TSC Evaluation #7: CM Punk

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jerniebert

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So who do you watch and how did you keep watching when he first debuted?


Art Barr
I will admit that a lot of my opinion may have been skewed by all the hype I read on the internet prior to even being on SOHH or The Coli including the hype he gets here. I expected a lot more from him and when I finally got a chance to watch/follow him I was completely underwhelmed. The same thing was true about Daniel Bryan at first, but he went on to change my mind and became one of my favorites. Punk just never got over with me. I follow lots of people. I'm just a fan of wrestling in general including guys who are not the most well liked on here sometimes(Ryback, Cena), but my current favorites are pretty much in line with a lot of what TSC likes. Some fall in and some fall out. Just depends on what they're doing at the moment.
 

Art Barr

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I will admit that a lot of my opinion may have been skewed by all the hype I read on the internet prior to even being on SOHH or The Coli including the hype he gets here. I expected a lot more from him and when I finally got a chance to watch/follow him I was completely underwhelmed. The same thing was true about Daniel Bryan at first, but he went on to change my mind and became one of my favorites. Punk just never got over with me. I follow lots of people. I'm just a fan of wrestling in general including guys who are not the most well liked on here sometimes(Ryback, Cena), but my current favorites are pretty much in line with a lot of what TSC likes. Some fall in and some fall out. Just depends on what they're doing at the moment.


Now this is simple preference,...cool.
Great response!


Art Barr
 

Bonefan32

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OK let me start by saying I've never really been a fan so I'm not gonna really rate him high, I understand he did a lot but this is simply my opinion


Mic work/promos - his best attribute even though towards the end he got very whiny like someone else stated but I'll say 8

-Personality/gimmicks - off the top of my head the only character I somewhat enjoyed was the straight edge society with gallows so I'll say 5

-Ring work - this is where the rating goes down for me, while he is good in the ring I've always thought he was overrated especially when I started watching more wrestlers outside of WWE so a 4 or 5 :yeshrug:

-Overall rating - No more than a 5 for me (him acting like a bytch after leaving WWE doesn't help, so hopefully we never see him again)

:pacspit: forget what I said take this 1 punk
 

stro

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7

He was above average, although not great, and not even at the top of his indie class or generation. As a promo guy, while capable of greatness, he often relied on worked-shoot type comments as a crutch going back to his IWA and ROH days. Between SES and the pipe bomb, fans didn't care about him, because he wasn't doing anything noteworthy in the ring, nor was he doing shooty stuff in promos. Then comes the pipebomb, which leaned way too heavily on breaking the 4th wall (invoked outright in the promo), then the next few weeks had him doubling down with some truly embarrassing promos that had no place on a wrestling show.

As a wrestler, he was very sloppy and at times distractingly unathletic, which did not stop him from trying to do things he physically couldn't pull off, often leading to blown spots or at least spots looking not nearly as good as planned. His most highly rated WWE match, against John Cena at MITB, is shockingly sloppy and he blows spots every few minutes. In fact, the bigger the match, the more likely he was to mess up. You could always count on him to take something that should be 5 stars and bring it down based on his sloppiness.

His personality at any time as a face was brutally unlikable and smarmy, almost more than when he was a heel, which he was much better at and clearly relished being. His personality outside of the ring, which was an important part of his professional life in the era he was in, was miserable and unlikable on every level, which often bled into his professional life. He spent his whole career bytching about fans and how difficult it was to be a wrestler, especially all the things that come along with being a top level WWE guy, which he also bytched about not being even BIGGER of a top level WWE guy despite going on all the PR stuff being a miserable prick and complaining about them.

Over all, he was good, not great, ultimately someone whose legacy is probably hurt by getting title runs, as he'd probably be in that DiBiase/Jake/Rude/Perfect level of "these guys were too good to not get the title", instead of being in an era where almost everyone gets the title eventually. Although he wasn't as good as that group of guys, even in comparison to his era, imo.
 

Ribbs

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I was contemplating giving him an 8 but then I saw this...

Great in the ring, easily the best on the mic, single handedly changed wrestling for the better
And that's what makes a wrestler a legend. You can ignore his sloppy elbow, his preachy at times whiny promos, you even ignore the fall out if they literally shifted the culture. Punk had people tuned in, old and new wrestling fans. Because of Punk, guys like Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Nakamura and others recognized indy stars are being hired. Do you think if it wasn't for Bryan and Punk we'd have Owens and Balor as the first champions of a new title?

Nah, Punk is a legened. Ten.
 

CM_Burns

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8 overall

Mic skills are great. He relied on referencing that the whole sh1t is fake too much, but he also showed he was capable of great regular promos (ie vs Rock at times)

Ring skills are good. Athletically his stuff doesnt look that good or impressive, but he has good timing and great facial expressions and was able to put together some great matches.

It took a long time, but finally he felt like a real star and main eventer to me by the time he turned heel on Rock. He spent a long time not feeling like one, despite his "talent" and being booked as such, and fails the Walmart test brother, so this category hurts him a bit.
 

MushroomX

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If Steiner is a 8, then Punk is 7. Was Punk was better in the Mic, but I mean Steiner in comparison has a more wide array of stuff that stand out. I know Punk was more of an indy darling, but if we are giving scores on TSC, then personally Steiner is just purely more entertaining just because he wanted to invite you to watch him. Punk was that dude who was at the skatepark, doing all the cool moves but then having a disgust look at peoples face when they gawk at him; dude had a chip on his shoulder.
  • He was a great worker
  • Great on the mic
  • Sensitive emotional dude backstage
  • Contempt for his own fans
  • His own biggest mark
  • fukked up with the Savage Elbow
  • His legacy was based on two pipe bombs if we are honest; ROH goodbye and the WWE worked shoot.
7
 

mrken12

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If Steiner is a 8, then Punk is 7. Was Punk was better in the Mic, but I mean Steiner in comparison has a more wide array of stuff that stand out. I know Punk was more of an indy darling, but if we are giving scores on TSC, then personally Steiner is just purely more entertaining just because he wanted to invite you to watch him. Punk was that dude who was at the skatepark, doing all the cool moves but then having a disgust look at peoples face when they gawk at him; dude had a chip on his shoulder.
  • He was a great worker
  • Great on the mic
  • Sensitive emotional dude backstage
  • Contempt for his own fans
  • His own biggest mark
  • fukked up with the Savage Elbow
  • His legacy was based on two pipe bombs if we are honest; ROH goodbye and the WWE worked shoot.
7

I gave both Steiner and Punk a 9 because they both were important for their eras. :yeshrug:

As for your criticisms of Punk I agree with almost all of them. But I want to be as objective as possible with these evaluations. Which is why all those people giving 1s and 2s are on some bullshyt. :martin:
 
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