And Rosa is getting yelled at by her boss.  The following line was spoken:“You need to stop worrying about getting Twitter followers and start thinking about your career.”

SOMEONE PROMOTE THIS MAN!

And I have a Mr. Fuji reference.

It’s early on January 3, 2015 and that means we’re on the Road to the Royal Rumble, meaning we’re coming up on the off ramp to the Road to Wrestlemania (I hear it’s the other exit before Parts Unknown). This past Monday on Raw, we saw Daniel Bryan announce himself as the second official entrant into the Royal Rumble match.

This will be Bryan’s big return to the ring after missing about nine months to a neck injury. He made the big announcement and the place went nuts, showing that the crowd had its early (and probably middle and late) favorite to win the match and go on to headline Wrestlemania XXXI out in California. It worked last year in New Orleans and in theory it should work again out west.

However, if you listen to the news and follow WWE, it’s become fairly clear that WWE has someone else in mind to win the battle royal. That someone would be Roman Reigns, who debuted over two years ago and still hasn’t been pinned in a singles match. To put that in context, in televised matches during the same time span, John Cena has been pinned four times in singles matches and Randy Orton fifteen times (yet people still seem to think Orton and Cena are close to equals. More on that in another one of these things soon).

Based on that stat alone, it’s clear that the company thinks something of Reigns and wants him to be something special. It’s really not hard to see why they want it either: he has the right heritage, a great look, the required number of tattoos, a really good spear, and a pretty good presence.

That being said, he’s only a few steps ahead of watching the paint dry behind a TV showing a test pattern after you got tired of watching the grass grow. It’s just not there for him yet, but for some reason WWE has decided that he MUST win the title at this upcoming Wrestlemania or for some reason he’ll never have another chance again. At the age of 29, I really don’t see this being the last chance before Reigns has to ride into the sunset, but that seems to be the mentality.

At the end of the day, Reigns just isn’t ready for the top spot in the company and it really isn’t hard to see why: he doesn’t have any real seasoning. Let’s take a look back at Reigns’ career in the WWE so far and then compare it to some of the other top guys that have been handed the torch over the years.

I had a big timeline ready, but here’s the short version: he debuts, Shield wins a lot, he and Rollins win the Tag Team Titles, he sets the Rumble record, Shield goes to war with Evolution, Shield splits, Reigns loses a few multi-man title matches, Reigns beats Orton at Summerslam, his feud with Rollins is cut short due to the hernia injury, it’s time for him to win the Rumble and headline Wrestlemania.

Did I miss anything? I just summed up his entire career in a few lines. The big thing people point to is the Rumble record, but let’s flash back to Kane’s old record. The year he set the record (2001), he went on to win the Hardcore Title at Wrestlemania X7 (praise be its name). The next year at Wrestlemania X8, which would correspond to the upcoming Wrestlemania for Reigns, Kane got rolled up by Kurt Angle for a pin in less than eleven minutes in the fourth match on the card.

Somehow though, Roman Reigns is supposed to be not just headlining Wrestlemania but becoming the new IT guy. That puts him on a short list of guys in company history, so let’s take a look at those names and see how their buildup went before they took the top spot in the company. Keep an eye on how many of them actually got the top spot at Wrestlemania because we’ll be coming back to it later.

We’ll start with Hogan, whose big moment came at a house show. This one is hard to compare to the others as he had his big moment before pay per view was a thing, but he had Rocky III in his back pocket. People around the country and even the world knew him, meaning they would want to see him wrestle in the WWF. He also had a solid run near the top of the AWA (how Gagne could validate never putting the title on him, even for a short run, will never make sense to me) and had been wrestling for seven years. In other worse, he had a background to fall back on.

The next IT guy (which is a debatable list of course) would probably be Bret Hart. He won his first title at a TV taping in November 1992, but his real ascension to the top of the company was really at Wrestlemania X in 1994. Bret slayed the giant Yokozuna and ushered in a new era of smaller guys in the WWF. I don’t think I need to go over Bret’s resume, but he was a two time Triple Crown Champion and had been wrestling sixteen years.

Shawn is basically the same way as he took the torch from Bret Hart after spending 1995 as the undisputed king of the midcard who was waiting to become the World Champion. There’s a very good case to make for him beating Diesel at Wrestlemania XI but instead he had to wait until Wrestlemania XII, over eleven years into his career.

The next really big guy is of course Steve Austin, who had debuted back in 1989 in the USWA. He won Rookie of the Year, followed by every WCW Title except for the World Title. Then he came over to the WWF and became the hottest star since Hogan himself, won back to back Royal Rumbles (just like Shawn) and finally won the title at Wrestlemania XIV.

Rock was the top guy as well, but the day he became that kind of a star is kind of debatable. For me, it was at Backlash 2000 when he dethroned HHH and won the title for the first time as a face. Even with Austin’s help, it was clear that Rock was going to be the guy, at least for awhile. He started training back in 1995 but had grown up around wrestling all his life. Again, if he doesn’t have the experience in the ring, he has a background in wrestling to grow up on.

We’ll jump ahead to Cena, whose moment is kind of hazy as well. It’s certainly not Wrestlemania XXI as that was all about Batista. For Cena, we’ll say Wrestlemania XXII against HHH (despite it really not being that great of a match). That would have been about six and a half years after he debuted in the California indies.

That brings us back to Reigns. I made sure to mention how long everyone had been in the ring, because it plays a big factor for Reigns. A lot of people overlook when he debuted: August 19, 2010, or about four and a half years ago. The only person anywhere near that short an amount of time would be Rock, and to put it mildly, Roman Reigns is not the Rock.

The other thing Reigns is missing besides all the experience is a feud that makes you want to see him. I won’t go into any detailed explanation, but Hogan had Bockwinkel, Bret had Mr. Perfect, Shawn had Jannetty and Bret, Austin had the Bret, Rock had HHH (don’t let history fool you. That stable war was background noise for Rock vs. HHH) and Cena had JBL, Jericho and Angle.

Reigns has had one big MATCH. Not a major feud mind you, but a single match, and even that wasn’t anything to remember. His character is nothing to write home about either. What exactly is Reigns’ character? A big strong guy who can do athletic things and has a good heritage. In other words, he’s Rocky Maivia with a frown and occasional smirk. The fact that Ryback, a talking gorilla, has a better connection with his fans after a single speech than Reigns has a few months before he’s supposed to take over Cena’s spot, is mind blowing.

What I don’t get is why this one title win has to be the big moment. If you look back at the other names, a lot of them didn’t have their big moment in their first title win. Bret, Rock and Cena were all on at least their second World Title reign when they took over the top spot in the company. Just winning the title, especially in today’s world where you have to win the title about nine times before you get anywhere near the top of the list (CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Jeff Hardy and Sheamus COMBINED have as many WWE World Titles as John Cena. Just think about that for a minute), a first title win really doesn’t mean anything.

Instead of giving him the title at Wrestlemania, why not have Reigns win the title at a show with less pressure on him? Say…..Summerslam? He wins the belt there, establishes a reputation for himself (because the idea of someone on his level holding a midcard title is heresy in WWE for some stupid reason) and then loses it, setting him on a path to get the title back. It worked for Daniel Bryan, though I have a feeling the actual story of making people want to see Bryan had a lot to do with it.

Yeah imagine that: a story for Reigns. That’s one of the biggest things holding him back right now. The only story he really has is he used to be part of the Shield and wants to get Rollins for breaking up the team. Ok, that’s fine. Let that be his first big story. Let Rollins win the title and have Reigns chase him for a bit. Let Reigns do SOMETHING before they just have him beat Brock Lesnar for the title.

Here’s a basic story they could go with. Reigns fights someone else at Wrestlemania (after finishing this death feud with Big Show. I won’t even get into how stupid it is for his big feud before Wrestlemania to be against Big Show, but it’s another horrible WWE idea) like….let’s get creative and say Undertaker. He spears Undertaker in half and retires the Dead Man while Bryan takes the title off Lesnar…..only to have Rollins cash in on the title. If you don’t want to go with that, have Rollins win the title with help at Summerslam and hold it until Wrestlemania XXXII where Reigns beats his old stable mate to win the belt.

Logical, timely, and you can have Reigns as a killing machine (perhaps as a heel) over the summer, running through the midcard and just destroying everyone in sight. It builds him a reputation, gets people interested in him again, and gives him more time to grow a much needed personality. Doesn’t that sound better than just spearing Brock and winning the title all of a sudden?

I don’t know why just beating someone who is likely leaving (Heaven help them if word gets out in advance that he’s leaving and Reigns has to take the belt off him there. Remember Goldberg vs. Lesnar people. It could happen again and that might be Reigns’ big moment) and has been beaten multiple times before is supposed to make Reigns this big force. Cena and HHH have beaten Lesnar since he returned and it didn’t launch them multiple notches up the card. For some reason though, that’s their big idea on how to get Reigns to the top of the company.

Again though, I ask why it has to be here. Why all of a sudden does Reigns have to be the A-list guy? I know Cena is on the downside of his career but it’s not like he’s Bockwinkel and Gagne in the 80s, hanging on fifteen years after his prime because someone trustworthy has to hold the belt. Cena is still having some of the best matches in the company and still gets reactions every time he’s out there.

Putting Reigns over for the title in the main event of the upcoming Wrestlemania is like throwing him into an Olympic swimming pool and expecting him to win a gold medal (he doesn’t even have a broken freaking neck!) when he can’t even float yet. It’s a dumb plan to get him to a self imposed goal line and him screwing up here could ruin the incredible potential he has. I have no idea why they feel the need to throw him in like this when he’s clearly not ready, but it’s one of the dumbest ideas that I’ve seen them have in a long time, which covers a LOT of ground.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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This is a rumor going around and I have a real hard time believing it’s true.Allegedly, any fans at shows, including house shows aren’t allowed to bring CM Punk signs or wear CM Punk merchandise.  If they’re seen wearing the gear, they’ll be asked to remove it or leave the arena.  I can accept (don’t read as I agree with it) the signs idea at TV as it’s going to cause a distraction but t-shirts at a house show?  As in t-shirts likely purchased through WWE?  Are they going to give you a replacement shirt?  Confiscate the shirt?  If someone is thrown out of a show and not given a refund, you can see the lawsuits and complaints starting up from here.  I’d pay to see WWE trying to spin “Well they were wearing one of our shirts and we didn’t want that!” in court.

Again, I don’t buy this as legit, at least not the shirts part.  If it is true though…….dude, come on.

Over the last few months, you hear a lot of people complaining about Dean Ambrose losing his PPV matches.  My response is Steve Austin.Let’s take a look at Austin’s performance on PPV starting with his breakout performance at Survivor Series 1996.

Survivor Series 1996 – Loss

In Your House 12 – Not on the PPV

Royal Rumble – Cheated to win

In Your House 13 – Loss

Wrestlemania 13 – Loss

In Your House 14 – Won by DQ

In Your House 15 – Loss

King of the Ring 1997 – Double DQ

In Your House 16 – Loss

It wasn’t until Summerslam 1997 that Austin started consistently winning.  In other words, he went nine months without a PPV pinfall victory.  However, he was so over the top and intense that he kept getting hotter and hotter.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?  Perhaps a lot of wrestlers that we swear is done because he loses here or there?

Tribute to the Troops 2014
Date: December 17, 2014
Location: Columbus Civic Center, Columbus, Georgia
Attendance: 17,000
Commentators: John Bradshaw Layfield, Michael Cole

It’s that special time of year when WWE gets to put in very little effort and bang their chests to brag about how amazing they are for doing something for the troops. Ignore the fact that they no longer go across the world to do these shows or even hold them in a military base anymore and enjoy meaningless matches, unnecessary musical performances and recorded cameos by celebrities who aren’t actually appearing in person. Did I mention this show has lost its shine for me in the last few years? Let’s get to it.

Will Ferrell, the Osbornes, Rachel Maddow, the Muppets, Michael Strahan, Kelly Ripa, Aaron Rogers, Bruce Willis, Stephen Colbert, a bunch of wrestlers and celebrities that I either don’t recognize or go too fast to type love the troops.

Here’s Hulk Hogan with an American flag, walking between some troops to open the show. Really, is there anyone else that should be doing something like this? He talks about how great it is to live in this country but gets cut off by Miz and Mizdow (minus Slammys and titles). Miz says you’re welcome to everyone here for portraying a marine in his signature role. When you think pillar of strength of the military, you think Miz.

This brings out John Cena to apologize for Miz, who is either drunk or has amnesia. When Cena thinks of toughness, he thinks of the armed forces. When he thinks of Miz, it’s something a whole lot more metrosexual. Like Ryan Seacrest for example. The Miz compares himself to Bob Hope and says dying children ask people to win one for the Miz. Cena of course doesn’t believe it and polls the fans on whether or not Miz is a big deal.

Miz laughs it off and says that it’s Hogan in the ring with Miz instead of him being in the ring with Hogan. He brings up the Wrestlemania XXVII loss and says he played a more convincing soldier than Cena ever could. The brawl is on and Mizdow ie left alone for his team. He mimes getting beaten up by Cena and dives over the ropes on his own in a funny bit.

This brings out Team Authority minus Rusev but plus Big Show because even specials need to have long opening segments. The beatdown is on but Ryback, Rowan and Ziggler come out for the save. Team Cena and Hogan stand tall in an actual feel good moment. Hogan has been the Real American for over thirty years and you have to have him here for something like this.

Angelina Jolie loves the troops and plugs her new movie Unbroken.

Goldust/Stardust vs. Usos

Goldust talks trash to Jey to start and eats an uppercut for his efforts. Off to Stardust who gets punched in the face as well before it’s off to Jimmy for a slam. Goldust gets in a cheap shot from the apron but Jimmy stops to dance. The Usos knock the Dusts to the floor for some big dives as we take a break. Back with Jey being sent to the floor for a stomping from Stardust as Cole talks about how amazing Fort Benning is.

Stardust works on an armbar before kicking Jey in the face for two. Goldust gets the same off a powerslam and we hit the chinlock. Jey fights up and makes the hot tag to his brother for some house cleaning. The Umaga attack stuns Stardust and the enziguri sends Goldust to the floor. There’s a big dive from Jey but Jimmy takes the Disaster Kick for two. Jimmy pops back up with a corkscrew dive for two more. Jey superkicks Stardust down and the double superkick sets up Superfly Splashes for the stereo pin at 10:38.

Rating: C. The match was fine but it’s the same one we’ve seen half a dozen times now. The Usos continue to have great rhythm together which you can only find in actual brothers. The Dusts on the other hand are still falling apart, even though they’re staying sharp in the ring. I’d assume we’ll get to the split eventually, which I don’t hate as much as I used to.

Lester Holt loves the troops.

The cast of the Voice loves the troops.

Florida Georgia Line performs.

Tom Brokaw loves the troops.

Divas Battle Royal

All of the Divas are here in either Christmas themed attire or at least a Santa hat. It’s a brawl to start with Emma quickly being eliminated. Rosa and Summer have a dance off as the rest of the match just stops. Thankfully they get together and eliminate the pair but Cameron stops to check her compact. Naomi takes it away and holds it out, making Cameron stop to look at herself again, giving Naomi the easy elimination.

The Bellas throw Alicia out, leaving us with the Bellas, Paige, Naomi and Natalya. Paige busts out some mistletoe but the Bellas kick her to the floor. Naomi tries to jump over Nikki in the corner but gets planted with an Alabama Slam. Brie eliminates herself by missing a baseball slide, allowing Naomi to dump the other two out for the win at 3:45.

Rating: D+. This is there so the girls can look good in their outfits and nothing more. It wasn’t entertaining for the most part but thankfully they kept this very short. This is a tradition for the show and at the end of the day, it’s one of those things there for the fans and nothing more.

Video of the roster visiting the troops.

Sgt. Slaughter tells us to stick around.

Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt

This is a Boot Camp match, meaning a military themed street fight. Sgt. Slaughter does the introductions for old times’ sake. Ambrose comes out in a camouflage hat to really suck up to the fans. It’s a brawl to start of course with Dean hitting his dropkick against the ropes. Bray comes back with a slam as we’re waiting on the weapons to come into play. Dean comes back with what looked like a bulldog to send Bray outside, setting up the suicide dive.

They head to the camouflaged posts before Dean hits him with what looked like a tool box. Since there aren’t enough weapons in the ring, Dean goes underneath to find some chairs, one of which he wedges in the corner. Bray comes back with a kendo stick shot and hammers away on Dean’s ribs. Some right hands get two on Ambrose as the announcers debate G.I. Joes.

We take a break and come back with Dean fighting out of a cravate but eating a right hand to the face. A big kendo stick shot gets two and Bray slowly kicks away. Bray misses a big shot though and Dean takes the stick away. Wyatt seems to like the idea but doesn’t like the beating Ambrose gives him as much. A White Russian legsweep and middle rope elbow with the chair get two for Dean so he starts looking for more toys. He picks a table but takes too long setting it up, allowing Bray to Rock Bottom Ambrose through the table for two.

Wyatt busts out another table but stops to get in Slaughter’s face, allowing Dean to get a breather. Slaughter takes off his boot as Dean comes back with the rebound clothesline. The steel toed boot comes into the ring and goes upside Bray’s head to knock him onto the table. Dean heads up top for the elbow through the table for the pin at 14:30.

Rating: C+. This was violent enough to be entertaining but the gimmick was just there to tie things together. In other words, this was a basic street fight with nothing special other than the last spot of the match. Nothing much to see here, but these two have done so much that it’s hard to find something new.

We recap the opening segment.

Jamie Fox and Cameron Diaz love the troops and plug their new movie Annie.

The Kardashians love the troops.

Here are Lana and Rusev to what should be better heat. She says the fans are lucky to be in the presence of the greatest US Champion of all time to make them a bit angrier. The fans shout Rusev down with the USA chant so Lana puts up the Putin photo. She issues something like an open challenge and here’s Daniel Bryan to interrupt and fire up the crowd all over again.

Bryan says the thing the Russians don’t understand about Americans is that they never back down. It doesn’t matter if you’re 5’5 like Bryan (that’s a bit low) or 7’2, Democrat or Republican, we fight no matter what. If Rusev and Lana don’t like that, they should go back to Russia. Lana laughs him off and Rusev invites Bryan out to the floor. Daniel asks if Rusev wants to do all this right in front of the troops. The thing about Americans is they’ll come from anywhere to defend their freedoms. A few troops start jumping the barricade and two repel from the ceiling to surround Rusev. Bryan gets in the ring but Rusev bails.

The vast of the Today Show loves the troops.

Larry the Cable Guy loves the troops.

Florida Georgia Line performs again.

Team Cena goes over their game plan (an actual piece of paper labeled “game plan”).

Video on Hire Heroes.

Ryback/John Cena/Erick Rowan/Dolph Ziggler vs. Kane/Luke Harper/Big Show/Seth Rollins

Ryback and Rollins get things going with Seth being powered back into the corner. We hit the wristlock on Rollins before it’s off to Rowan for a big (red) slam. The good guys keep their control until Seth decks Ziggler with a right hand. Dolph is able to escape a delayed suplex from Harper though and tags in Ryback for a delayed suplex of his own, complete with FEED ME MORE, for two. Ziggler comes back in with a dropkick but it’s off to Rollins to take over again. The running DDT gets a quick two on Seth but everything breaks down with the bad guys standing tall as we take a break.

Back with Big Show throwing Ziggler around before it’s off to Kane. The announcers talk about Kane attacking the Bunny with JBL talking about how great a moment it was. Instead of letting the potential new fans say “what are they talking about? That sounds kind of interesting.”, Cole is right there to explain that it’s just a guy in a bunny suit to kill the idea dead.

Rollins comes back in and stomps away but Ziggler gets in a shot and DIVES over for the tag to Cena. Harper comes in as well to take the finishing sequence but Rollins breaks up the AA attempt. Kane breaks up the STF and it’s secondary finishers a go-go. The AA plants Show and Cena AA’s Harper onto Big show, but makes sure to shove Show out of the way so he can pin Harper at 13:37.

Rating: D+. You know, they almost had me here. They had me buying into this for just a second but then I lost the little hope I had. I can’t believe it, but for a second I thought Big Show might actually do a job here. Thankfully reality set in as Cena made sure to shove Big Show out of the way after the AA and having Harper land on him so harper could take the pin. I was getting worried there for a second.

Hogan comes out to celebrate to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. I didn’t get as annoyed with this show as I have in the past but it’s still not really necessary. Back in the day when the actually went to Iraq and Afghanistan, the show felt like something special and unique. Now it feels like a star (pre-recorded cameo) studded house show with four matches and little effort. It also doesn’t help that this makes eleven hours (counting Sunday’s pre-show) of WWE in four days. If you watch all the shows like WWE implores you to do, the burnout hit somewhere around the middle of Smackdown last night. The show wasn’t bad, but it came and went and I won’t think of it again.

Results

Usos b. Goldust/Stardust – Double Superfly Splash

Naomi won a battle royal last eliminating Natalya

Dean Ambrose b. Bray Wyatt – Top rope elbow through a table

John Cena/Erick Rowan/Dolph Ziggler/Ryback b. Big Show/Luke Harper/Kane/Seth Rollins – Attitude Adjustment to Harper

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

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Now that I’ve actually listened to the whole thing, here are some far more detailed thoughts.  I basically just jotted down notes while listening so I’m skipping over a lot of stuff when he went into detail.

Punk talked about having offers for sponsorships but WWE said no, then gave them to Lesnar.  Brock having sponsorships ties back into the UFC character.  Punk having them would look like when they put Spider-Man 2 logos on the bases at ball games.  It wouldn’t have worked.

Vince freaking out over UFC is ridiculous.  Do “Lion’s Den”, “Brawl For All” or “Ken SHamrock” ring any bells?

Punk talked about Vince being out of touch.  That’s been known for 20 years and he’s been fine.

He said Cena gets mainstream stuff that Punk doesn’t get.  Could this have anything to do with Cena being the All-American boy while Punk is a loudmouth covered in tattoos?

Punk talked about fans never being happy no matter what he says.  As someone with a VERY small presence online, he’s 100% right.  You’re NEVER going to please everyone and that’s all there is to it.

He talked about making money off merchandise and WWE making far more.  Here’s something that I’ll be saying a lot: that’s standard business.

Like here for instance: Punk thinks he’s worth X, WWE thinks he’s worth Y. Punk signed for Y and worked for Y. Now if he thinks he should get more that’s fine, but he agreed to that salary and that’s all he’s entitled to.  THis will be another recurring theme.

Mentioned having a concussion and the concussion tests being bogus.  If that’s true then….I’m not sure what to do about it.

I agree on wanting a three way main event at Wrestlemania XXIX. Punk vs. Undertaker for the title could have worked as well, but Rock vs. Cena II made a FORTUNE so there was something to it.

Punk says he made himself work through it but then complains about the outcomes? Yeah he wants to be the best, but there are consequences to that.

I have no issue with him wanting to be cleared by a doctor after elbow surgery when WWE cleared him anyway. It’s his body and he deserves to have that peace of mind.

The Straight Edge Society was good, not great. Big Show shouldn’t have destroyed him that fast though.

“Shouldn’t they be trying to make money with everyone?” Indeed they should.

Yes Punk beat Cena in merchandise sales and it’s impressive. Now make it last longer than a few months.

He says the Shield was his idea. Wanting to keep him, Punk wanted Hero as the third guy which I’ve heard before. Hero would have bombed in the stable.

Ryback stuff is interesting but nothing shocking really. Calling him steroid guy is interesting but he doesn’t say he saw it or anything so it’s speculation.

As for the TLC with Ryback, yeah that’s a bit nuts but again Punk probably could have shot it down (Punk had knee surgery and they were rushing him back for the TLC match then the Rock feud/rematch/Mania when he wanted time off after dropping the belt).

Wanting time off after losing the belt after holding it that long is more than reasonable. No one needed the rematch at Elimination Chamber. Saying he wasn’t going to get a rub off the Undertaker match is bogus given its history. It was better than Brock vs. HHH and about the same as Cena vs. Rock. It didn’t blow either away though. Saying he should have gone on last and saying pay him more for it being great is nonsense. He signed the contract for it and knew what he was getting paid for it.

Talking about asking questions etc., again, that’s fine but sometimes there are consequences for speaking your mind. The part timers thing still doesn’t hold up due to financial reasons.  They get those spots because they’ve earned them at the box office.  There are a lot of people that work a lot of dates and they’re not getting those spots.  WHy shouldn’t, say, Sheamus get that spot?  He works most dates but you don’t hear him complaining about part timers.

He said the casual fans are going to stop caring if he’s always losing the major show matches. As for the stock in the eyes of the casual viewer, if you only have a few chances to showcase your talents, it’s going to go up. Brock vs. Punk was Match of the Year and in matches like those, the winner is an afterthought.

Punk vs. Ryback again didn’t need to happen again after Punk vs. Lesnar. I’m with Punk on that one. He’s right on HHH vs. Axel too as that was ALL about HHH like it always was.

Punk blocking WWE on Twitter is hilarious.

He talked about no one remembering the best match at Wrestlemania because it’s all about the main event.  I present Wrestlemania 24 and 25 to say that that’s nonsense.

As for Wrestlemania XXIX pay (Punk says he should have made as much as the other top names because his match was best), that’s his opinion and it’s all he’s basing it on. He also said that Wrestlemania draws instead of the stars.  Wrestlemania isn’t the entirety of the draw and look at Wrestlemania XXIII and XXVIII if you want proof.

Not knowing where pay is coming from with the new Network stuff is indeed ridiculous.

The doctor not cutting the thing out of his back: again, it’s his body and if there are all those issues, he should yell about it.  Or, go find a non-WWE doctor to cut it out if that’s all he needed.

Hoping to channel Foley’s run in 2000 in order to get a Wrestlemania main event slot is pretty freaking stupid. He’s done all this before but it didn’t work so why would he think it would now?

It was clear that Punk was hurt in the Rumble. He said he had a concussion, they gave him a way out, he kept going. Same problem as before.

As someone who takes pride in never taking drugs/drinking/smoking etc, I’d be glad to take whatever drug test they give me.  I get that it’s not the point, but just do it and move on.  That takes ten seconds.  He’s right about fixing his injuries now but he put a lot of that on himself.

Big meeting with Vince/HHH: they’re above Punk, as they’re bosses. HHH does NOT need to wrestle Punk. He’s right about three years ago though. There’s one main event at Wrestlemania….most of the time.

So the WWE doctor was right about antibiotics but the wrong ones.

Firing him on wedding day…..yeah that’s lame. The no compete clause for UFC is laughable.

Finally, Punk says he’ll never have a working relationship with them again.  I would point you to Bret Hart as United States Champion for WWE in 2010.  Imagine that say, ten years ago.

So yeah, WWE did some stupid stuff, but at the end of the day, so many of these problems come down to Punk being hard headed and trying to get their attention with his hard work. Yeah he worked hard, but if they haven’t reacted to it yet, why in the world would he think they were going to again later?

At the end of the day, Punk sounds like Jim Cornette (and remember that he’s basically my idol in wrestling): he thinks he’s right on everything (and he is on a lot of them) but if you want to be in the big wrestling company, you have to go along with some of the corporate stuff. They all have to go along with things they don’t want to because they have thousands of stockholders to please. Much like with not being paid what he thinks he’s worth, that’s life in business.

One thing I want to emphasize: this was NOT him bashing WWE for two hours. This is him saying his version of what happened (make sure you keep that in mind. This is all from Punk’s point of view and perspective. The company has its reasons for doing things and their side should be heard as well) and voicing some of his complaints. He doesn’t rip on the talent, he doesn’t rip on the wrestling. Instead it’s him criticizing a lot of their decisions in terms that make sense.

However, all that being said, I’ll go back to the Cornette point: if you want to work for a major company and get major checks, you have to give up stuff. Punk wanted to prove he was the best at everything and he did to a degree. WWE didn’t reward him directly for that, but there was never any guarantee on their part. Assuming they paid him what they promised to in his contract, they owe him nothing from a business standpoint.

Some of the medical stuff I’ll completely go with Punk on, but if his back is that messed up, he should have gone to another doctor on his own if WWE wouldn’t do it. That’s more common sense than anything else. If WWE was pushing him too hard though, Punk should have asked for the time off. WWE gave him chances to take it off but Punk soldiered on. That’s on him.

Overall it’s a VERY interesting interview and well worth listening to in full (it’s readily available on Youtube) but don’t immediately agree with everything Punk says, because a lot of it needs to be taken with some major grains of salt. Either that or saying “Punk, that’s not how business works so quit thinking you’re more valuable than everyone else.” Punk was indeed a top star and white hot, but Cena and Rock are bigger stars no matter how you look at it. He has a point in some of the booking criticisms, but some of them come off as Punk having a swelled head. This is going to be talked about for a LONG time though and I’d heavily recommend that you listen to it yourself.  It flies by.

So CM Punk was on Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast and went OFF on WWE, Vince, HHH and everything about them in one of the best rants you’ll ever hear.  You probably should listen to it in full, but here’s the most detailed synopsis I’ve found so far.  THis is a long one but totally worth the time.

No I didn’t write this myself if that’s not clear.  My thoughts are at the bottom.

Source: http://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2014/11/27/7298557/cm-punk-story-walking-out-on-wwe

• He says that while people have remarked time and again that he couldn’t change anything while sitting on his couch in Chicago he disagrees because it almost took him doing exactly that for meaningful change to occur. He indicates that while they may have done some things to spite him, he’s really happy that certain things happened the way they did. He doesn’t outright say that the Daniel Bryan run through WrestleMania 30 was because he left but he definitely hints at as much.
• “It’s okay to be bitter about some things. That’s how you work through stuff.”
• He remarks that he’s the happiest he’s been in a really long time. “I’m the f****** happiest I’ve been in I don’t know how long, at least three years, legitimately. I find these other things that have made me happy and I thought this thing that I loved, that I thought I loved, it just made me so miserable. All the time, it made me miserable. I guess the black and the white of it, when you boil it all down, the essence of it, was I was miserable, I was unhappy, f*** it! I made myself happy. I left. That’s what it boils down to. It wasn’t an easy decision to make but it was also a long time coming.”
• He said there are many assumptions, like he was disgruntled with his creative direction, he was injured, he was mad about working with Triple H. “There’s an element of truth in all those things but I can’t say there was one big thing that led to my decision.” He does say that the biggest was his health.
• He despises the term “pipe bomb” now because everyone refers to promos as that now.
• People were calling him about sponsor money after the pipe bomb and he pitched it to Vince McMahon, who wouldn’t sign off on it. Then Brock Lesnar came in and was allowed to have sponsors on his wrestling gear.
• The story behind the pitch to WWE on walking out with Chael Sonnen at a UFC show and how it would have been good business. Vince told him someone might die in a fight and there’s no way they could let him go. Vince was also apparently appalled at the idea of women fighting in the UFC.
• He says the environment is “creatively toxic” and gives examples of issues like pitching something to Vince, being told “no,” and seeing John Cena doing that exact thing a week later.
• For the fans who are cool fans of his and who would like to hear an explanation, he is giving it to them right now. For those who were demanding it and calling him a quitter, those people can go to hell. For that matter, just because you bought a t-shirt doesn’t entitle you to anything and you didn’t make him and WWE didn’t make him. “WWE was a f******pit stop.” He said he’s not defined by his job, and no one should be.
• “That place should be the happiest place to work and they use that as some bizarre mindf***. ‘Go out there and have fun!’ It’s like ‘f*** you, this place sucks, and on top of that, you’re not f****** paying me nearly enough to do this s***.”
• He brings up the WWE Network coming out and how he spent months asking questions and wasn’t told anything.
• He rails on WWE for how they treat wrestlers as far as concussion protocol goes, revealing that he was working through concussions (he got one in the Royal Rumble too, and the testing for it was a joke) and a knee injury and messed up ribs. He was still in a mindset of doing what was best for “the boys” so he gutted out a lot of situations he definitely shouldn’t have.
• When The Rock came back, he said he wanted to work babyface against a strong heel so Punk was given the choice to either turn heel or drop the WWE title to Daniel Bryan. He was told that if he turned heel and did the job, he would be owed one. So he made the sacrifice, one he admits wasn’t that big of a sacrifice. He does say he tried to politic his way into the main event of WrestleMania, making Rock vs. Cena into a three-way before they booked him against Undertaker.
• Punk talks about WWE plans to get him a heater after WrestleMania and he reveals The Shield was his idea, believe it or not. They wanted a heel stable that would have included Punk, Big Show, Daniel Bryan, and Seth Rollins. So he pitched that they pick three guys from developmental to create the stable. They asked who he wanted and he said “Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Chris Hero.” Triple H vetoed Hero and they put Roman Reigns in that spot instead. The idea was to put The Shield with Punk but plans changed.
• He says the Ryback program took years off his life because of how green he is. He also calls Ryback “steroid guy” because “I call it like I see it” and reveals that Ryback kicked him in the stomach so hard during a match it broke his ribs and he never got an apology or call about it.
• “I wrestled that match with Undertaker at WrestleMania with the biggest f****** chip on my shoulder because I knew it was going to be better than Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H and The Rock vs. John Cena.” They admitted that he should have went on last and he got “so f****** mad” before demanding that they should pay him like he went on last and they didn’t.
• He harps on wrestlers not taking a stand against the machine, going along with stories that don’t make any sense for anyone. He said the only people who say anything are Cena and maybe Randy Orton.
• His response to being told they wanted him to do the job to Brock Lesnar was to wonder who was coming to work the next day and, of course, being told that he would but Brock wouldn’t and there wouldn’t be a rematch at the next show. So he found a way to get excited about doing what they asked, working with Chris Jericho at Payback and Lesnar at SummerSlam, thinking it would help his case for the main event of WrestleMania the next year.
• He takes a shot at Triple H not putting over Curtis Axel the way he had originally said he was going to, and wanting to work with him to help elevate him. Instead, they booked him with Ryback again and once again, Ryback injured him with a guerrilla press spot where he missed the table. That’s one of the things he’s bitter about.
• Confirmed: He s*** his pants during SmackDown late last year and tells the story of tweeting it and being told he couldn’t tweet that and had to take it down. Many realized and reported on Punk unfollowing the WWE Twitter account not long after. It turns out he blocked them.
• He complained about the pay he received from his WrestleMania match with Undertaker on the basis that he had the best match on the card and he should have been paid equal to everyone else on the card. When he found out that wasn’t the case, he was outraged by it because “no one else on that card could have laced my boots that night”. When Cabana brings up Rock being a huge movie star and that bringing in more fans, Punk says he doesn’t care and WrestleMania is what draws at this point and no one can tell him different.
• The treatment he received for a large mass on his back was laughable, with the doctor not doing much of anything about it as it grew more and more.
• He went into the Royal Rumble knowing that the plan for WrestleMania was for Batista vs. Randy Orton for the title to main event and his plan was to work so hard during the match that he would change their minds.
• There’s a great story of Punk telling Rusev backstage before the Rumble match that no one gives a s*** about him and he needs to forget that Punk is supposedly a big star and get in there and really make an impression.
• When he was told during the match that he would be eliminated by Kane, he initially responded with the idea that he would quit if Kane even touched him because his wrestler’s mentality kicked in and he wanted to finish the match.
• During the drive to Cleveland for Raw the next night, he was miserable and looked over at his future wife, AJ Lee, who he says he knew he was going to marry and just hadn’t said anything yet, and had an epiphany wondering what he was doing with his life.
• At Raw the night he quit, he went in and was told he was going to have to take a drug — he calls it a “p*** test” — test and considering the new policies they put in place so wrestlers who had failed previous tests could get strikes taken off their record, he was livid that he, of all people, would have to take a pIII test. He demanded to be taken care of for his various health issues and they wanted him to sign a bunch of papers and take the p*** test. That’s when he decided he was done.
• He reveals he called a meeting with Vince McMahon and Triple H initially said he would leave but Punk told him to stay. “I do not love this anymore, I’m f****** sick, I’m f****** hurt, I’m f****** confused, I don’t know as a business what we’re doing anymore, I… every day you tell me this is a team effort but every day it’s a f****** individual effort by me to find what’s necessary to even f****** come here. It’s not fun. I have zero f****** passion for this. I’m f****** concussed, I’m f****** hurt, and alls (sic) you care about is what segment I am and how soon I can f*(***** get my gear on and when I can pea in this f****** cup. And I don’t want to do it anymore.”
• He said he talked openly about bringing back Batista as a babyface being a horrible idea.
• When Triple H told him that Batista took the same p*** test they were asking Punk to take, Punk asked “did you” and got no response. “Look, I thought when I re-signed three years ago, Vince, I told you if I couldn’t be all that I could be you should f****** fire me, that if I was a fraud and I was anything less and fell short of the f****** mark… I sold more shirts than John Cena until I turned heel for you, and you said you owed me one.. I worked guys that were f****** dangerous and you said you owed me one. I did all these f****** things and all I wanted was the main event of WrestleMania and it’s fine if you don’t think that is me and that I’m that caliber of a f****** superstar but then you need to f****** fire me because I do not want to be here and I do not want to be anything less. I will go somewhere else and I will get more f****** over because I know I can. You have shackled me, you have creatively stifled me, you have made this a very toxic environment, I no longer want to be here.”
• “It boggles my mind how Daniel Bryan has not figured into your plans to be in the main event of WrestleMania because this is his f****** year. Just like two years ago it was my f****** year and I was white f****** hot just like he is now and what did you do? You fed me to this guy.” He said Vince responded to all this by saying it was just the concussion talking and that working with Triple H was like working in the main event. Punk says he turned to Triple H and said “All due respect, I do not need to wrestle you, you need to wrestle me. I do not want to wrestle you. I seriously resent you for not putting me over three years ago when you should have. That would have been best for business but you had to f****** come in and squash it. And then I had to lose to F****** Truth and Miz. It didn’t make any business sense then, it doesn’t make any business sense now, and I am in a position now where I can tell you that I don’t have to nor do I want to wrestle you at WrestleMania. I don’t care if I was supposed to win.”
• Punk reveals he was scheduled to beat Triple H at WrestleMania and he didn’t care. “I didn’t want to give him the F****** privilege. He says Triple H never liked him and while you hear stories on the dirt sheets about various things, whenever he was in a room with Triple H there were never good vibes. “The way he would always look sideways at me, the way he always treated me.” He says he thinks Triple H believes he’s a “piece of s***.”
• Triple H told Punk that he had the best match at WrestleMania 29 against Undertaker and that it was the main event. Punk said they can push that way of looking at it to the fans, but the main event is the match that goes on last and that’s all there is to it.
• He says the Batista vs. Randy Orton main event plan was from an old, out of touch mind and he was really, really stoked when they made the change and put Daniel Bryan in the match and gave him his moment.
• When Triple H again pushed that Punk was in the main event at WrestleMania 29, Punk asked if he made the same money as those who went on after him. Again, Triple H responded with silence.
• He said Vince had tears in his eyes and gave Punk a hug, one Punk reciprocated, albeit reluctantly. Then he turned to Triple H, who had extended his hand, shook it, and said “good bye” before walking out.
• He brings up people saying “oh my god, he walked out on his contract” and clarifies that he’s an independent contractor and he could have walked out whenever he wanted to. Plus, he didn’t do it in the middle of a program and he didn’t hold them up. There wasn’t anything advertised for him coming up. He walked when there was nothing for him.
• Vince called him a week after he walked out and asked if he was ready to come back to work. He told Vince “no” at that time.
• His wife, AJ, convinced him to go to a doctor in Tampa Bay and he looked at the mass in his back. He was immediately told that he had a staph infection. He was told he needed to go to a hospital and get on an antibiotic IV drip. He wondered what they would do with less time and they cut it out, and gave him antibiotics, an experience he describes as the most painful thing he’s gone through in his life. He was given three months of antibiotics and told that after working with a staph infection for three months, he could have died.
• After catching up on sleep and feeling a lot better, he got a call from Vince saying he was suspended for two months. After thinking of the timeframe, he thinks that his suspension will come up just after WrestleMania and okay, whatever. But then it came up and he didn’t hear anything. He heard from an investor call that Vince told investors he was “on a sabbatical”. It was then that he realizes he hadn’t received a royalty check.
• He tells the story of finding a royalty check from WWE and calling about what he should do about it. He also asked about the royalty check he had yet to receive and is told that said check was at the desk of a lawyer. He attempted to contact said lawyer and found no success. He says he got a bunch of butt dials from various people and how he called about the royalty checks. He was given the runaround from literally everyone.
• He put the royalty check issue on the backburner because he was getting married and the Blackhawks were in the playoffs and he had a lot going on in his personal life at the time, like planning his honeymoon. Triple H texted him on June 11 asking if he had time to talk. He was upset about this, and said he had a honeymoon he was about to go to after getting married in two days. He asked for his royalties and promised to talk after his honeymoon.
• Punk then reveals that he was fired by WWE on his wedding day and that he believes it was a calculated move. He explains that he got a FedEx and the letter was ridiculous, saying he was in breach of contract on Jan. 27 and he was forfeiting his royalties and there was a no compete clause for UFC in it.
• He said he called a lawyer before going on his honeymoon, gave him his story, and the lawyer said “great, let’s get these motherf******.” He said he can’t talk about the terms of the settlement but does reveal he “got everything I wanted, and then some.”
• WWE tried to get him to sign a non-disparagement agreement and he said that he wasn’t the one who was talking, they were the ones who went out in Chicago and called him a quitter on television. He said he would only consider signing the agreement if they went to Chicago and apologized while admitting they lied, that he didn’t quit, and that they fired him on his wedding day.
• He says WWE was worried that he was going to go to TNA and his lawyer told them he isn’t interested in that and he despises professional wrestling now. He also said there won’t ever be a working relationship with WWE ever again.
• He said he’s happy training and being married and writing comics and just living his life now.
• He says he failed at his goal of wrestling in the main event of WrestleMania but he’s come to terms with it.

My thoughts on it: First and foremost, it’s obvious that Punk’s story is only his side.  I’m certainly not saying he’s lying, but you can only get so much truth out of one party’s version.

Here’s the big thing though: Punk can talk all he wants about how unfair things are and how he should have been in the main event all he wants.  That’s fine.  However, at the end of the day, Rock vs. Cena drew a fortune and Rock vs. Cena II drew a slightly smaller fortune.  Whether Punk was hot or not, those numbers are REALLY hard to argue against.  I still find his match with Undertaker very overrated though as I never bought him as a threat to the Streak, which I found Shawn and HHH (in the Cell at least) to be.  Yeah it was probably the match of the night but it was nothing excellent.

As for stuff I agree with him on, we’ll start with the match against HHH in 2011.  I’ve heard every possible argument about how HHH should have gone over and I don’t buy them at all.  While I don’t think he would have surpassed Cena full time as the top star, I see no reason for HHH to beat him there.  HHH has been a made man for years and was basically retired at that point, but he beat Punk anyway.  I’m not the biggest Punk fan in the world at times but that was ridiculous.  Yeah he got the long title reign out of it but, as he’s said, most of the time Cena was still in the main event (which he should have been a good deal, though not all of, the time).

As for him leaving like he did….I’m split on that.  He’s right that he didn’t have anything major going on, but if he’s right about Batista vs. Orton headlining Wrestlemania (which I don’t completely buy as true), he had a legitimate complaint.  It’s one thing for Lesnar or Rock or someone with a legitimate drawing record to come in and take a spot like that, but Batista isn’t a big enough star to validate that kind of power.  I would have liked to see Cena vs. Punk vs. Rock at Wrestlemania XXIX, but I see why WWE went the way they did.  As for XXX, as Punk said, it was Bryan’s year.

Overall he makes a ton of valid points, but a lot of it comes off like the same fanboy comments you hear all over the place.  Yes he was hot, but if that doesn’t translate to business, it’s not something that can be done.  That being said, I think they screwed up by having HHH beat him in 2011 and giving him the title as a consolation prize instead of as the big prize for him.

It’s very interesting stuff, but don’t immediately take it all as gospel.  Also, I know he said he’ll never be back, but would you have believed that Bret Hart would not only come back in 2010 but win a title in WWE?  Keep that in mind.

He’s not on the alumni page yet but his profile is gone.  We might be on the verge of a big round of cuts.

He’s now on the alumni page of WWE.com.  If true, this isn’t the biggest shock in the world.  He hasn’t done anything of note in years and is just there for someone to beat in a “surprise”.  I still don’t get people who say he’s the worst in the world.  Yeah he’s big and slow, but what else are you expecting from someone like him?  Why would he do anything but use power moves and big man offense?

For November 17.  I have no words for this one.

It’s Grumpy Cat, as in a cat with an angry face that is getting its own Lifetime movie.

http://www.peoplepets.com/people/pets/article/0,,20870974,00.html?xid=rss-fullcontent

And yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumpy_Cat