The final time we regarded again at CM Punk’s 2011, he had simply misplaced a complicated and overbooked mess of a match to Triple H at Night time of Champions earlier than being rewarded with a WWE Title match at Hell In A Cell simply two weeks later. Jesus, placing that on paper makes it look a lot worse. Anyway, Punk would have a preview of that title match when he went one-on-one with Alberto Del Rio.
RAW
SEPTEMBER 26, 2011
CM PUNK DEF. ALBERTO DEL RIO
WWE Champion John Cena was on commentary, having had his match earlier within the night time interrupted by Del Rio, who had been on commentary. Huh, I’m wondering how this may finish.
Alberto Del Rio got here up in an attention-grabbing time and place in WWE historical past. Followers had been so determined for a brand new title that Del Rio grew to become a man some followers rallied round to be within the combine, regardless that I’m unsure he was ever that good. He had an awesome look, an awesome gimmick, and had a famous person rollout. The corporate’s incapacity to ever go together with him absolutely as a high title harm him, as he had his major occasion push always pushed again. He was purported to be World Champion at WrestleMania after profitable the 2011 Royal Rumble, however that was pushed again because of Edge’s retirement. He was purported to win the WWE Title sooner or later, however the Punk deal pushed that again. Then, as soon as he lastly gained the WWE Title at Summerslam, he dropped it a month later to John Cena.
After which he misplaced this match clear, regardless of having the setup for the non-finish proper there. Even worse, he didn’t even lose to considered one of Punk’s finishers. Punk beat him with a kick to the top like he was prime Mirko Cro Cop. They should have been working quick on time or one thing as a result of that may be a nonsensical end. After the match, the Cell got here down. Cena and Punk beat up Ricardo Rodriguez – Del Rio’s private ring announcer – for no actual purpose earlier than Del Rio laid each guys out with a chair. Del Rio loses the match however stands tall over everybody anyway to finish the present. God assist me, WHO IS SUPPOSED TO LOOK GOOD HERE?
That brings us to New Orleans, and Hell In A Cell 2011. A nasty present {that a} 14-year-old Swimsuit was in attendance for that 26-year-old Swimsuit has little or no recollection of.
WWE HELL IN A CELL
OCTOBER 2, 2011
WWE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE TRIPLE THREAT HELL IN A CELL MATCH
ALBERTO DEL RIO DEF. JOHN CENA (C), CM PUNK
This was the primary, and to this point, final ever Triple Risk Hell in a Cell match. This was the peak of WWE’s “gimmick match of the month” period, one which noticed such PPV spectaculars as Excessive Guidelines – a present stuffed with no-DQ matches, Breaking Level – a present stuffed with submission matches, and Deadly 4-Manner – I’ll allow you to guess the hook of that one. Gimmick matches had been much less about being acceptable for the feud and extra about it being that point on the calendar. The video bundle recapped the current historical past and hot-potatoing of the WWE Championship since Punk gained it, leaving out each the Rey Mysterio and second Cena reign. Punk gained it in Chicago, Del Rio gained it at Summerslam, and Cena gained it two weeks in the past at Night time of Champions, bringing this messy story to a head contained in the Cell right here.
The match had the everyday tropey WWE triple menace spots, nevertheless it was higher than I anticipated it to be, though it had no should be within the Cell. Del Rio bumped a hell of much more than I keep in mind him doing, even making an attempt to take the Hamrick bump from the ring to the cage. Punk took some gnarly bumps into the cage, getting scraped up throughout his again for some unintentional blood. The commentary right here continues to be horrible, as Michael Cole, Jim Ross, and Booker T talked over one another the whole time to ensure they bought their shit in.
All of them went forwards and backwards in segments earlier than the end got here. Del Rio put Punk via Chekov’s desk by the apron earlier than Cena put Del Rio within the STF. On the surface, Ricardo Rodriguez bumped the referee and took the important thing to interrupt it up and get Del Rio a pipe. Cena took Rodriguez to the surface, however Del Rio hit him with the pipe and threw him exterior earlier than locking him out of the cell. Punk and Del Rio wrestled a pair extra minutes as Cena tried to get again within the cage. Del Rio hit Punk with the pipe a pair occasions earlier than getting the pin. ***1/2
Seconds later, none of this mattered. The cell rose so Cena may attempt to get his warmth again, however earlier than he may, The Miz & R-Fact snuck out from beneath the ring to leap all people. Triple H had fired them each for his or her interference within the Night time of Champions major occasion. The cage got here again down, and with the important thing having been thrown beneath the ring by Del Rio earlier, no one may get into the cage as Miz & R-Fact gave a home present stage beatdown to those guys. This wasn’t precisely Ole Anderson trapping Dusty Rhodes within the cage, they only laid in some punches. However they had been fired, so now this tepid brawl is a serious offense. To his credit score, JR gave it some gusto and actually offered the angle as a despicable, cowardly act.
Ultimately, a stagehand bought some bolt cutters and unlocked the door so the cops may arrest Miz and Fact. Figuring out the NOPD, they in all probability discovered a option to get six figures out of this deal. Figuring out the NOPD, they undoubtedly made certain to report a lot much less. Anyway, Miz and Fact surrendered because the announcers talked about how they had been getting off straightforward and wanting road justice. Triple H flew in and beat them each up as they had been in handcuffs, having to get pulled off of them by street brokers because the present light out.
The major angle popping out of Cash within the Financial institution 2011 continues to be about Triple H because the boss, now preventing these rascals R-Fact and The Miz. And never that you just’re anticipated to care, however CM Punk bought pinned for the third PPV in a row. I’m gonna take you guys behind the scenes just a little bit right here. Quite a lot of these movies are coming from a YouTube playlist I discovered referred to as CM Punk: Pipe Bomb Central, which has a whole lot of the Uncooked segments from the time, saving me a while on trying to find all of these items. Seeing these movies go from electrical segments that includes CM Punk and John Cena to Paul Levesque’s boring enterprise dealings is miserable.
Fact and Miz threatened to sue for wrongful termination, and in an insufferably lengthy section the place Hunter whined about folks not eager to shut up and do their jobs, the wrestlers gave a public vote of no confidence and walked out on Uncooked. This led to the beginning of the October 10th Uncooked, the place all of the wrestlers went on strike.
That’s proper of us. Within the span of three months, CM Punk went from the insurgent seeking to tear down the system within the title of constructing one thing higher to scabbing out alongside John Cena and Sheamus to face up for poor ol’ Hunter. After twenty minutes, Vince McMahon got here again, shuffled the wrestlers to the again, and instructed Hunter that Johnny Ace was taking his job.
Right here’s the factor about this: even when John Laurinaitis was a dynamic promo or on-screen presence, this may suck. However John Laurinaitis isn’t a dynamic promo. He’s not a superb talker. He’s not a strong talker. He’s not even a middling talker. John Laurinaitis fucking sucks.
He conveys no emotion. He has nothing that pops or will get your consideration as an on-screen character. The mail room clerk at Titan Towers may’ve gotten this spot and accomplished simply nearly as good of a job. He’s as unfit for an on-screen function as the present NXT Common Supervisor Ava, who I’ve gone on file as saying is among the most ineffective professional wrestling acts I’ve ever seen in a big-time function. Laurinaitis is an entire stiff, and the truth that the unimaginable angles with Punk and Vince and Cena led to him getting an on-screen function makes each resolution that led to it all of the extra infuriating.
Ace introduced again Miz & R-Fact. They beat up Punk, Hunter ran them off, and Ace booked a tag group match between the 4 of them for Vengeance.
WWE VENGEANCE
OCTOBER 23, 2011
R-TRUTH & THE MIZ DEFEATED CM PUNK & TRIPLE H
This was precisely the form of tepid home present match that impressed the Superior Fact nostalgia run 13 years later, peaking with a tag group title win at WrestleMania. This was a Triple H match. This was Triple H’s feud towards Triple H’s opponents, whereas CM Punk was simply Hunter’s little buddy in his nook. Apart from Punk getting visibly aggravated on the Miz being late on a spot throughout his scorching tag, completely nothing of curiosity or notice occurred within the first quarter-hour of this 15:24 match. Hunter was preventing Fact by the timekeeper’s space when Kevin Nash re-emerged to put him out. Punk bought distracted by this within the ring, and Miz and Fact hit their end on him.
Three months in the past, CM Punk was the middle of the wrestling world, strolling out of WWE with their World Title. Three months later, he’s being pinned by The Miz on PPV in a tag group match fourth from the highest as background noise to a Kevin Nash/Triple H feud. **
Nash laid out Hunter with the Jackknife, leaving Hunter laid out longer than he was laid out at WrestleMania 19 earlier than he rolled over to pin Booker T. We bought 4 replays of the Jackknife Powerbomb as Hunter tried to garner sympathy from the group.
I bought upset watching that match. Seeing an unimaginable performer like CM Punk, who had what ought to have been a megastar-making second in Chicago three months previous to this, connected to glory hogs like Hunter and Nash and absolute zeroes in Fact & Miz is miserable. They’d an A-level star of their fingers, the Batman to Cena’s Superman. Somebody who, with the appropriate construct and feuds after Chicago, may have been a real counterpart to Cena and one other high-level enterprise mover. As an alternative of placing their full promotional assist behind constructing that new star, they took that assist and put it behind Triple H, forgoing the try and make a brand new star to placate egos and conceal behind the security blanket of nostalgia.
But regardless of absolutely the bungling of his push post-Cash within the Financial institution, Punk grew to become every part he was purported to be regardless of it. That’s the stage of expertise he had, the place even high-level incompetence or deliberate sabotage couldn’t cease him from reaching his potential. A way, by some means, CM Punk nonetheless had a date with the WWE Championship forward of him.
