Matt O’Brien writes and maintains the Wrestleview.com poll every two weeks.
It began just about a month ago. CM Punk surprised the wrestling world when he went on a verbal tirade that ripped the company to shreds. A match was booked for WWE’s Money in the Bank pay per view between Punk and WWE Champion John Cena. The catch was that the pay per view was to be Punk’s last night with the company. As the build to the mach escalated, Wrestleview asked the readers what they thought of the feud. In the most recent Wrestleview poll asking how fans would rate the Punk-Cena feud, the results are as follows:
How would you rate the current CM Punk-John Cena program?
Excellent 63.59% (3,082 votes)
Pretty Good 19.85% (962 votes)
Decent 6.13% (297 votes)
Poor 2.81% (136 votes)
Awful 7.63% (370 votes)
Total votes casted: 4,847
The majority of voters said the program between Cena and Punk has been excellent. Just about any wrestling website has somebody praising the program. Ever since that night Punk gave that promo where he tore the company a new one, fans have been in love with every move he has made. The worked shoot has so many people hooked. Even “smart” fans have been worked and believe that Punk really walked out of the Money in the Bank pay per view with the championship and no contract. Every type of fans was worked to some extent in the feud.
While a majority of voters said the program is excellent, another twenty percent said is it is pretty good. That means over eighty percent of voters have a strong favorable view of the John Cena-CM Punk feud. Just a few votes were cast for it being a decent program, while even fewer were cast in the Poor category. However, there were over seven percent who believe the feud has been awful. For some, John Cena having the possibility of getting fired looming over his head was too soon after he was fired last year. For others, they didn’t care for the angle whatsoever.
There is a great point made on this feud by College Humor which you can view at this link. One of the points made is that wrestling fans, the hardcore fans, can be kind of snarky. It is not a matter of who wins and loses, but why they win and lose. It really fits this program well. The fact that Punk won has fans in general worked up and excited, but hardcore fans even more so.
Nobody really knew what was going to happen the night after Money in the Bank when Punk walked out of the company with the title in hand. Entertaining tweets and pictures kept Punk prevalent as he was not mentioned very much on Raw the night after the pay per view. Punk has stayed in the spotlight with guest appearances that even included a skit on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
The night after MITB featured a tournament to crown a new champion now that the company had lost its coveted title for the Raw brand. The night was supposed to end the Vince McMahon firing John Cena. Many believed this would lead to Cena and Punk both being off television for a while. Instead, McMahon was interrupted by a returning Triple H, who relieved Vince of his duties and chose to keep Cena on the roster.
This past week on Raw, things took another turn when John Cena became the new WWE Champion in the main event. As he celebrated his win, CM Punk made his way to the ring. In one of the great standoffs seen in recent memory, John Cena and CM Punk stared one another down, both holding up their championship belts.
Where do things go from here? Nobody is really sure, but that is a god thing. For the first time in a while, nobody has any clue where a major storyline is headed. And the best part? Fans enjoy it!
A big thank you goes out to all those who participated and be sure to vote in the current Wrestleview poll asking about Mar Henry’s chances of becoming World Champion!
Matt O’Brien
Columnist, Wrestleview.com
mattman5436@yahoo.com