I have been a fan of professional wrestling since before I knew how to tie my shoes properly. My first Wrestlemania was IX, and I remember screaming in octaves I would never reach again at the conclusion of X when Bret Hart won the then-WWF Title from Yokozuna. Somehow, I managed to reach those octaves again when I sat at Madison Square Garden ten years later and watched Chris Benoit force Triple H to tap out. So enamored was I with the world of wrestling that I trained and became a referee, learned the ins and outs of the business and incredibly, found myself on the other side of the ropes.
In 2007, a combination of the Benoit events and other circumstances in my life took me away from wrestling for several years. I never wanted to give it up, but to put it simply, I had no choice. I dealt with a horrid relationship and neared bankruptcy as a result. It took me what seemed like forever to escape and rediscover myself.
Fast forward to the summer of 2011. I started checking up on WWE again – not watching, just glancing at results and reports to see who stood where. On June 27, it didn’t seem to me like anything had changed. John Cena was WWE Champion. Randy Orton was the World Heavyweight Champion, taking it from Christian after a mere two-day reign. Dolph Ziggler (who I did not know was a repackaged ex-Spirit Squad member), Ezekiel Jackson, David Otunga, Michael McGillicutty and Kelly Kelly were all titleholders None of these names jumped out at me, someone who had been completely out of touch with all things wrestling for 48 months.
Then it happened.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/2OS9wZGb_3g
Friends of mine began to post status updates and tweets at an alarming rate about CM Punk. You want to talk about “trending?” People who I knew for a fact had never watched wrestling in their entire lives were talking about something that happened on WWE Raw as the show went off the air and into an overrun. The guy I had followed throughout the independent scene, from IWA Mid-South to Ring of Honor (where he earned the most emotional sendoff of any departing wrestler I have ever seen), who scratched and clawed his way into Ohio Valley Wrestling and then WWE’s reimagining of ECW, had just lit the entire wrestling world on fire with what, in our world, has become one of the most powerful weapons known to man: words.
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4 Comments
I was just being amazed by the same thing. I still remember last year pretty vividly. How each week seemed to be must see tv because of CM Punk. Even the rivalry that started when Punk took over the Nexus, it started brewing then with him & Cena. I wish Punk never traded the title for a month or two with Cena & Del Rio, otherwise he’d been champ for almost a year next month. I’d still look at it that way. How could they give the title to someone else anyway? Punk is sure to be clean and not commit a violation and he’s been a great face and spokesman for WWE.
Also, I wanted to ask you a personal question. How did you become a referee? I would love to be involved in pro wrestling in some capacity,
Thanks for reading, Michael! Regarding my refereeing, I went through the exact same training as an aspiring wrestler would do. You learn the same bumps and the same ways to protect yourself. It was always said to me that the ref has one of, if not THE most important job in wrestling. You have to not only keep track of the match and what’s going on, you have to be willing to take charge if something goes wrong, like an injury.
Hey – as a fellow contributor, I must say: I prefer to read these ‘think pieces’ or analytically based pieces rather than top #10s and such (leave that to bleacher report). Good stuff here.
It was an amazing promo but a shame that Punk’s lengthy reign hasn’t been the main focus of programming.