From The Bowery: CM Punk: Best in the World (Blu-Ray: Disc II)

From the Bowery: CM Punk: Best in the World: (Blu-Ray: Disc II)

-We continue with Disc II which includes some more matches, and a bunch of Blu-Ray exclusive content.

-Video package recapping Punk’s awesome heel turn and his feud with Jeff Hardy that leads to:

World Heavyweight Title: TLC Match: Jeff Hardy © vs. CM Punk
SummerSlam: August 23, 2009

-The smug look on Punk’s face as he heads to the ring and mouths “I was born to do this,” is pretty badass for some reason. This was the Main Event of SummerSlam which I remember thinking at the time that Punk had finally arrived because they just don’t give the Main Event to anyone at the 2nd biggest show of the year. Now it just dawned on me that Mable once headlined SummerSlam as well. These two with their different personalities, and views on life were made to feud with each other, and how fucked up is our society that they sided with the drugged out Hardy over the clean and sober Punk. Though Punk does a great job of playing a dick as before the match he mocks the crowd’s chant of “Hardy” in glorious fashion. Punk backs Hardy into the corner, and just beats the piss out of him with right hands and then stomps him for good measure. That draws a slight “CM Punk” chant from the crowd which makes me happy. They end up on the floor and Punk uses the chair to subdue Hardy and immediately grabs a ladder and makes a climb. Hardy enters and knocks the ladder which sends Punk crashing to the mat, and when he gets back to his feet, Hardy mows him down. Now Hardy gets to beat Punk down in the corner, and dropkicks him in the face. Hardy grabs the ladder and makes his climb, but Punk kicks the ladder and Hardy goes flying to the mat. Punk preps for the GTS, but Hardy slides out and sends Punk face first into the standing ladder. The crowd chants for tables, but Hardy opts for a chair and tries a chair assisted poetry in motion, but Punk catches him and slams him on the chair. That looked nasty as Hardy just clipped the backing of the chair with his back. Punk shows a nasty side as he uses the ladder in great fashion to pound Hardy into a pile of neon goo. A leg lariat follows, and Hardy gets sent to the floor. Punk follows with the suicide dive, and he gives the fans what they want as he starts preparing a table. See, the sober guy gives the fans what they want where the drugged out hero would go on to show up to a PPV Main Event for a rival company in no shape to perfom leading to a 60 second World Title PPV Match. Hardy gets to his feet and ducks a chair shot, but Punk avoids being tossed into the stairs by leaping on top of them. He tries to fly off them at Hardy, but that backfires as Hardy swings away with a chair and drills Punk with it. It is time for the World Series as I type this. The Poetry in Motion off the chair connects this time as it sends Punk crashing into the security wall. Now Hardy grabs hold of a table and he lays Punk out on it as he heads to the top rope. He comes off with a splash, but Punk just rolls off the table, and Hardy crashes through the table and to the floor. The replay shows that Punk just got out of the way, and even still got the back of his leg clipped. The refs check on Hardy as Punk slows climbs in the ring, but Hardy makes the save. Hardy actually climbs over Punk, and gets his hands on the title, but Punk catches him in position for the GTS, but Hardy counters that and hits the sunset flip powerbomb off the ladder. Nice! Now Hardy starts to make the slow climb and JR tries to cover why each man climbs slowly by noting it is deliberate. Punk recovers and tips over the ladder causing Hardy to get crotched and tied up in the corner in a great looking fall. Punk drags Hardy to the top rope and hits a motherfucking superplex onto a ladder. Holy shit! Hardy may have gotten the worst of that, but Punk landed on the ladder as well and sells it as such. Out of nowhere Hardy hits a Twist of Fate as he still has more in the tank than Punk, and he heads up top, but the Swanton connects with Punk’s knees in another brutal looking spot. Punk connects with the high knee in the corner, but Hardy counters the bulldog by tossing Punk over the top rope and through the table that Punk had set-up earlier. Awesome touch there as I had forgotten all about that table. Again Hardy starts to climb, but he barely gets up the thing before Punk springs back in off the top rope and knocks him back to the mat. In a call back to earlier events in the feud, Punk tries to Pillmanize Hardy’s neck by sending him into a post, but Hardy blocks this time and proceeds to wear out the challenger with a chair. They brawl near the announce table, and Hardy cracks Punk in the head with a monitor from the vacated Spanish Announce Table. Punk gets laid out on the Spanish table, and that can’t be good for Punk or Hardy for that matter as he brings out the Super Ladder. Sure enough Hardy comes off the very top of it with the Swanton that puts Punk through the announce table. Damn! The announcers are smart enough to stay quiet and let the move speak for itself. The EMTs head down, and put Hardy on a stretcher and that gives Punk a chance to crawl back into the ring. Hardy fires up the crowd as he gets himself of the stretcher and crawls back into the ring himself. Each man crawls up opposite sides of the ladder, and the crowd is losing their mind as they have built things to a fever pitch. They fight on top as they reach for the title, and Punk gets in a solid kick to the damaged ribs that sends Hardy crashing to the mat below. That leaves Punk all alone up top as he grabs to the World Title at 21:34. Punk celebrates in the ring by standing over Hardy’s body, but we hear Taker’s gong as the lights go out, and when they come back on we see Taker in Hardy’s spot. The crowd pops huge as Taker leaves Punk laying with a chokeslam which set up that brief feud. Personally I would be all for Punk getting another run with Taker leading to a match at WrestleMania XXIX.

Winner and New World Heavyweight Champion: CM Punk via belt retrieval @ 21:34
-Great outing here from both men as they didn’t try to do anything super dangerous, but made sure everything they did looked painful and dangerous. They told a solid story of Punk targeting the back and ribs, and Hardy doing more damage to his back/ribs with the Super Swanton. That led to his downfall in the end. ****

-Now we get a video recap of Punk leading the SES and his great feud with Mysterio. I kind of wished this set had included the promo where he sang Happy Birthday to Mysterio’s daughter.

S.E.S Pledge vs. CM Punk’s Hair: Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk
WWE Over the Limit: May 24, 2010

-This is the culmination of their series of matches that had started at WrestleMania XXVI. Punk heads to the ring alone as Cole reminds us that all outside parties have been barred from ringside for this match. Punk lands a cheap shot to gain the advantage, but Mysterio quickly fires back in the corner. Punk is able to turn the tide, but eats a boot when he sets too early on a backdrop. Mysterio charges and gets backdropped over the top to the floor in impressive fashion. A springboard crossbody goes wrong for Punk though and Mysterio connects with a head scissors that sends Punk into the security wall. Rey takes Punk over to the barber chair, and it has to be somewhere in that exchange that Punk gets his head split open. They head back into the ring where Punk counters a 6-1-9 with a boot to the ribs. Smart! In a great spot, Punk tosses Mysterio under the bottom rope and into the barber chair seated at ringside. The ref communicates something to Rey and then heads back into the ring with a towel to try to clean Punk’s wound. They replay where Punk was sent into the security wall, and it seems it may have been there where he cut his head. Unfortunately this comes during a time when WWE was very anal about any little blood being shed, so the match grinds to a halt as they work on Punk’s wound. You can see that Punk is rather pissed as Charles Robinson tries to stop the bleeding. A doctor heads into the ring and the crowd boos the shit out of the fact that a little blood is causing this match to stop. Rey crawls back into the ring and Punk goes bat shit crazy as he mauls him and hits a stiff snap suplex on the floor. I think Punk is pissed following the stoppage, and he is going to do all he can to save this match.
He grounds Rey in the ring, but he is able to kick his way out of the hold, and gets a roll-up for two. Punk squashes that rally with a nice clothesline that gets his own two count. Punk recites the Straight Edge Pledge as he drops fist after first on Rey in a fun spot. Mysterio gets a unique sunset flip powerbomb out of the corner for two, and the ref starts his ten count with both men down. Punk misses a clothesline which leads to Punk getting a springboard crossbody for two. The seated senton follows, and another near fall for Rey. A stiff kick to the face probably doesn’t help Punk’s wound, but it seemingly pissed him off as he alley-oops Rey face first into the top turnbuckle. Rey fires back up though and again goes for the 6-1-9, but again Punk is a step ahead as he connects with a double underhook back breaker. He preps for the GTS, but Rey fights out and tries a rana, but Punk holds up him and powerbombs him on the top turnbuckle. Awesome! A middle rope bulldog gets two for Punk as they have done a great job at recovering from the blood stoppage. Just having to type about a pro-wrestling match stopping for blood makes me want to cry. Punk charges into a back elbow, but Punk catches a springing Rey into position for the GTS, but again Rey counters and this time he finally hits the GTS. He looks to finish with the splash, but Punk moves out the way, but he is way too cocky as he sits there and Mysterio gets a crucifix off the mat for the surprise pin at 13:49. After the match a hooded member of the SES takes out Mysterio and the rest of the SES head down to the ring brandishing some handcuffs. Kane’s pyro scares the shit out of everyone and he makes the save as he kicks the ass of anything that moves. He chases off the members of the SES and in the chaos Mysterio handcuffs Punk to the middle rope. Rey hits another 6-1-9, and then cuffs Punk’s other hand, and it looks eerily similar to Punk being tied to the cross they way he is position for a brief second. Nice little touch there, as it was done it a slight enough way to avoid any controversy. Mysterio takes the electric razor and goes to work shaving the head of CM Punk.

Winner: Rey Mysterio via pin at 13:49
-They stoppage kind of hurt things, but everything else was gold. They did a great job of recovering and turned in one hell of a performance. These two had crazy good chemistry as it is one of the few times you get to see Punk use a power game. The post match stuff only added to the enjoyment. Some will question why Punk would include this on his DVD, but it was a great match and I’m sure Punk enjoyed the story they told with this feud. ***3/4

-Tremendous video package covering the events leading to Punk/Cena at Money in the Bank. I still get a smile on my face each time I hear Punk say to Vince, “I will kick you in the nuts and you will like it.” That leads to the following match which is cut and pasted from my review of the show with any new comments highlighted.

WWE Championship: John Cena © vs. CM Punk
Money in the Bank: July 17, 2011

-The crowd is rabid as they start the mother of all CM Punk chants. His music hits and it is ungodly the kind of reaction he gets. I also agree with everyone who has stated that the WWE needs to release that CM Punk shirt at some point (they did and it is the shirt I wear more than any other). I hate black shirts, and anytime I can get a wrestling shirt that’s not black, I am all for it. Punk eats up the reaction from the crowd and we get a great visual as he sits Indian style in the center of the ring as the arena goes bat shit for him. His music dies down and that just gives the crowd a chance to chant “CM Punk” again. Cena’s music hits and it is pure hatred from the crowd. Much like he did at One Night Stand, Cena just marches to the ring as he knows he is entering a hostile environment. The crazy thing here is that the feud between these two started when Punk was an announcer back in December and centered on the Nexus. Now 7 months later we finally get a PPV match between the two (No longer just a TV program). They have always shown great chemistry when they have been matched up on RAW, so you had to expect these two to deliver. They start with some mat wrestling and the crowd starts a “you can’t wrestle” chant aimed at Cena. Punk asks the crowd if they mean him, and they make sure he knows they mean Cena. Cole is all early 90s Tony Schiavone as he brings up Cena making his debut in this arena, and Punk making his WWE TV debut in this arena brandishing a tommy gun as part of Cena’s entrance at WrestleMania 22. The mat wrestling continues and the crowd is with them every step of the way. Cena gets a shoulder, but gets caught with a hiptoss and a dropkick. He goes to a side headlock and Cole brings up Montreal. Between that and Del Rio mentioning Punk earlier it is like they are referencing every possible way this match can end just so fans don’t expect the ending we get. Punk mocks Cena’s “you can’t see me,” and the crowd loves that. In the corner Punk stomps away, but gets caught coming out with a bulldog for two. Cena goes back to the front facelock, and then kills Punk with a vicious clothesline. He grounds Punk again with a reverse chinlock and a dueling chant of “Cena sucks” and “Let’s go Cena” starts as the kids and females in the crowd finally make their voices heard. Lawler asks if there is even one Cena fan in the arena, and I guess his hearing is gone considering we had a pro Cena chant only a few seconds ago (which is the one difference from the One Night Stand match with RVD as that building was 100% against Cena). Now it’s Punk who takes things to the mat as he works an armbar, but Cena gets to his feet to break. Punk tosses Cena to the floor and heads out after the champ. He gets a high five from Colt Cabana and then destroys Cena with a vicious knee from the middle rope to the back of the neck. Fucking sweet! Cole is actually on top of things as he brings up Cena’s previous neck problems. Where has this Michael Cole been all my life? They head back in the ring and Punk misses a charge in the corner and ends up going shoulder first into the steel post. Cena looks for the STF, but Punk kicks off and drops Cena with a clothesline for a two count. Punk grounds Cena once again with a chinlock and that gives the crowd a chance to start a dueling chant. That rallies Cena, but he runs into a boot in the corner. Punk gets an ugly looking crossbody off the top rope that seemingly injured the knee of Cena. He sells the injury on the apron, and Punk tries to bring him in with a suplex, but Cena suplexes him from the inside of the ring to the floor. Awesome! Punk gets rolled back into the ring and Cena gets a two count without hooking the leg. He follows up however with a suplex and drops an elbow to the midsection for two. The crowd is getting rather pissed at the Cena onslaught as he gets a powerslam for two. They start trading blows in the middle of the ring and the crowd boos and cheers when appropriate. Punk gets the better of the exchange actually, but Cena catches him with an abdominal stretch. Brilliant move here as the “face” Cena is using moves that are building sympathy and rallying support for the “heel” Punk. Cena starts going through his patented offense, but Punk gets a roll-up for two. Cena stays on the offensive however, and looks for the Five Knuckle Shuffle, but Punk kicks him in the head and sends him to the floor. He follows with a suicide dive and makes sure to high five a fan at ringside. The crowd loves every second of that and once again we get a CM Punk chant. Unreal heat here! Punk misses the springboard clothesline and now Cena hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle to many, many boos (maybe they were saying boo-urns since Punk has stated at times the CM stands for Charles Montgomery.) The AA follows, but Punk lands on his feet and sweeps the leg. Nice! Punk looks for the GTS, but Cena counters to a gutwrench powerbomb for two. Cena continues to sell the knee, and again looks for the AA, but Punk counters and delivers a sweet looking knee to the jaw. A bulldog leaves Cena down and this time the springboard clothesline hits for two. The replay shows the knee from Punk and that fucker looked nasty. Punk misses a head kick, and Cena catches him with the STF as the crowd freaks out. Somehow he pulls himself to the bottom rope to break and in a nice character touch Cena breaks before the ref can even start his count. Cena rushes back in, but gets caught with a head kick for two. Punk struggles to the top rope and points to the sky like Randy Savage in a nice tribute, but Cena rolls through the crossbody and looks for the AA, but Punk counters that to the GTS. However, Cena catches Punk’s leg on the way down and counters to the STF. Tremendous! The crowd again is on the verge of heart failure, but Punk counters to the Anaconda Vice and the crowd is begging Cena to tap. He gets back to his feet and gets the AA out of nowhere for two. The reaction from the crowd as Punk kicks out is priceless. Cena hits the top rope leg drop to the back on Punk’s head, but again Punk is out at two. Even Lawler questions what the hell Cena is supposed to do next to win this match. Cena stalks Punk around the ring and sets him up on the top rope for the Super AA, but Punk elbows out and hits a rana (the crowd thought for a second he might got the Pepsi Plunge, and I would have shit myself had that happened). Punk hits a running knee in the corner, and finally hits the GTS, but Cena falls out of the ring. Punk fires Cena back into the ring and we are joined by McMahon and Laurinaitas in the aisle way. Punk is distracted and gets caught in the STF and the crowd lets out a groan as they know what it is coming next. Immediately McMahon starts asking for the bell to ring and sends Laurinaitas to tell the time keeper. Cena releases the hold, drills Laurinaitas, and tells McMahon it isn’t going to end that way. He heads back in the ring and Punk hits the GTS for the win and title at 33:44. The crowd explodes as Punk celebrates in the middle of the ring with the WWE Title. McMahon is in shock as he struggles to find something to fix this problem. He gets on Lawler’s headset and demands that Punk’s music is stopped. He demands that Del Rio cashes in his Money in the Bank shot, and in a nice touch that shows this is “unplanned” Del Rio comes out to no music. Again the crowd groans as they fear the worst, but Punk casually blasts Del Rio and then leaves through his crowd with the title. Now the crowd is finally buying that Punk is leaving with the title as McMahon nearly cries in the ring.

Winner and New WWE Champion: CM Punk via pin at 33:44
-Easily the match of the year and at this point I can’t see anything topping it (though by all means I would love for people to try). Cena is a much more polished worker here than he was back with RVD at One Night Stand and that made for a better match. They worked their asses off for nearly 34 minutes, and told one hell of a story. Everyone had an opinion on how this match would end, and it was shocking that the WWE went with the least crazy and cleanest ending: Punk pinning Cena clean in the middle of the ring and leaving with the title. *****

-The following is copied from my WrestleMania XXVI review which should be up any day now.

WWE Title: CM Punk © vs. Chris Jericho
WrestleMania XXVI: April 2, 2012

There was talk that this match could have opened the show, but the daylight would have fucked up Jericho’s spectacular light bright jacket, so they made the right call. Everyone knew this match was coming, and expectations were crazy high which sometimes is a bad thing when you are expecting a ***** match. Punk is out for revenge after Jericho made things personal in regards to Punk’s family. In a good sign Punk gets the Superstar treatment with his introduction as a shit load of pyro goes off. Just a personal note but outdoor stadium shows look fantastic at night with the cameras flashing and pyro shooting above the stadium. Cole is all about the facts as he mentions 17 men have won the WWE Title at WrestleMania, but only 2 have done so since 2004. Damn, I never thought about how low that is considering it seemed like it was changing hands every year at one point. A stiff lock-up as they jockey for position around the ring. That leads to a mat sequence as they battle for an advantage. Punk gets that advantage with some strikes to the back of the head, and then stomps a mud hole in the corner as the ref counts for him to break. Jericho slaps Punk in the face and then turtles in the corner as he is trying to piss off the champion to get his disqualified. Jericho then yells “how’s your father?” as he is doing all he can to get under the skin of Punk. Jericho gets slammed for his trouble and Punk preps for the Macho elbow, but Jericho rolls to the floor. In a beautiful shot Punk leaps off the top to the floor with a clothesline and it looks like he is coming right through the skin. Jericho gets more personal as he asks about Punk’s sister and calls her a drug addict. Punk teases using a chair, but he comes to his senses and that gives Jericho the opening he needs. Jericho tries for the springboard dropkick off the middle room, but Punk moves and looks for a GTS on the apron. Jericho escapes that and clotheslines Punk back into the ring. Being WrestleMania and all, they let it all hang out as Jericho connects with a suplex from the apron to the floor. Nice! The replay shows that Jericho nearly turned that into a jackhammer as he did his best to use Punk’s body to cushion his fall. The now damaged back becomes a target for Jericho which makes sense as he should be looking for the Walls at some point. A double underhook back breaker gets two as the crowd is pretty damn quiet for some reason. Jericho continues to work the back as Punk does all he can to try to create separation. A running bulldog is countered by Punk as Jericho gets crotched in the corner. Punk fires up with some chops, and gets a neck breaker for two, though the crowd still doesn’t seem to care. They start to wake up as Punk hits the high knee in the corner, but his bulldog attempt gets countered. A lion-sault gets blocked as Punk gets up his knees, but that just gives Jericho a chance to go for the Walls. However, Punk counters that and hits a head kick for two. Nice sequence there as the crowd is finally getting into this match. Now Punk gets the Randy Savage elbow, but Jericho gets his knees up to block and that leads to a Code Breaker. Unfortunately for Jericho the momentum carries Punk out of the ring, and Jericho can’t get a cover. He brings Punk back into the ring and out of nowhere the champ gets the Go to Sleep for two as Jericho gets to the ropes. Another head kick is ducked, but Punk catches Jericho with a powerslam for two. A suplex attempt is escaped and they fight over back position before Jericho gets a front suplex that leaves Punk hanging off the top rope. The lion-sault does connect this time and nets Jericho a two count. They battle in the corner, and a Punk top rope hurricanrana is turned into the Walls of Jericho in a sweet counter. The good news for Punk is that they are close enough to the ropes so that he can get a break and save his title. Jericho charges in as he is starting to lose his cool and he ends up getting backdropped to the floor. A suicide dive through the ropes sends both men crashing into the security wall. A head kick sends Jericho’s head into the post as he gets rolled back into the ring, but he still has enough to counter a Punk springboard into a Code Breaker for two. Damn! You think Punk would have learned after a springboard at last year’s Mania was turned into a RKO that ended his night. Jericho heads up top after talking some trash, but he takes too much time as he gets caught with a kick. That leaves him into prime position for a GTS, but Jericho counters and ends up getting the Walls as it clearly sounds like the Jericho fans in the crowd are drowning out the Punk fans. Punk crawls for the rope, but gets pulled back into the middle of the ring to a loud reaction. Punk does turn the hold and gets a small package for two, and then gets the Anaconda Vice. Jericho rolls that into a pin attempt of his own, but it gets rolled right back into the Vice. Some well placed knees to the back of the head breaks the hold and Jericho goes right back to the Walls, but Punk kicks his way out, and he goes right back to the Vice. This time he positions his head so Jericho can’t connect with the knees, and that leaves Jericho no choice but to tap at 22:21.

Winner and Still WWE Champion: CM Punk via tap-out at 22:21
-This match had crazy, high expectations, and was kind of unfair I think for us to expect them to live up to those standards. The match started slowly as they teased the DQ angle before just going ahead with a damn fine match. The more I watch this match, the more I appreciate what they were able to do. The ending sequence with the counters and submissions was great, and while not an all time classic, it more than delivered. ****

WWE Title: CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan
Over the Limit: May 20, 2012

-I will note the promo from Punk before the match is included as he mentions Vince McMahon would have been stunned to see Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk for his WWE Title on one of his PPVs. True that. AJ Lee wishes Punk good luck, and anytime AJ Lee appears on screen I am happy. These two have had some good to great matches on RAW and SmackDown, and this is their first chance on PPV, and great things are expected in this one. Bryan gets a great reaction to his entrance, and the “yes” chants are out in full force. The bell sounds and we are underway as they battle for ring position. The ref breaks as they get tangled in the ropes, and Bryan ends up getting a side headlock. The crowd starts a dueling chant, and Punk gets a hiptoss off a criss cross sequence. Punk starts with the kicks, and goes to work on the left knee. The dueling chant lasts a pretty long time as this crowd is pretty fucking jacked for a match featuring what some would call two vanilla midgets. Punk taunts Bryan with his yes chant as he continues to work the knee. Bryan fires back with some European uppercuts and the crowd chants yes or no with each one. Tremendous! Punk grounds Bryan with an Indian Deathlock as he continues abusing the knee, but Bryan counters in a great scientific manner: punching Punk in his face multiple times. He misses a dropkick though as Punk holds onto the ropes. He gets a near fall after lifting Bryan off the mat with a submission hold and driving him back into the mat. Bryan gets tossed to the floor as he sells the bad wheel. Punk slides out to continue the assault, but Bryan sidesteps and runs Punk ribs first into the security wall. Cole brings up a great point that Kane targeted those same ribs with a chair on SmackDown. They head back into the ring where Bryan gets a two count off a missile dropkick. He starts to fire away with some vicious kicks while selling the knee the entire time. Now he grounds Punk with a seated abdominal stretch as I love the fact that each man has found a body part to target. Bryan‘s bad knee continues to cost him though as he takes too long to follow up and gets caught limping into the corner. Punk tries for a figure four, but Bryan counters to a roll-up for two. Bryan heads back to the ground game and he locks in a surfboard to continue the damage on the ribs of Punk. The crowd is appreciative of the old school awesomeness they are seeing as Punk modifies the Surfboard into a Dragon Sleeper as Booker yells for Punk to tap. He doesn’t though as he elbows his way out of the hold, and gains top position to rain down even more elbows. He is too banged up to follow up though, so Bryan hits a running knee to the back and ribs of the champion. A third try misses however, and Punk hits a Perfectplex for two (showing he isn’t perfect, I guess). A massive dueling chant starts, and that seemingly rallies Bryan as he hits a snap suplex and heads up to the top rope. He comes off with a flying headbutt for two, but makes sure to follow up by going right back to the ribs. Punk fights back to his feet and both men collide in mid-air as they had the same idea. Cole continues to bring up great points as he mentions that Punk had to take the worst of that due to his damaged ribs. They fight back to their feet and Punk gets the better of the exchange as he ends up getting a heel kick and neckbreaker. A blind charge in the corner catches boots though, but Bryan makes the mistake of charging and gets caught with a powerslam for two. A suplex is countered by Bryan, but again he makes the mistake of charging and gets backdropped to the floor. Punk follows with a suicide dive and Bryan continues to sell the damaged knee. The challenger gets rolled back into the ring, and Punk tries for the springboard clothesline, but Bryan catches him with a dropkick to the ribs. Fantastic! Bryan goes crazy with some nasty kicks to the chest, but he kicks one time too many as Punk catches his foot, hits a leg whip, and locks in the figure four. Being that this is North Carolina that does more than please the fans. Bryan fires up though and they start exchanging slaps as the crowd eats up every second of what they are seeing. Bryan drags himself to the ropes and in a genius moment Punk tells the ref, “I have to five.” Awesome! That even draws a small laugh from Lawler on commentary and an even bigger shit eating grin from Punk himself. Punk gets a two count off a cradle, but gets too cute when he tries it a second time and pays for it when Bryan kicks his fucking head off. Damn! That only gets two though, but the crowd makes sure everyone knows “this is awesome.” Carolinians sure do appreciate their wrestling! They fight up top as Bryan preps for a superplex, but Punk casually shoves him off and Bryan gets crotched. That leaves Bryan in perfect position for the springboard clothesline, but it only gets two as again the crowd lets everyone at home know that “this is awesome.” Each man fights from their knees to their feet, and Bryan gets a crucifix pin off an escape from the GTS. Bryan goes for the Yes Lock, but Punk escapes and tries to slingshot Bryan to the floor, but being he is the American Dragon he skins the cat back into the ring. Punk is waiting though and returns the favor by kicking Bryan’s head off which gets a near fall after Bryan gets his foot under the bottom rope. Punk pulls himself to the top rope and hits the Randy Savage elbow (drawing a chant from the fans), but it does damage to the injured ribs of Punk and he can’t follow up with a quick enough pin. Bryan is able to recover before Punk and he goes to work with a shit load of knees to the damaged ribs, and then leads the crowd in a “yes” chant. He charges for the corner dropkick, but Punk escapes and hits the running knee. He tries for the bulldog out of the corner, but Bryan sits out to escape and counters to the Yes Lock. Fantastic! Punk is able to use Bryan’s momentum as he rears back to get a pin attempt and gets the three count at 23:48 just before he taps out to the Yes Lock.

Winner and Still WWE Champion: CM Punk via pin at 23:48
-Just a fantastic old school match between two men that are true professional wrestlers. I loved the fact each man targeted a body part and stuck with it through the duration of the match. The crowd was into the match from the opening, and the ending was great as Punk used a slight mistake by Bryan to turn the tables on him. It didn’t have the emotional impact and big fight feel like HHH/Taker at Mania, but so far this is the best pure wrestling match I have seen this year inside a WWE ring. ****1/2

Blu-Ray Bonus Content

-Punk discusses the backyard wrestling days, and how he had no Plan B if wrestling didn’t work.

-Punk talks about playing saxophone in band in junior high, and how he was kicked out for trying to play songs by the Clash. He talks about how outside the band room he was a nerd, but in band he was too cool. This leads to him discussing his taste in music and how it leads to him meeting the important people in his life.

-His ex, Natalie, talks about how her mom made everyone baskets for Easter, and one year she made one for Punk. She gives him the basket and he says “Fuck Easter.” Classy! Everyone laughed though because CM Punk is such a charmer, and now everyone in her family says “Fuck Easter” as their greeting each year. Awesome!

-Cabana tells a story of when they first met, and went out to eat for the first time. Punk was hammering down chicken wings because he thought chicken (protein) was best thing to eat for aspiring wrestlers. Punk thinks same thing with apple pies from McDonald’s as they are good for you too since apples are in there.

-Punk brings up the Pepsi Tattoo (woo, free plug from them) and how it is the most famous tattoo he has. It represents him being straight edge.

-Back to Natalie as she decides to become a vegan, and Punk supported here even though he was hammering down a lot of protein. She made some nasty vegan salmon steak one night, and Punk choked it down to keep her from crying and to make her happy. Basically he will do anything to keep the women in his life from crying. Deep down he is a big softie.

-Ace Steel tells a story of them playing pranks on other cars while they were on the road.

-Hero brings up the awesome promo from IWA when Punk cut a promo with an invisible mic. He talks shit on a girl in the crowd and she actually tries to talk into the invisible microphone. Awesome! Punk immediately calls her out on it. Find this on Youtube because it’s pretty hilarious.

-Punk and Cabana get a chance to wrestle York and Matthews in the ECW Arena, but have to turn it down at first due to a prior booking. They then decided they have to do it, and make a long ass drive to Philly for a Saturday night show, and then plan to be in Milwaukee for a mix tag with Sensation Sherri on Sunday Afternoon. They pull it off somehow even though Punk hit a car while falling asleep. Everyone was fine, but Punk had to talk things over with the cops.

-Ace tells story of an IWA show they did where Eddie Guerrero was booked. Eddie doesn’t have a hotel booked, so Punk and Ace drive him to the airport hotel, but all rooms are booked. Punk invites him to crash at their house, and he accepts. Nice! Eddie gets to the house and sees all the tapes they have and thanks them for being big fans, but then he sees rows of serial killer books and Punk’s horror movie stuff. Eddie asks if they are crazy wrestling fans that want to murder him in jest. Too funny!

-Punk jokes with Gabe about putting him in charge of running a school for ROH. They decide to do it the next day, and Punk moves to Philly in 2002 to become a trainer. One of his early students looked promising, but didn’t have any money to pay for the school. The kid was named Colby, and he went on to be Tyler Black in ROH and now Seth Rollins in FCW.

-Chez brings up Punk’s last days in ROH as he wins the title from Daniels, and the story of their weekend together celebrating how they fooled everyone.

-Regal discusses his first time hearing of Punk, and it was when Eddie returned to WWE and put over how good CM Punk was. Dave Taylor had a wrestling camp for guys that were already in the business, and in the first group was CM Punk. Regal was impressed that someone who was as big on the independent scene as Punk was willing to still put in the work like that, and impressed that he never once mentioned who he was during the class to draw attention to himself.

-Punk discusses his debut dark match from July 25, 2005 on an episode of Heat against a local. He was paired with Mickie James and he knew he would be hated because he was the tattooed guy, with purple hair coming out with “the smoking hot girl with big boobs.” He apologized to Mickie because he knew she had been in OVW for a time and was trying to get out, and he knew this wasn’t going to be her ticket out.

-Punk and Miz tell a hilarious story of the group they traveled with in their early WWE days and how they would do all they could to save money on hotels. Great story that I can’t do justice recapping, but the group consisted of Punk, Ryder, Hawkins, Hornswoggle, The Miz, Deuce, Domino, and Cherry. Good stuff!

-Heyman brings up watching Punk’s famous promo live and how blown away he was the Punk name dropped him (“I’m a Paul Heyman guy”). Heyman’s phone, and twitter account blow up immediately after the promo and he even earned cool points from his kids who watched with him. Heyman says he got pulled over, and the cop let him go because “he was a Paul Heyman guy.”

-Punk tells an insane story of how he trained with his sister to do the Chicago marathon because he thought he was going to be done with the WWE. He resigned though and his chance to run the marathon seemed shot. He flies from New Orleans following Hell in a Cell to LA, and then to Australia for the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards. He flies back to LA and then to Chicago and gets home on the morning of the Chicago Marathon and when his sister has a few people back out, he realizes this is his chance and he runs a fucking marathon after being on flights from Australia to LA to Chicago. Damn! Kofi and Lita were stunned when he casually just mentions that he ran a marathon a day after being in Australia. The next day he flew to TV and wrestled.

-Punk talks about being involved in social media as at first he was anti-twitter, but now twitters way too much. His rationale is that he has fans in some part of the world that are awake.

-Punk gives us a tour of his bus and it’s rather pimp as you would expect. We find out that Kofi is his road wife, and rides with him all the time. He also has some Smokey Mountain DVDs he is watching and some 97 Hart Foundation stuff.

-Punk antagonizes Kofi in the bus by telling him he can beat him in Street Fighter using Zangief. Kofi takes great offense to that, and we have a challenge as Punk says he rarely plays video games, but likes to push Kofi’s buttons (who is a video game freak). Punk actually wins the game, and Kofi loses his mind. He screams he won the previous 10 games, but Punk says he wins the big one when it counts. Tremendous stuff here as you can tell Kofi is legit pissed that he lost.

-A great feature as it shows a day in the life of Punk and the day is WrestleMania XXVI Sunday. In a funny moment he mentions that he doesn’t get pyro, and then finds out that he is getting pyro for the show (“that only took seven years”). He seems pretty giddy about it as a big smile breaks across his face. He knows it isn’t his style, but he’s not going to complain as it shows him that he is in the Golden Circle. Good stuff all around here as we get a lot of cool backstage stuff. Included is him receiving a tweet from the Ultimate Warrior, and hugging the Rock and telling him to follow that (the match he just finished with Jericho).

-Punk takes the WWE Title following his Money in the Bank win to Wrigley Field where he throws out the first pitch and sings “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” at a Cubs game. I took a trip to Chicago last year, and got my picture in front of this stadium while wearing a CM Punk shirt. Punk’s pitch is pretty bad, but at least he didn’t bounce it over the plate like a lot of people do.

– Heyman gets kind of emotional as he talks about how he holds Punk in the same regard as his father. He knows Punk has the balls to the change the system and calls him a true revolutionary. He calls him remarkable human being because he wants to make this business a better place, and he values their friendship. He admires Punk more than anyone else in the industry and he knows he will have been a great father if his son grows up to be like CM Punk.

#1 Contender for IC Title Tournament Final: CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio
Armageddon: Dec 14, 2008

-William Regal (with Layla) is at ringside to see who wins this tournament and gets the right to face him for his Intercontinental title. They display the tournament bracket and for those curious Rey got to the finals by defeating The Miz and Kofi, while Punk got by Snitsky and Morrison. The other two men in the tournament were Kane and Finlay. That’s a pretty solid mid card tournament. I am curious to see how this match stacks up to the Over the Limit match that was included on this set. The dynamic is a little different here as both guys are crowd favorites. Cole and Lawler mention that Punk and Kofi lost their tag titles the previous night at a house show to The Miz and Morrison. They shake hands prior to the match and the crowd approves. Rey takes Punk to the ground in the early going, but Punk counters to a quick pin attempt for two. They have another go and this time Rey gets the pin attempt. One more go and Punk does all he can to ground the smaller Mysterio. The slow start continues as the crowd is dead silent which can happen when you have two faces in the match being all respectful and stuff to start. I am just waiting for the tempers to start flaring. Rey looks for an early 6-1-9, but Punk gets off the ropes and connects with an armdrag. Punk then goes for the GTS, but Rey counters that to an armdrag. I guess they are even now. Rey charges and gets backdropped the floor at the feet of Regal, and Punk follows with a slingshot crossbody. Punk makes sure to take a glance at Regal and the IC Title in a nice little touch. They head back in the ring where Punk gets a two count, and then follows with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for another close pin attempt. Things slow a bit again as Punk goes to a body scissors, but it doesn’t last long. Punk tries to backdrop Rey to the floor again, but this time he lands on the apron to save himself. He gets in a few shots, but ends up in the Tree of Woe after getting pushed off the top rope. He lifts himself up to get out of the way from a running knee, and then hits a moonsault press for two. Rey sets to early on a backdrop and Punk throws him into the ropes and catches him with a nice powerslam for two. Rey starts to favor the wrist and Punk immediately attacks the injury as Cole reminds me that Rey had previously torn ligaments in the wrist. Rey crawls to the ropes, and Punk shows a little heelish side as he doesn’t break for a few seconds. Punk seems rather frustrated and it costs him as Mysterio ducks a kick and locks on an armbar. Now it’s Punk, who has to crawl to the ropes to get a break. A dropkick to the back of the head sends Punk to the floor and Rey follows with a crossbody from the top rope to the floor. Nice! They head back into the ring where Rey catches Punk with a seated senton and a springboard crossbody from the middle ropes for two. A victory roll gets two, but Punk rolls back and gets a near fall of his own. With no villain in the match to annoy, the crowd starts a “Regal sucks” chant for fun. Rey misses a knee and gets alley-ooped face first into the top buckle. The running knee/bulldog combo follows and that gets two for Punk. A suplex is countered by Rey and he gets a bridging roll-up for two. The crowd is starting to finally get into this match as they are hitting a higher gear. Rey misses another 6-1-9 as Punk counters to a GTS, but Rey counters that and ends up connecting with the 6-1-9. Much like the Over the Limit match Rey misses the splash, but he gets a crucifix pin off the mat. Punk is able to kick out here though unlike what would happen 17 months later. Rey tries to spring off the middle ropes, but ends up on Punk’s shoulders and a vicious GTS finishes at 13:44. The replay shows how nasty that GTS was as Rey is bleeding from the nose. Just sick as Punk’s knee got through Rey’s hands and caught him flush in the face.

Winner: CM Punk via pin at 13:44
-The match was technically solid, but was lacking the heel/face dynamic of their later matches. That’s a pretty big deal as it gives Rey a chance to build sympathy and Punk the chance to the play the cocky bully. They did kick things up for the finish, and was interesting to see how they would use bits and pieces from this match into their later encounters. ***

The 411: Worth every penny I paid for this and then some. The Documentary is very unique, and the IWA/ROH footage only add to the greatness of this one. The matches are high quality as they touch on just about every major moment in Punk's WWE run. I do wish they could have included one IWA or ROH match, but I don't know the deal they worked out for the footage they did get to use. That minor quibble aside this is one of the best sets the WWE has every done!

Final Score:  9.5   [  Amazing ]