CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan II should have been a cause for celebration, but instead, WWE took a match that absolutely blew people away the week before and proceeded to just blow it. The first problem was the match’s placement in the show. While there’s a fair argument to be made for beginning Raw with a really strong, amazing, big match every once in a while, there’s pretty much no reason to schedule a contest between your two World Champions at 9:20 on a Monday night. If that’s the best spot this particular match could be afforded, maybe this arrow could have stayed in WWE’s quiver, huh?
In Punk vs. Bryan I, the two wrestlers used the early moments of the match to set the stage and deliver some solid wrestling storytelling, the likes of which are rarely seen on WWE pay-per-views, much less on free television. But on Raw this week, those early moments were excised from the proceedings, the better for wrestling fans to hear about the heavily-anticipated final season of In Plain Sight. What’s worse is that it was only the first commercial break during the match, and during the second one, Punk and Bryan actually suffered through a superplex spot for the benefit of the crowd in attendance and only the crowd in attendance.
But even when the match was actually onscreen, it was near impossible to follow on account of the racket coming from the commentary table. There were no less than four dopes with microphones talking during the match: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, John Laurinaitis and Theodore Long, with the silent Santino Marella and David Otunga flanking them for good measure. Their incessant babbling about the totally inane “One General Manager To Unite Them All” storyline very nearly killed the match for me, especially given the frequent cuts to the rogue’s gallery at ringside and away from the, you know, actual wrestling.
But what commentary bickering couldn’t accomplish, unnecessarily complicated finishes and booking certainly could. The finish to the match involved Santino, Otunga and Sheamus before both Laurinaitis and Long took to the ring, hijacking what should have been a main event match and turning into a D-Level storyline starring two non-wrestlers.
