NegativeFeedback
Mid-Card Championship Winner
I just finished watching the WrestleMania Rewind about CM Punk winning his Money in the Bank ladder matches. I think it was the worst WM Rewind episode I've seen so far. It's filled with so much bullshit.
First let me get out of the way how awful the structure was. The interviews constantly switch from kayfabe-to-realism. You have CM Punk talking about how they told him one day they were going to have Randy attack him later for an angle to strip him of the title and they jump to Wade Barrett talking about how hard it is to win a hardcore match with so many competitors when the odds are stacked against you. These interviews weren't pieced together in an intelligent way.
You also had people like Natalya commenting about CM Punk's debut. Why the hell is Natalya commenting on CM Punk's debut when she didn't debut herself until 2 years later? And speaking of Wade Barrett, why is he talking about MitB if he's never even been in one, plus he has hardly any history with CM Punk whatsoever? The choices they made for these interviews were mind-boggling.
But anyway, here's my main complaint: The Revisionist History.
They talked about the Unforgiven angle with Randy Orton and CM Punk. CM Punk walks into the building, they tell him he won't be on the PPV, and he gets pissed. Michael Hayes then mentions that CM Punk had an injured elbow so they were going to have him take time off, and that a lot of people in the company were happy he was injured so they can take the title off him. CM Punk then mentions that he had an injury but he wanted to "go out swinging".
But here's the thing: CM PUNK WAS NEVER INJURED. I distinctly remembering him having his World title rematch the next week in a Steel Cage. And then starting his feud with Legacy with a match right after. And he worked every single week for years until his actual elbow injury in 2010. In fact, I think the bit about CM Punk saying how he was injured and he wanted to go out swinging was footage taken out of context about that injury in 2010.
I have no idea why they felt they needed to add that fake injury into the narrative. They already established that management hated him and wanted to take the title off him. They didn't need to say he was injured and that's why he didn't compete in the match that night. But they made it seem like they had no choice but to take Punk out of the match-- when in reality, it was just a product of horrible writing.
That wasn't the only revisionist history in the documentary. They also talked about how WM24 was Punk's first Money in the Bank ladder match, when he had competed at WM23. They kept talking about how he worked "2 consecutive ladder matches" as if it was such a big deal. Mention the fact he worked 3 consecutive ladder matches!! It's a bigger deal!!
This was the first time I sat down to watch a network show in about 2 months, and I think it's going to be the last for a while. I am very unimpressed with what I've seen so far, and if they're going to start changing the facts and presenting us with edited revisionist history, there is no point in watching these documentaries at all.
First let me get out of the way how awful the structure was. The interviews constantly switch from kayfabe-to-realism. You have CM Punk talking about how they told him one day they were going to have Randy attack him later for an angle to strip him of the title and they jump to Wade Barrett talking about how hard it is to win a hardcore match with so many competitors when the odds are stacked against you. These interviews weren't pieced together in an intelligent way.
You also had people like Natalya commenting about CM Punk's debut. Why the hell is Natalya commenting on CM Punk's debut when she didn't debut herself until 2 years later? And speaking of Wade Barrett, why is he talking about MitB if he's never even been in one, plus he has hardly any history with CM Punk whatsoever? The choices they made for these interviews were mind-boggling.
But anyway, here's my main complaint: The Revisionist History.
They talked about the Unforgiven angle with Randy Orton and CM Punk. CM Punk walks into the building, they tell him he won't be on the PPV, and he gets pissed. Michael Hayes then mentions that CM Punk had an injured elbow so they were going to have him take time off, and that a lot of people in the company were happy he was injured so they can take the title off him. CM Punk then mentions that he had an injury but he wanted to "go out swinging".
But here's the thing: CM PUNK WAS NEVER INJURED. I distinctly remembering him having his World title rematch the next week in a Steel Cage. And then starting his feud with Legacy with a match right after. And he worked every single week for years until his actual elbow injury in 2010. In fact, I think the bit about CM Punk saying how he was injured and he wanted to go out swinging was footage taken out of context about that injury in 2010.
I have no idea why they felt they needed to add that fake injury into the narrative. They already established that management hated him and wanted to take the title off him. They didn't need to say he was injured and that's why he didn't compete in the match that night. But they made it seem like they had no choice but to take Punk out of the match-- when in reality, it was just a product of horrible writing.
That wasn't the only revisionist history in the documentary. They also talked about how WM24 was Punk's first Money in the Bank ladder match, when he had competed at WM23. They kept talking about how he worked "2 consecutive ladder matches" as if it was such a big deal. Mention the fact he worked 3 consecutive ladder matches!! It's a bigger deal!!
This was the first time I sat down to watch a network show in about 2 months, and I think it's going to be the last for a while. I am very unimpressed with what I've seen so far, and if they're going to start changing the facts and presenting us with edited revisionist history, there is no point in watching these documentaries at all.
