CM Punk walked out on the WWE Universe
 

CM Punk has often said that he can work wonders with the microphone, but a WWE Universe that was expecting a scathing opus in The Second City Saint’s first address since WrestleMania 29 were left with a whimper instead … and a cryptic one at that.

A visibly exhausted Punk had barely begun to speak on his loss to The Undertaker when he stopped mid-sentence, wearily looked around and cut his speech short by giving Paul Heyman an apologetic embrace. With that, the former WWE Champion handed off his sacred microphone and departed the stage, leaving the WWE Universe with more questions than answers as to what would come next. True to form, though, they were speechless in his wake.

The WWE Universe was promised an “Old School” Raw, and few things fit that bill more than the toll of The Undertaker’s gong. Raw had barely begun in Buffalo when The Deadman rose again, stalking through fire and flames and summoning a WrestleMania insignia on the TitanTron, apparently signaling his preparation to face an opponent on The Grandest Stage of Them All.

The Phenom’s apparent challenge brought out four potential foes: Randy Orton, Big Show, Sheamus and CM Punk, who deemed it destiny that he end The Deadman’s WrestleMania streak; a renewed “purpose” given him following the loss of his precious WWE Championship and the opportunity to main-event WrestleMania. With tensions mounting between the fearsome foursome, Managing Supervisor Vickie Guerrero restored order with an executive decision: Orton, Sheamus, Show and Punk would do battle in a Fatal 4-Way to determine who among them would tempt fate and tangle with The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Continue reading »

CM Punk proclaimed himself “God” to the WWE Universe

PHOTOS

Even without the WWE Championship, CM Punk’s crassness knows no bounds. The deposed former champion took to the ring only hours before a potentially career-altering match against John Cena to proclaim his disdain for the WWE Universe. And even for a man who relishes the opportunity to put himself on a pedestal, Punk’s legend seems to have grown to unprecedented heights in his own mind. “Tonight is about what is more important than The Rock. Tonight is about what is more important than WrestleMania,” Punk said. “Tonight is about me.

“I am not just a Superstar,” Punk continued, fire and brimstone erupting from his microphone as his homily reached a fever pitch. “I am an icon that walks among Superstars. … You are in the presence of greatness on two feet. I am not just a human being. I am immortal … a legend. An icon.

“And in this world that you all inhabit, I … I am God.”

John Cena def. CM Punk to decide the No. 1 contender to the WWE Championship

PHOTOS | VIDEO

Perhaps calling himself “God” was excessive self-praise for CM Punk. Perhaps The Straight Edge Superstar was resting too much on his laurels, and perhaps Monday in the American Airlines Center simply wasn’t his night, because John Cena managed to reverse nearly two years of bad luck against the former WWE Champion and pin CM Punk to punch his ticket to the WrestleMania main event in a bout 10-time WWE Champion had appropriately dubbed the “Thunderdome in Dallas.” The Cenation leader and the onetime “Voice of the Voiceless” have a rivalry that stretches back years, and they brought every moment of that mounting tension to a grueling, nearly half-hour-long contest with the biggest opportunity in sports-entertainment hanging in the balance.

Despite his defeat, let it never be said that Punk laid down and died against the 10-time WWE Champion. The Straight Edge Superstar battled his archrival like his life depended on it, using every hold, strike and aerial maneuver in his extensive arsenal to keep Cena at bay. Cena answered in kind time and again, employing an array of his own technical holds to gain the early momentum, but Punk would not be so easily quelled. The Straight Edge Superstar surged back by raining elbows on the back of Cena’s neck and applying a series of submission holds to sap the strength out of him.

The strategy seemed to work when Punk thwarted Cena’s signature shoulder blocks and seemingly regained control for good, but Cena surged back and the two took their fight to the ground, taking each other to the brink by trading their signature submission holds. The back-and-forth nearly sapped the strength from both men but Cena appeared to have the advantage when he plastered Punk with a powerbomb and a top-rope leg drop, but he couldn’t seal Punk up even with whiplash-inducing Attitude Adjustment out of nowhere, nor could Punk with a pair of Go to Sleeps that left the Cenation leader crumpled on the mat.

Punk’s frustration ultimately got the better of him, as The Straight Edge Superstar attempted a series of covers on Cena in a state of disbelief, wasting time that otherwise might have been spent further weakening the Cenation leader. Looking for one final maneuver to put the match away, Punk went up for the flying elbow but Cena dodged the attempt and sent Punk spinning with a hurricanrana. One Attitude Adjustment later to the stunned challenger and CM Punk was on his back, with John Cena headed to WrestleMania once more. And for the first time in a long, long time, CM Punk did not have a single thing to say.

Contender’s Match

LAFAYETTE, La. — We’ll say this much for CM Punk: He does not go down without a fight. Like the proverbial bad penny, The Straight Edge Superstar just keeps coming back when the WWE Universe thinks he’s gone for good. This week, his machinations have ostensibly inserted him back into the WWE Title picture he was removed from just 24 hours earlier when The Rock retained his championship at Elimination Chamber. Punk’s latest scheme, however, was not targeted at The People’s Champion but instead at his old foil John Cena.

Cena, who declared his intention to challenge for the WWE Title at WrestleMania 29 several weeks prior, had barely begun to address the Cajundome crowd when Punk cut the Cenation leader off and attempted to provoke the proverbial bear, recalling Cena’s defeat at Rock’s hands at WrestleMania XXVIII and his numerous losses to Punk himself. Continue reading »

CM Punk talked Paul Heyman out of resigning from WWE

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Perhaps it’s only fitting that, as Raw rolled into the Music City, the evening began with the metaphorical funeral dirge of one Paul Heyman, who came into Nashville, Tenn., with no less an intention than to announce his resignation. His reputation in shambles and his career in jeopardy following the events of the past two weeks, the former ECW mastermind took to the ring to say his final goodbyes. But more importantly, Heyman gave a heartfelt explanation as to why he would be leaving WWE: He would be leaving for the sake of his friend, CM Punk. Continue reading »

CM Punk addressed the WWE Universe and received a WWE Active challenge

ATLANTA — On a day where champions bask in the glory of their triumph, it was a not a freshly crowned conqueror but a former champion who made the most noise when Raw rolled into Atlanta’s Philips Arena.

Just make sure you don’t call him “former” to his face.

The individual in question was, of course, CM Punk, who remained steadfast in his assertion that the WWE Championship should remain his and that, despite Paul Heyman’s apparent collusion with The Shield, he wasn’t ready to take Mr. McMahon at his word that the video was genuine. “If Vince McMahon wants to paint this picture that Paul Heyman and myself are horrible human beings and are in collusion with The Shield and Brad Maddox, he is going to doctor a video and play it on his television show,” Punk said. Continue reading »

CM Punk addressed the WWE Universe

PHOTOS | VIDEO | RAW HIGHLIGHTS | RAW EXCLUSIVES

LAS VEGAS — On a night when the WWE Universe surrenders itself to the whims of Lady Luck and the mercy of the Las Vegas Strip, CM Punk entered Raw under a shroud of irony: It was on a Raw Roulette two summers ago when Punk first dropped the infamous “pipe bomb” that led to his ascent as “Best in the World” and a 434-day reign with the WWE Championship. And on a Raw Roulette that would have been Day 435, Punk arrived in Sin City absent his precious title for the first Raw since November 2011.

And boy, was he mad. Continue reading »

WWE Champion CM Punk addressed the WWE Universe

 
Continue reading »

WWE Champion CM Punk def. Brodus Clay

PHOTOS | VIDEO

Call your mommas and lock up the fine china, Brodus Clay and CM Punk have beef. Taking The Straight Edge Superstar’s snide remarks the previous week to heart, The Funkasaurus stepped into the ring against the reigning WWE Champion to see if Punk could back up the tough talk of his “pipe bombs.” The champion obliged Clay and then some, earning a gritty victory over a raging Brodus in the Toyota Center on Raw’s 20th anniversary. The big man came out swinging with a vicious array of power moves that left Punk reeling, but The Straight Edge Superstar proved his mettle by toughing it out through the big man’s attacks and felling Brodus with several neckbreakers and a flying elbow. With The Funky One down, Punk quickly wrenched his foe into the Anaconda Vise, forcing Clay to tap out.

The Rock performed a “Rock Concert” and brawled with CM Punk

PHOTOS  | VIDEO

It’s time for The Rock to sooth his soul, WWE Universe. As Raw turned 20, The People’s Champion strolled to the ring, guitar in hand, to perform his signature sing-along for the WWE Universe. And The Great One had an audience of two in mind for his latest ditties: Paul Heyman (in absentia) and Vickie Guerrero (in person). The Brahma Bull eviscerated them in song, spinning vicious tunes that left the WWE Universe rolling in the aisles to the tune of his dulcet strumming.

But Rock changed his tune just as he finished it, calling out CM Punk when the concert reached its end. The champion who The Rock snidely dubbed “Cookie Puss” last week obliged and The Great One let loose with a little “pipe bomb” of his own.

“You said that facing you would be like boxing with God. Well you ain’t God. But God as my witness, in 13 days I will beat you for the WWE Title at the Royal Rumble.”

That was enough for Punk to drop all pretense of civility, sending the champion sprinting down the ramp. He swarmed The Great One, instigating an all-out brawl between the two that only stopped after scores of referees and WWE officials stormed the ring to separate the warring Superstars. So Raw turns 20 with a knock-down, drag-out fight. In the end, could it really ever have happened any other way?

WWE Champion CM Punk def. Ryback in a Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match

It was a long time coming, but WWE Champion CM Punk finally faced feeding time in the Tampa Bay Times Forum, battling Ryback one-on-one in a Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match for Punk’s WWE Title that was originally slated to go down at WWE TLC in December. Punk’s unexpected trip under the knife delayed the contest for a full month, but with The Straight Edge Superstar cleared by WWE medical officials, the champion’s brief reprieve from his ravenous challenger was finally at an end.

And make no mistake, Ryback was nothing if not very, very hungry when he finally stepped into the ring against Punk. Ryback literally came out swinging against the champion, tenderizing Punk with body shots and vicious blows from the steel steps, but Punk took advantage of the unique stipulation to fortify his counterattacks. Punk battered Ryback with chair strikes to soften him up for his signature kicks, but Ryback had a similar strategy. He matched Punk shot-for-shot with his own chair and, at one point, delivered a bone-crunching suplex to Punk that drove the champion, back-first, onto a prone ladder.

Punk rallied from the brutal assault to set up a ladder in the center of the ring, but Ryback seemed to irrevocably take control of the bout when he slammed Punk atop the ladder and then dropped him through a table, leaving the champion incapacitated and the title within reach. But right when the beast scaled the ladder, the arena lights cut out. When the lights returned, they revealed The Shield, who stormed the ring. The trio unleashed a beating on Ryback, executing the triple powerbomb and allowing Punk to scale the ladder unscathed. Against all odds, the WWE Champion survives, extending his historic reign by yet another day. Next stop: the Royal Rumble.

The Rock confronted WWE Champion CM Punk

Finally, it’s come down to this: WWE Champion CM Punk and The Rock, in the ring one-on-one. And while the first 2013 encounter between the two (and their first faceoff since Raw 1,000 back in July) was only a verbal one, the atmosphere was still pulsating with electricity and animosity as their WWE Title bout at the Royal Rumble drew ever nearer.

Before The Rock could address the people, however, CM Punk took the opportunity to drop another “pipe bomb.” In his own words, the term has been misinterpreted since that fateful 2011 night in Las Vegas. “Pipe bomb” has taken on the meaning of a tell-all missive, but to the champion, it is simply the truth. And the truth is, despite his efforts, Punk found that life in WWE had not changed much, and claimed that talented Superstars such as himself were still subject to the whims of an audience he believed to be fickle and ill-informed. In that vein, Punk snarled that he did not succeed because of “the people” who suddenly rallied to his side: He succeeded despite the “system” that had been established to keep him and his ilk down, and the fans who supported it in the first place.

“I have beaten you,” Punk said to the Universe, the establishment, to anyone and everyone his words could reach. “I have stomped you out under my oppressive boot and I’m gonna do the same to The Rock because I don’t care if he’s back. You do not get to win.”

At that point, The Rock had enough. The Brahma Bull’s music hit and for the first time since July, The Great One stalked down to the ring and wasted little time in addressing the champion’s comments. “Twenty days,” The Rock said, addressing the number of days Punk has until the fateful WWE Title Match between the two at the Royal Rumble. “Twenty days. Time’s up.”

What followed was a proverbial clash of the titans on the microphone, as Punk’s bilious rhetoric clashed with Rock’s patented braggadocio. After a tense back-and-forth, The Rock laid his own personal truth bare. His own “pipe bomb,” if you will. “The Rock is back to entertain them, The Rock is back to stop you, and after 10 long years, The Rock is back to win that,” he said.

Punk countered with a response that had no shortage of malice, but The Great One would not be deterred. “Twenty days,” Rock warned again. “Time’s up.” And before Punk could reply, The Brahma Bull struck with a Rock Bottom, leaving the WWE Champion in a heap on the canvas and sending an unmistakable message to The Straight Edge Superstar.

Welcome to 2013, WWE Universe. It’s gonna be quite the year. Twenty days.