john cena

Wrestling Recap: Cena vs. Punk (Money in the Bank ’11)

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The Date: 17 July 2011
The Venue: Allstate Arena; Rosemont, Illinois
The Stakes: WWE Championship singles match with Cena’s career at risk

The Commentary: Booker T, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Michael Cole
The Referee: Scott Armstrong
Dave Meltzer’s Rating: 5.0

The Build-Up:
At Extreme Rules 2011, John Cena captured his eighth Heavyweight Championship, drawing the ire of an embittered CM Punk, who was understandably frustrated after being shafted in favour of part-time stars like the Rock. After becoming the number one contender, CM Punk cost Cena a tables match and left him lying in the ring as he delivered his infamous “pipe bomb” promo. In an aggravated rant, Punk criticised Cena and vowed to quit World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and return to the independent scene with it. Although CM Punk was suspended for this, Cena demanded he be reinstated and even agreed to be fired if he failed to retain the title, leading WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to reluctantly bow to CM Punk’s laundry list of demands to ensure his match would be iron clad.

The Match:
To say CM Punk was popular at this time would be an understatement. CM Punk was a beloved icon of the independent scene even before debuting in the WWE and had a vocal fanbase throughout his first stint there. His iconic pipe bomb promo only cemented him as a celebrated, alternative icon so he would’ve received a raucous reception on his night regardless, especially as people had long since tired of John Cena. However, this match took place in CM Punk’s hometown, so the reception was positively electric prior to his entrance and during the match, with chants of “CM Punk! CM Punk!” and spiteful boos for the champion rocking the Allstate Arena. Though clearly energised by the wild crowd, who promised to “riot” if he lost, CM Punk calmly sat in the ring and beckoned Cena to join him, only for the champion to be showered with boos and appear less jovial than usual since he was in “enemy territory”. After a hesitant feeling out process, the two exchanged headlocks and takedowns, though Cena wisely dodged a roundhouse kick and escaped an Anaconda Vice to apply an arm lock. Despite the crowd jeering him, Cena kept CM Punk grounded and then knocked him down with a shoulder block, drawing a mocking applause from the challenger. Cena answered back with a headlock to keep things on the mat but ate a hip toss and a dropkick when CM Punk fought back and ended up trapped in a headlock courtesy of the upstart challenger. CM Punk continued to mock Cena with a shoulder block before the two slickly avoided each other’s finishing moves, leading CM Punk to target Cena’s left leg with a few kicks and stomp on him in a corner. Cena countered with a running bulldog to score the first near fall and then briefly grounded CM Punk with another headlock before flooring him with a stiff clothesline for another two count.

The match’s more explosive moves and big moments were spaced out between a smart ground game.

CM Punk got his first near fall off a back suplex counter to a headlock but was forced into a corner when he teased a piledriver and almost got pinned off a fisherman’s suplex. CM Punk avoided an Attitude Adjustment and got a two count off a DDT, then applied a leg vice around Cena’s neck to regroup that Cena muscled out of, only to be tossed outside. CM Punk dropped a knee across Cena’s neck as he lay sprawled over the apron then rolled the champion into the ring for a near fall, but hit a ring post when Cena dodged a corner charge. CM Punk kicked off a Sharpshooter attempt and went back to the headlock to increase the pressure on Cena’s neck, though the champion fought back with some strikes before being glanced by a top rope crossbody that saw both awkwardly tumble into a pinning predicament. Cena shook it off and suplexed CM Punk out of the ring for another near fall, then hit another fisherman’s suplex and scored with an elbow drop, showing frustration when CM Punk kicked out. Cena then hit a flipping slam…thing…kind of like a modified Emerald Fusion…for another two count before the match descended into a slugfest that ended with Cena applying an abdominal stretch. Though CM Punk fought out of it with a hip toss, both men collided with a double clothesline, leading Cena to hit his signature shoulder blocks and try for the Protobomb, which he only hit after being caught in a roll-up and dodging a kick in the corner. The crowd exploded when CM Punk kicked Cena in the head when he went for the Five Knuckle Shuffle, sending Cena outside so the challenger could fly in with a torpedo-like dive. CM Punk then tried to capitalise on his comeback with a springboard crossbody, only to eat the canvas when Cena rolled out of the way.

Despite McMahon’s best efforts, CM Punk stole the WWE Championship!

Although Cena hit the Five Knuckle Shuffle, CM Punk clumsily flipped out of the Attitude Adjustment and scored a two count off a roundhouse kick. Though Cena avoided the Go to Sleep and hit a gutwrench slam, CM Punk still kicked out, avoided another Attitude Adjustment, and clocked Cena’s jaw with some knee strikes. CM Punk finally (if awkwardly) hit his springboard crossbody for a near fall, then laid in some martial arts kicks before being trapped in the STF. Somehow, CM Punk reached the ropes to break the hold and landed another devastating kick to the back of Cena’s head for a near fall. Frustrated, CM Punk went for a top-rope crossbody and was caught in the Attitude Adjustment…only for CM Punk to counter with the Go to Sleep, which Cena then countered into another STF! This time, Cena dragged CM Punk to the middle of the ring, but CM Punk rolled through into a hammerlock. Cena powered up and finally hit the Attitude Adjustment, only to be left aghast when CM Punk kicked out at two! When Cena went for his top-rope diving leg drop thing, CM Punk countered into a sit-down powerbomb for a near fall but was too close to the ropes when he went for the Go to Sleep, allowing Cena to hit that diving leg drop…for a two count. Amazed, Cena hit another Attitude Adjustment for another near fall that got him so riled up that he argued with the referee before desperately trying for the avalanche Attitude Adjustment. CM Punk frantically fought out of it, however, and hit a top-rope hurricanrana but barely caught Cena with the Go to Sleep, which also knocked the champion outside. Thanks to a distraction by Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis, CM Punk got caught in another STF. However, when McMahon tried to recreate the “Montreal Screwjob” (…again…) by calling for the bell, Cena decked Laurinaitis and threatened Vince before walking right into another Go to Sleep. This saw CM Punk take the win and even fend off Mr. Money in the Bank Alberto Del Rio’s desperate attempt to steal the belt back before escaping victorious through the riotous crowd.

The Aftermath:
There’s a reason this match is so lauded. It really did have everything, in terms of drama and personal stakes. The lines between fiction and reality were nicely blurred, especially with all the talk of CM Punk vowing to take the WWE Championship to the indies in defiance. While Cena’s in-ring limitations were clear to see, he played his part perfectly, being overwhelmed by the crowd’s vitriol and stunned by CM Punk’s resolve, while CM Punk looked scrappy and determined to finally get his due. WWE played into the storyline immediately following this match, allowing CM Punk to be seen with the captured belt outside of the company. Undeterred, McMahon immediately set up an eight-man tournament to crown a new WWE Champion but interrupted the tournament to fire Cena out of spite, leading to Chief Operating Officer Triple H to remove McMahon from power. Although Rey Mysterio won the tournament, he immediately dropped the belt to John Cena, leading CM Punk to return to the WWE barely two weeks after his big exit, insulted at the attempt to replace him. Cena and Punk fought again to determine the undisputed WWE Champion at the 2011 SummerSlam, with CM Punk again taking the win (despite Cena’s foot being under the rope). Sadly, CM Punk’s celebration was short-lived as Kevin Nash made a surprise return and hit him with a Jackknife Powerbomb, allowing Del Rio to successful cash-in his Money in the Bank contract. CM Punk’s momentum was therefore derailed with a bizarre rivalry with Nash and Triple H, though he kicked off a momentous 434-day WWE Championship reign the following November. As for Cena, he also traded WWE Championship wins with Del Rio and had rivalries with Kane and Brock Lesnar while building towards his “Once in a Lifetime” confrontation with the Rock at WrestleMania XXVII.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Do you consider this one of the greatest matches of CM Punk’s storied career? Were you invested in the seemingly industry-changing match? Did you expect CM Punk to win? Were you disappointed that CM Punk returned to the WWE so soon after his big win? What are some of your favourite matches between CM Punk and John Cena? Who’s your favourite winner of the Money in the Bank ladder match? Whatever you think about this iconic main event, share your thoughts below, check out my other wrestling reviews, and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest other Money in the Bank matches you’d like to see me cover.

Wrestling Recap: Elimination Chamber Match (New Year’s Revolution ’06)

Dr. K1 Comment

The Date: 8 January 2006
The Venue: Pepsi Arena; Albany, New York
The Commentary: Joey Styles, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Jonathan “The Coach” Coachman
The Referee: Mike Chioda
The Stakes: Six-man Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship

The Build-Up:
In 2006, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) was the undisputed titan of the sports entertainment industry. After buying their competition, the company split their expansive roster into two brands; Raw and SmackDown! each had exclusive wrestlers, belts, creative teams, and even pay-per-view events. While this gave a platform for the fabled “SmackDown! Six” and frustrated audiences with Triple H’s “Reign of Terror”, it inevitably led to an expensive prospect for wrestling fans and an overall sense of brand dilution. Dubbed the “Ruthless Aggression” era, this period saw the rise of up-and-coming stars like John Cena and Batista, the in-ring return of the “Heart Break Kid” Shawn Michaels, the ascension of long-time tag team performer Edge to the main event, and the debut of some ground-breaking match concepts such as the Money in the Bank ladder match and the six-man Elimination Chamber match. Long before he became one of their most divisive figures, John Cena captured his first WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21 and was immediately drafted to the Raw brand to capitalise on his popularity, where he clashed with Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff. Although he triumphed over Bischoff’s hand-picked opponents throughout the year, many of his rivals came back with a vengeance after winning qualifying matches to earn a spot in this Elimination Chamber match, which was the fourth time the company had produced this stipulation. However, waiting in the wings was Edge, who had captured the first ever Money in the Bank briefcase, which allowed him the opportunity to cash-in the contract within for a championship match anytime, anywhere, meaning that the deck was constantly stacked against the streetwise champion.

The Match:
As ever, the first five minutes or so prior to the start of the match was dedicated to selling the brutality of the structure and the rules of the Elimination Chamber before the competitors came to the ring. First up was Kane, right in the middle of his psychotic unmasked gimmick and a World Tag Team Championship run alongside the Big Show, closely followed by one of two rising stars who really didn’t fit in this match, “The Masterpiece” Chris Masters, a ‘roided up freak whose only selling point was his physique and his lame-ass Full Nelson submission that, somehow, managed to get over. The second unlikely star in this match was Carlito, who had history with Cena from their feuds over the United States Championship but was another guy I just found to be bland no matter how many apples he spat in people’s faces. Thankfully, the star power returned to the match when Kurt Angle came to the ring, accompanied by chants of “You suck!” and his unnecessary manager at the time, Daivari, meaning it would be the champion, John Cena, going the distance and starting off against Shawn Michaels. Thanks to finally having a Sky subscription around this time, I was very much invested in the Blue Brand and remember John Cena’s inauspicious debut against Kurt Angle and his evolution from a white-meat rookie into an annoying, self-entitled rapper. However, I never really had strong feelings for or against Cena and it wouldn’t be until the WWE kept going back to Cena as champion again and again at the expense of new stars that I tired of his shtick, but he definitely got his fair share of boos here as the crowd had already started to turn against him.

Although Angle came in all intense, a single superkick was enough to eliminate him in quick fashion…

Thanks to the will of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels and John Cena got the match started (to chants of “Cena sucks!” that the commentary team unsuccessfully tried to explain away) with a bit of chain wrestling that quickly turned into a slap-and-slug-fest and the two trying to ram each other into the heavy chains that made up the cage walls. Back in the ring, HBK won the favour of the crowd with some stiff chops and a dominating performance, scoring the first near fall of the match, though it wasn’t long before Cena turned the tide and HBK was flailing like a fish on the top rope. After HBK took a clothesline over the ropes, Carlito joined the match and immediately attacked Cena, hitting a dropkick and crushing HBK with an impressive somersault senton over the ropes and to the steel floor on the outside! The crowd continued to boo everything Cena did and cheer even Carlito when he planted Cena with a modified flapjack, though Carlito made things worse for himself by targeting both the champion and Shawn Michaels, leading to the two working together to shut him down with a double flapjack for a two count. This two on one situation evened out when Kurt Angle joined the fray and started planting everyone with German Suplexes over and over in an explosion of intensity. Angle specifically targeted Cena and Michaels, two men he’d been feuding with throughout 2005, splitting HBK’s forehead open on the chains, ramming him into a plexiglass pod, and mercilessly beating Cena down in the corner. With his rivals down, Angle tried to score the first elimination when he caught Carlito in his patented Ankle Lock, but Carlito’s ally, Chris Masters, rushed the ring and floored everyone with stiff lariats and power moves. However, when he tried to put the Master Lock on Angle, the Olympic Gold Medallist slipped out and put him in the Ankle Lock, before immediately switching to slapping the hold on Cena after slipping out of the FU, but Angle’s time in the match was suddenly ended when HBK hit the Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere for a three count!

Sadly, the star power was removed from the match, leaving Cena with Masters and Carlito.

Carlito and Chris Masters then isolated Cena and HBK, wearing them down with sluggish, uninspired offense and repeated tosses into the steel mesh of the cage. Any attempt by Cena to fight back was instantly shut down by the double team attack, leaving the two rivals beaten on the mat when Kane finally entered the match. Kane went right for the two men standing, planting Carlito and Masters with a big boot and a sidewalk slam before planting both Shawn Michaels and John Cena with Chokeslams. Chris Masters saved Carlito from the same fate, receiving a sock to the jaw for his troubles, but this bought Carlito enough time to briefly down Kane with the Backstabber. When Kane continued to sit up and fight back, the two took him down again and then anticlimactically scored the second elimination of the match after Master press-slammed Carlito onto the Big Red Monster and the two piled on top of him to pin him down. Consequently, the match returned to the previous formula of Carlito and Masters squaring off against Cena and HBK, with Carlito punishing Shawn on the outside and Masters manhandling Cena in the ring before they isolated HBK. Shawn Michaels made a sudden comeback, however, taking both men down and even delivered his patented diving elbow drop to Cena. Though he was too exhausted to go for a pin, Shawn tuned up the band in the corner and damn-near took Cena’s head off with the Sweet Chin Music but Carlito and Masters made the bizarre decision to rush him before he could eliminate the champion from the match and Carlito even pinned Shawn after hitting one of the lamest and piss-poor finishers I know, the damn Cross Rhodes!

Although Cena survived the Elimination Chamber, Edge cashed in to steal his first WWE Championship!

So, rather than have this lacklustre match at least end with John Cena versus Shawn Michaels, the final stretch was a protracted two on one situation pitting the champion against Carlito and Chris Masters, two young prospects, yes, but guys simply lacking the charisma to get the crowd as invested as an HBK/Cena clash. The crowd, already against Cena, instantly saw this as an attempt to paint the champion as an underdog so the jeers filled the arena as Cena overpowered his two assailants with his “Five Moves of Doom”. Masters saved Carlito from the FU and delivered a brutal DDT to the steel floor, busting him open and leaving him helpless to save himself from being rammed into the steel or being bludgeoned by a beatdown. After planting Cena with a double back body drop from the top rope, Masters tied him up in the Master Lock but was unexpectedly betrayed when Carlito hit a low blow and rolled him up to take him out of the match. Unfortunately Carlito couldn’t capitalise as Cena immediately rolled him up to retain the WWE Championship. Bloody and battered, Cena celebrated to a mixture of cheers and boos, but his night took a turn for the worst when Vince McMahon appeared and announced that Edge was cashing in his Money in the bank contract! Accompanied by Lita, Edge rushed the ring and attacked Cena, frantically trying to pin him quickly and stomping away at the battered champion. Fatigued and caught off-guard, Cena was easy prey for a Spear, but shockingly got his shoulder up off the pin attempt! Stunned, Edge charged ahead with a second Spear and finally put Cena down for the three count to win his first-ever WWE Championship for a much-celebrated feel-good moment for the dastardly heel that almost made this bore of a match worth sitting through.

The Aftermath:
Edge’s win set the standard for future Money in the Bank cash-ins; rarely would a briefcase holder name a time and place for their championship opportunity as it was much easier to cash-in on a beaten and tired champion and the briefcase was generally used as a tool to spotlight an up-and-coming future champion. For Edge, it was his ticket to the main event scene and he began a short feud with John Cena over the WWE Championship. Sadly, Cena would regain the belt from Edge at the Royal Rumble but it wouldn’t be the last time Edge won a World Heavyweight Championship and he was compensated with a star-making performance against Mick Foley at WrestleMania 22. At that same event, Cena defended the belt against Triple H and Shawn Michaels’ issues with Mr. McMahon came to a head in a bloody and brutal no holds barred match between the two. As for Kurt Angle, he jumped back to SmackDown! and captured the World Heavyweight Championship, which he then lost at WrestleMania 22 to Rey Mysterio in a triple threat match, thereby setting Rey on a course for his first emotional, if poorly booked, main event run. Finally, Carlito and Chris Masters would tangle with Kane once more when they challenged the Big Red Monster and the Big Show for the World Tag Team Championships in a losing effort at WrestleMania 22; they would then split up and face off in a short feud that ultimately led to Carlito coming out on top. Of course, this wouldn’t be the last Elimination Chamber match; the infamous “Extreme” Elimination Chamber was held in December 2006 and audiences were guaranteed to see at least one a year when it graduated to a self-titled pay-per-view in 2010, however the following year’s New Year’s Revolution event would be the last carrying that brand name.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

What did you think to the fourth Elimination Chamber match? Do you enjoy the match concept? Were you a fan of John Cena or were you already sick of his schtick at this point? What did you think to the competitors in this match? Were you shocked to see Edge steal the victory at the end? What’s your favourite Elimination Chamber match and Money in the Bank cash-in? Did you enjoy the New Year’s Revolution event and would you like to see it revived? Whatever your thoughts on the 2006 Elimination Chamber and its participants, share them below or leave a comment on my social media.