New WWE Champion
Last night at the Royal Rumble we witnessed a new WWE champion being crowed. None other than the The jabroni beating, pie eating, trail blazing, eye brow raising, the best in the present, future and past, and if y’all don’t like me you can kiss the people’s ass! You guessed it, it’s The Rock. CM Punk had an amazing title run. Perhaps the best we’ve seen in 25 years. A great 25-30 minute match. With great spots, great wrestling and great selling, wrestling fans are still complaining. Apparently the people’s elbow is not the finish fans were anticipating. I agree it’s not the strongest booked finish they could have used, but, fighting each other for 30 minutes, after having surgery a month before the match, receiving a Rock bottom on the outside of the ring, it shouldn’t take THAT much to finish off a wrestler. You got to remember he isn’t invincible. If the fight was ‘real’ there is no way any of those men would be standing after the bout. Therefore, an elbow didn’t seem like a ‘soft’ move.
Fans are also complaining that Rock is the WWE champion. Look at it from WWE’s point of view. They are a business and like every business, they will do what is best for business. We’re nearing WrestleMania, last year’s WrestleMania with Rock in the main event was the HIGHEST selling WrestleMania of all time. The WWE will benefit more having The Rock as WWE champion than the other way around. Every time The Rock is mentioned in the media, he will be addressed as ‘the WWE champion’. This gives WWE media attention and exposure. Besides, the majority of you who complained will love The Rock, again, after tonight’s Raw. I also guarantee tonight’s Raw will be the HIGHEST rated Raw in weeks.
And one last point. There is more to come from CM Punk. Much more. Sometimes when a champion loses his title, the story becomes more interesting as this time he’s chasing the title. His character might take a new approach to changing surroundings, he’ll be more in-depth. There might be more of a buzz to him. He might be more exciting to watch. He could be the Undertaker’s next opponent. My point is, losing the title doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing.
Chris Jericho is back
Oh man. After coming home from a long day at work, I cook my dinner, sit down in my living room to watch the Royal Rumble. I get to the royal rumble match. Excited to see who number two will be. Never did I image it would be none other than the ayatollah of rock and rolla! I marked out worse than Nick Hogan’s tyres! That was the moment of the night for me. And I mean I LITERALLY marked the fuck out! Why? Because I WASN’T EXPECTING IT. That’s why I never read any rumble rumours, I like to be surprised. Though, I do believe Jericho also worked the fans thinking he was attending a music conference which is great too. Jericho loves pro wrestling as much as anyone. He respects the business and knows the show is better when you’re surprised. Better yet, he’ll be staying until at least after WrestleMania. There’s talks within WWE that he will be in program with Ryback, I’ll guess we’ll have to wait and see. If he can’t have a decent match with Jericho, there won’t be much more for him to do in WWE. We won’t be seeing Ryback long term is what I’m saying.
This is my first column in weeks. I haven’t wrote about wrestling for a couple of reasons. I have been extremely busy as of late and simply didn’t have the time to write. I also wasn’t that motivated to write as not much was really happening in the crazy world of professional wrestling. Now that we’re coming into WrestleMania season, as there’s more to actually talk about, I expect to write at least once a week. I’ll try at least.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I would love to know your thoughts on the two subjects. Whether it’s a hated rant or a heart-warming poem, I don’t care! I just want to read your feedback. All newcomers are welcome to comment 🙂
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Ringsidehustle.com 
Ill tell you why this ISN’T good for business.
Sure this will boost Wrestlemania Tickets, but to be fair, He did the same last year without needing the Belt, or contending for the Title, the same could have been done again this year. However where does leave Punk, a Reign ended because of Politics, the same things he talked about in his pipebomb promo 2 years ago, that still rings to this day, once Mania is over, and Cena is champ, where does this leave Punk? Fighting for the Title again? Why take it off him in the first place then?
While Yes Great, Let us sell Tickets on the one time of the year when THEY can sell Tickets. Wrestlemania as a whole is a massive event that out ranks many other once a year events. It will always have buyers, it is the one time of the year people tune into wrestling, and I can understand wanting to sell a few more tickets, or get a boost in the buy rates, but this is only a short term run. In the long run, we lose a chance to See who can Really take down Punk’s Streak, If Punk could win cleanly as a heel, over come an obstacle that challenges him. We saw Punk do this as a face, however not as a heel, and with his reign done, we won’t now.
This was an unneeded bullshit quick-fix attempt to find some loophole to get Rock and Cena to face off again. Neither of them needed the title to do it, but hey, It is the bandaid belt, Use it to fix all broken storylines.
In his Raw promo tonight he uses Prestige, in describing his title run, and he was right, he gave meaning to the belt again… Now that it is on The Rock, and Going to Cena, the Belt, in 24 hours, goes back to what it once was, A bandaid prop to tie up stories for no real reason. If WWE wanted Cena VS Rock II, they didn’t need to end Punk’s run to do it. Rock will still always sell tickets, Cena will still sell T-Shirts, but loses like the one last night to punk, just proves him right, You are nothing unless you are an ass kisser.
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Good perspective and I am not totally disagreeing with you. But if the title is on Rock it does make the title look better (in terms of mainstream media). For the past 5 years, WWE’s booking has been 5 years of short term booking. Eventually their time will run out and will need more stars for long term booking. Punk is a star and taking the title off him doesn’t make a difference IMO.
If it was up to me, CM Punk would be still champion, without a doubt. But what’s not to say WWE have bigger plans for Punk? What about Taker? Who knows. It fits his character really well to want to break the streak. He’s the ”best in the world”. It would make sense. I see him and Brock as the only two candidates for the Undertaker. So even though he lost his title, it could lead to bigger things for him.
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Ray, my issue isn’t with the Rock being champ. I can live with that and I think it’s kinda cool.
That thought is completely tarnished however by the fact they’ve basically telegraphed the main event and the result of Wrestlemania this early by having Cena win the Rumble. Rock goes into Mania as champ, Cena regains the title at Wrestlemania 29.
I do not want to see that.
In this situation The Rock is little more than a transitional champion they can make a few quid out of in the process.
Bottom line.
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Yeah exactly. I understand your issues and this column was not directed in a response to your thoughts from twitter, just so you know! It’s just how I feel towards the majority of the IWC reaction.
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I have no problem with The Rock becoming champion, you could see it coming. As for the finish, Andre the Giant who was 7 foot 4, 500 pounds was beaten by a motherfucking leg drop, brother, lol so the finish wasn’t that bad. Jericho’s return was great.
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Peoples reactions to the finish annoys me the most. I do respect their opinion, though!
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Way different eras. You didn’t see half the moves then that you do now.
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Didn’t Rock beat Stone Cold with the elbow?
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I really like the current direction. I felt the Rumble was one of the most important shows in recent memory and I don’t have a problem with Rock being champion. Wrestling should always be about doing the right thing for business and Rock winning the belt was the right move. I don’t think the loss hurt Punk in any way and they are going to have a rematch at the next PPV. The money match is Rock vs. Cena for the belt and I’m glad that the company is sticking to their guns.
And the Jericho return totally caught me off guard. I hadn’t heard any news or rumors about him and was genuinely shocked to see him. It’s always good to see Jericho in a WWE ring.
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Pretty much the same perspective but what annoys people was the predictable booking. As a fan I rather not have a clue knowing what happens, but I felt I did know with Cena winning, same with Rock. That’s the downside.
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That Fat kid video is brilliant. Talk about taking too seriously, lol.
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Yeah it’s hilarious! haha
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I’ve already ranted about this in the comments of the Wrestling Backfire column…couldn’t wait until Monday.
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I saw 🙂 I should of put a discussion post up for it!
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“Chill out, people!” Ray, that should’ve been your whole column. It would be a great troll move.
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Haha would’ve been a great idea! I’ll troll ya’ll someday!!
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Oh, crap!
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The “People’s Champion” won’t be on RAW next week. I can’t remember CM Punk ever missing a single RAW during his 434 day reign and Rock will miss RAW at the start of week 2 of his reign.
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I would much rather Punk as champion, without a doubt. I just don’t think Rock as champ might not be that bad?
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He did walk out though. 😉
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With the peoples walk! 😀
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Jerichos back Babey…
Gotta say I popped huge when Y2Js music hit! After Zigglers promo in the ring I was sat there telling myself ‘it’s Cena, its bound to be Cena’ how relieved I was.
However, I was disappointed using Vickie as an excuse for his return, is she a heel, a face? Vince was there, surely he could have said he brought him back?
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I think every passionate fan did! lol. I had a feeling it would be someone big that would shock Ziggler, but Jericho I never had guessed!
She’s a heel but I think she is trying to be fair.
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