Just a quick blogging/thought today as I'm trying to shake off the flu before it really takes hold but this one was too good to pass up.
I was trolling the wrestling boards as I usually do but with TNA's pay per view not a lot was going on so I decided pretty much to take a day off. That is until I went to Scott Keith's blog page and read a pretty intresting little piece by one of his contributers called Alexander (which you can find here http://www.rspwfaq.com/2009/09/17/the-anti-stone-cold/). Basically he puts forth a compelling argument that CM Punk in his current guise could be, for lack of a better term the anti Stone Cold. While I don't exactly agree with all his thoughts it is a compelling thought and certainly on face value alone there seems to be a lot to support the thought
Austin was Everyman, the common man in the pickup truck who worked a blue collar job 9-5, came home, drank beer and would fight you at the drop of the hat, it's the reason he became the biggest superstar wrestling has ever seen, because fans suspended their disbelief and lived vicariously through him as he gave hell to his boss week after week and fought for the little guy against corporate America. He was a foul-mouthed, redneck, beer-swilling guy who would fight you and raise hell at the drop of a hat and fans ate it up like a hot meal. He was the shining example of the Attitude Era
Fast forward about 10-12 years to the present day. WWE is trying to be more family friendly, to put forth a PG product and as part of that they want to discourage drinking and drugs and so forth, noone better represents the image that corporate would want to portray better than CM Punk, a man who lives his life without stimuli and he's becoming the number one hell simply by saying that makes him better than the audience, he riducles their heroes such as Jeff Hardy for using drugs and he uses a strong style that will keep him in any match.
It's the perfect heel for the WWE as they push into this eta, a man who attacks the stereotypes of wrestling, attacks their heroes for being human and yet he can back up his words by being a better wrestler than anyone out there. For once in their lifes the WWE through CM Punk has a compelling character to present to its market and build around for years to come, all Punk needs is one last push to send his star skyrocketing, if the WWE is smart they will use Undertaker as that push, he's the one guy on the roster (With the possible exception of Cena) the fans see as unbeatable, he's the Phenom, you beat him down he comes back and takes your soul to hell. If CM Punk, the guy who claims he's better than anyone beats him clean at Hell in a Cell 1.2.3 you have yourself a main event heel that could last as long as Austin did as a babyface. It's a smart move for the company as they move to the PG era, its a smart move for business as fans will pay to see him get whats coming to him and its a smart move for the future.
Then again noone has ever accused Vince McMahon of doing what is smart, still we can dream can't we?
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