First, there is the issue of Kane. I am NOT in any way knocking his abilities – he is one of the greatest men of his size to ever wrestle, and he can still fly with all the height and range that he did when he tore the door off the cell in 1997. That said, obviously he does not have the technical prowess of Punk and Bryan, nor could I expect him to wrestle for sixty minutes. He’ll need to step aside somehow. This is where AJ might come into play – her continued interactions have been costing Kane precious victories, and if they could get Paul Bearer involved as well, Kane could disappear while the three of them form some kind of new, evil pseudo-Ministry. It’s a stretch, yes, but it would work well. This would free up Punk and Bryan to settle their differences one-on-one.
Second, when would we get this Iron Man match? WWE’s own Twitter feed has acknowledged the desire for it, and everyone from Jim Ross to Joey Styles to Lance Storm has said how incredible it would be. For me personally, if they want to make CM Punk the one who debuts a brand-new WWE Championship belt and possibly have him break John Cena’s record of longest reign, this should happen at Wrestlemania XXIX. I grew up on Stone Cold Steve Austin and would love to see he and Punk wrestle…in Austin’s prime. Not now. Austin and Punk can tease the internet all they want, but I don’t think it will happen. Austin has said he wants to be able to hunt and fish pain-free for the rest of his life, and one big wrestling match – despite ten years of rest – could put that in jeopardy.
A number of things could happen from now until Summerslam. We don’t know who will win either Money In The Bank match, or how the returns of Chris Jericho, Randy Orton and even Wade Barrett will factor into things. What we do know is that Punk is WWE’s number two man, and the more he continues to hold the WWE Championship while defending against Daniel Bryan, the more likely the dream match of wrestling fans is to take place.
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4 Comments
After witnessing the near 25 minute showdown at Over The Limit, I myself came to the same conclusion.
However, unfortunately I don’t believe WWE would book such a desirable match for Wrestlemania, the reason being that WM is no longer solely about wrestling and they wouldnt wish to dedicate an entire hour to one match.
Summerslam? Survivor Series? Yes, possibly. But I feel that it may very well end up featuring on Raw when it goes 3 hours, not a bad thing, but it just wouldn’t have the same momentum and importance as it would on a PPV.
Either way, do we want to see it? YES! YES! YES! (sorry)
Thanks, Andrew – you bring up a good point about Wrestlemania. It isn’t just about the wrestling matches so much as the spectacle of Wrestlemania itself. Iron Man matches have worked out well on TV before, so even if it were to be “downgraded” to a Raw match, I would be okay with it. Just as long as it happens.
It’s bitter sweet, we get our match but without the fanfare and spectacle that goes with it. 10 even 5 years ago such a match would be given a full months hype and would be the main selling point and climax of a PPV, unfortunately we are in a different era now. It’s a shame really.
I would love to see such a match, however I would rather they wrestled an unscheduled hour with just the one pinfall like HBK and Cena rather than contrive pinfalls for an hour long match that might psychologically put off fans constantly thinking about how much time they have to invest in the match-up. This really damaged Bret and Shawn at Wrestlemania despite the quality of wrestling on offer.