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Summerslam was the first pay per view I have ordered since Wrestlemania XX over seven years ago (yes, seven years ago). The reason for that is very simple: CM Punk. He is by far the most interesting, entertaining, and refreshing character that has been on WWE television in years. He has breathed new life into something that has felt unbearably stale. He also has accomplished a feat that I believed was not actually possible, which is to make me care about seeing John Cena wrestle someone.
I have tremendous respect for John Cena the person. The work he does with Make-A-Wish and other charities is phenomenal and deserves an endless supply of praise. However, the moment the "Superman" Cena character appears on my television, my television generally goes off for the evening. So for years I have followed along in the background, religiously listening to audio shows and recaps, and occasionally watching on Monday nights to keep a pulse on WWE's direction. When CM Punk delivered his worked-shoot promo, I was not watching. However, when I heard and eventually saw what he said, I very much identified with it. Unlike the people in the crowd though, I hadn't been supporting the product. I'm of the opinion that if you don't like it, don't watch and don't give them your money, and so I haven't.
The fact that WWE allowed Punk to make those statements on television gave me some hope that maybe things were changing. Last month, I almost ordered Money in the Bank, but my distrust of WWE creative led me to renege on that decision at the last minute. For the first time in a very long time I actually regretted my decision when I heard the results. Last night I actually ordered Summerslam. I greatly enjoyed about 85 percent of the show. The Mark Henry/Sheamus match was great. The Christian/Randy Orton match was awesome. Almost the entire CM Punk/John Cena match was fantastic as well. Unlike you et al., the major problem I had with the show started with the finish to the CM Punk/John Cena match.
Last month CM Punk won with a screwy finish. This month CM Punk won with a screwy finish. When I pay $45 for a pay-per-view, I expect to see a clean finish in the main event (and no commercials either, but that's a different story). How would it have hurt John Cena to lose clean in that match? How much more would it have made Punk a star to win the match clean? This left me with a disgusted taste in my mouth and I felt cheated. I actually walked away from the TV at that point. My wife happened to be sitting in the same room and called me back in when she saw that something was happening (i.e. Kevin Nash powerbombing Punk). I actually had to rewind the dvr to see the Punk/Nash/Del Rio segment and at that point I just didn't care. Within the same night WWE had gotten me to return and pay money only to ruin it again. I will not be watching Raw tonight, and this time it's going to take a long stretch of creative goodwill to get me to start again.
I started watching wrestling before Wrestlemania I. I have been an elite member since this website opened and before that I was a premium member at the other site. I'm 32 years old and my household income is about a quarter million a year which puts me in the most desirable bracket demographically, but yet WWE seems to do everything in their power to continually alienate people like me. They could have my money every single month if they put on compelling television and had pay-per-views with great matches that actually resulted in wins and losses. But I guess they just really know better than I do what I want to watch though, right?
Ryan O
New York City, NY
