And here we are, folks, the future of WWE. CM Punk headlines SummerSlam, and Del Rio walks out the WWE Champion. These are both talented guys who are totally capable of carrying a feud and storyline on their own, yet they've been saddled with addition after addition from the Vince McMahon & Friends roster. *That's* the future of WWE.
Think about this storyline. Punk vs. Cena really should've been a pretty standard rebel vs. company man storyline, which both of the guys involved could've pulled off, and well, by themselves. Sure, the use of the McMahon character is fine for the initial 'don't leave with my belt!' portion, but the overall feud could've easily been carried on the backs of Punk and Cena. To me, all last night illustrated is that they don't feel like they can sell a major PPV on the idea of CM Punk.
Given the MitB ending, SummerSlam was an easy sell. The returning rebel vs. the company man for the right to be the real champion. Within 8 days, they watered it down by bringing back Punk too early *so he could start interacting with HHH*. Let's call it what it is, shall we? They brought him back so the Punk/HHH feud could begin. Cena, for the most part, was an afterthought. He was around, but just like Cena/Miz/Rock, there was a third wheel... this time it just happened to be Cena.
If you want a clear message that this company is unwilling to trust new stars, look no further than last night. They added HHH to the SummerSlam match for no discernible reason. They had Kevin Nash interfere for, uh, some reason that I guess we'll find out, but I'd be willing to bet has something to do with a McMahon. Ask yourself... in a world not run by McMahon ego, did Punk/Cena really need any help? Did we really need to involve people like HHH and Nash? None of the fantasy booking scenarios that were tossed about on here had little to do with older wrestlers, because their inclusion makes no sense to anyone who doesn't have a VP plaques on their door at WWE Headquarters.
This brings me to my next point, which is that it's too soon to have put HHH in this role. I understand that he will eventually become Vince McMahon, but I can't quite divorce HHH from his in-ring days yet. To me, he's not an authority figure, he's a wrestler who now wields power, which is exactly how they've written him. The fact that the show now completely revolves around him doesn't help. I feel like we're back in the early 2000s, but the only difference is that HHH isn't carrying a belt. Until he says he's never getting back in the ring, it's too soon for this role. We can make joke after joke about him winning belts and being on top, but I defy anyone to tell me that they honestly believe HHH won't be semi-main eventing WM28. Belt or not, I'd put money on HHH being in the match that occurs directly before Cena/Rock. He had built up a lot of goodwill with me during the fairly understated Taker feud, but it would appear that the spotlight monster is already back.
So yeah, great, Nash is back. I like Nash, but his injection into a feud like this is unnecessary. It's just another symptom of the problems inherent with WWE booking, and it's really kind of sad. I knock TNA a lot, but they have a similar problem with not letting younger guys carry the company. I applaud them, though, for not pretending the way WWE does. TNA books main events like Flair/Angle and Sting/Hogan. They cut out the middle man and don't even pretend like they aren't relying on older talent. WWE chooses to keep tossing older stars into the mix with the younger guys, but under the guise of getting the young talent over. Miz could've carried a WM feud with Cena, but they chose to insert The Rock. Punk was carrying a feud with Cena, but now we've got HHH and Kevin Nash. I guess the other question is... well, when is WWE going to realize that maybe Cena's the problem?
This company isn't going to change. Last night, to me, was a bigger slap in the face than Punk returning after 8 days, because it was a complete no-confidence vote for Punk. The man energized the crowd and the product in a way that hasn't been done in close to a decade, yet WWE decided that he wasn't getting it over enough. Well, maybe that's too fair... maybe it was just that HHH saw Punk getting over and decided that he didn't like it. He wanted, no... NEEDED to be a part of this storyline because of his own ego. If this was going to be the turning point for a new era, he wanted the history books to reflect that he was a part of it. It's a need he'll always have, because no matter what he does, he'll never get the recognition *he* feels he deserves. When people talk about the Attitude Era, how often do they bring up HHH? Outside of DX, it's pretty rare. I imagine that, deep down, he resents that. He was a big part of that era, yet all people talk about is Rock and Austin. What credit does HHH get for anything? Presiding over the most boring span of years in recent memory, when Raw became the HHH show and the belt belonged to him and no one but him. That's his legacy. You can tell it gnaws at him, you can tell he wants to be 'the guy'. Going back to DX, it's funny watching the DX reunion DVDs, because he pretends that they're a team, but he's always angling himself as the alpha of that pair. They flipped it, all because HHH needs that recognition. Ultimately, it's the fact that he tries too hard that will shoot him down every single time.
The Punk storyline has turned into Invasion 2.0, where something interesting has simply turned into the McMahon show. Where the people who should be carrying the feud are pushed aside for anyone in the McMahon circle. Really think back to how excited you were a month ago, and then realize that Kevin Nash just showed up.
There's the future of the WWE.