After months of failed attempts, CM Punk finally captured the ECW Championship from longtime rival John Morrison on the September 4, 2007 edition of ECW. Due to Morrison violating the WWE Wellness Policy and being suspended for 30 days, their feud was put on halt for the time being. Punk went on to successfully defend the gold against Elijah Burke at Unforgiven before a tournament was held to crown a new No. 1 contender to the title. Although Tommy Dreamer came out on top and looked to face Punk for the belt at No Mercy, he was forced to put his championship opportunity on the line in an impromptu match against Big Daddy which he lost. Viscera had just been drafted from Raw to ECW and was repackaged as Big Daddy V. Officials obviously had big plans for him (no pun intended), but whoever thought it was a bright idea to put him in the title picture was sadly mistaken. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds7Zpu2JC7s The No Mercy match between Big Daddy and Punk was a total train wreck and a complete waste of time. Not only did it suffer from lack of proper build-up, Big Daddy's in-ring work wasn't what it used to be and not even Punk could carry him to a passable bout. Their match went all of two minutes before Matt Striker's interference caused the contest to end in disqualification with a championship rematch never being held.
Since 2008, Graham has been a diehard pro wrestling fan and, in 2010, he combined his passions for WWE and writing when he joined Bleacher Report. Equipped with a master's in journalism, Graham has contributed to WhatCulture, FanSided's Daily DDT, Sports Betting Dime, and GateHouse Media. Along the way, he has conducted interviews with wrestling superstars like Chris Jericho, Edge, Goldberg, Christian, Diamond Dallas Page, Jim Ross, Adam Cole, Tessa Blanchard, Ryback, and Nick Aldis among others.
