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Two Phone Calls With CM Punk (Part 3/3)

I made thousands of phone calls while working on the WWE Creative Team to various talents.  Usually to fill talents in on what they were doing on TV or run a future idea by them.  I was calling CM Punk to wish him a Merry Christmas and Punk’s response to me was not festive; it was cold… it was standoffish.  After what had happened the week before at ECW TV and really the entire year before in 2007 in WWE, his frustration was justified.

Back in September 2007 when CM Punk won the ECW Title, there was a hope he was turning the corner with those in power in WWE.  After the suspension of various talents, Punk was presented for exactly who he was straight edge, as a way to combat the bad PR.  CM Punk the poster boy of WWE?  While WWE wanted to clean up its image externally, the internal feelings over Punk still remained the same.

Elijah Burke

After beating John Morrison on TV, Punk’s first title defense on PPV was against Elijah Burke.  After losing to John Morrison on PPV three times in a row, Punk needed a strong and decisive victory to show he was a deserving champion.  Elijah beat on Punk for a large majority of the match.  Without a comeback, Punk simply rolled up Elijah to get the victory.  No real chance for Punk to shine.  No use of his finishing maneuver – the GTS.  He was the champion who survived a beating and was able to roll up the challenger who looked far superior in the match.

You might say, “You wrote it that way.”  I’ll explain what a “WWE Writer” is involved with and not.  Our job is to create the stories that surround the matches and characters.  Sometimes they are as simple as “I’m better then you because…”  and sometimes they are as complex and silly as “Dawn Marie falling in love with the father of Torrie Wilson”.  We pitched these stories based on the marching orders of Vince and Stephanie and created the show scripts with the matches and interviews.  Once we arrived at the arena, the matches are worked out NOT by the writers but instead by the former wrestlers called Agents/Producers.  The agents communicated the “message” of Vince to the talents about what the match should accomplish.   Once they leave the agent meeting, it’s in the hands of the agent and the talents to create the match.

Big Daddy V

CM Punk made his first trip to Chicago as ECW Champion for the 2007 WWE PPV No Mercy.  I never asked Punk how big a deal this was to him but I knew how it felt to me to do shows in Philadelphia.  Going to see live wrestling at Philadelphia Spectrum or the Civic Center as a kid made me want to work in wrestling.  Being part of creating memories for a whole new generation of fans in the town I grew up in was one of the coolest parts of the job.  That night in Chicago, CM Punk faced Big Daddy V in his second defense of the ECW Title.  Big Daddy V was a complete relaunch of Viscera with a new look and a new attitude – a killer, monster heel.  As soon as he was repackaged and getting over, we were told that Big Daddy V would be “moving up” to Raw or Smackdown.  That night in Chicago, Punk walked into a slaughter but still “walked out” champion.  Probably not the memorable moment that Punk wanted in his first major match with WWE in Chicago.

As Punk walked into Chicago for Money in the Bank this past month vs. John Cena, I thought back to this match.  There was no way Vince McMahon would have had CM Punk beat Big Daddy V.  CM Punk had fallen into that “Rey Mysterio Champion” mold in Vince’s mind.  That he’s “lucky” to be champion and that he has to squeak out victories.  In a finish that made no sense, Matt Striker, after Punk knocked down Big Daddy V, attacked Punk in front of the ref costing his man the ECW Title.  These type of finishes do not help the champion or the challenger.  It’s this type of booking that cause people to scratch their head at WWE.  It’s this type of booking that built the frustration inside CM Punk.

CM Punk wasn’t the only talent that high ranking members of the WWE looked at with a warped perception on the ECW roster.  John Morrison and the Miz came to ECW in the summer because RAW and Smackdown didn’t know what to do with them.  Dusty and I happily took the challenge of finding new things for these talents.  ECW in 2007, carrying the theme of the original brand, was the “island of misfit toys”.   Johnny Nitro had reinvented himself as John Morrison.  Viscera went from being the pajama wearing joke to a killer Big Daddy V.  And the “annoying” Miz had reinvented himself as the “The Chick Magnet”.  

If you’ve followed the story of the Miz in 2010/2011, you know how he the locker room in 2006/2007 treated him.  It was the longest running storyline of 2007 that started to change the perception on Miz.  Yes, Balls Mahoney vs. The Miz was the longest running storyline of 2007.  And it showed the range that the Miz had.

When CM Punk walked into Cyber Sunday, the audience was going to vote on who faced him for the ECW Title.  Big Daddy V, The Miz or John Morrison.  Morrison seemed to be the logical pick since he had the most history and would be the “better match” for voters.  Big Daddy V had destroyed Punk at the previous PPV and fans could want Punk to get revenge.  But the fans chose The Miz.  This was the first inclination that the Miz was connecting and this was the first major title defense that Punk won decisively.  The next month at the Survivor Series, Punk had defeat Miz and Morrison in a triple threat match; pinning Miz after the GTS.  The tide was turning and Punk was gaining momentum as champion.

Miz & Morrison

The long term plan was to make Miz the ECW Champion but when we put the WWE Tag Team Titles on Morrison and Miz instead of Mark Henry and The Great Khali, (hear this story in this podcast with John Carle here) the story needed to be altered.  Chavo Guerrero was chosen to be an interim challenger for CM Punk.  This was to kick off in a special episode of ECW where it was United States Champion MVP vs. ECW Champion CM Punk.  The approved pitch in the agent meeting was to see CM Punk to make his comeback on MVP and just as he’s about to hit the GTS, MVP takes a walk and be counted out.  That way Punk is looking great when Chavo Guerrero hits from the audience to attack Punk and make his statement.   That’s not what happened.

MVP gets disqualified for kicking the crap out of Punk and refusing to stop after the five count.  Then a dead CM Punk is jumped by Chavo Guerrero.  This is an example of how a finish changes during a taping day.  It didn’t help Chavo and it made Punk look bad.  Just when Punk thought he was starting to see some daylight in the making waves in the company.

This segment was the last thing that happened before I made that Merry Christmas phone call to Punk.  He was mad.  I tried to explain the original pitch for the segment and he knew how the system worked.  I was simply who he was taking his frustration out on; I knew my job.  When a talent is told, “Creative has nothing for you”, it usually  means that Vince just didn’t see making money with that talent.  When ECW had a bad show full of bad matches, it wasn’t the agents who took an earful for three hours on a plane flight home, it was creative.  I genuinely liked Punk because he did voice his frustration.  Most of the talents would pretend to be “buddy buddy” with members of the team in hopes that it would “lead to a push”.   Punk did apologize to me for the phone call after the holidays but I understood his frustration.  It was Punk’s natural human reaction; instead of a lot of talents who let it eat away inside them and lash out in stupid ways.  Punk always stuck to his guns and never changed who he was; he’s still the same way.

I made another phone call to Punk a little over a month later that was much different.  It was me calling to let him know I had been dismissed from WWE and we wouldn’t be working together anymore.  Punk was the first talent I called.  Again, we weren’t friends but I respected him enough that I wanted him to hear it from me and not read it online.  The tone of the conversation was much different then the previous.  Punk was sympathetic of my situation and appreciative of what we had done working together.  I wished him luck in the future and told him I knew he’d do great going forward.   I had similar calls with Miz and Morrison; these guys were genuine as well.  The talents who were “buddy buddy” didn’t call.  In fact, I heard all about the BS they said after I was gone.  That’s wrestling though and it’s a business full of “what can you do for me.”  And now that I couldn’t do anything for some, they took pleasure in talking.  I’m glad I don’t have to be those people because there will come a point where they realize they can’t do anything for themselves.

I saw Punk a few time since then.  My favorite was one of those moments you think only happens in movies.  You’re walking by an airport bar and you see someone you haven’t seen in almost two years.  Yup, CM Punk was in a bar… drinking water and by his feet was his second Money In the Bank briefcase.  He was heading home from the WWE TV tapings in Los Angeles and I was heading to Philadelphia for ROH TV tapings.  He was on the cusp of starting his first heel run with WWE; where he really shined and hasn’t looked back since.  While 2007 really was a hard year for him, the years since have built an even larger fan base for Punk.  To see him catch fire over the last month simply by being himself gives hope.  If you walk away with one lesson from CM Punk and these posts  – being yourself and never compromising what you believe will make you successful.

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Part 1 - Which Hall Of Famer Saved CM Punk

Part 2 - How CM Punk Won His First Title 

Part 3 - Two Phone Calls With CM Punk

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Post Your Comments!

How CM Punk Won His First Title (Part 2/3)

Chris Benoit

CM Punk stood face to face with Chris Benoit on ECW just days before their ECW Title Match at Vengeance Night of Champions.  June of 2007 was to be the launching of a new era in ECW and the next step in the evolution of CM Punk.  The match never happened.

If you flashed back to a year earlier, ECW was meant to be on the same level of Raw and Smackdown.  Stars like RVD, Kurt Angle, Big Show were brought in to compliment the returning ECW stars like Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, Sabu.   On the day of the WWE Draft in June of 2007, RVD, Angle and Big Show were all gone from WWE/ECW and the ECW Originals were being phased out.  This draft was meant to was meant to shape the new “New” ECW.  But we all remember what the MOST important thing to happen the night of the WWE Draft 2007; Vince McMahon Appreciation Night and his limo going boom. This angle was to kick off a long storyline about who did it and a power struggle over who controlled WWE.

With so much time and attention being put into the McMahon story, ECW was once again pushed down the ladder of importance.  By this point, some weeks the ECW Team would be lucky to get five to ten minutes to pitch our show to Vince.  We would wait all day for a meeting and then be told, “Just email Vince”.  My marching orders were to get one thing approved.  That way we could provide something Kevin Dunn’s TV crew could edit a commercial for Raw.  We knew “our place” in the WWE Creative food chain.  We had to be fine with it because we knew it wasn’t going to change.  Our goal for ECW was to focus on young talent and give them a platform to develop.  The key to this plan was centered around Chris Benoit coming to ECW.

Night Of Champions

Chris Benoit was to be the veteran leader for the ECW locker room.  He was excited to be coming and helping groom the up and coming talents like Miz, John Morrison, Marcus Cor Von, Kevin Thorn, Elijah Burke and especially CM Punk.   Benoit was fresh off working with MVP in their feud over the United States Title.  The finals of the ECW Title tournament was to feature CM Punk vs. Chris Benoit at Night of Champions.   On that night, Chris Benoit was scheduled to win the title and enter into long term story with CM Punk; Punk attempting to beat the veteran to win his first title.

When Chris Benoit did not appear that day in Houston, a decision was made to replace him in the match with Johnny Nitro (making his ECW debut).  We had no information on Benoit at the time beyond the phone calls that his family was sick.  The decision was made to have Nitro win the title and leave options that if/when Benoit came back – he could challenge Nitro for the title.   

When news broke over the Benoit Family Tragedy, wrestling storylines weren’t important.  I remember hearing Vickie Guerrero scream in shock when we all heard the news.  That sound will always stick with me.  Those are emotions I don’t think any of us ever want to live through again. The McMahon story was dropped and everything planned was put on hold.

John Morrison

When we finally got back to work, ECW’s Champion was John Morrison (changing his name and persona from Johnny Nitro) and Punk was the number one contender.   The name change gave Morrison a fresh canvas to paint on and create a whole new persona.  It was Morrison who came up with his entrance (including the slow motion and the fans).  He would come up with his promos and the crazy catch phrase.  Punk, being himself, was the perfect opponent for Morrison.

They had 3 PPV matches against each other (Night of Champions, The Great American Bash, and Summerslam).  Morrison won all three.  We wanted Punk to win at Summerslam but Vince didn’t want to make the switch.  I could tell the frustration with Punk of “well, what now?”  I could never pin down the issue with putting the title on Punk in any of those three matches.  

Morrison was improving as a heel but WWE had always been a babyface territory – a hero who would defend and fight off the oncoming challenges.

The Boogeyman Eating Worms

We were instructed to come up with a new opponent to face Morrison for the title.  The babyface roster was pretty thin on ECW but we picked Boogeyman.  I can see eyes rolling across the world on the choice of Boogeyman because the match wouldn’t be a five star classic.  But I liked the Boogeyman; he was a great character and figured it would be a good victory for our champion.  

We scheduled a four way match to determine the new #1 contender with CM Punk vs. Boogeyman vs. Big Daddy V vs. The Miz. The show aired live on 8/28/07.  I remember sitting in the Gorilla Position (where wrestlers walk out / where the agents and Vince sit) and noticing that Vince wasn’t there.  The main event had gone in the ring before Vince walked in and sat down at the monitor.  After a moment, he waved over Fit Finlay (the agent of the match).  A quick but quiet discussion was had.  Finlay went over to the microphone hooked up to the ref and fed something to the ref.  None of us knew what was going on until we looked at the monitor.  Punk hit his flying clothesline and then the GTS on The Miz. 1…2…3.  CM Punk won the match and was announced as the number one contender.  Vince walked out of gorilla and didn’t tell us anything.
 

ECW Champion

Over the next few days, the world found out about this news story breaking in Sports Illustrated.  John Morrison (along with a large number of other talents) were suspended for 30 days for wellness violations.  Punk vs. Morrison for the ECW Title was scheduled for that Sunday at an ECW taping.  It was called “CM Punk’s Last Chance” to win the title.   And the crowd reaction that night in Cincinnati spoke to the hard work of CM Punk over the previous year.  CM Punk was finally their conquering hero.

WWE had gone through some of its worst publicity ever in a three-month span with the Benoit tragedy and the Sports Illustrated article.  The media were having a field day with these stories and attacking the company.  Vince McMahon made the choice to go with the straight edge superstar CM Punk to represent his company.  

In the late summer of 2007, Punk, being exactly who he was when he walked into WWE, won his first title in the WWE.  And in 2011, it was CM Punk being himself that has brought him more notoriety than anyone in the WWE had ever thought was possible.

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Part 1 - Which Hall Of Famer Saved CM Punk

Part 2 - How CM Punk Won His First Title 

Part 3 - Two Phone Calls With CM Punk

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Post Your Comments!

Which Hall Of Famer Saved CM Punk? (Part 1/3)

On December 4th, 2006, Paul Heyman left the WWE Creative Team, for the final time.  This also meant that for the first time ever, Heyman would not be involved in the creative process of ECW.  Stephanie McMahon walked into the writer’s room to tell us Paul would no longer be involved and that I was now in charge of ECW.  This was as much news to me as it was the rest of the team.  As had happened with Alex Greenfield when he took over Smackdown, I wasn’t talked to about the new position.  I wasn’t doing backflips about this because I knew the baggage that came with it.  I had run Smackdown for four years before this and knew how Vince and Kevin Dunn viewed ECW.  The world saw how they viewed the brand for the five months before this and especially the night before on PPV with December to Dismember.

December To Dismember

The PPV from Augusta, GA  featuring an Extreme Elimination Chamber match was the least bought WWE PPV in history.  The show was handicapped by zero promotion from Raw and Smackdown and being the 2nd WWE PPV in eight days; following Survivor Series.  The main purpose of the event was to crown Bobby Lashley as the new flag bearer for ECW.  The event had only two matches announced before hand, the Elimination Chamber and the reuniting of MNM vs. The Hardyz.  While Lashley was going to be the “man” that night winning the title, there was a pitch by Heyman to have CM Punk and Big Show start the Chamber and for Punk to eliminate the Big Show with the Anaconda Vice.  Big Show was behind the idea and felt it was the right move to make.  There were a few different long term pitches off of this including Punk vs. RVD at Wrestlemania.  Heyman had protected Punk, including making sure his debut match was at the Hammerstein Ballroom.  This pitch was meant to establish Punk as the “next” guy after Lashley.    If you’ve seen the match, you know this didn’t happen.

The Anaconda Vice became one of the things that the agents picked on Punk for.  Vince had mocked Punk in meetings by doing the wrist gesture and even instructed announcers to NOT mention his Muai Thai background. Everything that made Punk unique was questioned and mocked.  “Don’t think people can relate to with a character who doesn’t have an occasional beer”, said one agent.  In 2006, Vince McMahon looked at Punk and “didn’t get it”.  Plus, when you have Paul Heyman pushing heavily for you in that environment – you get the stigma of being a “Paul Heyman Guy”.   I had the stigma because I worked with Paul on every run he had on creative from 2002 – 2006.   Punk suffered for those sins and that night in December, he did not make the Big Show tap out.  The agents who didn’t like him made sure the audience would not get a moment from CM Punk that night; Punk was the first man eliminated in the match.

nWo

In under 24 hours, everything about ECW had changed.  Heyman was out, Big Show was gone, and I was left with a mess.  CM Punk, a lot like ECW, Goldberg, the NWO and especially WCW, were not WWE creations.  The track record has shown that Kevin Dunn and Vince McMahon do not support ideas that were not generated inside their bubble.  Punk got the tag line of “King of the Indies” and those agents who didn’t like him before Heyman was gone, they were out for blood now.

I’m no Paul Heyman.  I won’t ever try to sell you that I’m a genius, instead just a guy who always wants to do the best for the talents and projects I work on.  I had a connection with ECW, it’s what kept me excited about the business in 1994 and 1995 when there wasn’t much to be excited about.  That spirit of ECW was what we tried to continue in the new ECW, including launching a new star like CM Punk.   But I didn’t have an ally, especially a veteran voice, in that agent meeting.

The voices in that meeting room pushed for Hardcore Holly.  Now, I am a fan of Hardcore Holly.  When Brock Lesnar had broke Holly’s neck, it was Bruce Prichard and I who suggested Holly coming for revenge.  (watch here) It was the hottest Holly ever got but he didn’t connect with the audience and they had a forgettable match at the Royal Rumble 2004.  Here it was 2007 and the agents were pushing for Holly ahead Punk.   In their matches during December and January, Holly beat down Punk in the corner, ignoring the ref’s count and getting disqualified. (watch here)  And then Hardcore Holly hands Punk his first loss.  (watch here)  I had heard rumblings of agents pushing Vince to show Punk the door.  ECW started to receive less and less attention and then we had the horrible show in Little Rock in mid-January.  The matches were bad, the interviews were bad; the plane flight home from that show was worse.  It was the longest flight of my life.   The next day I sat down to talk with Stephanie about that flight but more importantly about what I thought ECW needed.  I needed a veteran voice to help turn the tide.  I needed an ally.

Fast forward to the agent meeting in Houston.  Vince McMahon was scheduled to appear on ECW for the first time in the start of a new storyline.  He was going to rid ECW of it’s “Original” stars and make the way for a “New Breed”.  The meeting quickly turned into another CM Punk bash fest.  My role was to run the meeting but dare not speak out of turn on the veteran agents.  This was how the previous months meetings had gone but this day was different.  It was a new voice in the room that changed everything. “Um, if you don’t like something the kid is doing, why don’t you work with him to fix it… instead of killing him”  That voice belonged to Shawn Michaels.

Shawn Micheals

In January of 2007, Shawn Michaels was my consultant on ECW.  I was able to get in his input on the shows, thoughts on talents and in this situation the voice needed in that agent meeting.   Like getting to work with Paul Heyman, Vince McMahon, Dusty Rhodees, working with Shawn was a dream come true.  In that meeting in Houston, Shawn brought up that guys like him and Undertaker will not be around forever and, while everyone liked Holly, it was guys like Punk who were the future.  The mood in the room changed, the den of negativity that existed was silenced for the time being.  Punk wasn’t pushed strong that week or even the next week but the ship had turned. Punk was positioned better from that point forward.

Shawn Michaels was pulled back into active duty when Triple H was hurt and programmed to face John Cena at Wrestlemania 23.  Dusty Rhodes ended up joining me to help book ECW.  And CM Punk made Wrestlemania 23 as the only ECW guy in the Money In the Bank Ladder Match.

In that Money In the Bank ladder match, Punk was involved in the finish of the match.  He was finger tips away from the briefcase only to have Mr. Kennedy knock him off and grab the case.  This was just foreshadowing as Punk did go on to win the Money in the Bank briefcase in back to back years to win his first two World Titles.

Imagine if those agents would have gotten their way back in early 2007?   We might have never gotten to see this at the 2011 Money in the Bank PPV.

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Part 1 - Which Hall Of Famer Saved CM Punk

Part 2 - How CM Punk Won His First Title

Part 3 - Two Phone Calls With CM Punk

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Post Your Comments!

The CM Punk Story By David Lagana

David Lagana is a former WWE Writer/Producer from 2002-2008. He wrote for Smackdown and then ECW. 

When Paul Heyman left the WWE Stephanie McMahon put David Lagana in charge or ECW. This was when CM Punk was first starting out in WWE on the show ECW and it was David Lagana who was pushing for CM Punk to become a star in WWE. 

David Lagana has just posted a 3 part series telling his side of the CM Punk story. I am going to post each part of the 3 part series here on my blog in 3 separate posts. 

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The CM Punk Story:

Part 1 - Which Hall Of Famer Saved CM Punk

Part 2 - How CM Punk Won His First Title

Part 3 - Two Phone Calls With CM Punk

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You can also:

check out his website

http://iwantwrestling.com/

add him to Twitter

@Lagana

add him to Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/TheDavidLagana

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Post Your Comments!

Sin Cara Removed From Smackdown

Tonight's episode of SmackDown! has already aired overseas and Sin Cara has been removed from the intro.

The masked grappler is currently serving a 30-day suspension due to his first violation of WWE's Talent Wellness Program. Though he is advertised for upcoming events, it is still possible that WWE may terminate their partnership with him after his suspension concludes.

CM Punk In TNA

TNA's website is advertising that CM Punk is coming to TNA OnDemand. 

Nearly three hours of matches, never before have these bouts from Punk's early career been rebroadcast in their entirety. 

Watch as CM Punk battles Abyss, Raven, Terry Funk, Sabu, Shane Douglas and many more! 

Check back to IMPACTWRESTLING.com  
on Thursday to watch it!

John Cena To Make WWE History

As of today, June 29th, John Cena has spent 1,028 days as WWE Champion. This includes all 9 of Cena's reigns with the Title. Today is significant because Cena surpasses Pedro Morales who spent 1,027 days as WWE Champion. Cena right now is in the #4 spot for most days spent as WWE Champion behind #3 Bob Backlund, #2 Hulk Hogan and #1 Bruno Sammartino(4,040 days!) This is only for the WWE Title, not the World Heavyweight Title.

If you include Cena's 2 reigns with the World Heavyweight Title, it brings his total days as a WWE World Champion up to 1,133. If Cena can remain WWE Champion until SummerSlam on August 14th he will hit the 1,149 day mark, surpassing Triple H's total days as a WWE World Champion. Triple H's combined 8 WWE Title reigns and 5 World Heavyweight Title reigns come out to 1,148 days as Champion.

Classic Moments In Wrestling History

Here are just a few of the classic momenst in wrestling history that I felt like sharing on my blog. Some are hillarious, some are amazing matches that most people never knew existed, and some are just worth remembering. Here are my top 20!

20

Macho Man & Elizabeth At Home

19

Miss Elizabeth's Decision

18

Wrath vs The Renegade

17

Kronik Debut

16

The Undertaker vs Adam Bomb

15

Adam Bomb vs. Razor Ramon

14

Scott Steiner & Buff Bagwell

13

Big Poppa Pump With His Freaks

12

Scott Steiner With The Nitro Girls

11

Evan Bourne vs AJ Styles

10

AJ Styles vs. The Hurricane

9

Randy Orton With Stacy Keibler

 

8

Evolution Turns On Randy Orton

7

Stacy Kiebler Debut

 6

Triple H vs Sycho Sid (Champion vs Champion)

 5

Ultimate Warrior Body-Slams Andre The Giant

 4

Ultimate Warrior On The Arsenio Hall Show

3

Edge Cashes In Money In The Bank

2

Miss Elizabeth Removes Her Skirt 
(Video is 8 Minutes Long, you can skip to the last Minuate)

1

Wrestlemania 21 Promo (Basic Instinct)

Adam's Wrestling Blog: More Wrestling Pictures

Adam's Wrestling Blog: More Wrestling Pictures: " "

Cena's Wife

While promoting his 2009 film, 12 Rounds, Cena announced his engagement to his girlfriend Elizabeth Huberdeau. They were married on July 11, 2009.

Not His Wife lol

Cena writes left-handed.He is a fan of Japanese animation and has mentioned that his favorite animated movie is Fist of the North Star.He has also said he is a fan of the video game series Command & Conquer and noted that it was his favorite game.Cena is also a fan of the Boston Red Sox,Tampa Bay Rays, New England Patriots, and Boston Celtics. Cena collects muscle cars and has over 20, some of which are one-of-a-kind.

In WWE, Cena has won 18 championships in total, including 11 World Titles (having won the WWE Championship a record 9 times and the World Heavyweight Championship twice). In addition, Cena has also won the WWE United States Championship three times, and is a four-time Tag Team Champion, having held the World Tag Team Championship twice (once each with Shawn Michaels, and Batista), and the WWE Tag Team Championship twice (once each with David Otunga and The Miz). Cena also won the 2008 Royal Rumble match, and is a two-time Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner (2009 and 2010). 

WTF Sheamus & Drew McIntyre

Sheamus & Drew McIntyre (And Some Girl)

John Cena vs Hulk Hogan (WWE Championship)

John Cena vs Hulk Hogan (WWE Championship)... Who Would Win?

Sting vs Undertaker

The Match That Should Have Been!
Who Would Win???

Best Wrestlng Video Game

When I was a kid most wrestling arcade games were pretty lame. Just a lot of random button mashing. When Nintendo and Sega came out there didn't seem to be any good wrestling games from what I remember. Honestly, the first wrestling game I ever liked and had to have was when N64 came out with NWO vs WCW World Tour. That game was amazing, and it was the first wrestling game I ever played that had a good system of controls for different wrestling moves, as well as 'special / finishing ' moves. They had weapons, blood, secret characters to unlock. It was very exciting. Then they came out with the follow up and it was much better. It even had a way of winning the championship belts. 

WWE was caught behind on this and it took them some time to catch up. Prior to this, WWE games in my opinion were boring and lame. Sorry to say. However, I'm not sure if they ripped off the WCW games or took over the company that made them, who knows lol, but soon the WWE games were the best around and they had basically taken that WCW game and copied / improved it. The first WWE game I bought to replace my 2 WCW games was Wrestlemania 2000. It was a great game. It wasn't topped for quite some time, and I think the best Nintendo wrestling game of all time, was actually the last N64 game I ever bought... No Mercy! This game was epic, it had all the same move controls, same weapons, and many more. They also added a feature so you could fight backstage with several backstage areas. Unlike today's wrestling games, you didn't have to select a backstage match, any match could go backstage. It was great!

That was the end of N64 and pretty much the end of Nintendo lol, I mean GameCube sucked and Wii is for kids under 10, lets face it haha. PS1 had no decent wrestling games or any games for that matter lol. By the time PS2 and Xbox were out, WWE had won the wrestling war and they were the only wrestling company around. They divided into 2 brands, Raw and Smackdown. Xbox would come out with Raw games, and PS2 would come out with Smackdown games. I had PS2 because I thought, and still think, that Xbox is a shitty knock off of PlayStation, much as Sega was a shitty knock off of Nintendo lol. So since I had PlayStation I got Smackdown games. I liked "Here Comes The Pain" because it had the best roster in any wrestling game ever. This was right after Wrestlemania 18 when all the past superstars like Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash has returns, and when stars like Goldberg and Scott Steiner had come to WWE, but most of all it had a new superstar named Brock Lesner! 

However, since PS2 was new the games were pretty basic and it was only a matter of time before the quality improved greatly. Around this same time, Xbox had failed lol, and it would be a while before they would try again with the 360 (which I also think sucks haha). As a result, WWE moved Raw and Smackdown games to PS2. I remember how excited I was when PlayStation came out with the first Raw vs Smackdown game! It had all the stars of both shows and all the qualities of all the previous PS2 games. Still, am I the only one that finds the Xbox and PlayStation games (at least for wrestling) lack the detail and control systems N64 games had? You could do so many detailed moves on N64 but on PS2, the first wrestling games really didn't offer much control options. 

Anyways, Raw Vs Smackdown became the trademark game, even thought I thought and still think it should be called "Bragging Rights" since that is the name of the PPV when Raw fights Smackdown! Regardless, each year there is a new updated game. I don't understand why wrestling games cant have roster updates the way other sports games do. For my hockey game NHL 10 I can update each teams rosters constantly online. Why can't I do the same with wrestling games?

The best PS2 wrestling game was 2009's because it had the best roster, the most up to date controls, and features, and a few extras that no others had such as the King of the Ring tournament mode which I liked the best and wish they would bring back! (Side-note: why isn't the King of the Ring a PPV anymore? It was one of my favorites. The last one was when Brock Lesner defeated Rob Van Dam in the finals. That year they made the stipulation that they winner got a title shot at SummerSlam, which I thought was a great idea. Brock went on to win the title at SummerSlam from The Rock). 

For 2010, I had switched to the new PS3. I think 2009 was available on PS3 but I didn't get my PS3 until 2010 came out. I was actually disappointed by 2010 and wasn't sure if 2011 would be any better. When I first got 2011 I actually thought it was worse than 2010 and even considered selling it. It had a smaller roster, less options, the controls seemed worse, and most of the titles could not be defended (that just confuses me, why would they do that?) However, then I spent some time playing it and realized it was the best wrestling game of all time!

You can add in your own music from your PS3 and set it as the entrance music for any superstar you wish. You can also edit each wrestlers move set list to give them better moves, and you can change their entrance, not just the songs, but the lights, pyro, basically ever aspect of the game is free for you to create. Also, instead of trying to win and unlock wrestlers, you can buy everything online. So instead of spending 3 months trying to beat the whole game and find all the secrets, I was able to go online the day I got the game and spend like $10 and buy every extra feature for the game. Why can't they have updates like that for sale, new wrestlers that have come out since then should be for sale online! They want to force us to buy 2012 but wouldn't they be able to make just as much money selling each wrestler and arena individually?

Zack Ryder & The Macho Man Randy Savage

Zack Ryder & The Macho Man Randy Savage

I Want Triple H's Book

I've been trying to find this book everywhere. I've wanted it since it came out but I've never been able to find it. I always see so many wrestling books in book stores but never this one. I guess I will have to try to order it online.

Anyways, was different about this book from other wrestling books is when they asked Triple H to write a book he didn't want to write a biography so he decided to write a book about how he trains and how he got into the shape he is in today. So its half autobiographical and half a guide to proper training. 

I think it would be an interesting read. I also just picked up a copy of Hulk Hogan's newest book, I can't wait to read it!

Bret Harts book was probably the best, other good ones were Mick Foley's first book, Hulk Hogan's first book, Ric Flairs, and The Dynamite Kid wrote a great book as well. 

WWE Keeps Punk's Returns A Secret (6 Raw Scripts)

WWE officials went to great lengths to keep the arrivals of both CM Punk and Jim Ross a secret before they aired on RAW. Both talents were hidden from almost everyone in the organization. They were sent to different hotels from everyone else in fear that someone would see them and relay it online. Neither came into the Hampton Coliseum until they were given the cue to appear, both being sequestered somewhere on the premises. They were not even on the sixth and final script for the show and aside from those who had to directly interact with them on television, all performers weren't aware of either of talent being in Hampton, Virginia. Ironically, the arena itself was advertising Punk for the event.

This past Monday's RAW featured the first night that Triple H was "in charge" as well as the returns of John Morrison, Jim Ross and CM Punk.
 
RAW was completely re-written prior to the show going live. There were actually SIX different scripts for RAW that had been circulating throughout the day. One of those scripts had Triple H laying out CM Punk with a pedigree. Of course, that didn't happen. This just goes to show you how much things change on a daily basis in WWE.

As most would assume, the obvious scenario would be to really push CM Punk to the top considering his recent storyline angle and fan interest. With that being said, most of the RAW scripts were not about having CM Punk go over. They were more about pushing Triple H's new "authority figure" role.

As noted, the original RAW script called for CM Punk to be attacked by Triple H with a pedigree. Alberto Del Rio would then have come out and cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase against John Cena at SummerSlam. This would have put Triple H over as a major heel and then led to a storyline with CM Punk.

Of course, all scripts besides one were scrapped and that's what you saw on Monday night.