WWE No Way Out 2012 Discussion Thread

[NEWM]

You know I love you Pity, but I'm with Chest on some of this. Speaking personally, I did want Punk off TV longer, and in actual fact, I wouldn't have minded that main event scenario you pitched with two other guys and the crowd chanting for Punk. People would have bought that show just for the potential of him showing up (after more sightings to keep him in mind like the baseball game and Comicon - those were astonishing bits of booking that completely went to waste when he was back on Raw within a week), he didn't need to be explicitly advertised.

 

But yeah, Blackson is right, this is all done and dusted now. Punk's a fucking crap headliner these days, and that's what really counts. Is it all his fault? No - he's been given some midcard opponents and the company have completely devalued the belt too much this last year. But the true greats elevate themselves and others regardless of all of these obstacles. Steve Austin could have worked Pacman Jones matches main eventing house shows whilst his neck was fucked and he was still IC Champ in 97, even with Bret Hart and The Undertaker on the card - he was that good and that over. Punk is nowhere near, and his fanboys always thought he was. I think much of this run must have been really hard for them to swallow.

[Chest Rockwell]

An extra week or two wouldn't have changed peoples opinions, those that had these big ideas would have still been upset and the only result of the extra time would have been less time to set up the feud in time for Summerslam.

Do you really think that everyone whinging he came back too soon would've been placated with an extra week or two, or are you pretending?

 

Well, it's all fantasy so the only thing I can say with any certainty is that I personally would have enjoyed that slant on the affair a whole lot more.

 

Yeah, of course I'd know he was coming back soon but the fun of watching it developing would have kept me tuned in (and watching all the other build up to Summerslam) isntead of just going "oh" when he came back the very next week and being too uninspired to watch RAW again the next week.

[King Pitcos]

Speaking personally, I did want Punk off TV longer, and in actual fact, I wouldn't have minded that main event scenario you pitched with two other guys and the crowd chanting for Punk.

Same here to an extent, but therein lies the difference between the desires of fanboys and the reality of trying to make money from wrestling. If you're running the company, you can't do it to the whims of lads on forums who watch every show, often on illegal streams, or only watch when newsletters approve or wrestlers talk about ROH. They didn't have any other hot streaks they could count on to keep the TV and pay-per-views rolling. It's like the old proverb: There's no point ironing your shirt on Monday when the wedding was on Saturday, you silly bastard.

 

People would have bought that show just for the potential of him showing up (after more sightings to keep him in mind like the baseball game and Comicon - those were astonishing bits of booking that completely went to waste when he was back on Raw within a week), he didn't need to be explicitly advertised.

That's absolute madness. At a time when no fucker's buying, you can't cross your fingers that everyone's going to plonk down fifty dollars on Mysterio vs Cena on the off-chance Punk might be there.

[NEWM]

Speaking personally, I did want Punk off TV longer, and in actual fact, I wouldn't have minded that main event scenario you pitched with two other guys and the crowd chanting for Punk.

Same here to an extent, but therein lies the difference between the desires of fanboys and the reality of trying to make money from wrestling. If you're running the company, you can't do it to the whims of lads on forums who watch every show, often on illegal streams, or only watch when newsletters approve or wrestlers talk about ROH.

 

People would have bought that show just for the potential of him showing up (after more sightings to keep him in mind like the baseball game and Comicon - those were astonishing bits of booking that completely went to waste when he was back on Raw within a week), he didn't need to be explicitly advertised.

That's absolute madness. At a time when no fucker's buying, you can't cross your fingers that everyone's going to plonk down fifty dollars on Mysterio vs Cena on the off-chance Punk might be there.

 

Not that mad, wrestling knows how to strongly implicate just enough. Like I said, more of the comicon-type appearances, plug that GQ interview he did, just generally keep him in everybody's mind via social media, YouTube and subtle TV references. Have Punk (being filmed by Colt Cabana or some other no mark) smugly implying he might take his toy belt on another adventure to Summerslam, then have other WWE wrestler mates of his tweet it, mention it ever-so-briefly on air, that sort of shite, you know the craic.

 

By the time the Comicon footage emerged, it was 100% clear to everybody bar kids and complete mongs that Punk was re-signed with the company. But that didn't stop me as a fan being prepared to invest heavily in the story, because they were giving me something really cool and different to look at. Four weeks of that, and I'm watching Summerslam just waiting for him to get there.

 

Admittdely, that would be the point you'd be pissed off if he didn't show, but I reckon they could easily get people on the hook up to that point.

[King Pitcos]

By the time the Comicon footage emerged, it was 100% clear to everybody bar kids and complete mongs that Punk was re-signed with the company. But that didn't stop me as a fan being prepared to invest heavily in the story, because they were giving me something really cool and different to look at. Four weeks of that, and I'm watching Summerslam just waiting for him to get there.

Same, but I wouldn't be paying for it... Fifty dollars is a lot to ask for purely on the basis of Twitter comments and the like, when there's a (supposedly) surefire main event you can promote.

 

Admittdely, that would be the point you'd be pissed off if he didn't show, but I reckon they could easily get people on the hook up to that point.

Do you not think there'd be people who'd be pissed off at that point if he did show as well, not once having defended/mocked the title in ROH or Japan? Plus, if the rest of the storyline plays out the same way, just a month later, is everyone going to be happy just because he stayed off Raw a tiny bit longer? Mongs would still be raging at Del Rio and Nash at the great moment if it had happened in September. The extra month might've solved Nash's AIDS or whatever kept him from wrestling Punk at first, but it probably wouldn't have stopped Punk and Nash from being really, really crap at talking to each other.

 

And, to bring it back the original thing when that fella said "wrestling's shit now, so different to a year ago"... Regardless of whether he spent one week or four arsing around on Youtube, CM Punk was still going to have to come back to WWE and "think inside the box" and have wrestling feuds. And despite the wetboys saying he isn't put against top-level opposition, he's feuded with John Cena, Triple H, Kevin Nash, The Miz, R-Truth, Alberto Del Rio, Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan and Kane. That's about the most main-event talent WWE has had since Punk won the title, it's not like there's loads of wrestlers above that level that he's been kept apart from because of a conspiracy. The Rock and Lesnar aren't coming back for a million matches, so it's pointless to whine that Punk hasn't wrestled them. Wrestling would be barely any different today if he'd come back at the end of August 2011 rather than the beginning.

[Dr.PeterVenkman]

Just watching this now and the best thing on it is the video package before the triple threat, best one I've seen in years

[ColinBollocks]

And, to bring it back the original thing when that fella said "wrestling's shit now, so different to a year ago"... Regardless of whether he spent one week or four arsing around on Youtube, CM Punk was still going to have to come back to WWE and "think inside the box" and have wrestling feuds. And despite the wetboys saying he isn't put against top-level opposition, he's feuded with John Cena, Triple H, Kevin Nash, The Miz, R-Truth, Alberto Del Rio, Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan and Kane. That's about the most main-event talent WWE has had since Punk won the title, it's not like there's loads of wrestlers above that level that he's been kept apart from because of a conspiracy. The Rock and Lesnar aren't coming back for a million matches, so it's pointless to whine that Punk hasn't wrestled them. Wrestling would be barely any different today if he'd come back at the end of August 2011 rather than the beginning.

Nobody stated it was a conspiracy dear Pitcos (so fuck knows what you're on about there, maybe got crumbs in your pubes), the point is Punk has clearly been positioned a level lower than the big stars and it makes him feel like a slightly more interesting midcarder, rather than the WWE champion / the man - he doesn't even main event now.

 

I get that WWE don't really trust Punk to draw anything (that's why they've kept him away from the proper stars for a few months), but what they're currently doing with him is a bit half-arsed.

 

It would be nice for them to take a bit of risk (given how shit they're doing currently, it isn't a monster risk) and have Punk go against a Lesnar. He's there to get their boys over anyway, as he's fucking off soon. As you said, there aren't a plethora of stars anyway, so maybe helping somebody up a level (and it may or may not help Punk) is the way to go.

 

You're right with the final sentence in the quote box though.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I get that WWE don't really trust Punk to draw anything (that's why they've kept him away from the proper stars for a few months), but what they're currently doing with him is a bit half-arsed.

Because when they pushed him in main segments and in main event he bombed. I'm all for defending my favourites, but at least read what Pitcos is saying. For me the "he's pushed a level before Cena" thing, doesn't work, because everyone is pushed below Cena. Batista was, Orton is, Jeff Hardy was, Rey Mysterio was and they never lost 700,000 viewers each time they appeared onscreen. Its a simple thought process. If John Cena is in the last segment and it does a good overrun, he stays there whether he's the champion or not. WWE is a business. Its not "Put The homeless Bloke In The Final Segment Night Heat". If CM Punk is in the last segment and people turn off in their hundreds of thousands, you can't put him in the last segment. You can't push him like you push John Cena. That's just the facts. I'd love to see Hulk Hogan back, in his cripple state unifying the WWE and World heavyweight title and feuding with Tiger Chung Lee at the Money in the Bank PPV. But that wouldn't happen because nobody would watch it.

 

Punk isn't the main guy. He isn't pushed as the main guy, because he isn't their idea of the top man. The belts mean fuck all these days. He might as well carry a snake and some barber sheers around instead.

[King Pitcos]

I get that WWE don't really trust Punk to draw anything (that's why they've kept him away from the proper stars for a few months), but what they're currently doing with him is a bit half-arsed.

Which proper stars? They've got one, John Cena, and CM Punk's feuded with him and beat him twice on the trot. Punk's feuded with Triple H and looked competitive as well. Rock and Brock are there for dream matches. Undertaker is on his last legs and only doing WrestleManias. Punk and Cena can't fight each other every week. So who are these magical main event talents that Punk would be feuding with and looking like a megastar if the man wasn't holding him down? Fellow babyfaces Orton and Sheamus? Big Show? Johnny Ace?

[Up Chuck]

Yeah, it's hard to argue against the idea that Punk main events don't feel big-time because 50% of them is Punk. I've always like him, and his World Title run and feud with Hardy in '09 showed exactly how good and watchable he can be in a long-term main event setting (on Smackdown), but between the ping-ponging of the title before Survivor Series, the really fucking weird booking of the feud with Laurinaitis (running down the heel constantly every week is not a classic heat-building tactic), the damp-squib-with-occasional-highlights feud with Jericho and the fact that he just doesn't feel like a big-time guy, it's not been the red-hot year I was expecting. Well, hoping for more than expecting, I guess.

 

Still, nothing will ever wreck how much I enjoyed the build to Money in the Bank and the match itself, and Punk's quite probably okay with having a few bigger paycheques from the past few months and the possibility of settling into the Jericho role of upper-mid-card and occasional main-event slot-filler on 'B' PPVs and in the Elimination Chamber. He's not the next Austin, and he's not the first CM Punk blazing into the mainstream. He's decent, and he'll find a place.

[iamtheman]

the dvd/blu ray is up for preorder now on silvervision. god awful cover

 

 

Vader on the blu ray though

[Forrest]

Far from me to break up dinner time at Pete & Berni's Philosophical Steakhouse, but this is a No Way Out discussion thread, so to hell with it:

 

I enjoyed every match on the card at No Way Out. Sheamus/Ziggler was a belter. I liked the fact it made Sheamus look like he got a lucky win, because Ziggler kept at him the whole match always going for the deadly finish and going for a load of covers. Santino/Ricardo raised a chuckle. Not exactly a comedy masterclass, but it was a Tuxedo match, not The Day Today.

 

I marked out for the tag 4-way. When was the last time you saw a Number 1 Contenders match for the Tag titles? I really enjoyed it, it was a good, fun match and that Frankensteiner to the outside was mint. Hunico was his amazing self as usual and had an enjoyable match with Sin Cara. Christian and Cody was fun. The triple threat seemed quite strange in that it always seemed like a 3-way, there didn't seem to be much of the usual gap where 2 guys battled while the other one rested. I also liked the fact that AJ didn't feature until the last 30 seconds or so. Those 3 worked a great match. Ryback SMASHED. I never grow old of his squashes. Give him 3!

 

The Cage match had no right to be that fun. It was pure sports entertainment and it was full of drama. That chokeslam/elbow drop spot off the ropes was mad, and Brodus finally looked like a real badass and having him involved in the main event really gave him a rub, in my opinion.

 

Overall, this was a solid, fun PPV that I enjoyed. In the grand scheme of things, this event will probably mean absolutely nothing and be forgotten quickly, but I loved it.