The Man Beast Does NXT

Back in February Terry 'Rhyno' Gerin returned to WWE. He had previously been employed by the company from March 2001, after the closure of ECW, to 2005, when he was released following an altercation with his wife at the after party of WrestleMania 21. During his initial WWE run he was firmly a mid-card act, albeit one who was protected more than most and received more opportunities to outshine his peers. Since his return Rhyno has been cast in an entirely different role, that of the resident veteran of NXT, the popular developmental brand that is edging further away from its developmental remit by the day.

Putting Rhyno in NXT has been a good move. It makes NXT seem important and legitimises it's claim at being a hot brand by having a guy who's been around for so long wanting to wrestle and be champion there. It gives the younger guys someone experienced to work with and learn from. And it's provided Steve Corino's former 'Rookie Monster' with a deserved career renaissance.

"Bring me Cyrus to do my talking!"

The first two are things I've covered before and are, in truth, the most important things about Rhyno's work in NXT. He's essentially an extra trainer who actually gets into the ring and has televised matches with guys, as opposed to helping them lay things out behind the scenes. It's useful and necessary work. But it's Rhyno getting a fair shake that interests me more because throughout his career 'The Man Beast' has come close to getting the top line treatment several times, always just missing out in favour of other guys who better fit the mould of what wrestling companies look for in their main eventers.

Look back at his first big push. Paul Heyman introduced Rhyno to ECW and built him up as a near unstoppable juggernaut. He steamrolled top star Rob Van Dam and was credited with causing the broken leg that put him out of action. He powered through Yoshihiro Tajiri to win the television champion, was positioned as the company's lead heel, and won the world title at final pay-per-view Guilty as Charged 2001. ECW went out of business just as Rhyno was about to become the focal point of the company, including a presumably lengthy reign as the world champ.

The theme continued in WWE. Within his first month he had one of the most enjoyable hardcore title matches ever with Raven (Backlash 2001) and had great singles matches against The Rock and Kurt Angle during the Invasion storyline. This in addition to being one of the names chosen to represent the ill-fated alliance of WCW and ECW in the main event of the monstrously popular InVasion pay-per-view. His good fortune came crashing to a halt after he suffered a neck injury in October and was written off TV for surgery.

When he returned in February 2003, over a year later, he was not afforded the same opportunities as he had been before (after a promising rumour that he'd be brought back as the bodyguard of Matt Hardy came to nothing). He was shunted from a team with Chris Benoit to a feud with Chris Benoit and then into another team, this one with Tajiri. By the time te incident at 'Mania 21 rolled around Rhyno was just another face in the crowd, although it's worth noting he still routinely got better than average responses.

Rhyno's non-WWE career was characterised by a typically lacklustre stint in TNA and an underwhelming stint in Ring of Honor. There are only two things about his time there that stand out in my mind. One is him winning the NWA world championship (TNA's top prize at the time) from Jeff Jarrett only to lose it back to him two days later. He was popular at the time so this was a particularly dumb move: instead of capitalising on someone's connection with the audience and trying to make a new star TNA chose to troll people instead¹. The other was his worked shoot outrage at WWE resurrecting ECW as a third brand in 2006, which culminated in a hilarious skit in which Rhyno burned the "original" ECW world title belt, safely wrapped up so we couldn't see that it was, at best, a replica. Natch. He did little in ROH besides act as an enforcer for heel stables, although he did get to wrestle a rough 'n' tough match with world champion Kevin Steen.

The routinely strong booking of NXT should ensure another setback doesn't befall Rhyno, allowing him to have the strong run he's deserved to have for years. He's already had the chance to show off his better-than-I-remembered promo skills and work opposite top lads Finn Bálor and Sami Zayn. He's had impressive matches with Kalisto and Bull Dempsey, and he has of course given Baron 'Barry' Corbin the longest, most enjoyable match of his (admittedly short) career so far at Takeover: Unstoppable. And it's being made very clear Rhyno is a candidate for a world title shot. Long may this continue. 

***

¹ This inability to gauge what their audience wants is why TNA is going down the tubes so spectacularly now.

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 40

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 40 by Dave Hatton on Mixcloud

A subject I’ve wanted to write about for quite a while now is whether or not a large scale (or larger than the current scale) British wrestling promotion could succeed. There are enough talented wrestlers based in Britain to put together a worthwhile roster but that’s only part of what would be required. Regular shows available for viewing on TV or online, ongoing storylines, and an identity beyond being just another company using the same guys to put on good matches would all be necessary too.

This is not an image I'm happy with. For various reasons

It’s a subject that would take thousands of words to do justice, and that sort of thing takes time to write. It doesn’t take long to say them though. So the topic seemed liked a good one for That Wrestling Podcast to cover.

As part of the topic Michael and I talk about guys we’d like to see in a leading British promotion, what sort of style we think would work, the scale on which the company could operate and platforms that could be used to get it seen. It’s not as comprehensive as the subject warrants but it’s close enough. Maybe we’ll come back to it at some point. It is, as I say, something I’ll write about at some point in the future.

Also discussed (for the bulk of the episode in fact) are names synonymous with Extreme Championship Wrestling. Michael and I each pick four guys to go on to a (completely fictional) Mount Rushmore celebrating the talents of ECW. Among the names discussed are Taz, Raven, Sabu, the Dudleys, Rob Van Dam, Paul Heyman, Rhino, Joey Styles and, of course, Jerry Lynn. It proves a far more interesting discussion than a WCW Mount Rushmore because there are so many more men and women linked to ECW than there are to WCW. The reason? Most of WCW's big names worked for the WWF before and WWE after their stints in World Championship Wrestling. Plus, y'know, WCW was really defined by Goldberg's winning streak and the invasion of a outsider faction. Beyond that there was little identity to WCW, and that makes it hard to link guy's to the promotion.

Anyway, how about you press play?

NXTweet 13.03.13

Last week’s NXT felt sparse. This week’s show more than made up for it with matches featuring Kassius (or Kass-yus, as Tony Dawson likes to call him) and Bray Wyatt. Even Big E Langston had a match. That’s become something of a novelty since he got called up to the main roster to work as Dolph Ziggler’s enforcer.

The NXT champ worked a competitive main event against the United States champion Antonio Cesaro. That came about when ‘The Swiss Superman’ interrupted an address by World Heavyweight champion Alberto Del Rio. It was a strange segment. The World champ essentially showed up to be interrupted and provide the impetus for a match featuring two men he usually has nothing to do with. It would have been more interesting to see him wrestle someone like Corey Graves or Conor O’Brian.

The Big E v Cesaro match was good. WWE has a peculiar habit of booking guys that start out winning via squash in longer and longer matches. Look at what happened with Ryback and Brodus Clay last year. I suppose it makes sense to do this on NXT: it’s supposed to be somewhere guys improve and they’ll improve far quicker if they’re given longer matches.

Ohno wrestled against Derrick Bateman. Oddly it was Daniel Bryan’s former on-screen protégé that dominated the majority of the match. Ohno, by far the man with the higher standing, got what amounted to a fluke victory after booting Bateman in the chops. The booking wasn’t bad, but it was surprising.

Following his win Ohno slapped his STF kravat hold onto Bateman. William Regal made the save. I’ve written before that a televised collision between them would be A Good Thing. If announced a week or two in advance and built up as a meaningful match it would make a very worthwhile main event.

 

Ohno channelling Thor in preparation for his upcoming showdown with William Regal

 

Bray Wyatt lost to Bo Dallas. It was a relatively uninspiring showing. Bray’s good in the ring, but he’s far more interesting as a character than as a wrestler. His opposition didn’t help. I’m not a fan of Dallas: everything from his long, stringy hair to his generic wrestling style put me off him.

Wyatt puts me in mind of Raven during his ECW heyday heading up the Flock. The Wyatt Family isn’t as impressive as that iconic and eclectic stable but Bray has many similarities with Raven. They both work a brawling style, wear street clothes for their matches, and are excellent promos. There’s a hint of the old Raven trait of being a cult leader in Bray too. I like the similarity. Raven was underappreciated everywhere outside of ECW. I’d like it if Bray could succeed in WWE with a similar gimmick.

Opening video

Tweet 1: NXTweet.

Tweet 2: Alberto Del Rio's going to appear. That'll be... well, it'll be something.

Derrick Bateman v Kassius Ohno

Tweet 3: It’s Kassius… OHNO!

Tweet 4: This has been on my mind for a while now: what's going on with Bateman's hair. Looks like he's asked for the "Elaine from Seinfeld" look.
Tweet 5: Dawson is still saying "Kass-yus". Weird fella.
Tweet 6: Bateman was on offence for most of that. Ohno pulled out a win with a boot to the face. Booking Bateman like a job: good stuff!
Tweet 7: Regal saved Bateman from a devastating kravat. The fans gave him a token, brief, chant.

Emma v Summer Rae

Tweet 8: It's Emma. She still seems drunk. I don't understand this act at all.

Tweet 9: "If you thought she was talented with the microphone..." - Tony Dawson on Summer Rae (he tailed off and didn't finish the sentence)
Tweet 10: Regal says Summer's wrestled like a veteran in the women's division.
Tweet 11: She's been wrestling for about a month. With the division the way it is that qualifies her as a veteran.

Is that Summer Rae or Kelly Kelly? It's difficult to tell...

Tweet 12: According to Regal Summer just performed a "headmare".
Tweet 13: Spinning heel kick there. It would be more accurate to say spinning thigh kick but never mind.
Tweet 14: Paige's return was greeted with apathy. Probably because the fans forget she was supposed to be "injured".

Renee Young interviews Adrian Neville

Tweet 15: Adrian Neville promo. #Geordievision

Tweet 16: Neville looks like an imp.

Matt Striker interviews Big E Langston

Tweet 17: You know Big E Langston's a star because Matt Striker's been called in to interview him.

Tweet 18: Big E's defense against Conor O'Brian will be delicious. I hope that match features Langston licking O'Brian several times.

Bo Dallas v Bray Wyatt

Tweet 19: When Bray Wyatt is given the chance to cut promos on people that matter he'll become a star.

Tweet 20: Bo Dallas does not matter.
Tweet 21: Was Wyatt just singing a song from The Lion King?
Tweet 22: The Wyatt Family should recruit more members. Stick Justin Gabriel in and have him dress in a giraffe outfit. It'd be a refreshing change.
Tweet 23: Bo Dallas beating Bray is apparently a shock, even though he's the one who won a slot in the Rumble and beat Wade Barrett.
Tweet 24: Bray's finisher should be called the Husky DDT.

Not dissimilar to Raven

Renee Young interviews Justin Gabriel

Tweet 25: Justin Gabriel's going to tell us all about his problems with Leo Kruger. Oh good.

Tweet 26: Gabriel told us NOTHING about his problems with Kruger there. He just explained that Kruger was in the South African militia.

Alberto Del Rio promo, featuring Ricardo Rodriguez, Antonio Cesaro and Dusty Rhodes

Tweet 27: Albertooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Dellllllllllllllllllllll Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiooooooooooooooooo!!

Tweet 28: "'Viva Del Rio' they shout everywhere he goes!" - Tony Dawson, lying
Tweet 29: Nice of Del Rio to dress for the occasion.
Tweet 30: To say he's the new WHC is stretching it a bit. He won it over two months ago.
Tweet 31: Antonio Cesaro... Heeeey!!
Tweet 32: If Cesaro thinks he can beat Del Rio why not challenge him to a title match?
Tweet 33: It's 'The Dream'... baybee!

Big E Langston v Antonio Cesaro

Tweet 34: Big E Langston, walking to the ring through an explosion of powder. What a man! What a MACHINE!

Tweet 35: I'd like Dawson to say that Langston is "285 pounds of pure Big E goodness."
Tweet 36: Cesaro doesn't wear kneepads. He doesn't wear elbow pads. You're lucky he's wearing trunks!
Tweet 37: That uppercut was very European.
Tweet 38: Cesaro deadlifting Langston is the highlight of this show. His expression was priceless.
Tweet 39: E Train? Good name for a move. Ridiculous, but good.
Tweet 40: Conor O'Brian and Corey Graves do run-ins. This qualifies as chaos according to Dawson.
Tweet 41: Langston is clearly not popular with the locker room. Nobody made the save. Not even ADR.

NXTweet 07.02.13

Since the last time I did an NXT recap there have been a few changes on the show. Seth Rollins has dropped the NXT championship and joined the main roster as part of The Shield. The man he lost his prize to, Big E Langston, has also joined the main roster, working as a bodyguard for World Heavyweight champ in waiting Dolph Ziggler.

Where Rollins has switched from face to heel in his promotion Langston has done the reverse. Except that in the bubble universe that is NXT he remains as popular as ever. He’s still the developmental league’s number one good guy, obsessed with the number five.

Former indy standout PAC has signed a WWE developmental deal and debuted under the decidedly pedestrian name of Adrian Neville. Perhaps the name is supposed to provoke an image of a nondescript footballer. It certainly doesn’t conjure up an image of a WWE sports entertainer. Nor, for that matter, does it conjure an image of a man capable of the impressive flying manoeuvres the man from Newcastle is known for. Hopefully he’ll get a gimmick overhaul before hitting RAW.

Oh, and on the subject of RAW let’s hope Neville has started getting rid of his accent before he turns up there. The British have a hard enough time understanding Geordies. I dread to think how the Americans will cope.

Another newcomer since my last recap is Oliver Grey. He’s another product of the British wrestling scene, although he’s not had anywhere near the international exposure and success of Neville. The two have formed a tag team based, apparently, solely on the fact that they’re both British. It’s as good a reason as any, I suppose.

Speaking of tag teams probably the biggest change since my last NXTweet is the introduction of NXT tag team championships. My personal tastes for any wrestling promotion (and to all intents and purposes NXT is a promotion that stands alone form WWE) are to see a singles championship and a tag team championship. I can take or leave a mid-card belt, usually only thinking they’re worthwhile if there’s a particularly deep roster in place (ROH, for example, definitely doesn’t need a TV title right now).

The thing with NXT is that there aren’t really that many teams available, which means some had to be tossed together to make the tournament work. Kassius Ohno and Leo Kruger are a perfect example. Had they reunited the Kings of Wrestling I would (naturally and predictably) have been all for it. Cesaro and Ohno have a history together. Even if it hadn’t been acknowledged a fair number of viewers would have been aware of it. Kruger and Ohno are two singles guys who hadn’t had any interaction with one another before the tournament started. Yet they’re deemed worthy of wrestling to become the first ever tag team champions.

Basically there was no need for the tag belts. With The Ascension gone (there’s another change: Conor O’Bria has gone solo after Kenneth Cameron (another Brit) was released from his contract last year) and the likes of Epico and Primo, former WWE tag champs but basically jobbers, roped in to make up the numbers alongside random units like Ohno and Kruger, there just isn’t a desperate need for doubles gold in NXT.

That said I don’t think it’s a bad idea. It could indicate that WWE have a long term plan to reintroduce tag team wrestling as a serious part of their programming again. Considering the likes of Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Edge, and Jeff Hardy all got their starts in tag teams. That should be indication enough that keeping the doubles ranks nicely stocked is a good move.

Recap video

Tweet 1: NXTweet.

Tweet 2: Tag team title tournament semi-finals on tonight's show! For the record I think it's a GREAT idea to get tag belts for developmental...
Tweet 3: ... Especially when the main roster has, like, three teams. It's brilliance! #sarcasm

NXT Tag team championship tournament semi-final – Leo Kruger and Kassius Ohno v Oliver Grey and Adrian Neville

Tweet 4: It's Kassius... OHNO!!

Tweet 5: Did he just do a moonwalk? Whatevs. Even if he did this team is no KOW.
Tweet 6: And their opponents: two British blokes.
Tweet 7: Yeah, good luck with making the Americans undertand your promos there, Adrian.
Tweet 8: Another note for the record: I like Ohno's blue trunks.
Tweet 9: Something I don't like is this bland commentator pronouncing Kassius as "Cash-ee-us."
Tweet 10: Kruger dresses like a member of The Shield. He's secretly a member. Leo 'The Secret' Kruger.
Tweet 11: 'South Africa's Best Kept Secret' Leo Kruger. 'Mr Secrecy' Leo Kruger.
Tweet 12: WWE management go out of their way to portray themselves as the only wrestling company in the world most of the time.
Tweet 13: Which means it feels odd when they have their commentators talk about wrestlers having travelled the world.
Tweet 14: Why does it matter? They're finally in WWE, competing on the prestigious NXT! Surely this is the highlight of their career?
Tweet 15: They're signing British guys now so where the HELL is James Tighe? Does he still work? I've not seen anything on him for years.
Tweet 16: Triple H and Shawn Michaels weren't a great team. They did some funny promos and were good singles guys. As a team? Average.
Tweet 17: "He just looks proper mental... He is" - William Regal on Leo Kruger
Tweet 18: I've not tweeted much about the content of this match. It's slow but very good, the kind of match you the main roster would avoid.
Tweet 19: "Regal, do you see this?!" - Kassius Ohno as he grabbed Adrian Neville's mouth guard
Tweet 20: I want to see Regal v Ohno.
Tweet 21: Good match. It didn't get particularly quick but it was satisfying.

Adrian Neville is practising his singing

Summer Rae is interviewed backstage

Tweet 22: Summer Rae thinks she's the prettiest Diva so she attacked Paige. Yeah, that's right. This feud is about prettiness.

Tweet 23: "Summer school's always in session" - Summer Rae with a comment that played on her name but did little else

Conor O’Brian v Mike Dalton

Tweet 24: Here's Conor O'Brian. Didn't he used to have a tag team partner?

Tweet 25: The crowd seem unenthused by O'Brian's "ruthlessly efficient" squash.
Tweet 26: Heel on the main roster, babyface in NXT, it's Big... E... LANGSTON!!
Tweet 27: Big E has a weird haircut.
Tweet 28: Langston hits his torso cutter and leaves. Conor O'Brian glowers in the ring. Langston shouts five. I feel upset.

They stared

Paige, Sasha Banks and Dusty Rhodes backstage… baybeh!

Tweet 29: Paige is telling Dusty Rhodes that she wants to rip Summer Rae's lips off. Dusty is clearly aroused... eef yoo weel!!

Tweet 30: Dusty looks like a partially melted waxwork of a failed American author.
Tweet 31: Anyway, 'The Dream' just flirted with Sasha Banks and now he's shouting for Rob. #dementia

NXT Royal Rumble tournament video package

Tweet 32: The NXT tournament at Fan Fest looks pretty good. The crowd's larger than I'd expected.

Tweet 33: Does Xavier Woods sleep rough?
Tweet 34: Was Conor O'Brian just described as a jolly beast?
Tweet 35: Kruger using the London Dungeon there. That's one of my favourite submission holds, fact fans.

Someone's happy

Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas backstage

Tweet 36: Bray and Bo backstage. BrayBo.

Tweet 37: Hmmm... these two looks similar. #theyrebrothers
Tweet 38: I strongly dislike Bo and strongly like Bray. Interesting? Nope. True though.

NXT Tag team championship tournament semi-final – The Wyatt Family v Bo Dallas and Michael McGillicutty

Tweet 39: The Wyatt Family clearly have membership cards at Beards R Us.

Tweet 40: For those who missed the memo Michael McGillicutty is now a face.
Tweet 41: The Wyatt Family remind me a little bit of the DOA. They were on Metal practically every week in the late 90s. They bored me.
Tweet 42: The Wyatt Family don't bore me though. I'm generally a fan of cult gimmicks in wrestling.
Tweet 43: Remember Raven's Serotonin group in TNA? I thought that had loads of potential.

Tweet 44: Post-match beating from Bray Wyatt to Bo Dallas there. Husky stuff.

Tweet 45: The show ends with Bray Wyatt sitting in a rocking chair and his boys staring listlessly into the camera. Darn enjoyable show.

CM Punk: Best in the World (DVD Review)

Reviewing DVDs isn't usually something I'm terribly interested in. When you buy a wrestling DVD you largely know what you're getting. It will either be an event that's already happened with a few extras tossed in for good measure (usually taking the form of short, bland interviews and an extra match) or a biography of a star, perhaps with some matches thrown in again. There are shoot interviews, fantasy booking plans, historical accounts, and various other oddments out there but for the most part a wrestling DVD is going to fall into one of those first two camps.
 
The CM Punk: Best in the World DVD falls into the second camp. It is a look at the career of the current WWE champion from the beginning of his career until the present. I wanted to write something about it because there has been a lot of anticipation for it and it's one of the few WWE DVD releases I've bought in a long time. WWE and Punk himself have done a great job hyping the release.
 
Despite not buying many of these releases I'm aware of the usual format. A selection of WWE road agents and wrestlers talk about the star of the release, glossing over or ignoring their shortcomings and embellishing or just plain lying about their accomplishments and abilities. Some truth gets mixed in too, but not as much as you'd think. Talking head footage is spliced with match highlights, promo clips, and childhood photos along the way.
 
This DVD immediately stands out as different because it’s clear Punk has been given the creative control he was promised on the release. The interviewees are far more relevant than on your standard release with all of them being important figures in Punk's personal or professional life. Not all of them are under contract to WWE either, which is out of the ordinary. Colt Cabana and Ace Steel both pop up, as does developmental talent Kassius Ohno under his former ring name Chris Hero. All three provide insight on the young Punk's beginnings in the wrestling business.

Clips are shown of what seems like dozens of different clashes between Punk and Cabana, and highlights are shown of a particularly wild TLC tussle between Punk and Hero. It's acknowledged that the latter helped Punk and Hero gain bookings all over the country and that Punk and Cabana wrestled each other hundreds of times over a two or three year period.
 
Thought has gone into the WWE staff that are interviewed. Kofi Kingston, Bryan 'Daniel Bryan' Danielson, Joey Mercury, Michael Hayes, Zack Ryder, William Regal, and, inevitably, John Cena all crop up. As noted above the standard approach is for the star of the release to be endlessly lauded. That doesn't happen here.
 
Joey Mercury admits that when he first met Punk he didn't like him. By the end of the documentary we know the two are very close now (and that Punk was instrumental in getting Mercury rehired for the Straight Edge Society) but such candidness is rare on a WWE DVD. John Cena states that when Punk first signed he heard a lot of hype about him but he felt underwhelmed when he watched him wrestle.
 
Perhaps most interesting is Michael Hayes. He had been on the writing team the entire time Punk has been with WWE and he admits that the reason Punk spent so much time in then-satellite federation Ohio Valley Wrestling was because Paul Heyman was singing his praises. The writing team’s logic was that Heyman couldn’t be trusted and it was believed he had selected someone mediocre in an attemp to sell them as better than they were. It was believed Heyman would go to those lengths in order to display his prowess as a booker and wrestling creator. An admission of wrestling politics existing on a WWE DVD? Yes, it happened!
 
Paul Heyman's comments are a predictable highlight. His opening statement is that he was “salivating at the opportunity to work with him.” He talks about being aware of Punk's work prior to meeting him in OVW and pushing him even though the office wanted others prioritised. He acknowledges that Punk was the first guy he asked for when put in charge of the revived ECW "brand". He apparently had to fight for that, despite the RAW and SmackDown writers admitting they had no plans to use him themselves. Heyman also gives Punk high praise when he says he wanted to make him the heir of the ECW legacy.
 
It's that section of the DVD that provides the most insight into Punk behind the scenes in WWE, as well as WWE's developmental process. Hayes, Heyman and Jim Ross all acknowledge that Punk was just killing time in OVW and the belief was that he would be released from his contract as a cost cutting measure before debuting on RAW or SmackDown. That WWE had a talent like Punk in developmental and had people in positions of power considering firing him because they didn't know what to do with him shows what sort of dreadful state the system is in. Why was he signed in the first place if there was never any intention of using him?
 
Punk took the opportunities working alongside Paul Heyman presented to him. He attended open sessions every week where they (and anyone else in attendance) would talk about TV storylines and character development. It's interesting to note that Punk refers to this as him "helping to write the show". Later on in the doc Michael Hayes mentions that the higher up the card Punk has risen the greater amount of creative input he has sought. It's an interesting insight into both Punk and the WWE system, which is often criticised for not allowing its stars a loud enough voice.
 
Punk's time in Ring of Honor is covered well and the group deserves credit for contributing a significant amount of footage. It's clear that Punk very much enjoyed his time there and anyone who is unfamiliar with it should get a sense of how highly Punk was regarded by the group's fans.
 
The way in which Punk's first several years in WWE are presented is a strength. It’s acknowledged that Punk was not treated terribly well during his first World Heavyweight title reign, and a fair chunk of time is given over to Punk’s feud with Hardy and the Straight Edge Society gimmick. It’s fascinating to hear that the SES came about as a result of Punk being insulted that the writing team didn’t have anything planned for him after he’d dropped the World title to the Undertaker. Instead of treading water he wrote fourteen weeks’ worth of television for himself and gave it to Vince McMahon. According to Punk the angle only began going downhill after the writing team began scripting the group.
 
The documentary is not without its faults. “Punk was wrestling guys like Raven because all these older guys who were good at interviews they wanted to work with him. His interviews were so fresh, so exciting,” says Daniel Bryan. This is not entirely accurate. Raven stated in numerous interviews in 2003 (and several since) that he saw nothing in Punk when he first came across him. Punk talking about Raven sitting him down to discuss ring psychology sounds more like a disgruntled veteran trying to install old school values in a young guy than a passing of the torch.
 
Comments from John Cena are predictably stupid. Probably his most absurd statement is that Punk “built a name for himself like, I guess, the last territorial wrestler.” Cena does not qualify this remark and the interviewer naturally doesn’t push him on it.

For some reason Cena seems to think of himself as having an eye for young talent, hence his comments about not seeing anything in Punk after he'd heard him talked up so much. Cena has his strengths, chief among them knowing how to market himself. This does not qualify him as an assessor of young talent. His comments and Punk's subsequent success make me hope that Cena doesn't stick around as a road agent after he hangs up his boots (or sneakers).
 
Considering Punk had free rein when it came to match selection I find some of his choices odd. Punk v John Morrison, Punk v Mysterio and Punk v Hardy are all excellent but his ECW debut against Justin Credible and outing opposite Chris Jericho from WrestleMania XXVIII are utter clunkers (although in fairness the debut match needed to be included for its significance to Punk’s career).

Perhaps better bouts are being reserved for future releases (although shouldn't a man claiming to be "the best in the world" be producing enough scorchers over the next few years to make it necessary to cram in everything now and leave room free on later sets?). The lack of indy and ROH bouts is understandable and it's nice that we get something from Punk's stay in Ohio Valley. That was the only bout I hadn't seen before and I thought it was an enjoyable display.
 
On the whole I'd say this is one of WWE's best releases in a long time. It provides a comprehensive overview of Punk's career so far and features interviews with relevant people. His childhood friends are a particularly welcome addition as their views haven't been expressed to wrestling fans before. We find out what drives Punk, how close he was to walking before Money in the Bank 2011, and what he enjoys outside of the ring.
 
I'm still not convinced Punk is the best wrestler in the world. But he certainly has the best DVD.