I Love Wrestling

If you've been following me on Twitter you know that I have a love/hate relationship with wrestling. I've been watching for almost 15 years and I've had my ups and downs with it. But watching the Money in the Bank Pay Per View tonight has made me love wrestling all over again.

To me the wrestling product has been getting a little stale with John Cena winning all the time. It was like that a few years ago when Triple H was dominating everyone and him holding onto the World Title all the time, or losing it but getting it back in a few weeks or so. I stopped watching wrestling then and a few months ago I was close to giving up watching the WWE again after the whole debacle with Christian winning the World Title and losing it 2 days later to Randy Orton. But I kept at it because there was one guy that brought me back every week just to see what would happen. That guy was CM Punk.

Around that time he wasn't being used often, and when he was it wasn't to my liking. But I watched because he entertained me. Then he started winning more matches making it clear that something was brewing within the company. I just didn't know what it was yet. I had heard rumors that he was looking to leave the WWE for a little while because he had been on the road for 6 years straight and he was getting tired. That's pretty understandable, as many would like to call wrestling fake, that kind of life still takes it's toll on the body. Working matches 5 times a week, being on the road all the time, away from friends and family. It's a rough life. And many others have done it before, like Chris Jericho. So as much as it bummed me out that CM Punk was going to leave for a while I understood. But then a few weeks ago he became with #1 contender for the WWE Championship. He would face John Cena at the Money in the Bank PPV. The PPV would be held on his last night with the WWE as he hadn't resigned with the company. Then the shit hit the fan.

A few weeks ago Punk cut a shoot promo on Raw. (That's when a wrestler talks on the microphone and says stuff that he's not suppose to.) This promo caused chaos in the wrestling world. He said shit that fans have been talking about for years. He called out a lot of people that worked the WWE behind the scenes. It was one of the most honest promos I've ever seen in wrestling and it got the fans talking. It got the world to take notice because no one knew if it was real or not. It was very, very exciting. Following that Raw episode the WWE suspended CM Punk. The following week on Raw John Cena convinced Vince to re-instate Punk and to give the fans what they wanted and let Cena wrestle Punk at the PPV.

This past week on Raw Cena and Punk had an exchange that probably sold more PPVs in a long time. (Probably with the exception of Wrestlemania) The verbal confrontation between Cena and Punk was electric. It was fucking exciting. It made me, a bitter, almost jaded fan, excited to see where this was all going to go, because there was no way to predict where this storyline was going. It was a moment that put me on the edge of my seat. It made wrestling unpredictable. It made it fun again.

Tonight was the PPV. And the build up to that PPV was outstanding and the PPV tonight did not disappoint. AT. ALL. John Cena and CM Punk had an amazing match with great emotion. The crowd in the arena was louder than anything I've seen or heard in a long time. People were invested. Why? Because CM Punk stated that since it was his last night under WWE Contract he was going to win the WWE Championship and leave the company. And if John Cena lost he would get fired. And what happened tonight? CM Punk pinned Cena for the Championship and Punk left the arena with the Title. Seemingly to never be seen again. Obviously this isn't the case but again, the match was exciting and it makes for great story telling because many fans have been burned by the WWE before and they didn't think that the WWE would pull the trigger with this. But they did.

I'll always have my favorite wrestlers and I'll probably always follow the WWE, but tonight I have fallen in love with the product all over again. It has its hooks in me like it hasn't had in a long time. I'm not angry at the WWE. I haven't become jaded. I'm excited. I can't wait to see how this plays out even further. It has me excited to watch Raw tomorrow night.

But my excitement isn't just because of how the Cena/Punk match went. It was overall and excellent PPV that I enjoyed tremendously. The two Money in the Bank ladder matched were brutal and amazing. And the winners were unexpected which makes future story lines much more exciting. Seeing Daniel Bryan win a contract to get a shot at a Championship match is awesome because no one thought he was going to win. Alberto Del Rio winning was more predictable but it didn't take away from his win at all. Both deserving wrestlers who will be able to showcase their talent and prove to the WWE and the world that they have what it takes to "hang with the big boy." Christian regained the World Heavyweight Championship tonight from Randy Orton. It wasn't a spectacular win but they were telling a story, and that story played out very well.

Thanks WWE for not fucking this up because we all know that the potential was there, and with not fucking it up you've kept this long time fan and you've made him excited to be a wrestling fan and I can't wait what you guys to next.