The WWE debut of Sting as a pivotal player in last Sunday's Survivor Series main event, the always controversial CM Punk breaking his public silence about his departure from WWE and the spike it should produce in the interest generated by the announcement that Vince McMahon will be the special guest on Stone Cold Steve Austin's podcast on the WWE Network Monday night after Raw, are major headlines in sports entertainment this week.
As expected, Survivor Series was basically a two-match show with assorted inconsequential filler added to provide additional roster members a payday. When Dean Ambrose knowingly got himself disqualified against Bray Wyatt in the semi-main event, it seemed apparent that something big would be needed to salvage the night.
The main event finale with the traditional five-on-five match had the added stipulation of the authority losing power if its crew lost and members of Team Cena being fired if they failed to win. As the bout unfolded, there were plenty of twists and turns that had viewers able to believe that the bout could go either way, which is what good storytelling can do whether it is a pro wrestling match or an episode of one's favorite television drama.
Big Show pinned Mark Henry in a matter of seconds after a knockout punch for the first elimination. Surprisingly, Seth Rollins curb-stomped Ryback and Rusev pinned him after a super-kick. Why did they spend so much time on recent Raws building up Ryback as a key player and job him out so quickly? Perhaps they had advance knowledge of that segment of Punk's Cabana pipebomb. Rusev was protected by being counted out after he had annihilated Ziggler and placed him on the announcers table with the intention of squashing him, but disabled himself when Ziggler rolled out of the way in the nick of time.
Luke Harper pinned Erik Rowan and Big Show sucker-punched teammate Cena, causing Cena to be pinned by Rollins. Show shook hands with Triple H to complete his 30th or so turn and walked out, making Dolph Ziggler a decided underdog as the only guy left on Team Cena against Harper, Kane and Rollins. However, Ziggler used the zigzag to pin Kane and caught Harper with a schoolboy to quickly even the odds as it boiled down to just he and Rollins.
After several minutes of excellent wrestling between two guys who can really go and Dolph getting several near falls, Mercury and Noble interfered liberally before Triple H stopped the ref from counting three on Rollins after a Ziggler zigzag by throwing him clear out of the ring and delivering a pedigree to Dolph. Helmsley then put the unconscious Rollins on top of the unconscious Ziggler and called in his own ref to make a three-count that only got to two before Sting's music hit and the guy they bill as an icon came down the ramp to the ring.
There was a protracted staredown between Sting and Hunter. Finally, Helmsley tried to attack Borden, but was caught in the Scorpion death drop before Sting put Ziggler on top of Rollins and yet another ref counted to three. While it was a big moment to finally see Sting in a WWE ring, there should have been an immediate altercation without the two-minute plus staredown that required Rollins and Ziggler to play dead for what seemed like forever, while the audience had to suspend its disbelief for an un-suspendable amount of time. If the devil is not in the details, the intelligence of the fans is unnecessarily insulted and that was the case at Survivor Series.
Punk pontificates
The wrestling Internet world was abuzz this past week when C.M. Punk spoke publicly for the first time in any kind of detail about his abrupt departure from WWE several months ago. He was a guest on his friend Colt Cabana's podcast and explained how injuries had wrecked him during most of his last few months with the company, but that he had pushed on when he should not have due to self-induced pressure to carry the mantle, as well as pressure by certain company officials and confusion among some of the medical staff about diagnosing some of his injuries.
Punk said he was dealing with concussions, rib injuries, knee problems and infections. He also noted during the interview that he had issues with merchandise money and received his official termination on the day of his wedding, but went to court and got everything he was entitled to in a settlement. Punk noted that wrestling Ryback took 20 years off his career and also implied that the big guy might not look that way as a result of a straight edge lifestyle.
One might expect that Vince McMahon should get some great questions when he is the guest on Stone Cold Steve Austin's podcast Monday night after Raw and some of those questions are likely to be about Punk, unless the chairman labels such queries taboo. That would not seem to be Austin's style, nor would it help Vince's popularity or his network's growth. Vince is in an unenviable position any way you look at it.