The Cult of Personality: CM Punk’s Heel Turn

Over the last ten years, WWE hasn’t had any real competition. Therefore, the company has been able to do things its own way without many consequences.

In the process, it seemed as if some arts of character establishing were lost. The people behind the gimmicks were now more tightly wound than they had been, and in return seemed as if Vince McMahon went back on what he promised back in 1997.

When the seeds were hatched for CM Punk’s turn to the dark side on RAW 1000, there was skepticism.

Not only was Punk still getting cheered like a mad man, but Jerry Lawler on commentary made a double-standard that somehow made Punk look more face-ish than almost ever.

It started out with The Rock who pretty much side-stepped Punk in a promo earlier in the show. It should be noted that the continuity from the initial pipe bomb promo was inexplicably absent.

Then it was Lawler’s misstep on commentary. This led to Punk downright owning Lawler multiple times on the microphone and inside of a steel cage. 

Then it was John Cena telling him that respect needs to be earned every night at every arena. A Falls-Count-Anywhere match led Punk to interfere on his “night off”, and perform Go-to-Sleep on Cena on a Chrysler 300.

Add in a dash of Paul Heyman, who was the driver of said 300 (not the SE Spartan Edition), and we got a slow-burn heel-turn that quite frankly is kicking all sorts of ass.

While many people don’t see the sense of a Punk and Heyman pairing, it should be noted these two had been going back and forth on Twitter months leading up to the reveal. Punk having a manager in Heyman would also bring attention to not only themselves, but also to Brock Lesnar, and this could lead to mega main-events on PPV’s for months to come. Some people have also watered at the fact that the breakup (which is inevitable in yo-yo WWE writing) would have some epic shoots.

Punk, whose status as WWE Champion apparently means nothing in the universe, can really elevate himself to the wide-open spot of top heel if he can carry this momentum past Night of Champions. With Heyman as a manager, the possibilities seem endless.

With Lesnar as mentioned before, Heyman has some former clientele on the roster. There is Big Show, whose potential affiliation with Punk and Heyman could potentially salvage his floundering heel turn. Also there is Tensai, who as A-Train, was seemingly coming up through the ranks with Heyman as a manager. Tensai is not in a good place right now, and a sense of familiarity from the past could very well awake a sleeping monster.

That four-man alliance (Punk/Lesnar/Show/Tensai) could easily be a new ‘Dangerous Alliance’. Make a team of Cena/Rock/Triple H/Undertaker, men with various chips on all their shoulders, and we have ourselves a main event for Survivor Series that could blow the roof off wherever that event takes place.

I’m really curious as to see where Punk’s assholetry is going from here. Punk’s been a capable heel before, but he’s in a new echelon now. May the Alliance begin!

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Bad Booking’s Blog 1 Year Down Post

I can’t believe it’s been a year already.

Approximately one year ago, this blog was hatched out of desperation.

Unemployment is a bitch people.

A hairy, ugly, slanted, depressing bitch.

“Make a wish. Take a bite!”

At that point, I was accruing debt quickly.  While I was putting in applications everywhere I could, nothing was coming through. Call back after call back, all I got was either, “We’ll be with you shortly,” or, “Sorry you’re not qualified for this position.”

Depression was quickly setting in. One thing did save me as I had imagination and wanted to write stuff.

Thus this blog was born.

Originally just that, a way to cure depression, it’s primary purpose was supposed to be an eclectic mix of odds and ends making for entertaining pieces.

Top ten song lists on the likes of ‘Weird Al’ and Billy Joel were what got me the most views at first.

That initial ‘Weird Al’ bitty was popular enough where the album reviews were spun off. Heck, I even made a sub-page for them on the top!

Another piece that got attention early was the Blu-ray guide. Thought up because of a forum I frequent, BD (as in short for Blu-ray Disc) is still a confusing medium. The purpose of that dialogue was to educate people on the format without going over their heads. While I know I screwed up on some things and corrected most of them, it is refreshing to post that piece somewhere and a person appreciates your effort.

Speaking of appreciation, this is what leads me to wrestling, namely the WWE.

After starting a badly botched ‘Challenge’ page, there were posts made about various topics like the TV content, a certain wrestler becoming #1 in the PWI list, and multiple countdowns on matches of different varieties/eras.

The traffic really started to racket much to my surprise. I was lucky to get 10 views in a week, but now its upwards of 200 views a week consistently, with spikes not withstanding. Now you know why I steered so swiftly off the original path.

Speaking of spikes (no not the horrible channel), two pieces in particular really got people reading.

A post made on WWE’s PG actually spread to other forums, and they got them debating. What’s more affirming is that people read it, and realized it wasn’t the same old only-complaints that had been the norm for quite some time. A refreshing view on things is always appreciated, and that was my goal. Some counterpoints notwithstanding, mission accomplished!

Also, a countdown list I made on the best 1990’s matches made some people water. Apparently every match was agreeable to a point, and it was the second post to reach individually over 1,000 unique views (after the PG one).

Lately however, my creative juices have been slowed due to steady high production at work. It’s not so much that I get home late every night (to be honest I get home late 2 days a week and early 3 days), but I throw myself so hard at what I do that sometimes this blog will be getting dust while I try to recover and do the grind again.

Even with infrequent posts, I’m happy that this blog still gets regular visits, and I’m still getting comments on things I forgot I wrote about! It’s cool to think with a keyboard and an imagination, you could potentially influence one’s view on a subject. Even on a rant, it’s easy to see people agreeing or disagreeing depending on bias or affiliation.

It’s been a blast over the last year, and it’s been a blessing in disguise. There’s been a lot of words written, a lot of different topics discussed, and a lot of different opinions on certain ideas. In the end, it’s a great thing about a blog: at least people are reading. I also want to thank Freakin’ Awesome Network for giving me consistent traffic and talkback in the last year!

Speaking of reading: If you are a Twitter follower, please follow the following:

@Marks4Life, @HeymanHustle, @SteveAustinBSR, @JRSBBQ, @CMPunk, @BadBooking

 

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Speaking of my next blog topic…

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Bad Booking Rants on 3-Hour RAWS

As I am starting my creative oil so to speak, I read this article on my desktop. I nearly bang my head on my desk.

Just fresh off the presses:

WWE RAW is going three hours PERMANENTLY starting July 23rd. That day also just so happens to be the 1,000th episode of the program.

An additional news piece came in about the official press release. Vince McMahon touts this as how it will be the next in line for a new generation of interactive television where fans can help create the show.

I’m thinking, “WHY?!?!?!?”

RAW in it’s current two-hour form is a boring mess. While I had noted in the PG post that WWE had been trying to make a better product, it has regressed severely since the ‘YES’ fad and the return of Brock Lesnar.

Worse yet, WWE (from what I’ve read but not confirmed) has a new outlook on television where literally storylines change week from week, i.e: pushes are suddenly halted and angles have loose endings.

Three hours.

REALLY?

I have enough trouble going through RAW in the first place. Never mind the fact I intentionally skip the second hour for more sleep: the first hour lulls me to sleep worse than the 2000 Daytona 500. If you NASCAR haters really want to see a race that’s 500 miles of cars going in a circle, that one is essentially it! 

Think of it this way: We may have the opportunity to see a half hour CM Punk match every week. No problem. At the same time, we could see a dance-off competition between Brodus Clay and Vickie Guerrero last that same amount of time.

And what would that extra hour be? It’s rumored to be a pre-show, but I doubt it. Vince wants that to be a rambling hour to be sure. Extra long promos for the hell of it!
We all know how Nitro’s three hour shows were. They essentially turned into Gilligan’s Island shipwrecks where three hours turned into eternity!

This ‘new’ three-hour format will not work. The sporadic three hour RAWs with special gimmicks were tough, but now they’ll become permanent fixtures? Ughh, someone pass me the Grey Poupon!
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ADDITION (6/22/17): I still stand by everything I have said all that time ago.

The WWE landscape has changed a lot during this time. We have the brand split again, the main event scene is dominated by people you would have seen on tape-trading years ago, NXT is kicking ass, and we have regular programming on the WWE Network that outshines most of what airs on the USA Network.

Yet RAW, with its direction akin to a cow looking at an oncoming train, is still three damn hours long. Not full of potentially exciting in-ring action, but of recaps, bullshittery, and maybe a notable match that should be saved for the big events on the Network.
I understand the politics behind it, plus the ever-present ad dollars behind it, but literally its just too much of too many things that never get enough attention.

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Now here’s a video of bodies going through tables!

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WWE PG Post

Professional wrestling, sports entertainment, whatever you call it, always has to change in order to survive.

That’s why in 2008, WWE made a radical transformation.

Around the time of WrestleMania 24, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels were told explicitly NOT to have blood in their match. The reason being that the company was apparently going in a more family-friendly direction.

It wasn’t until June of that year when the PG rating became official, but to be honest, PG was the rule for a good little while before the change went into effect.

While there are positives about this, there are some glaring negatives.

To start this, we’ll start with some positives.

With the PG rating, the WWE had to drop those really dumb/raunchy angles. Although they had been dropping by the wayside for a time, angles like a proposed Paul Burchill/Katie Lea Burchill incest story would have been detrimental to business. Seriously, imagine that angle playing in your head.Would that story make ratings history? Surely I jest NOT!

In addition, there would be no outrageously raunchy gimmicks like ‘The Dicks’ appearing on your screen. That was some needlessly embarrassing time filler back in 2007, one that RD Reynolds would take great joy in inducting to Wrestlecrap. Dumb gimmicks will never die that is for certain, but at least we got the illogical juvenile characters out of the way.

However, the best thing about PG in this humble blogger’s opinion has been how, over time, the WWE finally got the message to get younger talent entering the main event scene.

2009 was a really rough year for WWE programming.  All the big angles were carried on the backs of John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels and Triple H), Big Show, Chris Jericho, Jeff Hardy, Undertaker, and Edge. It seemed as if the main event scene was the only portion of the card that mattered, while the future superstars in the lower portions of the card were swept aside.

As 2010 went on, it seemed like main eventers were dropping like flies. Shawn Michaels retired per stipulation at Wrestlemania 26. Batista left the company after his contract lapsed. Triple H greatly reduced his on-screen role to fulfill corporate obligations off-screen. Chris Jericho took another hiatus. Undertaker had been wisely fixing himself up for the Wrestlemania wars, while Edge abruptly retired in 2011 due to exacerbating neck issues.

All these guys were gone, and there were men eager to not only step up to the plate, but prove to the fans that the world is theirs.

One example is a man named Sheamus. Although he had debuted only a few months prior to TLC 2009, the big Irishman made a big impact, and thus was thrust into a main event with John Cena. Little buildup aside, Sheamus won the WWE Championship with throwing Cena off the turnbuckles through a table. Over the last few years, he’s been a great example of how to improve while being in the public eye.

Another example is Dolph Ziggler. Nick Nemeth has been saddled with CRAP to begin his WWE career. Imagine being a caddy for Kerwin White, a Mexican who turns out to be white? Nick lived it! Imagine being a male cheerleader being fed to D-X every week, and then getting the ultimate burial of being slapped in a OVW (Ohio Valley Wrestling) box? Yep, him too. Originally a porn star gimmick, Dolph’s introduction was that he, well, he introduced himself. Slowly but surely, Dolph became a player, and now might find himself amongst the top of the mountain. The RAW after WrestleMania 29 saw Ziggler FINALLY cash in Money in the Bank, thus becoming a LEGIT World Heavyweight Champion!

Then there is also MARK HENRY. A WWE employee since 1996, he has a mark in just about every era. However, it wasn’t until a rebirth in 2011 that showed the big man’s new-found potential. Long labeled a disappointment in his WWE tenure, Henry was seemingly a guy Vince should have cut loose the day the 10-year contract expired. Shockingly, Henry made a ‘Hall of Pain’, and had a lot to gain as a result.

He became a DOMINANT World Heavyweight Champion sidelined only by injury. His earth-shattering style provokes fear in all of his opponents. In an era where wrestlers from the indies regularly impress with their nicely distributed array of styles, having the monster in Henry is a nice testament to the roster pool.

There are many other examples, such as CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and ZACK RYDER, that could be used just as effectively to promote this point. Go to YouTube and just watch video after video. It’ll be worth it!

Let’s also not forget the fact that WWE, during the PG era, has also become stable in the ratings while trying to expand to new areas. WWE Films has made several new movies, some of which have made legitimate dents in the box office. The Rock’s movie career has only given WWE MORE exposure. Although the WWE Network seems to be a ways off (hell, it may not ever launch), the WWEFanNation YouTube channel seems to bring exciting and innovative new programs to WWE’s viral repertoire. Even if a lot of the original programming mentioned in the original post is gone, there is still a lot of current/classic footage posted to satisfy the most casual fan.

While the positives have been explored and not talked about much, the negatives have been drawn out since the day of the inception.

Lack of blood seems to be the hot topic issue. While this blogger doesn’t have any problems with the absence of someone blading every week unnecessarily, it seems like more dramatic moments are missing that something extra. There are Elimination Chamber and Hell in the Cell PPV’s, all of which have 2 or more contests apiece within the confinements. For those new fans out there, let me tell you something: these cage matches are the end-all be-all matches. They are feud escalators/enders in which combatants who truly hate each other tear each other to bits. In this era, it is unbelievable for someone to have their head smashed into either chain or mesh then come out unscathed. It’s a degree of legitimacy that’s been yanked for the sake of audience share. Most fans do not agree with this, and I am on that bandwagon. Blood is like sweets on the nutritional pyramid: USE IT SPARINGLY (but effectively).

Another issue is the severe limitation of ‘hardcore’ elements. In the last few years, medical research has shown the damning results of these wars. Between a more family-friendly demographic, multiple Senate races, and legitimate medical consultation, WWE made it a point to fine anyone who delivers unsafe head shots. While this sounds all fine and dandy 9 times out of 10, let’s also figure that time #10 is a match that NEEDS that one or perhaps two blows. Like a Last Man Standing affair or Hell in the Cell, that chair shot could be the end. Only the main eventers should be allowed to do this with the warning that something bad could happen. With appropriate testing and contract waivers, a protected shot to the cranium can truly make an average angle spectacular.

Shockingly, this blogger’s biggest complaint of the PG era isn’t the lack of blood or the lack of weapon usage.
Instead, it seems to be WWE’s commitment to create programming that will attract the lowest common denominator.
You know it’s really bad when D-Generation X, a faction originally born out of immature/jackass behavior, suddenly has a leprechaun in order to be kid-friendly.

You know it’s also really bad when there are times when people have to substitute originally “non-kid-friendly” terms for other ones.. When Steve Austin had his “Guest Host” spot on RAW in 2009, he could not say ANY of his catchphrases at all. It was as if WWE didn’t know what was PG or even G.

While there could be other examples of negative-PG, it seems as if every WWE era will have positives and/or negatives. How a fan views these issues are definitely equivalent to their enjoyment of the product.  The way I see it: the sky is the limit. As long as WWE can catch fire with hot talents, use them effectively, and bring up the product around them, there is no reason why there cannot be another boom period.

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IN CONCLUSION:

Professional wrestling, sports entertainment, whatever you call it, always has to change in order to survive.

That’s why in 2008, WWE made a radical transformation.

While it may not be perfect or ideal, it seems like WWE is hammering away at making the product better.

With less focus on stupid gimmicks and more attention on the up-and-comers, the WWE has slowly but surely been improving their on-screen product in the last few years.
However, no one notices it because they’re too busy bitching about the rating on the upper-left-hand corner on the screen.

Let me tell you something:

Every WWE era, whether it was Rock N’ Wrestling, New Generation, or Attitude, had somewhat-equal doses of positives and negatives. Sure wrestling may not be what it was then, but at the same time, the business is cyclical.

If/when the WWE gets another boom period, which should come rather unexpectedly, I’ll laugh at the people who said the company died because their rating changed. The philosophy is stupid, childish, and immature.

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