Pro Wrestling Chronicle

A rare dip into some recommended 2007 WWE HHH matches (rare for me and this site) and a CM Punk vs Brian Danielson match are discussed. Doesn’t that match look 10x cooler in the year 2008 than it did in 2004?

- I watched two HHH matches from last year. I’m not a WWE fan so-to-speak (not since early 2002) but I’ll check up on any high end recommendations that come my way. These two matches were on a Match Of The Year Candidates list, and as noted in my last What I Watchedblog - I wanted to see what the WWE and HHH would do with a Last Mab Standing Match as compared to Eddie Kingston and Chris Hero.

So I watched HHH vs Orton from the 10.6.07 No Mercy Show. I see where people are coming from as far as Orton getting better. Selling and presence wise he’s definitely improved. He has more timing and thought process in a match than he did the first few years he was pushed down my throat. In big matches I definitely see him “showing up” (this being my second after last year’s Summerslam match with Cena). But his promos are still emotionless and monotone, and frankly, he can’t do much offensively in the ring. You can argue many wrestlers don’t need a huge moveset. Correct. You can argue many wrestlers that get love do to much. I’d agree. But Orton is as much a victim of the “tell a story with punch kick” mirage that has left WWE ring work baron as anyone. He’s better than he was, but he’s not main event yet.

HHH as a face does his typical main event “garbage match” stuff he’s okayed post-real ECW. He does alot of this formula with HBK, though this is less masturbatory. That said, I thought he’d take a build to big spot/less is more approach here as compared to Kingston/Hero, and there was just as much weapon/short cut stuff with only half the hate. In fact, the story wasn’t as good internally through the match as the Kingston/Hero LMS.

Don’t get me wrong, there were many bright spots, but little details made this bland for me much of the time, and Orton scampering back into the ring at the end was a dead give away of the finish. Selling was all very good though and maybe in a few months it won’t seem so boring to me. This isn’t neccessary viewing unless your an Orton or HHH mark. I’ve always been parcial to the heel HHH from my WWE heyday (pre-’02) anyway.

Directly after I watched Umaga vs HHH in a street fight from the 10.28.07 Cyber Sunday PPV. This match, three weeks later, has a similar there are no rules feel, and yet it’s ten times as intense and memorable to me, and that’s with the walk around brawl stuff before getting in the ring I burned out on back in the Attitude Era. Praise to both guys as the stuff they built to really meant something to me, and the power stuff really felt big whenever a move went down. Alot of time watching on TV you lose sight of how big these guys are and how violent this really can be. Here you felt it, and it was crisp work. I could have done without the sledge hammer (always hated that), but otherwise the finish felt like a finish and the match felt like something had been settled. recommend this way more than HHH vs Orton from above, and that’s from a guy who hates “monster of the week” heels that never really win like Kamala… I mean Umaga.

-CM Punk vs Brian Danielson. It’s a match from an April 2004 (4.23.04) Ring of Honor show. CM Punk is a heel and Danielson is still a pretty much generic babyface who is over because of his work in a workrate promotion. But GOD, is CM Punk a great heel with alot of personality, and it’s a reminder of how great he was in an environment that suits him.

Punk was my favorite wrestler from the time he walked out to do a promo in ROH in September of 2002 (first time I’d seen or remember hearing about the guy) until he left for WWE developmental in 2005. As luck would have it his opponent ended up being my favorite wrestler to watch since then. I was already a big fan stemming back to the very first ROH main event, but with Punk gone it became Danielson’s world to me (Samoa Joe always figured in well too).

Since September 2005 I’ll go long periods of time without remembering Punk still wrestles. Sure, I KNOW he’s in WWE, and I read about him here and there, but there’s a definate disconnect as far as me grasping that the guy I’ve seen here and there in WWE is the same man. Punk was never the best at everything, he was always a 7 in every catagory and when you added up all five - surprise - he had the highest score.

Look, I know every tends to want to root for promotions like teams or root against another team, and it’s not like I’m not always above that. I like grass roots promotions and wrestling as art. My favorite promotion as a teen was ECW and my favorite promotion after that was and is Ring Of Honor. WWE is very corporate and it’s set up to limit the art of pro wrestling. So in that sense I’m a fan of indies. But it’s not a rule. WWE can foster creativity for wrestlers and for their stories.

My problem lies in the way WWE develops thier talent and allows them to go forward. Punk can’t do his own promos, wrestle a style where he can get better through trial and error (everything in the “WWEEEEE”, said like a kid going down a slide, is pick fives moves AKA 5 moves of doom).

This post isn’t really about bitching about Punk in WWE so much as everyone going out of their way to see matches like this or the brawl that ends this show (I believe it’s Reborn Stage 1). This match is on Big Vision Entertainments Best of CM Punk Volume 1 DVD as well as the ROH release. Here’s the skinny.

Heel Punk is accompanied by valet Traci Brooks (TNA now) and is a lead heel in ROH at this time. TNA was pulling talent then, and Punk was about to come into his own as the leader of the Second City Saints. As I said Danielson is great as a wrestler here but the “I must break you” T-Shirt and shtick is pretty much the kind of vanilla crap he was still doing at the time. The big thing here is Ricky Steamboat as ref. The Dragon and Punk were entering a feud that never saw Ricky get in the ring unfortunately, but it was cool for what it was. He calls Punk “Punk-Face” and gets after him about rules, and the cocky Punk does his best to smile in Ricky’s face as he cheats and show ass when he loses. Just awesome stuff.

Match is great. I’d say 3 to 3 1/2 stars, and if your not into snowflakes you’ll walk away saying that was enjoyable in ring and as a story. Danielson outwrestles Punk, but Punk does keep up with him. Punk shows alot of stuff he’s not allowed to do anymore, and experiments with stuff that isn’t perfected or is rarely used. This is why I love ROH. You see stuff in matches that if they mess up would be death on the national stage, but life goes on for everyone here. It’s okay to be creative, and it’s also emphasized that that the stuff in the ring should build and make sense.

Match isn’t perfect but Danielson is his normal great self. Punk has never been HBK or Flair, but he’s always been very solid. The audience really accepts the talents and personalities. Great stuff includes Punk saying his hair was pulled and making Steamboat ask the crowd, only for Steamboat to pull his hair as an example. Punk’s mic work at the start with Steamboat is fun too. Danielson use to do a great spot where he’d get over an airplane spin, and then stagger around before attempting a diving head butt. You can still see him trying to be a bit of a Dynamite Kid/Chris Benoit clone at times.

Danielson goes over with an ab stretch submission in a finish that isn’t completely out of nowhere, but was slightly unexpected timing wise. The logic is there though. Then Colt Cabana comes out and he and Punk try to take out Steamboat. Steamboat does some signature spots, and young and smaller Briscoe Brothers come out for the save. Fun stuff you should go out of your way to find if you are a Punk, Danielson, or possibly even a Steamboat fan.