Money in the Bank: Why CM Punk's Victory Marks a New Era in WWE

Be honest. How many of you expected CM Punk to beat John Cena at Money in the Bank?

And of those of you who did expect that, how many of you expected Alberto Del Rio to cash in immediately and take the title?

This was a stunning piece of booking. It took three hours for the WWE fanbase to be entirely placated, all the evils of tedious storylining forgotten. Daniel Bryan, the IWC's darling, won the Smackdown Money in the Bank, and then CM Punk, the voice of the voiceless, the undergod, took the WWE title and left the building. Literally.

As Punk vaulted the barriers into the rabid Chicago crowd to sprint up the stairs and out of the door, we saw the defining moment of a generation of wrestling fans.

In the previous hour, we'd seen incomparable drama, with near-falls, kick-outs, submission moves, playing to the crowd, and even some character development from Cena (incidentally, I'm really glad he judged his work properly—not the overt SuperCena face, but a man with nerves and regrets, particularly when he thought he was putting away the crowd's favorite).

When Punk said last week he was the voice of the voiceless, he was right—he spoke for all of us who sometimes hate what we see, who want to see wrestling and good booking in one company, who want some comedy, but not all from Santino.

And that's why the commentary team's argument that Punk is abandoning us - reminding us that he's a heel, not a good guy - made no sense. (It made sense for Cena to spout that line, because that's the kind of thing he ALWAYS says.)

Because the thing is yes, we may love Punk, and yes, we want to see him feature prominently in the product we watch.

But to be honest, if it's a choice between him jobbing to Cena, toeing the party line and trying to put over David Otunga, Michael McGillicutty and Mason Ryan for the next few years, then we'd rather have Punk speak his mind, speak for us, win the title and leave in a blaze of glory—one we will all remember for the rest of our lives.