CM Punk's WWE Title reign is historic but not because of its longevity

In professional wrestling, feuds are generally between two wrestlers, or in some cases two tag teams, who have a personal issue with each other.

Whether it's for a championship, pride, or just personal animosity, the feuds develop over the course of time and culminate in a big match at a pay-per-view.

After the grudges are settled, fans can debate about how great the rivalry was between the two singles wrestlers or teams and its placement of great feuds in wrestling history.

I think in this "modern era" of wrestling, fans don't realize that the best stories aren't usually just between two wrestlers.

The best stories usually involve multiple wrestlers, and sometimes, one central story can spawn multiple characters into the spotlight.

CM Punk's WWE Championship reign is not only historic because of the 434 days that he held it until losing to the Rock at the Royal Rumble Sunday. It's historic because his reign somewhat elevated new talent into the spotlight and kept established talent in the mix.

Punk feuded with Daniel Bryan and Kane during the summer. The three were involved in a love quarrel with AJ.

That feud spawned a rivalry between Bryan and Kane, leading to a match between Kane and Bryan at Summerslam, which Bryan won. The climax of the feud led both to taking anger management classes at the behest of AJ, who was Raw General Manager at the time, and being forced to tag with each other. Team Hell No was born and they are currently WWE Tag Team Champions.

At the Raw 1,000 show, the Rock came back and declared he would challenge the WWE Champions.

Bitter that a man who only competed in one match that year was getting a title opportunity, Punk shocked the world when he hit Rock with Go To Sleep, causing Jerry Lawler to declare that Punk turned his back on the WWE Universe.

Rock would not be seen til earlier this year, meanwhile, Punk defended the WWE Title against John Cena and Big Show at Summerslam and against Cena in a singles match at the Night of Champions in September.

After sneaking away with the title for two straight pay-per-views, it was believed a third match between Punk and Cena would be contested at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view in October.

It was revealed Cena was injured and was not healthy enough to compete at the pay-per-view. Looking for a replacement over enough to compete against Punk in a main event match, WWE decided to give Ryback the big match, as he was an undefeated monster at the time and a star on the rise.

Ryback had Punk beat at Hell in a Cell until referee Brad Maddox low blowed him, and Ryback's undefeated streak was ended flukishly.

A few weeks later, Mr. McMahon made a triple threat match for Survivor Series where Punk defended his title against Cena and Ryback.

Punk's title again was thought to be in jeopardy.

Enter the Shield!!

The Shield made its debut at Survivor Series, powerbombing Ryback through the announce table after Ryback nailed Cena with Shellshock. Punk picked up the scrapps and made it to one full year as champion, having defeated Alberto Del Rio for the WWE Championship at the previous Survivor Series.

It was debated whether the Shield was in Punk and manager Paul Heyman's back pocket.

The evidence was clearly there. The Shield said they were out to cure injustice by attacking WWE Superstars.

They never touched Punk.

The Shield helped Punk retain the WWE Title over Ryback in their awaited Tables, Ladders, and Chair match on Jan. 7.

A week before the Rumble, the Shield attacked the Rock, leaving him vulnerable and for Punk to have the advantage in their match.

The Shield allegedy attacked the Rock during the match with Punk at the Rumble when the lights were out due to McMahon saying a week earlier if they interfered, Punk would be stripped of the title.

It was revealed on Monday's Raw during Paul Heyman's performance review that Heyman and Punk were colluding with the Shield and Maddox the whole time.

Before McMahon could say those two magic words "you're fired," to Heyman, Brock Lesnar made his return after quitting WWE in August and gave McMahon the F-5.

The Lesnar assault on McMahon more than likely lead to Triple H coming back to avenge his father-in-law and his loss to Lesnar at Summerslam.

Punk's title reign may be significant due to the class of greats he is associated with because of his long title reign. It's historic to be mentioned alongside Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Pedro Morales and Hulk Hogan for longest WWE Championship reigns in history.

But it's even more impressive that Punk's reign led to Team Hell No being formed,the rise of Ryback, the debuts of Brad Maddox and the Shield, the Rock winning his eighth WWE Championship more than 10 years after his last reign, and Brock Lesnar coming back.

And nobody remotely thought about this feat.

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An alliance that could lead to CM Punk... turning back babyface?

The biggest story coming out of Monday Night Raw, surprisingly, didn't crash the World Wide Web like I thought it would.

During the John Cena-Alberto Del Rio Falls Count Anywhere match, CM Punk returned after saying he was taking a personal leave earlier in the night and costed Cena the match by driving him head first onto the hood of his town car.

As Raw was about to fade to black, Paul Heyman stuck his head out of the window and revealed himself to be Punk's driver.

With the reveal of a Punk-Heyman alliance, I was surprised servers around the country crashed after tweeting and chatting about the possibilities the internet wrestling community's two favorite wrestling darling could create.

It is speculated that the Punk-Heyman alliance could lead to a faction of well-known independent wrestlers like Claudio Castognoli, who is WWE U.S Champion Antonio Cesaro, Chris Hero aka Kassius Ohno in WWE developmental, and Tyler Black, who currently reigns as NXT Champion while going by the name Seth Rollins.

While it would be a cool idea to witness a Punk-led group of wrestlers dominate the landscape, my crystal ball says that plan is not in the works.

If I were writing WWE television, this is how I would book the Punk-Heyman alliance to lead back to Punk turning back babyface come Wrestlemania 29.

I would have Punk challenge to Cena to waive any right to a WWE Championship rematch if Punk returns at Night of Champions next Sunday.

Punk retains the title under nefarious means in Cena's hometown of Boston.

Cena would not accept how Punk won so he would try to goad Punk into giving him another rematch.

A week later, while Cena again tries to get Punk to give him his rematch, Heyman comes out on behalf of Punk and tells Cena that Punk will give him his rematch on one condition: he has to beat an opponent of his choosing at the next pay-per-view who happens to be another Heyman client, Brock Lesnar.

Cena and Lesnar would collide in a rematch from their epic match at Extreme Rules at the October pay-per-view.

Towards the end of the match, with Cena making another improbable comeback to overcome Lesnar, Punk interferes and costs Cena his one last opportunity to get a rematch for the company's prestigious prize. The pay-per-view ends with Cena and Lesnar standing over Cena with Heyman looking on.

After two weeks of brutal beatdowns from the WWE's newest dominant force, Cena calls on the one guy who can help him out against his biggest foes at Survivor Series: the Rock.

I would have Punk pin the Rock at Survivor Series to set up their eventual showdown at the Royal Rumble.

Rock would go on to beat Punk at the Rumble, ending Punk's 14 month reign as WWE Champion.

Punk would enter the Royal Rumble match later on the night, realizing an opportunity to get back wrestling's greatest prize.

With a final four of Cena, Punk, Lesnar, and Randy Orton, I would have Lesnar eliminate Punk on purpose, setting off Punk on why his ally would rob him of a chance of the WWE title.

In the WWE Championship match At Elimination Chamber, Punk and Lesnar's problems come to ahead as Lesnar eliminates Punk once again from trying to reclaim his WWE Championship. Punk gets furious and hits Lesnar with a steel chair, allowing the Rock to retain his title.

The disintegration leads to a Wrestlemania showdown between Punk and Lesnar, with Punk going in as the babyface fed up with Lesnar screwing him over reclaiming the WWE Championship.

This is not necessarily how it will go down come Wrestlemania 29, but only one can hope the new storyline with Punk and Heyman can be best in the world.

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WWE Summerslam: The Perfect Storm produced scattered showers

As the summer's hottest pay-per-view, WWE Summerslam provided very little sizzle to the paying customers last night.

While there wasn't a bad match on the card, most of the matches ranged from decent to good effort. In other words, save the $50 for the replay, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend the DVD, but I would suggest borrowing it from a friend.

Here's my thoughts on each match:

Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar: Both combatants put on a subpar match that wasn't on the level of the brutality of John Cena-Lesnar at Extreme Rules in April. The four-month rivalry culminated in with a subpar match that saw both wrestlers grapple, punch, and kick. The match lacked intensity for what was supposed to be a personal grudge match. The right guy won, as Lesnar needed the win after losing to Cena a month after returning from an eight-year hiatus to pursue football and mixed martial arts. Lesnar made Triple H tap out to the Kimura, breaking his arm in the process. After fans seranaded Triple H with "You Tapped Out" chants, "The Game" told the fans he was sorry and indicated he was retiring. We shall see tonight on Raw which direction both men go.

WWE Championship Triple Threat match-CM Punk vs. John Cena vs. The Big Show- The match was restarted by Raw General Manager AJ Lee after both Cena and Punk made Big Show tap out to their respective submission moves. Cena gave Big Show the Attitude Adjustment only for Punk throw Cena out of the ring to pin a fallen Show to retain the WWE title. The match was fine save for the predictable restart by Lee. With no logical challengers in place, I see Punk vs. Cena at Night of Champions in a few weeks, but Punk will probably retain to prolong his reign for an eventual showdown with the Rock at Royal Rumble.

World Heavyweight Championship-Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio- Nothing that we haven't see from these two, but both put on a decent match. The finish came when the referee attempted to eject Del Rio's ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez, out of the ring, only for him to overthrow his shoe to Sheamus to knock Del Rio out. Sheamus connected with the Irish Curse and defeated Del Rio, who had his foot on the rope before Sheamus knocked it off in time, for the second straight pay-per-view. There feud will continue, but I think it will end on Smackdown so Sheamus can possibly move on to a new challenger, and i'm guessing it will be Brock Lesnar.

Daniel Bryan vs. Kane- Bryan going over Kane via schoolboy roll up was the right call, as Bryan is picking up steam as a heel, and Kane winning doesn't do anything for him. Kane attempted to chase Bryan backstage, but ran into Josh Matthews who attempted to interview him. Matthews efforts were rewarded with serious whiplash, as Kane threw the small announcer like a rag doll.

WWE Tag Team Championship- Kofi Kingston and R-Truth vs. The Primetime Players- Kofi and Truth retained their titles, but if there was going to be a title change last night, the tag belts should have changed hands. I see money in the Primetime Players as a top act, even after their manager AW was fired last week. I think the Players are being punished for their departed manager's inappropriate joke about Kobe Bryant's rape case last month. Hopefully WWE sees the Players being money players, no pun intended of course, in the near future and gives them the tag belts.

WWE Intercontinental Championship- Miz vs. Rey Mysterio- Miz retained his title after delivering Skull Crushing Finale to Mysterio in a tightly contested matchup. I get a feeling that Mysterio is going to get pushed down the card and be used to elevate younger talent while Miz will defend the Intercontinental Title against a plethora of challengers to enhance the once-prestigious champioship, held by greats such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, and the Mountie. Ok the Mountie wasn't great so sue me.

Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler- I didn't see this match, as we originally went to Buffalo Wild Wings only to find out they are no longer showing WWE pay-per-views. Me and my friends decided to hit to Fatso's, and the match finished before we got there. Anyway, I think Ziggler should have gone over as Jericho is expected to finish with WWE tonight on Raw to tour with his band Fozzy. Jericho could have told the crowd after defeat that he needed to re-evaluate his goals and see if wrestling was still in him after losing to Ziggler. In the process, it would have made Ziggler a bigger star for deflating one of wrestling and WWE's greatest superstars. I expect Ziggler to do something tonight to get his heat back, and when Jericho comes back, I expect their feud to pick up steam.

Follow me @LuchaLoco210 for wrestling tweets every now and then.

My prediction for Lesnar-HHH: The Perfect Storm

The Brock Lesnar-Triple H bout at Summerslam Sunday won't be your good ol' fashion wrestling match.

It will be a match for the ages and will feature a culture clash of sorts.

It will be the 13-time world champion and a man who represents one of the greatest eras in WWE history, the Attitude Era, in Triple H vs. a wrecking machine who has won championships in the NCAA, the WWE, and the UFC- Brock Lesnar.

These two workhorses are sure to put on a match for the ages, and i've loved the feud that's been brewing since Lesnar broke HHH's arm the night after the Extreme Rules pay-per-view.

This is how I see the four-month feud culminating Sunday in Los Angeles.

Lesnar dominates HHH for the first half of the match in the same manner he manhandled John Cena in his return match since leaving WWE eight years ago.

HHH makes the proverbial comeback, and the sledgehammer comes into play. As Triple uses his might to utilize it, Lesnar stops him and punishes him with more brutality until Shawn Michaels makes a surprise return after Lesnar broke his arm on Monday.

When Lesnar has "the Game" in his submission, the Kimura, Michaels stops the match on behalf of his buddy so no further damage is caused.

Lesnar is once again established as a dominant beast after losing to Cena at Extreme Rules and being gone for four months.

Since the WWE Championship picture will be occupied with, more than likely, CM Punk and John Cena until the Rock makes his return at the Royal Rumble, I see Lesnar going after Sheamus' world heavyweight title after Summerslam.

With no credible challengers lined up for Sheamus, I see no bigger challenge to give Sheamus and the world title credibility than WWE's ultimate monster.

The story they can tell is Sheamus has taken out Triple H before, so why doesn't Lesnar try taking out someone who is younger and hungrier to make his mark in WWE history.

While it may not be an ideal matchup like Lensar vs. Punk, Lesnar vs. Randy Orton, or Lesnar vs. the Undertaker, Sheamus and Lesnar have the potential to put on an entertaining feud that could produce a few quality bouts.

My prediction for how Lesnar-Triple H is booked is just that- a prediction, but i'm sure the match will be one that fans will be talking about the day after Summerslam.

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John Cena must go away... for a little while

Wrestlemania 28 is in the books and the ending of Raw last night changed the landscape of WWE going forward.

For storyline purposes, this past weekend has been one John Cena would not want to relive when thinking about his career accomplishments.

The Cenation leader lost the "Once in a Lifetime" match to the Rock, and the next night, Brock Lesnar made his shocking return after an eight-year hiatus and delivered an emphatic F-5 to Cena.

The fans in Miami, who were extremely active the whole night, went insane when Lesnar's music hit and welcomed him back with open arms after he left and "took his ball home."

And to see him come back at the expense of someone who some say has been shoved down the throats of wrestling fans for the past six years was the amazing cap to his return.

It looks as if WWE is looking to build to Cena vs. Lesnar at Summerslam or even Wrestlemania 29 next year.
The story kind of writes itself.

Lesnar is looking to reclaim his position at the top of the company, and he's going to do so against WWE's current top guy and a man who never beat Lesnar when he was active in the company.

Cena's first main event pay-per-view WWE title match was nine years ago at Backlash 2003.
His opponent was Lesnar.

How they build to that match is anyone's guess, but now is the time for Cena to leave for a little while, recharge his batteries, and come back with a new attitude.

I would have him not show up on WWE television until the summer to start building to Summerslam. After defeating every foe that has come his way and doing his best to build a match that was a year in the making, Cena was humbled by Rock and humiliated by Lesnar.

He would examine what he did wrong and how he can come back to conquer the two foes that he wasn't able to conquer. He would come back around July and confront Lesnar and challenge him to a match at Summerslam.

I would have Lesnar beat him at the pay-per-view, and Cena would do what he planned on doing last night with the Rock by congratulating Lesnar on the win.

Only he would say that he might've beaten him this time, but he's found the formula to beat him and when the time is right they shall battle again. They go on to a collision course to Survivor Series where this time Cena gets the win with an STF.

Tie in the Lesnar story with the Rock, and have Rock come back to win the Royal Rumble and Cena wins the championship at the Rumble as well.

He loses the championship to Lesnar at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, and Rock makes an appearance and chooses Lesnar has his championship opponent.

The twist would be Cena wants his rematch for the title at Wrestlemania and we are on a collision course to a triple threat match for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania 29 between the three biggest stars in pro wrestling.

Cena would regain the WWE Championship by defeating the Rock with an Attitude Adjustment, and therefore, Cena will get his win back over the two wrestlers he hadn't beat.

For the fans, WWE and Cena's sake, he needs to go away for a little while to let these stories sink in and build.

Maybe the fans will embrace him if he comes back with a new attitude.

Like the saying goes, "absence makes the heart grow fonder."