Who Needs To Win At RAW 1000?

(Courtesy of the WWE)

When Monday Night RAW went off the air this week, the main event for the 1000^th episode was set. It is going to be CM Punk vs. John Cena for the WWE Title as Cena cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. As RAW goes to three hours this match will usher in the new era of WWE raising the question, who’s going to walk out of St. Louis with the thirty pounds of gold around their waist? A case can be made for both men winning, but the WWE needs only one man to win, CM Punk.

John Cena has done pretty much everything in the WWE, aside from selling hot dogs & sodas at live events. He is a decorated champion. He has main evented every major pay per view. He has wrestled the biggest matches against a slew of dream opponents. He has made movies. He has released music albums. He even got to hit his boss with a chair for a national television commercial. John Cena is a made-man in professional wrestling. He truly never has to worry about returning to the Indies unless he wants to, much like Hulk Hogan, Sting, or Shawn Michaels. Yet with all his talents he doesn’t possess the rare talent that CM Punk has, he doesn’t make stars.

With all of John Cena’s accomplishments how many stars has he made in and out of the ring? If you’re going to say Randy Orton or Edge, then I will respond with this: Did he make them, or did they make John Cena? Randy Orton found his legs with HHH and evolution. Edge was a star before John Cena walked in the building. It would appear that Cena’s star was only made brighter by these two men. For as charismatic and talented as John Cena is, he is more Hogan than Flair in that after a feud only one man comes out the better, and that man is John Cena. In that same vein, CM Punk is more Flair than Hogan.

In the 1980’s when the territories where still alive and well, Ric Flair was the NWA champion. One of the key parts to being the NWA champion was coming to a town once a year and wrestling the area’s top guy. That guy wasn’t going to beat Flair, but the nature boy made everybody believe that their local hero was a hair away from walking out of the building with the strap. When Ric Flair walked out he didn’t leave a beaten opponent, but a guy who was elevated in the eyes of the local fans. The same fans who would pay money to see their hero each and every week, even without Ric Flair at the events. Ric Flair as NWA champion helped sell tickets for all the smaller promotions by making stars that would be there when he wasn’t. That is the same rare talent that CM Punk brings to the table that John Cena doesn’t, and Hulk Hogan never had.

This talent has been on display for the past few months as CM Punk has consistently delivered top quality matches for the WWE at every spot on the card against each and every opponent. He has stolen the show as the first match, and sent fans home in a tizzy when he is the main event. He has righted the ship at the 10 PM hour, and kept fans glued when RAW runs over at 11 PM. It doesn’t matter when he wrestles, it will always be a must see match. It doesn’t even matter who the opponent is.

His recent matches with Kane have restarted the career of the Big Red Machine. The fan reaction to Kane has tempered over the past few years, but in one month of being inserted in a program with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan the monster Kane has catapulted back to the popularity of the attitude era. In Daniel Bryan, CM Punk has found his Ricky Steamboat. That being the one man that on any given night in any given match he can have a true classic showing at the drop of a hat.  

The two have wrestled off and on for the better part of three months and yet the fans salivate to see them hook up each and every time. In the ring they provide something that the WWE audience hasn’t seen in decades: Two men with the ability to make their opponent better than they ought to be. When put together against each other that means the ability to create matches and moments that have no limits.

As the WWE prepares to reign in a new era with a slew of gifted young talents waiting in the wings such as Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and the new breed of FCW, the WWE needs a man like CM Punk to be champion to help make the stars of the future. They need a champion who can beat Seth Rollins or Dean Ambrose, yet still make them bigger stars in the process. They need a Daniel Bryan to be the man who works with CM Punk to prepare the talents for the next 15 years in the WWE. Bryan elevates Rollins and Ambrose to face Punk, and Punk sends them to the heavens to join the stars that the WWE Universe idolize.

Aside from building new talent and reestablishing former stars, CM Punk brings another advantage to being the WWE champion: Dream Matches. John Cena faced The Rock at Wrestlemania in a match it took a year to build. He backed that up with a dream match against Brock Lesnar. He has faced HHH, Jericho, and almost every legend aside from Stone Cold Steve Austin. In CM Punk there is a slew of dream matches including the Rock and Brock, plus HBK & Stone Cold. In between building the future, Punk as champion can elevate the title with defenses against the stars of the past without tarnishing their legacy because of his ability to have a good match with a broom. That includes the Undertaker at Wrestlemania where a title vs. streak match could be bigger than Rock vs. Cena.

When RAW 1000 is over there will be one thing for sure, a good match between CM Punk and John Cena. Yet the WWE needs one man to walk out as champion. No matter what happens John Cena will sell the same amount of shirts, tickets, and bring in the same viewers. It is CM Punk who will build the next John Cena, or even better, the next CM Punk. The WWE needs that more than squeezing the last drops of blood from the stone known as Cenation. That well is almost dry, while Punk’s is endless.