I'm not sure if this is meant to be the blockbuster angle of the "summer" like people were calling for months ago, or something entirely different, but I'm going to reserve judgment until we get the follow-up tonight.
On first glance, it feels like Nexus all over again. It would be fitting for Punk, but I'm not sure Vince is interested in his number one heel being the leader of a group. Not to mention, it's a been there/done that thing for Punk (twice, already). PLUS, he already has Heyman. There's plenty of reasons to go against Punk being behind the NXT debuts.
Some are suggesting that Brad Maddox could end up being behind all of this. I really hope not…
The scary part of it all is that they started something with Ryback. If he's to bounce back from his recent string of losses and continue building toward he main event level, a few NXT guys without credible identities sure wouldn't stop him, right? But what good does it do Rollins, Ambrose and Reigns to be destroyed by Ryback?
This isn't meant to be negative, in case it's reading like it is, but there are a lot of questions needing answered. That's not a bad thing IF the explanations are logical, and beneficial for all involved. Sometimes though, and it seems more often than not these days, WWE's momentum-building for one star hinders or delays the push of another. And that's even more the case when everyone involved are on the ground floor trying to elevate their careers to the next level.
What's good for Ryback might not be the best thing for the debuting NXT guys, and vice versa.
This story offers WWE a lot of options. I pray that's NOT the reason they did it. If it is, it will likely result in the same type of booking we've grown accustomed to in recent months. And that is, very little planning, lots of improvisation, and a whole slew of spaghetti strings being thrown against the wall. And honestly, I'm getting tired of Italian.
