Punk has maybe done more for the title in the last 24 hours than Cena did in all his years as champion. And he's not even holding it.

Remember when it used to be a hot-potato, and it would change every few weeks? We've had a champion for a long time now, and when he lost it, he got angry. Which you never see from guys who hold belts in WWE. The belts a big deal to him, and that's starting to make it a big deal to the people watching.

Sounds good.

One thing just hit me, re Cena/WWE booking in general: one of the most fascinating aspects about wrestling, to me, is the way the writing and performances interact with the live audience. Audience responses can revive pushes (YES! THEY CAN), they can cause gimmicks to be aborted. The crowd can make a match a classic or it can totally shit on a match. There's an implicit need to win over the crowd for a face and a need for heels to be able to make t he audience (or portions thereof) hate you.

And the face of the company is a guy who gets dueling chants in front of even the markiest crowds. The face of the company gets booed loudly, but just keeps literally(-ish) dropping shit on his opponents and making dumb misogynistic jokes* about them.

The supposed most hated man in the company over the past seven or eight months? Still gets a huge pop when his music hits.

SOMETHING IS WRONG THERE

*Not that the Rock doesn't compete with Cena for the overall Misogynist Jokery crown, natch

It's also really weird that the only guys in the company who've seemed to genuinely give a shit about the title were (a) the conniving champion everyone on commentary kept running down as being unworthy to hold said title, and (b) the movie star who wanted the title again out of the blue a decade after leaving but at least gave a credibly intense promo that Cena never could've pulled off.

what i'm saying is, i hate double double e

I didnt have a huge problem with Rock winning (i wasnt rooting for him), but I still cant believe punk lost on 1 simple elbow drop after being champ for 14 months, I mean how many people kicked out of that move.

Maybe that's why I said he's the best heel I've ever seen. I just assumed he's been rocking that level of diatribe the whole time. I saw the first, and I saw last night, and I was mesmorized. I don't even know much about Punk, but I love him. He's amazing on the mic, and he can wrestle.

I meant everything between the first segment and last segment on raw last night was disposable.

(well, rock at 9 pm should be watched, too)

Punk's been great on the mic the entire time he's been champion.

According to meltzer, the lesnar deal, when signed, will be through wrestlemania 2015. So two years, but three manias.

I saw The Rock at my 12th birthday party. And then a few years later saw Austin-McMahon in a cage (plus a Rock/Foley match with things I still think about at random to this day). @_@

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sDPtQpFTMb4?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

LOL of course ole Trips couldn't stay away and let The Rock have the spotlight...now we'll get him in another boring, pointless feud with Brock leading to Mania.

El Generico's (finally) officially signed with WWE.

It will be interesting to see whether or not they keep the mask on him. I doubt they will, but I have seen him without the mask, and he just looks like a normal skinny dude.

It seems HHH has realized that the indies are a fertile ground for talent, unlike Vince who normally thumbed his nose at the indies. If you look at some of the bigger names now, the following spend considerable time in the indies:

Daniel Bryan
CM Punk
Antonio Cesaro
Dean Ambrose
Seth Rollins

There are reports that both Adam Cole (ROH) and Sami Callahan (Dragon Gate USA) have or have already had tryout matches. If WWE were smart, they would also make a run at Kevin Steen. Steen is not the prototype ripped wrestler (he is an athletic fatass) but he is gold on the mic and one of the best in-ring guys out there.

Speaking of athletic fatasses why dont they go and gat Samoa Joe?

The El Generico gimmick would be huge in WWE. A Santino-style comedy guy who could also be a legit mid-card threat. Like a junior version of babyface Mankind/Dude Love.