By Chris Michaels

Heading into this match CM Punk has done some of his best mic work during his entire reign as WWE Champion. CM Punk was serious throughout this entire feud and has shown that he is determined to show why he is, “The Best in the World” and the longest reigning WWE champion in 25 years. The Rock has the ability to mock his opponents, entertain the fans, and add comedy into the feud, but when it is time to switch and be serious, he does, and when he does it’s great television. The go-home show of Monday Night RAW was the best build to get people interested in the WWE Title match and like I said in my last column, “I believe The Shield will have a big part in how the decision in the WWE Championship match between The Rock and CM Punk is decided.” While Mr. McMahon has made that impossible people have to remember that Paul Heyman shook hands with Brad Maddox and said, “Stick with me and I will make you famous” and remember when the odds were stacked against Punk at Hell in a Cell Maddox came to his rescue and screwed Ryback (which I would like to say, Maddox has been growing on me and I believe he will be an intriguing character in the WWE), but now after reading up on a few things that might seem unlikely too (won’t spoil anything). CM Punk has proved with his feud with Rock that he deserves to be the champion longer and he should defeat The Rock at The Royal Rumble.

There is a lot of reasons why I believe CM Punk should retain, first, CM Punk has carried the company on his back for 400+ days and for him to lose the title to a part time wrestler would be a slap in the face to him. Sure, having The Rock hold the title while promoting his movies would help bring some exposure to the WWE, I get that, but at this point with a streak like Punk’s it took five years for a reign like we have seen with Punk’s to occur. CM Punk has set the bar HIGH for the next person who wants to even shoot to break the record. It might take ten years before we see a reign like this again. It’s a milestone achievement that possibly won’t ever be reached and you’re going to have The Rock who won’t be around AFTER WrestleMania end that streak just for a few weeks of exposure and for him to lose two months later? Rumors are we might see The Rock vs John Cena for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 29 (no way Cena loses this match), so essentially, we are back to where we started 400+ days ago when Punk cut the promo on the stage; No progress, no change, and a pointless reign. CM Punk’s reign as the WWE Champion is the equivalent to The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak. His title reign should NOT end unless it is to crown the next superstar to take WWE into the next era and in my opinion that would be somebody like; Ryback, Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan, or any of the guys from, The Shield. CM Punk’s reign could make a future star just like Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak could create a future star and that is how it should be handled. Having Punk lose the title to The Rock and having it handed down to John Cena would be a lost opportunity, but most of all will be an injustice and disgrace to how hard CM Punk has worked to bring prestige back to the title. So I am hoping, I am hoping that WWE makes the right decision and have Punk retain at the Rumble and lose it to somebody who deserves it and those somebodies are not The Rock or John Cena. 

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Solid promo from Taz and the rest of Aces and 8s to kick off the show. He didn't give much of a motive as to why he's apart of the group, but his delivery of the promo was still well done. He can provide Aces and 8s with some strong mic work going forward, but I don't think it was necessary to keep him on commentary. I found it distracting and it took away from the matches at hand.

Fine match with Tara defeating Velvet Sky to successfully retain her Knockouts Championship. The action was exceptional given Sky's limited in-ring skills, but it was Jesse's constant involvement is what hindered the bout. I understand that's apart of her act, but I feel Tara would be much better on her own without Jesse. This match should've felt more important than it did given the fact it was Sky's first title shot in many months.

Decent opening segment featuring Vickie Guerrero, Paul Heyman and The Rock. It established that Rock was banned from the arena following his actions from last week, but that was basically it. I appreciated the effort in forcing Rock to suffer the repercussions in order to make it seem logical, but this wasn't a hot start to the show by any means.

Good Beat the Clock Challenge match with Randy Orton defeating United States Champion Antonio Cesaro. It would've made more sense if they rushed the match a bit in order to save time, but I was completely content with dragging it out a few more minutes. The match was well wrestled and made Cesaro look strong in defeat. His out for losing was staring at the clock, so it's nice to see WWE at least make an attempt to protect Cesaro.

Brief match with Big Show squashing Zack Ryder. It was effective in reestablishing Show as a ruthless monster and hyping the Last Man Standing stipulation for his World title match on Sunday. Obviously, Brad Maddox's commentary was the highlight of these mere minutes and he's gradually growing on me as well. My only complaint is that it came at the expense of Ryder, but he hasn't meant anything in ages anyway, so that's only a minor gripe of mine.

Meaningless match with Ryback defeating Heath Slater. Why even bother hyping that Ryback would in action against Slater? That seemed vastly unnecessary to me. Regardless, I enjoyed Ryback's promo in the sense that it was short, sweet and straight to the point. It was only a matter of time before he announced himself as a participant in Sunday's Royal Rumble match and he's undoubtedly my odds-on favorite to win it all.

Great promo from WWE Champion CM Punk. Once again, Punk was brilliant on the mic and did an excellent job of building towards his pending title match with The Rock on Royal Rumble. I'm thankful that Punk took shots at the people rather than at Rock, which allowed him to garner some major heel heat. The Voice of the Voiceless has done a very effective job of making the WWE Championship feel prestigious during his run with the belt and that was no different here.

Entertaining Beat the Clock Challenge match between Dolph Ziggler and The Miz. The clashing of their similar styles made for some awesome (no pun intended) action and created nice suspense down the stretch. As stated last week, I'm not a huge supporter of Miz utilizing the Figure Four Leglock as a finisher going forward, but I'm fine with it as long as it's beneficial in building his popularity. The finish was well done and gave Ziggler a much-needed victory.

Nice opening segment featuring World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler, Big Show and Sheamus. It was simple and effective in setting up the night's main event tag team match without having it being bland and boring. The fiesta spiced things up a bit and was a fun way to kick off the show. Also, the Texas crowd was very response to Del Rio, which was assuring to see.

Brief match between United States Champion Antonio Cesaro and Kofi Kingston. These two could've gone much longer than the mere two minutes they were given, but they made the most out of it. As always, Kingston and Cesaro produced a quality contest that was enjoyable while it lasted. The finish was incredibly unique and was excellently executed.

Harmless match with The Great Khali defeating Tensai. The match was over within a minute, so there's nothing really to complain about other than the fact that this bout seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever. However, I do appreciate the fact that this match was at least fresh in being something we've never seen before (and something we'll hopefully never see again).

Fun six-man tag team match with Randy Orton and WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No defeating Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett and Team Rhodes Scholars. Aside from the fact we've seen a handful of multi-man matches on the blue brand in recent months, this bout was very well paced and featured a number of exciting spots. Everyone was able to hit the signature spots and create a fun final few moments of the matchup. I'm fine with Orton's team going over here given the fact he lost cleanly to Barrett on Monday's Raw.

By Thomas Brunt

While Alberto Del Rio finally achieved his destiny this past Friday night on SmackDown, his current tile reign doesn't look legit.   It doesn't look like the Mexican Aristocrat will  even hold the title until February's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.   This is because of  rumored top matches at WrestleMania 29, as the Legend Killer is likely  to wrestle the Celtic Warrior at the Granddaddy of them all for the World Heavy weight gold.   Let's not forget to factor in the possibilities of a potential Dolph Ziggler cash in, Ziggler has held the brief-case since winning it at July's "Money In the Bank" pay-per-view.   Despite these reasons, WWE has said that they decided to give Del Rio the World Heavy weight title because "they want to shoot Del Rio as the new Latin babyface" with that being said, you would think they are being serious about him here.  I  don't  know if  I will be able to take a month title reign for Alberto Del Rio to seriously.    

Thanks, 
Thomas

Student Sports-Writer/Sports Editor for the "Hawk Newspaper" at Birdville High School, as well as the lead NFL columnist  to "intheneutralzone".com, and pro-wrestling blogger for "Next Era wrestling.com" 

Follow his pointless sports-rants on Twitter: @ThomasSportsguy, and read his personal sports blog here: http://sportsguypressblog.wordpress.com/