CM Punk's 434 day reign was awful to happen.

[Sparkybob]

I don't mind the occasional extremely long title run if the payoff is worth it. The JBL title reign, as painful as it was at certain point was worth it since the payoff was Cena being made a star by beating him.

If Punk's long title reign payoff was making someone a star by ending then it will be remember more fondly, but instead we got the gassed Rock to win it.

[Ishmeal Loves BBL Bayley]

Nov 28, 2013 21:38:44 GMT -5 Sparkybob said:

I don't mind the occasional extremely long title run if the payoff is worth it. The JBL title reign, as painful as it was at certain point was worth it since the payoff was Cena being made a star by beating him.

If Punk's long title reign payoff was making someone a star by ending then it will be remember more fondly, but instead we got the gassed Rock to win it.

I agree. They could have done the Punk storyline exactly the same, all the while building up a new, credible babyface to end the reign of Punk.

[Deleted]

I don't know if it was an awful decision, but I do think it was an awful reign. Admittedly I stopped watching after he turned heel, but the match with Rock was awful and essentially made the entire reign pointless outside of giving them a reason why Cena winning the belt should've been a big deal given he was so long without it, and the first half mostly consisted of a bunch of bad PPV matches where no one got to look remotely close to Punk's level in between him tearing people apart on the mic weekly.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

The first half was pretty good, I thought. The second half with "I would give my left nut for the crowd to boo me" Punk? Yeah, pretty rough.

[xxshoyuweeniexx]

I think by the time Punk was feuding with Bryan, they knew they wanted Rock vs Cena next year to be for the title. And honestly, there weren't a whole lot of choices that could have lost to the Rock in a decent match that the crowd would care about.

Like, say you put Miz in that role...Miz can't carry a lesser worker, which is what juiced up movie star Rock is right now, it'd be a snoozefest train wreck. Del Rio? After his WWE title run, you just knew WWE still liked him...but not "let's have him in the biggest angle of the company" type of like, more like "feud on the B-show and be in the 5th/6th most important thing" type of like. Ziggler? Not credible enough. Jericho? Wasn't here until February. Bryan? Wanted him to be in a tag team with Kane.

Punk was honestly the best choice for the transition. The problem was the heel turn that was badly recieved because for some reason WWE doesn't like face vs face matches beside Rock vs Cena.

[angryfan]

I think that it could have been something far more special than it was, however many of the problems I have with WWE reared their ugly head during it.

You take a guy who was white hot as an Austin-style tweener. He wins the title and it gets mainstream pub. For most companies, that's a dream scenario. But...that reign ended up being submarined. Then came the 434 day run. He switched face to heel, changed his character, and was overshadowed by the "real stars" since everyone knew it would be Rock/Cena at Mania and those two were the only credible babyfaces. So ROck gets his ego title win, then Cena beats Rock.

Longest title run in the modern era got the same treatment as the first undisputed champion. Yes it was a waste because it was made to seem secondary.

[xCompackx]

Nov 28, 2013 21:45:27 GMT -5 Ishmeal Loves BBL Bayley said:

Nov 28, 2013 21:38:44 GMT -5 Sparkybob said:

I don't mind the occasional extremely long title run if the payoff is worth it. The JBL title reign, as painful as it was at certain point was worth it since the payoff was Cena being made a star by beating him.

If Punk's long title reign payoff was making someone a star by ending then it will be remember more fondly, but instead we got the gassed Rock to win it.

I agree. They could have done the Punk storyline exactly the same, all the while building up a new, credible babyface to end the reign of Punk.

I agree but by that point, it gets to the same question that happens whenever Undertaker's streak comes up: Who can end it without making it a joke? CM Punk beat pretty much everyone credible by the time he lost to Rock. If a newly pushed guy wins when the established guys couldn't, it'd make Jericho, Bryan, Cena, Ryback, etc. look bad if it's done wrong.

[Ryback on a Pole!]

Ryback should have beat Punk for the title. He was on fire during that feud and at the height of his popularity yet WWE didn't capitalise.

[Deleted]

Nov 28, 2013 22:17:31 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I don't know if it was an awful decision, but I do think it was an awful reign. Admittedly I stopped watching after he turned heel, but the match with Rock was awful and essentially made the entire reign pointless outside of giving them a reason why Cena winning the belt should've been a big deal given he was so long without it, and the first half mostly consisted of a bunch of bad PPV matches where no one got to look remotely close to Punk's level in between him tearing people apart on the mic weekly.

Which PPV matches in the babyface portion could you say were bad?

TLC against Miz and Del Rio in the ladder match was really good

Great match with Ziggler at the Rumble

Strong Elimination Chamber match

Mania and Extreme Rules against Jericho, Mania was good Extreme Rules was great

Over the Limit against Bryan....awesome

No Way Out vs. Kane and Bryan, really good

Money In The Bank No DQ with Bryan, awesome again


Summerslam's main event wasn't good, but that was after he turned heel, and after that things just got stupid. Punk had the best WWE title run in terms of match quality that I can recall since I started watching again in 2008, especially the first half as a babyface.

[cabbageboy]

Ryback's main problem was that he was the right guy at the worst possible time. By that point Rock had already announced the Rumble match, which made everything else WWE title related a lame duck scenario because we knew Rock was getting the belt there. Punk's reign became meaningless. Ryback's feud was meaningless. It didn't matter how over Ryback got, he simply wasn't getting the belt there. In the process of getting to Cena/Rock II WWE basically sabotaged Punk and killed off Ryback's heat.

The sad thing about Punk's title run is that Cena even commented on how 2nd rate Punk was even as champion. He even said "You've had the title X amount of days and for that time it has been worthless." Stuff like that.

[Sumbody Gon' Get Dey Kneelift]

I agree it didn't really help anyone, but your logic is...odd.

I mean you're not really outright wrong, but isn't the point of the person staying champion for a long time that they're the best? And then when someone beats them it's a big deal?

I can't really articulate it, but your logic feels weird to me.

[Greer]

Nov 28, 2013 23:09:14 GMT -5 Ryback on a Pole! said:

Ryback should have beat Punk for the title. He was on fire during that feud and at the height of his popularity yet WWE didn't capitalise.

Absolutely right. The Rock did not need the title and didn't need to feud with Punk either. He could've simply left after Mania 28 and given Cena his rematch the next year.

Bad timing ruined the whole thing. They were in the middle of building a huge star in Ryback, and the setup was right there to have him get the big win at Mania. After weeks and months of getting screwed by Heyman, crooked refs and the Shield, he could have won the Rumble (eliminating Cena would've been huge for him and set up a rematch later), challenged Punk to a match at Mania and overcome the odds to beat Punk clean.

He fends off Heyman, crooked ref Maddox and the Shield all by himself to finally win the title.

You get your "Mania moment", and a star making feud/match.

After that, Heyman and Punk can break off, Heyman can order the Shield to beat down Maddox for screwing up his ref duties, and Ryback can move on to his next feud with maybe Henry or some other big bad heel until Summerslam where he can face Cena in the big title match (face vs face).

[Deleted]

Nov 28, 2013 23:19:04 GMT -5 @lovehater said:

Nov 28, 2013 22:17:31 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I don't know if it was an awful decision, but I do think it was an awful reign. Admittedly I stopped watching after he turned heel, but the match with Rock was awful and essentially made the entire reign pointless outside of giving them a reason why Cena winning the belt should've been a big deal given he was so long without it, and the first half mostly consisted of a bunch of bad PPV matches where no one got to look remotely close to Punk's level in between him tearing people apart on the mic weekly.

Which PPV matches in the babyface portion could you say were bad?

TLC against Miz and Del Rio in the ladder match was really good

Great match with Ziggler at the Rumble

Strong Elimination Chamber match

Mania and Extreme Rules against Jericho, Mania was good Extreme Rules was great

Over the Limit against Bryan....awesome

No Way Out vs. Kane and Bryan, really good

Money In The Bank No DQ with Bryan, awesome again


Summerslam's main event wasn't good, but that was after he turned heel, and after that things just got stupid. Punk had the best WWE title run in terms of match quality that I can recall since I started watching again in 2008, especially the first half as a babyface.

Admittedly, haven't seen the Extreme Rules match or the Over the Limit one with Bryan. That being said... the match where he actually won the title isn't remotely memorable, the match with Ziggler was an extended squash match that made him look like an absolute joke, the Elimination Chamber was just forgettable, the Mania match started out horrible and turned decent in the second half, and the Money in the Bank match with Bryan was boring as hell and was basically twenty minutes of Bryan caning him before Punk won out of nowhere in the most anticlimactic way possible. Sheamus / del Rio from the same show was awful and I still thought it was better than that Bryan / Punk match.

I'll grant you on the two triple threat matches, though. Those were fun. Though the No Way Out one did just kind of see Bryan vanish from the face of the earth in the last few minutes. And I'd probably like the Over the Limit match since I've liked the other Punk / Bryan matches I've seen, just not that one.

[Straight Edge Scrotum]

Meh...it led to the Rock being champ and doing away with the spinner. Sacrifices had to be made.

[RIHT]

Nov 28, 2013 23:29:01 GMT -5 Sumbody Gon' Get Dey Kneelift said:

I agree it didn't really help anyone, but your logic is...odd.

I mean you're not really outright wrong, but isn't the point of the person staying champion for a long time that they're the best? And then when someone beats them it's a big deal?

I can't really articulate it, but your logic feels weird to me.

I know. I'm trying to say that CM Punk is almost "too good" in today's WWE. No one else could've matched up to him during his reign, thus, he held the title for so long and no one was really credible enough to beat him for it, or WWE just squandered their chance at it. Plus, in a weird way, he was essentially a transitional champ for Rock vs. Cena.

[SEAN CARLESS]

I'm just happy that he's now the 5th longest reigning WWE Champion ever. Kind of a cool feather in your cap to a guy who once had to put over Bob Holly.

[thelonewolf527]

I wanted CM Punk to lose to Daniel Bryan in June/July, John Cena in September, and Ryback in October so watching him retain all those times was definitely deflating for a guy I really enjoyed to watch

[Feargus McReddit]

With Ryback, I have said this before and it should be emphasised again, he was put in that position simply because Cena got injured. If Cena didn't get injured, we'd honestly be talking a very different story with Ryback.

Edit: Don't get me wrong, he was super over but it'd be a lot more organic and he'd probably be a world champion at least once by now,

[TOK Is the Target Demo]

Nov 29, 2013 3:47:14 GMT -5 SEAN CARLESS said:

I'm just happy that he's now the 5th longest reigning WWE Champion ever. Kind of a cool feather in your cap to a guy who once had to put over Bob Holly.

Putting Bob Holly over is no small feat. The man is a superheavyweight of the highest caliber.

[mrbananagrabber]

Punk losing to Rock, Cena winning the Rumble, the Rock losing to Cena...the main event scene was SO f***ing predictable for over a year. Awful.