CM Punk vs The Rock

It's not uncommon for most people to be more invested in Punk vs Rock than they were for Punk vs Cena. With half the build up they managed to get twice the hype based just on their promo on January 7, 2013. There's no doubt in most people's minds that this will lead into Rock winning, and all of this culminating into another Cena vs Rock match at Wrestlemania. I'm not most people, however. I'm much more pessimistic and my optimism always heads to fringier directions.

 Punk has become iconic within the WWE for dropping real talk, yet his new heel angle is nowhere near as layered as his 2009-2011 heel run. His promo on the go home show for Monday Night Raw has him critique the masses and The Rock for representing them. If you know me, there's no room within me for sympathy for the masses, despite this turning Punk into a cowardly heel that cheats his way for the top is too cheap for him.

As for The Rock. This Rock is nowhere near the same character as The Rock from The Attitude Era: Part of what I hate about the pg era is that the wwe fans and audience are now being called a universe, no longer having their own distinct character like ECW, The Attitude Era, or WCW. Instead the WWE has remodeled their audience from being distinctly snarky and energetic to being the idiot masses everyone hates. Every face is now a politician, they certainly speak like one. How different is John Cena and his transformation from The Rock and his transformation as a character. While The Rock certainly was "The People's Champion" that term has taken a new cryptic life of its own.

These are both Talented wrestlers and entertainers who have been given the wrong character roles to play. They need to have a beast match for this Royal Rumble. There's no question about it. The best thing going for this match and feud is that it isn't John Cena vs The Rock. That match was manufactured by Stephanie Mcmahon to be a Team Edward vs Team Jacob wank fantasy. Here there is the vital order of wrestling. You have a face and you have a heel. Someone is trying to get heat in order to get the other guy over. While you could have an excellent feud without an objective good guy or bad guy like the streak matches that Undertaker has it's better for people that are on equal terms. Rock and John Cena were never on equal terms. Similarly to Triple H the WWE has wrongfully given us the facade that Cena is a Hogan/Austin/Rock figure, when in reality he's not.

There's not doubt that the fate of this company lies in the hands of a good road to Wrestlemania, for the WWE is treading dark waters with it's low television ratings and PPV buyrates. The good thing is that the WWE is abandoning Linda's senate campain, however they need to drop their corporate system as it's hurting the company to have to pay their shareholders. This in itself is a tangent, yet it all contributes to the pressures of having this road to Wrestlemania outshine the last one. In the year 2012 the WWE only had one good month, which was the month of April. Here at the very least they need a good season to propel them back to sunshine.