Who?

Let me take a whack at justifying this even though I think you're at least partially right: Bryan is a submission specialist. These people probably know when they've got someone right on the brink. He knew Punk was on the verge of tapping. As his shoulders hit the mat, he decided he'd rather go for broke and gamble in this spot than to relinquish the hold and see where the match goes from there. You're only going to have a very limited number of chances to make CM Punk tap.

At that point, he goes for broke and cinches in harder than ever. Once th e decision is made, there's no room in this moment for struggling or worrying or freaking out about the count of his shoulders that's going on.

That Punk promo was great.

Despite all the money they have thrown at Brock and Rock I can guarandamntee that Punk vs Bryan will be feud of the year if they get a few months to play with then put on a rubber match at Summerfest to blow it off - 30 minute Ironman for the win! YES YES YES

I also think they are doing what I really hoped they would which is since his title loss he has been transitioning from the cowardly opportunist heel to the badass limbstapping evil mother ****er heel who wrecks bodyparts for fun. Bryan and Punk are virtually mirror images and they should both be extremely confident in their own skills crossing into arrogance when they are heel and importantly they should be booked that way. Bryan is better in the ring, Punk is better on the mic but both are pretty much at the peak of their careers right now and it seems the creative team are realising this AND that they can make money using them.

Btw Punk crossed the 6 month mark exactly yesterday and is the longest WWE title reign since HHH in 2008.

By the way, no AJ appearance during Bryan's match for the second straight PPV after very directly teasing that she would be involved? They must have some plan in mind for this because it's clear that they're not just getting rid of or abandoning that story.

Wow, he's made it that far? Well, I think that the WWE is trying to put their faith in Punk, by giving him that long of a reign, but I would feel much better about their trust and faith if he could get that last match/segment of the night boost, instead of Cena or Big Johnny.

With the exception of Elimination Chamber the last match has been the proper last match all year

1. RR
2. Cena v Kane blowoff (shouldve been EC)
3. Rock v Cena
4. Cena v Brock
5. Cena v Big Johnny

The big johnny match was straight ****** but Cena is the biggest face, Big Johnny is getting so much ****ing heat it is scary and this was for something of importance. Its like when Austin was facing the McMahons for company control and the like.

Now, when you say it like that, is our despised feelings for Cena is really clouding our judgment? And now that you mentioned it, during like late 1998-mid 1999. Austin was in some matches that main evented over the WWF title (Rock Bottom, St Valentines Day Massacre, KOTR 99, maybe RR 99, also to note that the Rock were in title matches in all of those), but it did not really matter, because well, everybody loved Austin, while today, a good majority does not like Cena and that good majority likes Punk over Cena. Though DB, may trump them all someday.

I think it is clouding judgment

Here is the "catch 22"

We dont want Cena as champ all the time, but know that when he is not the title is just not as important.

WWE has really booked themselves into a corner more and more as time has gone on for the past year.

They NEED to keep Cena relevant and on top because he is hte franchise right now (which is a model that has worked for decades and will frankly work because its surely the easiest to build and maintain) but want to build new "stars" (Punk, ADR, Sheamus, maybe DB (I like the guy and he has been a revelation but you will never convince me that we was going to be more than a one off transitional champion until they realized what they have, and even then they still might ignore it)). This leaves them in a real tough spot and we hate it because Cena has run his course for us.

general thoughts:

pretty damn good PPV overall.

not sure why people are saying the Punk/Bryan match had an unclean or controversial ending. punk counters a submission into a pin. he taps a couple seconds after the match ends, which is what anyone would do after the match is over and the opponent doesn't realize... and i think that's what WWE was probably going for considering Bryan didn't attempt to kickout at all. excited to see this feud continue.

big show turn was super predictable and doesn't make much kayfabe sense. this has been covered by others.

rhodes loss is a good thing. allows him to "move up" and also add some legitimacy to the IC title. not sure if anyone else picked up on this, but both big show and christian - former world champions - got emotional after winning the IC title. WWE is clearly trying to put this a tier above the US title.

tag match was pretty good.

It's boring and predictable, but assuming they continue the predictable route, it does make kayfabe sense that he made a deal to get his job back. If he was willing to grovel and cry to keep his job, it stands to reason that he would also be willing to jack an old rival in the jaw to get it back.

but wasn't JL gonna lose his job if he lost to Cena? so if JL loses, Big show could get hired back by the next guy, right?

Yeah, in kayfabe that is the part that never made sense.

It only works if Big Johnny stays as Exec VP of Talent Relations, however in kayfabe GMs sign talent so its not clear if the next GM could just hire Show back.

The problem is that the WWE has a mess of a power structure with no clarity on who reports to who and where their areas of responsibility are.

If you're Big Show in kayfabe, one option is a guaranteed job back. The other is a gamble, as you don't know who would get Johnny's job next and whether that would be a sympathetic face willing to hire you right back aboard.

Yeh, but this also assumes he can 100% trust Johnny Ace, a heel, to follow through. Although, I suppose this is most probable, as it is the faces in WWE that totally ignore signed legal documents.

One problem with the interefed=fired stip is everyone in the back could have stomped Cena and got rehired the next night.