CM Punk Continues To Rule Raw - July 12, 2011

Welcome to the "we want ice cream bars" edition of The Wrestling List. Did you hear the pop from that crowd when Punk mentioned that he wanted the return of the WWE ice cream bars with his face on them? They went nuts. I did too. I cracked up at the "we want ice cream" chant a few minutes later.

Let's get right to Raw or as I like to call it, the CM Punk show. CM Punk has revitalized Raw right now and the sad thing is that we're in all likelihood going back to the same dull show after next week when he has left. It has been great TV and it really is such a frustration of that this guy has been so good for so long and we're now seeing WWE actually let him do something in the three weeks before he leaves!! UGH!!!! Anyway, I loved the opening segment with Punk continuing where he started a few weeks ago. John Cena came out and confronted him over everything. They had a good back and forth. It was announced that Punk's demands would be met, a live attempt at a contract signing to close Raw by Vince himself. That is how we closed the show. Punk using all of his leverage against Vince including an insane amount of demands. The great thing was that the crowd was absolutely with him. WWE might want to listen to their audience a little more instead of Vince's typical "I know what they want better than they know" stuff. It is like all of these fans frustration is now being used through CM Punk. John Cena's arrival did not budge the fans much either. Keep in mind that this show was in Boston which is basically Cena's hometown. Punk demanded an apology from Vince and finally got Vince so fired up that he got it. Then, Punk went at Cena saying that Cena needs to quit playing up that he is the underdog all the time because he isn't. He compared it to the Red Sox and the Celtics who are always talked about as being the underdog. Punk told Cena that he isn't the underdog, he is the New York Yankees. He is the dynasty. The story was told that it eventually got to Cena and Cena gave a punch to Punk. It was great stuff and absolutely true. Cena is always pushed as this underdog character and talks of being one. He isn't. He is Superman. He beats everyone handily. Goodness, he was put over the tag team champions one on two again. How many times has that guy beaten everyone in a handicap match? Now, the argument is also made that there are a ton of guys that beat the tag team champions in a handicap match which does nothing for the champions but that is a different story. CM Punk is the heel but fans are getting behind him and his frustrations on why he is leaving. It was great stuff to watch. He wanted apologies to Colt Cabana and Luke Gallows. CM Punk has made Raw must watch when it has not been in many years now. You have to tune in to see what is going to happen next. I have heard that his promo a few weeks ago was not scripted. He was told to go out there and talk about how he felt and it came across great. It shows the difference in scripted and unscripted promos. There is a difference and it keeps all of these wrestlers from sounding the same. I have loved CM Punk's work for many years going back to Ring Of Honor. I remember the excitement of seeing him working that ECW Sci-Fi show at the Hammerstein and that crowd went nuts for him the second he walked out including a large CM Punk chant to start the match. It launched him. It was that feeling of Heyman just launched another guy. Punk was well known in that area due to his ROH matches. From there, he fought his way against the politics in WWE and everything he has said is true. People felt he was the "King of the Indys". He became one of WWE's greatest performers. He has definitely been that recently by far. In the ring, on the mic, and all around. When you are so solidly good, you're going to be able to overcome the politics and he is showing that even more in the last three weeks. Despite not being marketed and pushed as one of the biggest stars, he is so good and over with the fans that he still gets that reaction. Keep in mind that Punk's actual debut was what he said last night and that was being an extra for the John Cena WrestleMania entrance. Completely true story and fans said it at the time that it was a bummer that this was how Punk's debut would end up being. Too good for that. Now, he is going out with him being the absolute talk of the entire industry. Not just WWE. I'm talking everything. There is always that thought of you don't know what you've got till it's gone. Well, WWE is about to learn that. So many of us have said for so long that this guy is their most consistent wrestler that they have. You know what you're going to get out of him. He loves the business. He works as hard as he can. Now, he is likely on his way out unless there is some sort of last minute deal thrown together.

Money In The Bank will be his last appearance for the company taking on John Cena for the WWE title. There is so much anticipation for this match and I'd like to see it just to watch the atmosphere of it. This show is in Chicago. Punk's hometown. Punk always gets huge reactions in Chicago. Keep in mind that Chicago is one of the biggest anti-Cena crowds. They have been for years. That crowd just does not like Cena and it is going to be a crowd feeling of back to the One Night Stand PPV with Cena and RVD where the ECW fans were viciously ripping Cena. I fully expect this Chicago crowd to be very hostile and very pro-Punk. Cena did an interview this morning where he talked about how he is expecting it to be ugly against him.

More on Raw. Was there really much else on the show? LOL. The rest just felt like filler to me. More build to the PPV. Scary moment with the spot with Show, Henry, and McIntyre. McIntyre took a scary bump and was shaken up. His fall did not go as planned but he is said to be ok. The Bellas and Kelly Kelly was odd. So, WWE did a storyline a few years ago with LayCool saying that Mickie James was too big. Now, the Bellas are picking on Kelly for being too skinny. So, which is it WWE? As I said earlier, another set of tag team champions were dismantled by one guy. If you see the tag team champs in a handicap match, always assume that they are about to get beat. It doesn't do much for the tag team champions to always getting beat by one guy. How can you take them serious to beat another tag team when they get beat by one guy?

WWE Ice Cream Bars are also the talk of the wrestling world today. They trended forever on Twitter last night. It was hilarious. I loved the ice cream bars as a kid. I remember that they were hard to find and me and my mom would stock up on them whenever we found them. They were so good. If you want to send some feedback to Good Humor about wanting the WWE Ice Cream Bars to continue, here is the link to send it: https://ssl.unilever.com/goodhumor.com/Contact-Us.aspx

Several wrestlers took to Twitter last week to demand that Arn Anderson be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame next year. This included Randy Orton who got the ball rolling and was followed by Chris Jericho and William Regal.

WWE Classics On Demand is focusing on high flyers for the month of July. Hall of Fame profile is on Jimmy Snuka. The Wrestling's Highest Flyers DVD is currently airing. Shorties section is on John Morrison stuff. The old Coliseum Video on Ricky Steamboat is airing and the new roundtable discussion on the nWo will be showing later this month. Not long after the official 15 year anniversary of the debut of the nWo. Hard to believe it has been 15 years. Speaking of Classics, I did watch the Royal Rumble 2011 last week. Solid show. The Rumble was very enjoyable as always. Going back to the trend of this List, Punk was the highlight of it.

On the NWA show from December 1987 that is currently airing on Classics, it shows the Lex Luger face turn on the Horsemen. It is good stuff. Luger puts over Dusty Rhodes and how much of a competitor that he was at Starrcade. JJ Dillon is seen in the background shaking his head at Luger's comments including Luger saying that JJ is not allowed to get involved anymore. He can accompany but not get involved as it messed up his match strategy. Another segment then shows Luger finally clashing physically with Arn and Tully and also JJ. Eventually, they get the advantage on Luger and put a good beating on him with a figure four leglock. it was good stuff to watch.

Some Ric Flair news. He and Highspots.com have finally finished their long troubles. Highspots announced that Flair has finally paid them the money that Flair owed them from their court settlement. Many fans were upset about Flair not appearing at the TNA Basebrawl show in Brooklyn recently. Flair was advertised as appearing on the show and did do a VIP signing for those VIP ticket holders. Flair was pushed to the live crowd there as making an appearance on the show later on but Flair turned it down and left. Lots of fans very disappointed that Flair did not make an appearance especially after being advertised.

Remember the company that throws fits over spoilers getting out from Impact? TNA. You know, that company? The company that has thrown out people from the Impact tapings for sending spoilers from the show. Well, Hulk Hogan did an interview lately promoting his new video game where he told where his whole storyline was going completely. I won't spoil it but it just blew me away. Now, I'm sure that TNA probably wasn't happy with him doing this but wow.

That is it for this week. This Sunday will be very interesting with how WWE plays out the whole CM Punk storyline. Have a great week. Take care and God bless!!