Punk & Cena

I'm about to head off to the beach for the week (vacation! Yay!) but before I left I thought I would update the blog one more time as we await Monday's Raw (which I can't guarantee I'll see) to find out the fallout to CM Punk's return.

More than anything, though, I'd like to discuss the final moments of last week's Raw and how CM Punk brings the absolute best out of John Cena. Cena, as the posterchild of the PG era (for better or worse) is often "forced" into one dimensional situations. He's the good guy and he does what's right. It works, as seen by his immense financial success. But for the vocal audience that requires something more, he often comes across as lame.

Yet throughout this Punk storyline, his character has don't some really interesting things. First, he defended Punk and essentially got him reinstated. However he wasn't quite pandering to the audience, as the next week he called Punk out on his hypocrisy. He noted that Punk claims to speak for the people, yet what he is planning on doing is very unfair to the fans. He wants to take the championship and walk away. At the PPV, he abandoned his usual spiel (salute, etc) and played it serious. And as the match neared its end, he showed much, much more aggression and frustration than we've ever seen before. He was noticeably bothered when he couldn't beat Punk, even yelling at the ref at various points. Yet when his "Get out of jail free" card presented itself with McMahon and Johnny Ace, he did the right thing and stopped them.

And then when he was going to be fired, Cena even played hardball. He didn't get sappy and talk about how he's going to miss the audience and he's going to spend time with his family. No, he said, "you're going to fire me? Fine, I'll just go to the competition. That'll show you!" It certainly gave him some edge.

Perhaps my favorite, though, was Cena's reaction to Punk's return. First, he handled it perfectly, legitimately seeming unsure of what's happening (at one point it looked like he even asked for a mic, unsuccessfully). Then when Punk came out, he wasn't angry. He wasn't angry. He wasn't upset. He seemed unsure and perhaps even unsettled. It wasn't a friend coming back, nor an enemy. It was almost as if, "He's back? What happens now?"

And of course, Punk's part in this cannot be ignored. During that epic promo, he outright admitted that he likes Cena. At the Money in the Bank match, he actually clapped for him during his entrance. And their confrontation at this past week's Raw, as well as the contract negotiation, can be described as "tense" more than "hostile." It was far more subdued and complex than what we're used to.

Truthfully, this is one of the more fun rivalries we've seen in a long, long time.