Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels: The Feud Of 2008

Marcos Sanchez — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:00:50 -0400

Raw in the past couple years has had some rather shallow rivalries going on, the majority of which center around the thought, "I'm better than you," and "No, I'M better than YOU!!"

However, there is a shining ray of light on Monday Night Raw—the ongoing feud between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho. It doesn't involve any gimmicks like becoming Tag Team Champions before the match—there's no pretense that Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels can get along.

This feud is my absolute favorite in recent memory. It started so innocently, with Ex-Y2J mocking and berating HBK for being a cheater, and taking a couple of personal jabs at him for it. And from there it exploded into one of the most personal and well-thought-out rivalries that I've seen in quite some time.

I've always been a fan of what I call the "Mick Foley" school of heel justification. To make a good heel, and particularly a good heel turn, you don't stop doing what you're doing—you just change your justification for what you're doing.

Chris Jericho did this brilliantly to the point that he went from being a huge face to the biggest heel on Monday Night Raw (Adamle might get more heat, but he just has to be Adamle to generate that emotion hehe).

Jericho's justification and initial reasoning for why he had a problem with Shawn Michaels was completely justified, and if anything I'm sure many of us could agree with him!

But from there he took the wrong path in trying to redeem HBK by recruiting Lance Cade and beating the life out of Shawn Michaels. Their match at the Great American Bash was one of the most brutal and bloodiest matches I can remember in quite some time.

Beyond that, their rivalry is still going strong, even though it started right after Backlash! From right after Wrestlemania through Summerslam, probably concluding at Survivor Series, this rivalry looks like it could be legendary, and definitely a top contender for Rivalry of the Year.

CM Punk—The Next Rey Mysterio?

Marcos Sanchez — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:25:23 -0400

Well, another Money In The Bank contract has been cashed in, and from the ashes emerged CM Punk, the new World Heavyweight Champion.

It's now been more than a month, and Punk isn't showing signs of a dominant and history-making champion—in fact, the only people he's been able to beat clean are JBL, William Regal, and Snitsky. Seriously?

When is the last time you remember the reigning World Heavyweight Champion competing in what would otherwise be described as mid-card matches? Did Randy Orton, Triple-H, Edge, or John Cena ever compete in the mid-card of WWE's flagship show, Monday Night Raw? How many times did the competitors for the champion have more attention than the champion himself?

Actually, if memory serves me right, another short-lived champion and long time mid-card wrestler was hoisted up to the World Heavyweight Championship, though he unfortunately didn't hold it for very long—Rey Mysterio.

Now, don't get me wrong, I personally love Rey Mysterio, and greatly respect his legendary career in both WCW and WWE.

However, we all know that he had his moment at Wrestlemania, winning the World Heavyweight Championship, and will most likely not hold the belt again. There's too many up-and-coming talents who should be elevated to main event status, and not enough titles for them to compete for.

Now, lets take a good look at what Mysterio has been doing between injuries:

When he's actively wrestling, he's being used as a stepping stone, as someone who can get someone else over and up to main event status. Having beaten Rey Mysterio is a great honor, but that carried so much more weight if it was having beaten "former World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio."

I think this is exactly what's going on with CM Punk on Raw. He's not really come into his own, however someone had to get Money in The Bank at Wrestlemania, and with Jeff Hardy out on suspension, creative only had one option: push the person who they were probably grooming for Wrestlemania 25's Money In The Bank.

In my opinion, CM Punk was not ready for the title run he's gotten, and isn't a believable champion considering the competition he's up against.

Don't get me wrong, his wrestling ability has greatly improved—he's putting on some damn good matches as of recently—but it's obvious WWE Creative doesn't want to get completely behind Punk as champion just yet.

With a non-title match between John Cena and Batista looking to be the main event for Raw at Summerslam, how could anyone buy CM Punk's chances at holding on to the World Heavyweight Championship for long?

With an already crowded main event-level roster on Raw (including Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, JBL, Kane, Batista, and John Cena) and the fact that CM Punk has yet to prove himself against these relative behemoths, is Punk destined to be the former World Heavyweight Champion who will boost other mid-card talents, the likes of Lance Cade and Kofi Kingston, to the title picture?

Or will the WWE Creative Team finally get behind CM Punk and legitimize him as a real contender for the title, and officially start the Punk Era on Monday Night Raw?

Bleacher Report - Articles by Marcos Sanchez

Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels: The Feud Of 2008

CM Punk—The Next Rey Mysterio?