Better Than You – A Storyline Retrospective
By Jordan

Awhile back, when I was more active on the IWC, forums, and such, I loved writing out any storylines I created, and receiving feedback. I don’t really do that these days, for my own various reasons, but am beginning to get the itch to do so again. Recently, I became very bored one day, and decided to go through old files on my laptop. Like I said, very bored. Anyway, I came across some old storylines I had written, and this one here, one of the last I typed up, caught my eye.

This is a story between CM Punk and Chris Jericho, during the Spring/Summer of 2010. I originally crafted it shortly before WrestleMania 26, and today, leading into a dream match between the two at WrestleMania 28, find the parallels and differences make quite an intriguing retrospect. It’s also neat to see how much my own mindset, and skill, has changed in merely two years. I believe, I wrote this out to where the weeks/time follow along with the actual ppv schedule, which I thought was cool.

Let me know what you think, or rather, what you thought while reading this. Enjoy.

After losing his title at Extreme Rules to Edge, in a WrestleMania rematch, Chris Jericho comes out on SD to address the crowd. He starts rambling, until interrupted by CM Punk. Punk, who won his match at E.R., and “injured” Rey Mysterio, his opponent, tells Jericho that no one cares about what an alcohol consuming, pill popping, druggie has to say. He then begins on a rant of his own, before interrupted by Jericho. He tells Punk that if no one wants to listen to him, they certainly do not want to listen to him. The two then begin in an exchange about whether Jericho is a “alcohol consuming, pill popping, druggie.” Teddy Long comes out to stop the arguing, and makes a match between the two for later in the evening. Punk wins the match after interference from Luke Gallows and Serena. The following week on SD, Jericho comes out to cut another promo, that has nothing to do with Punk/SES, however, he is once again interrupted by Punk after saying he is “the best in the world at what he does.” Punk says that there is no way Jericho is the best in the world, because that honor is bestowed upon himself. Punk mentions how last week he defeated him, because, “he’s straight-edge, which means better than you.” Jericho quickly responds by bringing up how Punk only won by cheating. At that, Punk with SES, exits the ring, as we go to a commercial break.

Later that night, Jericho is backstage to do an interview. The interviewer questions him about his heated confrontation with CM Punk. Jericho responds by questioning the interviewer’s intelligence for calling whats happened, “heated.” The interviewer moves on to the next question, which is if Punk has gotten his attention. Jericho gives a dissatisfied look, before walking off, only to pipe back in a few seconds later, yelling that Punk has done nothing to make himself even a small blimp on his radar. Later that night, however, Punk puts himself on the radar. Luke Gallows costs Jericho the match he was in, but Jericho is still able to fend him off. As Jericho is walking back up the ramp, Punk jumps him from behind, and he and SES proceed to beat down Jericho.The next week, a bandaged-up Jericho takes on Luke Gallows, who basically destroys him. Jericho, however, is able to mount a slight comeback towards the end of the match, only to be distracted by Serena, and defeated. Punk then makes his way out to the ring, without music. Once in the ring, he leans over Jericho, and says, “Best in the world?”

On the next episode, Punk cuts a promo about how he told people that being straight-edge means he’s better than everyone, and the self-proclaimed “Best in the World” has found that out over the last couple of weeks. He points to the tron, and footage of the last few weeks plays. After the video, Punk tells everyone that Jericho wasn’t medically cleared to be there that night, and how he’s instead sitting at home, popping pain pills. It’s later announced that Jericho will be on next weeks show.

The following week, we see Punk backstage with SES, discussing how Jericho was supposed to be there, but has yet to show his face. Someone comes up to them, and informs Punk that the GM wants to see him, alone, in his office. In a segment later that night, we see Punk going into the GM’s office. He walks into the room, and as the door closes behind him, we see Jericho standing behind it. He locks the door, which causes Punk to turn around, only to be jumped. Jericho beats him down, sets him up against the couch, and then sits down beside him. He talks to Punk for a moment, as he is pulling out some “pills”. He then grabs Punk, and forces the “pills” down his throat, and in his mouth, as Punk tries to fight him off, until coming to a realization; the “pills” are only Tic Tacs. Jericho starts laughing, as he leaves the office. The following week, Punk and Gallows are scheduled for tag team match. However, they are called into the GM’s office once again. This time Punk is weary, and has Gallows kick open the door, and the two burst in. We then see Jericho outside the office, as he closes the door, and props a chair up against it, trapping Punk and Gallows inside. When it’s time for their mainevent match, Jericho comes out instead, and says due to SES no showing, he will instead be having a match to cover for them. He issues an open challenge for whoever comes out first. Serena comes out, not for the challenge, and gets in the ring, and begins yelling at Jericho. Jericho simply stands there for a minute, before signaling for the referee to start the match. He hits Serena with a Codebreaker,as the show goes off the air.

The next week, Punk, with Gallows, cuts a promo in the ring complaining about what happened to Serena, and the injuries she sustained. He calls for reprimands against Jericho, who then comes out, and explains that he issued an open challenge to the first person to come out, and that just happened to be Serena; why she didn’t just go remove the chair, is beyond his comprehension. For this, Jericho says that Punk must have polluted her mind, and made her stupid, or something. The three begin brawling, but Gallows is soon eliminated from the mix. Teddy Long comes out with a brigade of security to restrain the two. Long says he’s tired of them, and announces a match for that night between the two, where the loser will be suspended indefinitely. During the match, Punk gets himself counted out. Jericho comes out the following week, and acts like Punk getting suspended is a good thing. Punk then appears on the tron via satellite. Jericho tells everyone to say hello to the coward. Punk responds by saying now he gets some much over-do time off, to relax, while Jericho gets to deal with SES. Gallows tries to attack from behind, but Jericho expects this, and counters with a Codebreaker.

For the next two weeks Jericho and Gallows face off. The first week, Jericho easily defeats him, but the second week Serena returns, and interferes, allowing Gallows to pick up the win. This set-ups a mixed tag team match for the next week, involving Gallows/Serena and Jericho/?. Punk returns during the match, and comes out carrying a chair, and mic. He begins talking about his time off as he’s making his way toward the ring, which distracts Jericho. When he reaches the ring, he climbs up onto the ring apron, putting him face to face with Jericho. He lifts up the chair, looks at it, looks at Jericho, and back again, before jumping down, and sitting in it to watch the rest of the match, which ends abruptly thereafter. Punk gets up, slowly, with an annoyed expression, folds the chair, and slides into the ring. Serena takes care of Jericho’s partner(which could lead to a separate storyline). Gallows lifts Jericho to his knees, and Punk tells him that he really expected and wanted to see a better match, worthy of “the best in the world.”, before ramming the chair into his stomach.

The following week, Teddy Long comes out to the ring and says that he is tired of all the blindside attacks going on with Jericho and Punk on his show. He then informs everyone that at the upcoming ppv(MITB), the two will be competing in a one-on-one match, with Gallows and Serena banned from ringside. He adds that Punk will be having a match that night, and Jericho is banned from ringside. Punk wins this match with some ease, and afterwords, grabs a mic and tells Jericho that that is how the best do it.

At the ppv, the match starts with an enraged Jericho, unloading on Punk, who then attempts to walk out, but Jericho brings him back. After that, the match is pretty back and forth, until the end. At the end, Jericho begins to get the upper-hand, before Punk grabs a steel chair, and wacks him with it, leading to a DQ. That week on SD, the show opens with Jericho sitting in a steel chair, in the middle of the ring. He calmly explains what occurred at the ppv, before revealing that the chair he’s sitting in, is the chair that CM Punk used on him. He goes on to say that Punk insn’t close to being the best, and is nothing but a coward who has to revert to using weapons. Punk’s music hits, and he, along with SES, come down to the ring. Punk tells Jericho that he should never have had to face someone so inferior to him in the first place. He says Jericho couldn’t even win a measly mixed tag team match, whereas Punk won his singles match the week after. He says that Jericho proclaims that he’s the “best in the world”, still however, he’s better than him. Due to this, he adds, he will not be wrestling until Theodore Long finds him suitable competition. As Punk turns to exit the ring, Jericho picks up the chair, and tries to hit him with it, but Gallows ends up taking the blow instead.

Punk, true to his word, doesn’t wrestle for the next two weeks, when Long informs him that if he doesn’t he will be fined heavily. His first match is against Gallows, who simply lays down for the one, two, three. After the “match”, Long comes out and says that he was afraid that might happen, so he made another match for later that night; a lumberjack match. During the lumberjack match, Punk is tossed out of the ring a few times, to different sides, but always avoiding one particular side. On that side, sits a disguised Jericho in the front row. When Punk is finally thrown out to that side, Jericho jumps the railing, and starts wailing away on Punk, along with the other lumberjacks. After a minute, the lumberjacks realize that someone doesn’t belong. Security finally arrest the “crazed fan”, and as they are walking him back up the ramp, remove the disguise revealing Jericho.

The following week, a match between the two is announced for SummerSlam. Jericho comes out later, though, and says that he isn’t content with the match as is, and wants it to be a No Holds Barred match. He calls out CM Punk, but gets Teddy Long instead. Long informs him that Punk isn’t there tonight, but also tells him that he’ll get his No Hold’s Barred match, however, in the weeks leading up to the match, he and Punk can have no physical altercations, or both will be detained on the spot. He then addresses CM Punk, telling him that if he misses one more show, there will be repercussions. The following week, Punk is in the ring with SES. He makes fun of Teddy’s “repercussions” spiel, and says that he may not be able to do anything to Jericho himself, but Teddy never made mention of SES, and that Jericho had better watch his back between now-SES exits the ring-and the start of their match at SummerSlam. Later in the show, we see Gallows and Serena hunting Jericho backstage, which happens up to the ppv.

At SummerSlam, we see them continuing their hunt, as Gallows heads in one direction, and Serena another. There’s a loud crash, and the cameraman goes running in Serena’s direction, along with Gallows, to find Serena tied to a chair. Jericho then hits Gallows with a weapon, and the segment ends. In a segment later on, we see Gallows now tied to a chair, next to Serena. The camera then cuts to Jericho who is in a forklift. He turns the forklift on, laughing with a crazy look on his face, and lifts Serena and Gallows into the air, before calming turning the machine off, disposing of the key, and starting to laugh again.

Jericho wins the match that night. During the match, Rey Mysterio returns, and plays a small role. That week on SD, Mysterio is looking to get revenge on Punk for injuring him, but Punk says he’s too busy to deal with him, and no longer cares, and instead makes Mysterio, Gallows problem.

Punk is looking for a rematch with Jericho, who tells him he doesn’t care about him anymore(referring to how Punk treated Mysterio). Punk asks Jericho what the best in the world is afraid of. The following week, Jericho agrees to a rematch, but Punk wants to choose the match type. Jericho says that’s not how it works, and the two continue to disagree. So the next week, Teddy Long puts both in a match, and declares whoever wins their match, will decide their rematch stipulation. However, both win, so Long announces the match to be a HIAC match, at the HIAC ppv. The following week, we hear from both Jericho and Punk, who are both satisfied with the match. Jericho is happy, because it means no SES involvement, and Punk can’t run. Punk is happy, because it’s a brutal match, wherein he can destroy Jericho.

On the next episode of SD, Jericho faces Gallows. Mysterio interferes to go after Gallows, and Punk also makes his presence felt. The next week, Punk must face an opponent of Jericho’s choosing; Mysterio. This sets-up a match for the final show before the ppv, which is Jericho/Mysterio vs. Punk/Gallows. At HIAC, Punk wins the match, which prompts Jericho to ask for a rematch on that week’s SD, but Punk refuses. So, Jericho uses Punk’s own tactic against him, asking, “If you’re the better than the best, what do you have to worry about?” The following week, Punk accepts the match, which will take place at the Bragging Rights ppv. He adds the stipulation, that when he wins, Jericho must finally admit to everyone that Punk is better than the best. Jericho quickly agrees, but adds that when he wins, Punk must tell everyone that Jericho is the best in the world. Jericho ends up winning the match at BR, and that week on SD, Jericho forces Punk to say that he is the best in the world at what he does.