10 Things We Learned From Something Else To Wrestle With: CM Punk

3. Defending The Indefensible

CM Punk
WWE

Attempting the near-impossible without meaning to be the McMahon toady he was accused of being when he was actually employed there, Prichard was this week charged with trying to rationalise a pay-per-view even Conrad calls "the worst ever".

The Extreme Elimination Chamber was the catastrophic main event on a catastrophic show, in which Bobby Lashley received proto-Roman Reigns reactions (before getting a taste of the real ones a decade later...) by winning the ECW Championship in a worthless and deeply unsatisfying main event lifted from the frazzled fingers of Paul Heyman by Vince McMahon himself.

Prichard argued McMahon's rationale, but even now its hard to process it as anything other than stubbornness. Heyman's pitch that Punk tap out The Big Show immediately then go on to defeat Lashley at the end wasn't considered 'believable' by those at the top table, despite the company promoting all sorts of business-exposing nonsense on the very same show.

Heyman apparently dug his heels in, so McMahon dug even deeper - it was probably in the hole they both made where the match should have been left.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett