"Punk's Return"
Writing Began: August 9, 2011
Writing Finished: August 9, 2011
So CM Punk vows to win the WWE-championship at "Money In The Bank, 2011", leave with the title, and cause unparalleled chaos in his wake. It ends-up only taking one day for WWE to figure-out a solution, and only eight days for Punk to return. Let's try to improve this a bit:
///
Money In The Bank, 2011
R – WWE: CENA/Punk
S – World: ORTON/Christian
R – “MITB”: Delrio/Rey/Miz/Truth/Kofi/Riley/Bourne/Swagger
S – “MITB”: Bryan/Sheamus/Barrett/Cody/Cara/Kane/Slater/Gabriel
R – Divas: BRIE/Kelly
2 – Show/Henry
///
"Raw", 7-17-11
The show comes on the air with an altered signature and intro, both of which prominently feature Punk. Inside the arena is no different, as everything is decorated as an homage to Punk; the Tron features his logo and looping video of his victory, his face is plastered on all of the turnbuckle pads, and the announcers are wearing his t-shirts. Vince’s music hits, and a defeated Vince slowly makes his way to the ring; once there, he grabs a mic, and admits that Punk “got him”. Vince recounts all that he was done in the business, all that he’s done FOR the business, and all of the enemies that he has defeated along the way (Austin, Hogan, Ted Turner, the U.S. government); he eventually announces that he is willing to give Punk anything he wants, just as long as he re-signs. “Millions of dollars, use of my jet, ice-cream bars, whatever, it’s yours.” Vince begins to lose control of his emotions, and admits that he’s never felt so lost or desperate before. Vince then makes one final plea for Punk to come back, and then goes to leave, but Delrio’s music hits! Delrio makes his way to the ring, grabs a mic, and begins to explain that, without Cena or Punk around, and after winning a #1-contendor’s match AND winning the “Money-in-the-Bank” contract, that Vince should just name Delrio the new champion. Delrio motions for Vince to agree, but Vince just leaves, leaving Delrio holding the bag.
About thirty minutes into the show, Trips arrives at the arena wearing a suit; he spends most of the night attempting to get Vince to sit down for a private conversation with him, but Vince keeps blowing him off, citing that he [Vince] is too busy trying to figure out how to handle the situation.
The main-event for the evening will be an 8-man tag-team match featuring all eight participants from the previous night’s “MITB” match: Rey-Kofi-Bourne-Riley vs. Delrio-Miz-Truth-Swagger. Delrio ends-up winning after scoring a roll-up on Rey and pulling the tights; after the match, Delrio grabs a mic and declares his victory as just another example of why he should be named champion. The match itself, however, is not the final segment of the evening.
At the end of the show, a furious Vince storms to the ring and grabs a mic; he says that Punk has not contacted him all night, and declares that Punk just made the biggest mistake of his life. Vince begins ranting that Punk is a coward and a fluke-champion that is too afraid to come back and fight, and then goes off on a tangent about how Punk is nothing and Vince is practically a god amongst men. Trips’ music interrupts Vince’s maniacal ramblings, with Trips making his way to the ring; Vince basically jumps down Trips’ throat, asking who Trips thinks he is, but Trips manages to finally get a word in. Trips explains that he’s been trying to talk to Vince all evening, to which an annoyed Vince tells him that if what Trips has to say is so important, then he should just say it now. Trips is hesitant, but Vince eventually convinces him to just let it out – at this point, the angle plays out the same as it actually did, with Trips announces that, with the loss of Punk, the loss of the WWE-championship, and the firing of Cena, the Board-of-Directors has lost faith in Vince, that an injunction has been filed, and that Trips is taking over day-to-day operations. Vince is crushed as the show goes off the air. [After the cameras stop rolling, Trips will announce to the live audience that his first order of business was to bring Cena in tonight in order to fulfill his commitment of appearing on a card that he was advertised for; Cena arrives and wrestles a dark-match.]
///
"Raw", 7-25-11
The show begins with Trips making his way to the ring, and announcing his plan on what to do to rectify the problem of not having a WWE-champion. Trips announces an eight-man tournament, with the quarter-finals be held tonight, the semi-finals next week, and the finals the week after that; before he can get another word out, though, Delrio’s music hits, and Delrio makes his way to the ring. Delrio disagrees with Trips’ decision to hold a tournament to crown a new WWE-champion, and cites his victories last week, at “MITB”, and in the #1-contendor match before “MITB” as reasons why he should be awarded the title. Trips actually admits that Delrio makes a great case for why he should be the champion, and says that he has every intention of honoring Delrio’s #1-contendor status; Trips then goes on to explain that the tournament is NOT meant to crown a new WWE-champion, but is actually to determine who will face Delrio at “Summerslam” for the WWE-championship. Trips: “Now I’m not just going to hand you a championship, but I think I’ve been more than fair to you. And if you had just the tiniest bit of patience, you would see that. I could have made you compete in the tournament, and, quite frankly, I could take you OUT of the main-event of ‘Summerslam’ for not showing me proper respect. Consider this a warning, and don’t ever get in my face again. Trips leaves, and Delrio is again left holding the bag.
The matches for the tournament are:
- Rey/Bourne
- Kofi/Swagger
- Miz/Riley
- Truth/???
The commentators note that the tournament consists almost entirely of the men that competed in the “MITB” match, with the only exception being a mystery opponent taking Delrio’s place.
The matches go as follows:
- Rey/Bourne – Rey wins, and the two shake hands afterwards.
- Kofi/Swagger – Kofi wins.
- Miz/Riley – Miz wins via cheating.
- Truth/Cena – The newly-rehired Cena gets the win.
This gives us the following for next week:
- Rey/Kofi
- Miz/Cena
///
"Raw", 8-1-11
The show kicks right off with Miz/Cena – Truth tries to interfere early, but Riley runs out to make the save, and the two of them brawl to the back. It’s a long, hard-fought match, with Cena eventually winning.
Rey/Kofi comes on soon after, with Rey winning, and the two shaking hands after the match.
Truth is interviewed later about why he interfered, to which he replies that he only lost his match against Cena because of a conspiracy; he mentions that he was the only person that did not know who their opponent would be, and asserts that Cena should still be unemployed. Truth then warns Riley to stay out of his way.
Around the middle of the show, Trips comes out to cut a promo, but an unknown man in a suit jumps the barricade; security begins to escort him out, but soon release him. The man walks to the ring, where he is confronted by Trips; the mystery man grabs the mic, explains that he is Punk’s lawyer, and warns that Trips better allow him to read a prepared statement from Punk. The lawyer pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket, and begins reading: the gist is that Punk believes that this tournament is a sham, and that whomever walks out of “Summerslam” with the title cannot rightfully call themselves champion, since they will not have beaten the TRUE champion, Punk, to win that title. Trips is not impressed by this statement, and is about to give the lawyer a piece of his mind, but Cena’s music hits; Cena tells Trips that he’ll handle this, and decides to give the lawyer a little response for Punk. Cena says that, yes, he lost at “Money in the Bank”, and that, in some ways, he can understand why Punk would feel that he is still the true champion. Cena continues, however, and explains that there is more to being a champion than just winning a championship: it’s also about DEFENDING the title. Cena says that Punk is actually the “paper champion” in this situation, as he is the one sitting at home, unwilling to take a chance on losing it. Rey’s music then hits, and Rey makes his way to the ring; Rey says that Cena’s speech gave him an idea: if Punk wants to know what being a “fighting champion” is all about, then why don’t Cena and Rey have their match together tonight? Cena likes the idea, Trips approves of it, and the match is announced as the main-event of the show. The three faces then surround the lawyer, prompting the lawyer to leave the ring and walk to the exit.
Cena/Rey begins, only for Delrio to make his entrance – complete with theme-music – just as the match gets underway; Delrio sits down at the announce-table, and claims that he is only out here to scout his opposition. The announcers want to know which man Delrio would prefer to face, but Delrio isn’t spilling the beans. Trips then makes his way down to the ring, ostensibly to keep Delrio from interfering. The match is back-and-forth, with both men fighting with all they have. At the end, Delrio tries to interfere, but Trips decks him; this distracts the two competitors, resulting in Cena going for the “Attitude Adjuster” on Rey, Rey reversing into a head-scissors, both men land awkwardly, both men covering each-other, 1-2-3, it’s a double pin. There’s some confusion as to what this means for the tournament, but Trips is more interested in waiting for Delrio to regain consciousness; once he does, Trips informs Delrio that, at “Summerslam”, he will be facing BOTH Rey and Cena, for the WWE-championship.
///
"Raw", 8-8-11
Basic build-up to “Summerslam”, with Cena, Rey, and Delrio all in action, and all allowed to cut promos. Also, the new WWE-championship is revealed: it is a very basic belt, pretty much the opposite of the “Spinner” model.
Punk’s lawyer arrives again, and reads another statement, this time asserting that Punk is not merely “sitting at home”, but has been wrestling at indy-shows and defending the WWE-championship against such top-level talent as Duane Gill, Barry Horowitz, and The Brooklyn Brawler. Trips now interrupts the lawyer, and tells him to get out of the ring before something bad happens; the lawyer wants to know if Trips is threatening him, to which Trips responds “you’ll know in about five seconds”. The lawyer leaves.
Truth and Miz attempt to attack Riley, but Riley was smart enough to plan ahead: MORRISON returns, and helps Riley run the heels off.
Other matches for “Summerslam” would be the following:
R – WWE: Cena/Rey/Delrio
S – World, “No DQ”: CHRISTIAN/Orton
R – US, “2/3 Falls”: ZIGGLER/Kofi
S – IC: EZEKIEL/Barrett/Gabriel/Slater
R – Morrison-Riley/Truth-Miz
S – Sheamus/Henry
S – “Loser Gets Bagged”: Cody/Bryan
2 – Divas, “Battle Royal” (KELLY, Beth, Gail, Melina, Eve, Brie, Nikki, Maryse, Natalya, Tamina, Ajlee, Kaitlyn, Alicia, Layla, Rosa)
///
SUMMERSLAM, 2011
Cena/Rey/Delrio – Hard-fought match, with Cena eventually winning by making Delrio tap to the STF. After the match, Cena holds the title up in celebration, but his music is quickly interrupted by a different song: “Cult of Personality”. A confused Cena is wondering what is going on, until PUNK makes his entrance, (spinner) WWE-championship around his waist. The two face-off in the ring as we fade to black.
///
Money In The Bank, 2011
R – WWE: CENA/Punk
S – World: ORTON/Christian
R – “MITB”: Delrio/Rey/Miz/Truth/Kofi/Riley/Bourne/Swagger
S – “MITB”: Bryan/Sheamus/Barrett/Cody/Cara/Kane/Slater/Gabriel
R – Divas: BRIE/Kelly
2 – Show/Henry
///
"Raw", 7-17-11
The show comes on the air with an altered signature and intro, both of which prominently feature Punk. Inside the arena is no different, as everything is decorated as an homage to Punk; the Tron features his logo and looping video of his victory, his face is plastered on all of the turnbuckle pads, and the announcers are wearing his t-shirts. Vince’s music hits, and a defeated Vince slowly makes his way to the ring; once there, he grabs a mic, and admits that Punk “got him”. Vince recounts all that he was done in the business, all that he’s done FOR the business, and all of the enemies that he has defeated along the way (Austin, Hogan, Ted Turner, the U.S. government); he eventually announces that he is willing to give Punk anything he wants, just as long as he re-signs. “Millions of dollars, use of my jet, ice-cream bars, whatever, it’s yours.” Vince begins to lose control of his emotions, and admits that he’s never felt so lost or desperate before. Vince then makes one final plea for Punk to come back, and then goes to leave, but Delrio’s music hits! Delrio makes his way to the ring, grabs a mic, and begins to explain that, without Cena or Punk around, and after winning a #1-contendor’s match AND winning the “Money-in-the-Bank” contract, that Vince should just name Delrio the new champion. Delrio motions for Vince to agree, but Vince just leaves, leaving Delrio holding the bag.
About thirty minutes into the show, Trips arrives at the arena wearing a suit; he spends most of the night attempting to get Vince to sit down for a private conversation with him, but Vince keeps blowing him off, citing that he [Vince] is too busy trying to figure out how to handle the situation.
The main-event for the evening will be an 8-man tag-team match featuring all eight participants from the previous night’s “MITB” match: Rey-Kofi-Bourne-Riley vs. Delrio-Miz-Truth-Swagger. Delrio ends-up winning after scoring a roll-up on Rey and pulling the tights; after the match, Delrio grabs a mic and declares his victory as just another example of why he should be named champion. The match itself, however, is not the final segment of the evening.
At the end of the show, a furious Vince storms to the ring and grabs a mic; he says that Punk has not contacted him all night, and declares that Punk just made the biggest mistake of his life. Vince begins ranting that Punk is a coward and a fluke-champion that is too afraid to come back and fight, and then goes off on a tangent about how Punk is nothing and Vince is practically a god amongst men. Trips’ music interrupts Vince’s maniacal ramblings, with Trips making his way to the ring; Vince basically jumps down Trips’ throat, asking who Trips thinks he is, but Trips manages to finally get a word in. Trips explains that he’s been trying to talk to Vince all evening, to which an annoyed Vince tells him that if what Trips has to say is so important, then he should just say it now. Trips is hesitant, but Vince eventually convinces him to just let it out – at this point, the angle plays out the same as it actually did, with Trips announces that, with the loss of Punk, the loss of the WWE-championship, and the firing of Cena, the Board-of-Directors has lost faith in Vince, that an injunction has been filed, and that Trips is taking over day-to-day operations. Vince is crushed as the show goes off the air. [After the cameras stop rolling, Trips will announce to the live audience that his first order of business was to bring Cena in tonight in order to fulfill his commitment of appearing on a card that he was advertised for; Cena arrives and wrestles a dark-match.]
///
"Raw", 7-25-11
The show begins with Trips making his way to the ring, and announcing his plan on what to do to rectify the problem of not having a WWE-champion. Trips announces an eight-man tournament, with the quarter-finals be held tonight, the semi-finals next week, and the finals the week after that; before he can get another word out, though, Delrio’s music hits, and Delrio makes his way to the ring. Delrio disagrees with Trips’ decision to hold a tournament to crown a new WWE-champion, and cites his victories last week, at “MITB”, and in the #1-contendor match before “MITB” as reasons why he should be awarded the title. Trips actually admits that Delrio makes a great case for why he should be the champion, and says that he has every intention of honoring Delrio’s #1-contendor status; Trips then goes on to explain that the tournament is NOT meant to crown a new WWE-champion, but is actually to determine who will face Delrio at “Summerslam” for the WWE-championship. Trips: “Now I’m not just going to hand you a championship, but I think I’ve been more than fair to you. And if you had just the tiniest bit of patience, you would see that. I could have made you compete in the tournament, and, quite frankly, I could take you OUT of the main-event of ‘Summerslam’ for not showing me proper respect. Consider this a warning, and don’t ever get in my face again. Trips leaves, and Delrio is again left holding the bag.
The matches for the tournament are:
- Rey/Bourne
- Kofi/Swagger
- Miz/Riley
- Truth/???
The commentators note that the tournament consists almost entirely of the men that competed in the “MITB” match, with the only exception being a mystery opponent taking Delrio’s place.
The matches go as follows:
- Rey/Bourne – Rey wins, and the two shake hands afterwards.
- Kofi/Swagger – Kofi wins.
- Miz/Riley – Miz wins via cheating.
- Truth/Cena – The newly-rehired Cena gets the win.
This gives us the following for next week:
- Rey/Kofi
- Miz/Cena
///
"Raw", 8-1-11
The show kicks right off with Miz/Cena – Truth tries to interfere early, but Riley runs out to make the save, and the two of them brawl to the back. It’s a long, hard-fought match, with Cena eventually winning.
Rey/Kofi comes on soon after, with Rey winning, and the two shaking hands after the match.
Truth is interviewed later about why he interfered, to which he replies that he only lost his match against Cena because of a conspiracy; he mentions that he was the only person that did not know who their opponent would be, and asserts that Cena should still be unemployed. Truth then warns Riley to stay out of his way.
Around the middle of the show, Trips comes out to cut a promo, but an unknown man in a suit jumps the barricade; security begins to escort him out, but soon release him. The man walks to the ring, where he is confronted by Trips; the mystery man grabs the mic, explains that he is Punk’s lawyer, and warns that Trips better allow him to read a prepared statement from Punk. The lawyer pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket, and begins reading: the gist is that Punk believes that this tournament is a sham, and that whomever walks out of “Summerslam” with the title cannot rightfully call themselves champion, since they will not have beaten the TRUE champion, Punk, to win that title. Trips is not impressed by this statement, and is about to give the lawyer a piece of his mind, but Cena’s music hits; Cena tells Trips that he’ll handle this, and decides to give the lawyer a little response for Punk. Cena says that, yes, he lost at “Money in the Bank”, and that, in some ways, he can understand why Punk would feel that he is still the true champion. Cena continues, however, and explains that there is more to being a champion than just winning a championship: it’s also about DEFENDING the title. Cena says that Punk is actually the “paper champion” in this situation, as he is the one sitting at home, unwilling to take a chance on losing it. Rey’s music then hits, and Rey makes his way to the ring; Rey says that Cena’s speech gave him an idea: if Punk wants to know what being a “fighting champion” is all about, then why don’t Cena and Rey have their match together tonight? Cena likes the idea, Trips approves of it, and the match is announced as the main-event of the show. The three faces then surround the lawyer, prompting the lawyer to leave the ring and walk to the exit.
Cena/Rey begins, only for Delrio to make his entrance – complete with theme-music – just as the match gets underway; Delrio sits down at the announce-table, and claims that he is only out here to scout his opposition. The announcers want to know which man Delrio would prefer to face, but Delrio isn’t spilling the beans. Trips then makes his way down to the ring, ostensibly to keep Delrio from interfering. The match is back-and-forth, with both men fighting with all they have. At the end, Delrio tries to interfere, but Trips decks him; this distracts the two competitors, resulting in Cena going for the “Attitude Adjuster” on Rey, Rey reversing into a head-scissors, both men land awkwardly, both men covering each-other, 1-2-3, it’s a double pin. There’s some confusion as to what this means for the tournament, but Trips is more interested in waiting for Delrio to regain consciousness; once he does, Trips informs Delrio that, at “Summerslam”, he will be facing BOTH Rey and Cena, for the WWE-championship.
///
"Raw", 8-8-11
Basic build-up to “Summerslam”, with Cena, Rey, and Delrio all in action, and all allowed to cut promos. Also, the new WWE-championship is revealed: it is a very basic belt, pretty much the opposite of the “Spinner” model.
Punk’s lawyer arrives again, and reads another statement, this time asserting that Punk is not merely “sitting at home”, but has been wrestling at indy-shows and defending the WWE-championship against such top-level talent as Duane Gill, Barry Horowitz, and The Brooklyn Brawler. Trips now interrupts the lawyer, and tells him to get out of the ring before something bad happens; the lawyer wants to know if Trips is threatening him, to which Trips responds “you’ll know in about five seconds”. The lawyer leaves.
Truth and Miz attempt to attack Riley, but Riley was smart enough to plan ahead: MORRISON returns, and helps Riley run the heels off.
Other matches for “Summerslam” would be the following:
R – WWE: Cena/Rey/Delrio
S – World, “No DQ”: CHRISTIAN/Orton
R – US, “2/3 Falls”: ZIGGLER/Kofi
S – IC: EZEKIEL/Barrett/Gabriel/Slater
R – Morrison-Riley/Truth-Miz
S – Sheamus/Henry
S – “Loser Gets Bagged”: Cody/Bryan
2 – Divas, “Battle Royal” (KELLY, Beth, Gail, Melina, Eve, Brie, Nikki, Maryse, Natalya, Tamina, Ajlee, Kaitlyn, Alicia, Layla, Rosa)
///
SUMMERSLAM, 2011
Cena/Rey/Delrio – Hard-fought match, with Cena eventually winning by making Delrio tap to the STF. After the match, Cena holds the title up in celebration, but his music is quickly interrupted by a different song: “Cult of Personality”. A confused Cena is wondering what is going on, until PUNK makes his entrance, (spinner) WWE-championship around his waist. The two face-off in the ring as we fade to black.
