I'm sick with a bad cold. I've missed a couple days of work. Sore throat, congested, hacking up phlegm as my nostrils turn raw. It's incredibly unpleasant.

“I’m hurt and I’m old and I’m fucking tired and I work with fucking children”.

All I've done is drink tea and sleep. I'm starting to feel better - it's been about six days since the symptoms began. I've tested negative for Covid. The biggest casualty of this sickness is this week's RAW Review. Try as I might I couldn't summon the strength to give much detail or fully fleshed out "takes". I apologize to anyone who was hoping for more or thought it didn’t live up to the standard. I figured what I did manage to produce was better than nothing at all. I'll bounce back next week.

I just found out The Rock is coming to SmackDown tonight. I wish I could watch it, but alas no Hulu Live. It will be interesting to see how he factors in to WrestleMania, if at all. I can easily envision The Rock vs John Cena should Cena not win at Elimination Chamber. The problem with The Rock is that he's too big to slot into any match other than the last match of night one or two, the main events. I understand that WWE can call any match a "main event" regardless of its position on the card but we all know, in this era of pro-wrestling, what the "main event" means (last match of the night).

Also, do we really want The Rock coopting another WrestleMania spotlight?

I think I'm just done with the WrestleMania main event guessing game.

Every year it's like pulling nose hairs. I don't find any fun in it because it's rooted in business not art. I'd be happier to watch Triple H hold a press conference where he simply announces the entire cards for night one and two and provide no narrative justification for any of it. As is, we have to laboriously wade through these number one contender matches and over-written promos over the course of two months and it's exhausting. And perhaps my bias is showing because all I want is to see CM Punk in the main event of WrestleMania. I don't think it's going to happen. I'd love to know what Punk's real-world reaction to that fact might be. Does he still actually care about being in the main event or, as he stated in his first promo back in WWE, is he here just to "make money"?

I must admit, I was really deflated when I heard Punk say that. It betrayed a core characteristic of the character. One of his main points in his infamous interview with Colt Cabana after leaving WWE was "money isn't everything". And yet, in that same interview, he talked a lot about how he wasn't paid enough. Will he be satisfied with a nice payday but no Mania main event? Punk's public position on WWE has been that it's a joy to be back and that Triple H (and Punk) is a different man than he was ten years ago.

The relationship between Punk and WWE was so acrimonious for so long that it's hard to believe the two entities are at peace with each other. Maybe the focus on "making money" is the source of their agreeable status. What does this mean, fundamentally, about The Voice of the Voiceless, though?

It means he's a capitalist, and no longer an advocate of the people. He does not represent a movement or even a particular philosophy aside from acquiring more wealth. This means no more pipe bomb promos or bitter disputes with the powers that be. No raging against the machine because he has become an intrinsic part of that machine. He needs it and it needs him - for the purposes of making money.

This is a radical change for the CM Punk character, and it's gone criminally unnoticed. Is it bad?

Not in terms of the television it produces. CM Punk can still cut traditional promos better than anyone on the roster save Paul Heyman. And Punk's wrestling style, definitely smarter not harder, is capable of creating masterpieces. So, despite the trappings of the CM Punk we knew and loved from 2011, this man is a new character almost entirely. He can still be a great character because Punk is great at all aspects of the professional wrestling craft, but it's wise not to hold him to his past ideology. In 2011, he wanted to "make this place better" for everyone in the locker room. Now he wrestles for money. He craves success. He sets high goals, but what happens when he doesn't achieve them? If he’s making money, does anything else matter?

That's the question that haunts me. When Punk loses at Elimination Chamber how will he recover and who will he face at Mania? If he’s making money, should I be happy for him and not care whether his character wins or loses? I think there's something destructive at the heart of WrestleMania-booking and the fan's relationship with the company. The process feels equal parts laborious, political, and sneaky. In that way it's kind of like any awards show. There are several nominees and only one real winner, and often that winner is based on innumerable, indefinable characteristics. Not necessarily limited to merit.

I want Punk to get his best supporting actor Oscar so that he (and I) can finally be at peace. But maybe Punk is already at peace. Maybe I can stop worrying about him because his capitalist stance has fundamentally shifted him away from me.

And yet, I do want to see John Cena break Flair's record and earn a seventeenth world championship.

See. It's painful. It would be easier if I had faith in WWE's creative mechanism, but I don't, even with Triple H at the wheel. No matter what happens it feels like someone is getting screwed. Unless there's a triple threat - Punk v Cena v Rhodes. Hell, add Seth Rollins and make it a fatal four way. The clash of styles and the variety of moves on display would be spectacular. Lots of drama. Lots of interrupted three counts. It could be great. I have no clue how to get there but that's WWE's job and, in reality, it's not that hard. They can just announce the match will be a four way.

But that won't happen so why am I even fantasizing?!

I'll be happier, no matter what, when the main event matches are settled because, if nothing else, there will be narrative progress. Right now we’re in “hurry up and wait” mode.

With The Rock, "The Final Boss", set to appear at Smack Down there's no telling what he'll do. He could just be in cheer leader mode again or he'll get involved in an actual story. Either way his presence diminishes the possibility of CM Punk getting his Mania main event even further (yet again).

Again, forgive me for this week’s RAW Review. I’ll come back strong next week. Don’t mind me around this time of year. I find WrestleMania builds pretty grueling in addition to it being cold and dark all the time. My mood will pick up in Spring right in time for “the show of shows”.

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Tim Kail's Wrestling Journal, 2/21/25