CRYPTIC

Shown on recent WWE programming. I say it's Sting!

We'll all find out on February 21st.

PUNK

Last night’s edition of WWE RAW restored some of my faith in WWE programming when out of the blue the most tidy, slot-filling story twist happened.

And of course I am referring to a Pepsi Twist here LOL.

CM Punk who won #1 contendership briefcase at Wrestlemania 24 this year cashed in his title shot and put the now previous champion Edge in his place and snagged the championship belt after a vicious GTS (Go To Sleep) to the head.

Edge had previously caused The Undertaker to be banished from the WWE (although I reckon he’ll be back at Summerslam) and along with La Familia gave the Smackdown locker-room an unfair power struggle, with Edge as the champ along with the General Manager Vickie Guerrero in his back pocket (and probably his front pocket too :P).

So yeah, Edge for a long time now had been asking for a comeuppance, so lo & behold CM Punk was the man to bring it.

I’ve liked CM Punk for a long time ever since his pre-WWE days on the indy scene. I even had the pleasure of meeting Punk back in early 2005 when I was with *certain promotion* and commentated for the match he was in.

Punk is a drink free, drug free, straight-edge superstar whose only addiction is competition and sometimes a splash of Pepsi . Punker is also a GI Joe fan too, but I won’t hold that against him.

But yeah… CM Punk as Champ on RAW.

Bloody good!

I hope things continue to get better.

AFTERMATH

An entertaining night of hi-octane wrestling action on TV has left me with 4 hours sleep but happy about the outcome.

Wrestlemania 24 turned out better than I expected…

The only match that literally put me to sleep was the Big Show VS Mayweather bout. I am fan of Big Show and would have liked to have seen him in a program I cared about. Apparently Show was supposed to be the heel in that encounter, but that was hard to tell especially when Floyd Mayweather entered the area with his huge rudeboy posse (not very babyface like eh). Still, I hope the rumoured post Wrestlemani a program with the Undertaker will happen.

Speaking of The Undertaker, his match with Edge was a real thrill to watch with so many surprises and near pins pulled out of the bag. This definitely deserved the main event slot and really ended the show on a really high note with The Undertaker expanding his streak to 16-0. As for Edge, he has proved to be best Wrestlemania opponent yet for The Undertaker and really came close to crushing a lot of fans hearts. Although the Undertaker is now the World Heavyweight champion what mattered more was that his streak was kept intact. The credibility of Smackdown has risen for the time being.

Ric Flair VS Shawn Michaels played off well although things really started to slow down a bit when Michaels landed really badly out of the ring onto an announce table. Thanks aplenty to Shawn and Ric for still putting on a highly entertaining and pure wrestling match which had a unique Highlander-ish ending to it.

Summary of Wrestlemania thoughts:

Kane as ECW Champion! I hope he will be used better with this reign.

Bunnymania = Waste of time. Santino sold Snoop Dogg’s punch more than he did Lawler’s, in fact he did’nt sell Lawler’s punch very well at all. The Diva stuff, well…

Belfast Brawl, I wish Finlay had won that one.

Money in The Bank: Loads of sick bumps and a good return of Matt Hardy. The push of CM Punk begins! Looks like he’ll be fed to Kane or jump a brand to be fed to someone else. I hope Shelton Benjamin is okay from the really sick bump he did, in fact he should have won it IMO.

Batista VS Umaga: This had potential but something just wasn’t there.

The HHH, Cena, Orton 3 Way: Not bad, and a surprise to see Orton win. Orton’s Wrestlemania loss streak has been broken whilst HHH’s hasn’t.

That’s it for now.

MANIA

Tonight is Wrestlemania 24 and I may be staying up to see this.

I wish I could be more excited about this show but I am not. Aside from the Ric Flair VS Shawn Michaels bout and Undertaker VS Edge I don’t really have much enthusiasm for the show itself. I would be watching this even based on curiosity alone. The missus is buying the event from Sky Box Office and we are likely to be watching it in HD over at the in-laws where the house has thicker walls and we can shout and yell more than we can at our own non-HD TV place.

The Big Show VS Floyd Maywether I have no full interest in, although I do like the Big Show and am glad to see him back in the ring. I think this program was poorly built up from the word go and during that build up there was confusion as to who the actual heel and face in the feud was. I still have no idea who the heel and face in this encounter will be. I do hope this bout will mount more than the daft sumo match from a few years back.

Ric Flair VS Shawn Michaels has a lot of hopes from everybody behind it. Many expect this possible ‘retirement’ match for Ric Flair to be the show stealer. I can’t agree more. I have high expectations for this bout and I hope it would be slotted in the main event instead of the HHH/Cena/Orton three-way match. Michaels VS Flair will be a golden classic no doubt! I just hope that if does end in tears it will be happy tears at least. Ric Flair’s retirement is on the line after all.

The 24 man ECW Battle Royal is being given the elbow towards dark match territory and yet the Divas match still remains on the main broadcast. I think the Divas bout will be a waste of space but yet most promoters believe sex appeal sells better than wrestling, so I can see the logic in that to a degree.

Whether I end up watching this live or acquiring the show the next day I am hoping this show will be good. As it is Wrestlemania I am sure there will be plenty of huge surprises and possibly some high jinks from TNA Wrestling who are also staying in the same town over this weekend.

Currently I am not that excited but I hope to be as the show looms closer.

Here's hoping Taker leaves the Citrus Bowel Arena 16-0!