Report: More Punk & Legends Interactions And Feud Plans

[Jack-Hammer]

For the past few weeks, we've been treated to some great segments featuring CM Punk confronting beloved legends in regards to his whole "respect" angle. We had Jim Ross last night and Mick Foley last week. According to a report, the idea is for Punk to interact with more legends with the legends trying to convince him to meet John Cena at the HIAC ppv, with Punk eventually agreeing to meet Cena in the match in order to truly "earn" the "best in the world" moniker.

Right now, allegedly, there are two main scenarios said to be in mind for Punk., The first is that WWE might go ahead with Punk vs. Cena at HIAC with Cena then taking more time off in order to heal up. Even though Cena's elbow issues will be cleared up soon, he's been working hurt for a while and I'm sure WWE wants him healthy in time for WM so Cena might take some extended time off. Then afterward, Punk would enter into a feud with Ryback that might last the rest of the year before picking things up with The Rock in time for the Royal Rumble. However, a lot of people backstage are confused as to what's going to happen. Some have said that the WWE might just go ahead with Punk vs. Ryback at HIAC with Cena returning soon afterward to pick things back up with his feud with CM Punk.

Ryback got a good response from the crowd last night and I thought WWE did a good job following up the little tease that closed the show last week. If John Cena is as banged up as is being reported, then Cena taking an extended break might be best because they're going to want Cena ready in the hopes of having another huge WrestleMania payday.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Neither Cena nor Ryback are a good option for Punk right now. This feels like a situation of having to pick from the lesser of two evils. As much as a Cena fan as I am.... I almost always hate seeing feuds last through so many PPV's. We already saw Cena facing Punk at Night of Champions at Summerslam, enough is enough and it should have ended at Night of Champions. It's getting boring. Don't get me wrong, the promos have been good and I have really enjoyed the interactions between Punk and the various legends about respect, but he needs to face someone else now. If retaining against Cena in his home town didn't make Punk "earn" being the best in the world like Cena hinted that it would, why does he have to face him again in Hell In a Cell? WWE may have provided good promos but they have not made the match sound worth purchasing.

Ryback is an even worse option than another Cena rematch. Why do they have to rush him into the WWE Championship scene? This is a perfect example of why WWE are failing to create new stars. He needs to further establish himself first. Look at Kozlov back in 2008. Before he was Santino's foreign sidekick or part of the Ruthless Roundtable he was pushed as a monster heel with an undefeated streak of his own destroying everyone in his path.... Until his streak was ended by main eventers who did NOT need the rub. WWE has invested a lot into Ryback and I hope that they realize they will make a major mistake if they go through with the push. Pushing him into a WWE Championship match that he is almost guaranteed to lose is going to hurt him massively. Even if he won, he's not ready yet. Plus that would mess up Punk's current angle. If I absolutely HAD to pick between these two I'd go with the Cena rematch but NOT a Ryback feud following it. There's plenty of others on the roster Punk can face before the Rock, Ryback needs to continue establishing himself and perhaps hold a midcard title before he can challenge a world title holder. Ryback could feud with Miz over the Intercontinental Championship or with Cesaro over the United States Championship, a win over either would benefit him.

 

[Thriller Ant]

Neither Cena nor Ryback are a good option for Punk right now. This feels like a situation of having to pick from the lesser of two evils. As much as a Cena fan as I am.... I almost always hate seeing feuds last through so many PPV's. We already saw Cena facing Punk at Night of Champions at Summerslam, enough is enough and it should have ended at Night of Champions. It's getting boring. Don't get me wrong, the promos have been good and I have really enjoyed the interactions between Punk and the various legends about respect, but he needs to face someone else now. If retaining against Cena in his home town didn't make Punk "earn" being the best in the world like Cena hinted that it would, why does he have to face him again in Hell In a Cell? WWE may have provided good promos but they have not made the match sound worth purchasing.

Foley's promo last week said it all. Punk has held the title for over 300 days, but he hasn't had "that moment" that people will remember forever. The Cell has been the location of so many moments over the years and it is Punk's chance to have his own. Plus, despite it just being another stop on the calendar now, the Cell does still have that feeling that it ends feuds. Punk has his chance at a memorable moment and Cena has his last chance at Punk. It is booking 101.

Ryback is an even worse option than another Cena rematch. Why do they have to rush him into the WWE Championship scene? This is a perfect example of why WWE are failing to create new stars. He needs to further establish himself first. Look at Kozlov back in 2008. Before he was Santino's foreign sidekick or part of the Ruthless Roundtable he was pushed as a monster heel with an undefeated streak of his own destroying everyone in his path.... Until his streak was ended by main eventers who did NOT need the rub. WWE has invested a lot into Ryback and I hope that they realize they will make a major mistake if they go through with the push. Pushing him into a WWE Championship match that he is almost guaranteed to lose is going to hurt him massively. Even if he won, he's not ready yet. Plus that would mess up Punk's current angle. If I absolutely HAD to pick between these two I'd go with the Cena rematch but NOT a Ryback feud following it. There's plenty of others on the roster Punk can face before the Rock, Ryback needs to continue establishing himself and perhaps hold a midcard title before he can challenge a world title holder. Ryback could feud with Miz over the Intercontinental Championship or with Cesaro over the United States Championship, a win over either would benefit him.

Why follow that old path? Ryback is very over right now, as evidenced last night, and Punk will be out a challenger if Cena's injury doesn't heal properly. WWE has shown that they don't mind doing Dusty finishes in title matches, so have Ryback face Punk. Ryback can get into some trouble, fight back, and have Punk get a DQ win or roll him up with the tights. Ryback gets instant credibility for giving the WWE Champion everything he can take, and loses nothing on a cheap loss. Even though I wouldn't be surprised if they are just throwing shit at a wall right now, the writers have two pretty solid paths they can go down for Hell in a Cell.

 

[El Rev sXe]

Neither Cena nor Ryback are a good option for Punk right now. This feels like a situation of having to pick from the lesser of two evils. As much as a Cena fan as I am.... I almost always hate seeing feuds last through so many PPV's. We already saw Cena facing Punk at Night of Champions at Summerslam, enough is enough and it should have ended at Night of Champions. It's getting boring. Don't get me wrong, the promos have been good and I have really enjoyed the interactions between Punk and the various legends about respect, but he needs to face someone else now. If retaining against Cena in his home town didn't make Punk "earn" being the best in the world like Cena hinted that it would, why does he have to face him again in Hell In a Cell? WWE may have provided good promos but they have not made the match sound worth purchasing.

Actually Dagger, I think it's the right way to end this whole angle between Punk and Cena. I understand what you are saying, but think about it: this rivalry has been going on and off for over a year. Inside the cell, there would be no excuses, no double counts, DQs, there would be only brutality and one man standig over the other. That would stablish Punk as the truly best in the world. Beating Cena is one thing, but beating the crap out of Cena shows how good a performer is.

HiaC is what needs this feud to end, remember the feuds between Cena and Edge. It culminated with a TLC match in Edge's hometown and a couple of years later in the last Backlash PPV (I think) in an excellent last man standing match. Those were feuds that were a drag after a couple of months but had an excellent finish. I think it has the same potential here, not only to cement Punk as best in the World, but also as a legit feud between these two that people will remember for decades. Just like with Edge, is a way for Punk to truly stablish himself as a legit main eventer and also beyond the result in this feud, is a way for him to cement his legacy.

Ryback is an even worse option than another Cena rematch. Why do they have to rush him into the WWE Championship scene? This is a perfect example of why WWE are failing to create new stars. He needs to further establish himself first. Look at Kozlov back in 2008. Before he was Santino's foreign sidekick or part of the Ruthless Roundtable he was pushed as a monster heel with an undefeated streak of his own destroying everyone in his path.... Until his streak was ended by main eventers who did NOT need the rub. WWE has invested a lot into Ryback and I hope that they realize they will make a major mistake if they go through with the push. Pushing him into a WWE Championship match that he is almost guaranteed to lose is going to hurt him massively. Even if he won, he's not ready yet. Plus that would mess up Punk's current angle. If I absolutely HAD to pick between these two I'd go with the Cena rematch but NOT a Ryback feud following it. There's plenty of others on the roster Punk can face before the Rock, Ryback needs to continue establishing himself and perhaps hold a midcard title before he can challenge a world title holder. Ryback could feud with Miz over the Intercontinental Championship or with Cesaro over the United States Championship, a win over either would benefit him.

This on the other hand, I completely agree. I do not like Ryback, I don't like seeing squash matches where a guy basically only shows offense and not defense. I don't see a point at all nor interest in pairing these two. Ryback isn't ready, he needs a real match before being inserted in the main event title picture. I don't like at all this idea

 

[WunNightStan619]

Pushing Ryback into the title picture right now is the absolute worst thing WWE could possibly do at this point and i hope they realize that. Love him or hate him, Ryback is the most over person in the WWE right now. However he still needs more time to develope his character. There needs to be more build behind him. If he's thrown into the title picture now, theres nowhere for him to go but down from there. Even if he were to somehow win the title from Punk at HIAC, we all know that The Rock will win the title at the Royal Rumble. Ryback has the potential to be the next big main event star in the WWE, and i think that he could even bring legitimacy and beleivability back to the title. He's closer to goldberg that brock lesnar even was honestly. I personally would have him continue to run through the entire roster. He already went through the jobbers, the the sub-midcarders..then gaduate to the midcarders, then all the upper mid card. start to feud with Big Show or Randy Orton guys like that and just create a huge anticipation for him challenging for the title. Doing it now will leave him with nowhere to go....however what they are doing now with his interactions with punk, and last night JR can prove to really put him over even more. Im curious to see where it goes

 

[CM Mark]

I have 2 possible ideas for HIAC:

1. IF Cena can go but needs extended time off, have him beat down punk to the point that he is about to win, then have Heyman call for Lesnar to come out, rip off the cell door Kane style and beat Cena down. This will give Cena an excuse to take the next couple months off to recover and makes sense seeing as he went over Lesnar at Extreme Rules. Then you have a mini stable forming with Punk, Lesnar, and Heyman. You could even have the Board of Directors set up a match at Survivor Series with Heyman's team (or stable) facing a team of AJ's choosing with the winner getting control of Raw. I know they did this at Mania but it would seem to be on a much bigger scale here. Could have HHH, Foley, Ryback, Orton, and perhaps Kofi go against Punk, Lesnar, Ziggler, Del Rio, and maybe a debuting Dean Ambrose. This allows Cena time off while still having a MAJOR storyline going forward.

2. If Cena CAN'T go at HIAC, why not just have Foley face Punk? Doesn't anyone else have a feeling that match could be Edge/Foley WM22 all over again? They could pull some major spots (which cena couldnt do) and show that Punk is "the most dangerous man in the WWE". That match sounds much more enticing than a match with Ryback. We all know Foley has no chance of winning, but if you're trying to build this up as a "big moment" he's the guy to look at, not Ryback

 

[Syborgg]

The reason I would say no to the Ryback scenario is because it wouldn't be very believable to have Punk beat Ryback without some sort of outside help. I mean they've been building Ryback as this unstoppable force, all the work they've put into him will be completely wasted if Punk beats him clean in the cell. The only way I'd throw Ryback in at all is if they made it a triple-threat.

I for one hope Cena can go, but at the same time if we know he's going back on the shelf right after, then it pretty much gives away who the winner will be. I know most people think Punk will retain anyways, but if Cena was 100% healthy, there would be at least a shadow of doubt as to who was going to win.

I do agree with the lack of stars and main event players that the WWE has. Not to mention one of them(D-Bryan) being tied up in the tag-team scene. When someone mentions it's time for someone new to challenge Punk, I honestly can't think of more than a few names that would even be worthy of a ppv title shot. Off the top of my head those names are Orton(filming a movie), Bryan(tag-team), Mysterio(tag-team) and maybe Sheamus but he's the WHC already. So who else is there?

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Reports are that the RAW failed in ratings(worst from 4 july 2011) so I am guessing that they will go with Cena for PPV if he is ready. Fact is that they need Cena right now because they dont have anybody else right now that can draw that big. I am guessing that he will be on RAW, wrestle only if he must and working PPVs until he heals completly.

They still dont know what would they do with Ryback and he and Punk are precious because one is WWE champion and the other is on monster push right now so it would be bad that either of them loses some of that winning momentum, but I am guessing if Cena can't be ready for HiAC match that Ryback will jump at Cena's place because I dont see any other option there. It could be good for Punk to win against Ryback though. He is not Cena but he is some sort of "Goldberg 2.0" so it could help to his thing about rescpect.

 

[zhaff2004]

The biggest jibe I have with Ryback/Punk for the strap is that Ryback may be on a great undefeated run but he hasn't fought a match over 5min in length. Do you really want this guy to main event a PPV against a 300+ day world champion on PPV? Their match will need to hit at least 20min to be main event worthy... Hell, if Cena really can't wrestle have them toss anyone else in, Del Rio, Foley... anyone with some sort of main event exposure

 

[Fansince1992]

I think it's a good thing that Cena is taking some time off to repair the elbow. Seems Punk vs Cena has been shoved down our throats a bit since Money in The Bank. We had Cena vs Punk for the WWE Championship at Raw 1000, then again at Summerslam, then again at Night of Champions, then we will probably see it again at Hell in a Cell.

It's like Punk said on Raw, how many title shots does Cena need. Why isn't he now at the bottom of the list after failing to beat Punk for the strap so many times.

Am happy for Cena to eventually come back in as number 1 contender after the surgery to the arm has healed. Having Ryback in there now is good for me. It's at least showing that there is/could be more challengers for the WWE Championship. I would also put Wade Barrett in the mix aswell. I think Wade should be a contender for the WWE Championship rather than the World Heavyweight Championship.

Am a big Cena fan but would rather see him take about 2 months off. It would certainly make his return pretty special. I would also like to see Punk continue to be wary of Ryback, and Paul Heyman come up with a special plan to deal with Ryback... Heyman brings back Brock Lesnar to deal with Ryback. I'd love to see these 2 face to face in the ring.

 

[XXJJ]

I think Cena will be ready to go. If Cena loses at HIAC that should end the Cena/Punk feud for now. I dont know how they can keep dragging it out if that happens.

If Punk wrestles Ryback at HIAC then Punk needs to put him over. Ryback losing in his first big match would kill his momentum. Imagine if Goldberg or Lesnar lost when they were being built up to look dominant. Thats why I think its way too early for a Punk/Ryback feud.

 

[Thriller Ant]

I disagree! He had a huge moment in SS 2011 but of course the WWE botched that entire thing for Cena and HHH!

I think it is pretty indicative of that "huge moment" that I can't remember anything from SummerSlam or Survivor Series, since I have no idea which one you are referencing, that could be considered memorable. If you were talking about SummerSlam, that was a different title reign.

 

[thebarber]

what nobody has mentioned is that the September and October pay per views are 6 weeks apart, instead of the usual 4. Im thinking WWE specifically booked Cena in at this time to get his surgery so he had a 6 week window to recover. When he had the operation, WWE said he would be out for 4-6 weeks, as did Cena before WE turned around and said 2-3 weeks. I think all along Cena vs Punk for HIAC is the plan, and the next feud for both guys will stem from this match. I see Punk getting assistance to retain in the cage, and that person will become Cena's next feud through to January. Punk on the other hand has so much more potential with Heyman on board, Lesnar will rear his head soon enough. Im hoping for Team Punk vs Team Cena at Survivor Series. There are numerous possibilities, hard to specualte. One thing guaranteed is WWE WILL screw this up.