wrestling / Columns

The Piledriver Report 09.22.12: Lawler, a Match of the Year, and Bone Spurs

September 22, 2012 | Posted by RSarnecky

Before I begin this week’s column, I just wanted to bring up a quick non-wrestling topic for a moment. On Tuesday morning, it was reported that NFL Films president Steve Sabol passed away after an 18 month bout with brain cancer. Ever since I was a little kid, I was a fan of NFL Films. I used to love watching the NFL Football Follies shows on ESPN. I also have watched Inside the NFL for as long as I could remember. However, the thing I loved most about NFL Films was there half hour Super Bowl highlight films. As a kid, I used to stay up all night on the Saturday night before each Super Bowl as ESPN would air every Super Bowl highlight film. Sorry for bringing this up when I should be talking wrestling, but I wanted to salute the man who made NFL Films one of my favorite forms of entertainment. Now, onto this week’s article.

THE HANDLING OF JERRY LAWLER

What a difference a week makes. A little more than a week ago, we witnessed one of the scariest moments in wrestling history when Jerry Lawler had a heart attack during Monday Night RAW. Today, he is out of the hospital, and looks really great for someone that was in a life and death situation last week. I am so glad that Lawler is going to be okay.

Watching RAW last week, I thought that the WWE handled the situation as best as it could. Fast forward a week, and I wasn’t happy with the WWE’s treatment of Jerry Lawler on the latest RAW episode. First, Michael Cole was on camera wearing a “Long Live the King” t-shirt. While I thought this was tacky, I understood that this was Cole’s way of letting the “King” know that he was thinking of his broadcast partner. Where I think the WWE drew the line to being a contender for the “Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic” award was when the WWE decided to try and profit off of Lawler’s heart attack by selling the shirt on WWE.com. It would be different if the WWE decided to give some of the profits that they receive for the sale of the shirt to a cancer charity. That’s not the case. The WWE will be keeping the money. It’s amazing that in the same week the WWE does something terrific by putting out John Cena “Rise Above Cancer” merchandise, and giving a 100% of those proceeds to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure for all of that merchandise that is sold between September 16th and October 31st, the WWE decides to put out the “Long Live the King” shirt.

The other thing the WWE did in regards to Jerry Lawler that rubbed me the wrong way was when they continually hyped up the Jerry Lawler interview that will be airing this coming week. To me it was reminiscent of the Monday Night RAW following Brian Pillman’s death. They spent the whole episode hyping up an interview with Pillman’s wife in order to gain ratings. This reminds me of that. “We need to pop a rating, so let’s exploit what happened to Jerry Lawler by having an interview with him and promoting the hell out of it the week before.” Maybe I am making too much out of the situation, but I just think the whole thing was really tacky.

CM PUNK vs. JOHN CENA

Going into the Night of Champions pay per view, I didn’t expect much. What I got was a big surprise. The card was pretty good, which was topped off by an excellent main event. I love it when the WWE books John Cena vs. CM Punk matches. Both guys have tremendous chemistry with each other. I am a huge CM Punk fan. I am not a fan of the John Cena character. Whenever the two wrestle each other, I am always on the edge of my seat. The WWE is so pro-Cena that I usually expect John Cena to come out of the match with the WWE title. Every near fall has me jumping, as I plead for Punk to keep the title. The crowd at the arena is usually hot as well. Whenever Punk and Cena square off, it seems like there is extra emphasis on the “Let’s Go Cena, Cena Sucks!” chants. Combine all of these factors with the added bonus that the two always have really good matches together, and you have the best rivalry in the WWE today.

At Night of Champions, the two fought each other in arguably the best WWE match of the year. I would give the John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar match a slight nod as the best of the year, because of the shear brutality and specialness of the match. However, as a normal match, I think this past week’s bout between John Cena vs. CM Punk match as the best of the year. Both men kicked out of every move. Not just their finishers, like has become standard WWE fare, but out of every big move, such as Punk hitting Cena with a Rock Bottom. I liked the ending of the match. When the bell rang, and Cena was announced as the new champion, I kept saying “both guys’ shoulders were down!” I thought that this was a horrible way for the WWE to take the belt off of Punk. When the ref handed the belt back to Punk, I was ecstatic. I thought that was an awesome and creative Dusty finish. Also, kudos to having Punk wear Yankee pinstrips in Boston. This coming from a Mets fan, who hates the Yankees. Really good match that rivals, if not surpasses their Money in the Bank match from 2011.

CENA INJURED

Imagine my surprise when I went on line and read the caption “John Cena injured.” The first thought that entered my mind was about John Cena’s ankle. Despite “knowing” the injury, I clicked on the link and was shocked to read that Cena had elbow surgery. WHAT?!?! I needed to do a double take. Apparently, John Cena needed to have bone spurs removed, and would be out of action from four to six weeks. I joked that John Cena’s super powers would kick in, and he would be back in a week. Well, what do you know, the next link I click says that Cena’s recovery time was upgraded to 2-3 weeks. That means that Cena will not miss the pay per view. Superman lives again. All kidding aside, while I previously stated my dislike for the Cena character/push, I am glad that he will not be missing much ring time. Am I bored with Cena’s act, and would I like to see more fresh faces at the top? Of course, but at the same time, I never want to see anyone injured. I don’t care what performer it is. It could be my least favorite performer of all-time, and I still wouldn’t want that person to get injured. After all, this industry is their livelihood. Time away means less money that they make for themselves and their family. I may be in the minority, but I wish John Cena a speedy recovery.

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