CM Punk vs The Undertaker
If you said to me that this match was “Title vs Streak”, or even “Streak vs Streak” – given that Punk would still be Champion for 500-ish days by this point, then I’d actually be fully behind it. I’m not a believer that the streak should retire intact, I’m not totally sure why so many people are. But the one thing we all seem to agree on is that, were the streak ever to end, it must be ended by the right person.
Punk, despite being 34-years-old, feels fresh enough as a main eventer that he would fit that mould. He’s “done his time”, working his way up, and has proven that he is capable of carrying the ball long term. Ending the streak would catapult him further, and would send him into the rest of 2013 still carrying the title that he won in 2011. That, right there, is how you make a star for the ages.
But without the title, my hopes of Punk ending the streak pretty much fall flat. As great as his long run has been as Champion, since he turned heel Punk hasn’t often won clean, certainly not on PPV. The only way I want to see the streak ended via nefarious methods would be if Cena were to turn heel, but that’s for another column. Without the title, I don’t see anything else but another Taker win.
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By contrast, the World Title seems a mess in comparison. We’ve got Del Rio as Champion, Big Show as former Champion, Ziggler as the Money in the Bank holder, plus Sheamus, Randy Orton, and no doubt Ryback circling. Would it not be smart just to fill the void left by the Money in the Bank Ladder match and stick the title 15 feet above the ring and let all six go at it?
Whatever the WWE decides, I’m sure come Wrestlemania time we’ll all be hyped up by the biggest show of them all. But, personally, my favourite wrestling matches are the ones where I genuinely cannot pick a winner (see Rock vs Cena, Cena vs Punk at Money in the Bank in 2011). I enjoyed Rock vs Cena last year more than Triple H vs Undertaker not because Rock vs Cena was the better match, but because I never believed for a second that Triple H was going to win the match.
It’s one for another column, and much like Rock vs Cena, I don’t think it would be the best of matches. But Undertaker vs John Cena in an I Quit match would sell Wrestlemania in about 16 seconds. The guy who doesn’t lose at Wrestlemania vs the guy who has made himself millions on the slogan “Never Give Up”. Predict that!
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