What makes these guys so special?

Hello all

First I would like to wish everyone a happy holiday season, whatever you have celebrated over the past few weeks since the last blog. And Happy New Year to all of you out there. So now it is time for a new blog.

As I have been watching wrestling this past month, I noticed something that made me wonder. Even as I was watching it with my wife, I wondered out loud about something that was happening and she even asked the question that became today’s blog topic. About 3 weeks ago on Raw, CM Punk started off the show with announcing the results from the championship matches at the TLC Pay per View. He won his match, Zack Ryder(the self-proclaimed internet champion) became the new US champion, CM Punk defended his WWE title, and after the World Heavyweight Title match, which was won by the Big Show, Daniel Bryan cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase, and become the new World Champ.

So as I was watching these guys, I realized they all had something in common, they are all in the positions they are in because of their popularity with the fans. I have watched these 3 guys since they have all been in WWE, and I can’t say that any of them have had break through moments in the ring, as far as their wrestling. So it is their popularity which has gotten them through the glass ceiling to being at or near the top of the WWE. But why?

We all know why Punk is suddenly so popular. Most of the wrestling fans out there are sheep and will follow anything. I have done 2 blogs on how subpar I think Punk is, so I will not dive deep into that, but I will debunk his claim as being the best wrestler in the world. Beside his match at SummerSlam, I cannot tell you when Punk has had a good match. And that match was with the man I call “Mr. Pay per View”, John Cena. Punk has been on Raw, has been on ppvs, and has done everything he could, but I don’t think he is anywhere near the best in the world. I don’t even think he is the best wrestler in the in the WWE. Even my wife who loves Punk’s “tell it like it is” persona, thinks his wrestling is boring.

Bryan is a very different story. Bryan is an international sensation. He actually started at Shawn Michael’s old wrestling school. Then he made his debut in WWE on the former secondary shows “Heat” and “Velocity”. Not catching on there, he then went to Japan and worked with New Japan Pro Wrestling. He wrestled there for years, making a name for himself by winning the IWGP Jr. Tag team titles. After he was done in Japan, he went on to become one of the “Founding Fathers” (or at least that is what the fans called him), of Ring of Honor. In ROH Bryan became a big Indy star. In 2005 he won their World Title. From the 2005-2009 Bryan wrestled all over the world, but did not get a shot at the big time, until WWE NXT. NXT was a reality wrestling show, where they had wrestlers come on and compete for a WWE contract. Though Bryan did not win, he was a part of the original Nexus. During the Nexus’s initial take over, at the end of Raw on June 7th, Bryan attacked the ring announcer Justin Roberts, choking him with his own tie. This was deemed too much by the WWE and they fired him. After that Bryan went back to the Indy’s, wrestling in the NWA, even challenging their world champ Adam Pearce. Amid plenty of backlash from not only the fans, but John Cena, the WWE brought Bryan back, and gave him a big push as the US champ. After a successful reign as the US champ, he won the Money in the Bank match for SmackDown this year, and just cashed it in. As you can tell, this has been long overdue for a guy like Bryan. And after the Big Show finally defeated Mark Henry, Bryan cashed in his briefcase, and became the new World Champion.

Zack Ryder is a totally different story. Unlike the other guys in this blog, he has not had a major stint in the Indy’s. Ryder started out as a tag team wrestler, with Curt Hawkins. During “Armageddon” 2007, the duo helped Edge win the World Heavyweight Championship. Then they formed a faction with Edge Chavo Guerrero, Vicky Guerrero, and Bam Neely, called La Familia. Hawkins and Ryder won the Tag Team titles at the “Great American Bash” 2008. This would prove to be the height of their career as a tag team, because they lost the titles 2 months later, and both were put on the backburner. Both decided they would go to the internet to make themselves popular. Where this failed for Hawkins, It soared for Ryder. Ryder reached new heights with his internet shows. He is big on Twitter and YouTube. So much to the point that he crowned himself the internet champion. After becoming famous on the internet, Ryder started appearing on Raw, and becoming even more popular. Crowds would cheer “WE WANT RYDER”. In the “Survivor Series” this year, the Madison Square Garden crowd was chanting that, after the main event. Even the Rock said he loved all of Ryder’s stuff. This meteoric rise got even bigger when “Long Island Iced Z” won the United States Championship, at the TLC, Pay per View.

I think it was kind of ironic that these 3 guys opened the show on that Raw. They have a lot in common. It is amazing to see how they have all worked to get to where they are. I personally wonder are they on top because they have been the hardest workers and it is their time, or are they on top because they have the people on their side. Don’t get me wrong, it is very important to have the fans behind you, but should that be the only factor in determining who should wear the gold, and who shouldn’t. I could name you at least 10 guys who have never achieved what Punk has and they are 3 times the wrestler he will ever be. Again, I wonder if they have done all the right things and made it up to the top, or if they have found their niche and are using it to their full advantage.

AND THAT'S THE BOTTOM LLLLLLLIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!