CM Punk Defeats Dolph Ziggler, Becomes WWE/TNA Mark Madness Champion

After an exhilarating payoff and finish, it is all said and done from the world wide web as CM Punk captured his first ever Mark Madness Championship.  

Punk joins John Cena as superstars to have won the online battle of wrestling stars and could be in position to command a dynasty as his online popularity continues to surge with Punk as the WWE Champion. 

Ziggler and Punk were neck-and-neck for much the first day, with Punk leading 52-48 throughout the opening night of voting. 

Punk managed to pull away from Ziggler, who immensely overachieved in this year's tournament, in the closing hours to lay claim to the 2012 Mark Madness Championship with a 57-43 win. 

This year's tournament was dominated by WWE stars as TNA wrestlers dropped off in droves by the round, with only one TNA star left by the prestigious Elite Eight (Bobby Roode).

In total, the WWE enjoyed a lopsided 21-6 record in inter-promotional matchups despite their prevailing depth issues and overlying ambiguity in terms of who the next big star will be. 

This is an indictment on the TNA product, which one could logically reason should have more success in this nature of tournament. 

The average Internet wrestling fan's propensity to side with the underdog and/or the better worker gave TNA an on-paper advantage in many of the inter-promotional matchups. However, WWE's strong brand name, mixed with TNA's inability to get out of its own way, translated to success for the big, corporate world-wide leader in sports and entertainment even online. 

It'll be interesting to see how Vince Russo's departure from TNA affects the brand's progress long-term. Next year should see more of the same indecisiveness from WWE in terms of pushing new stars as they already seem to be kicking around the idea of a Rock-Cena rematch for WrestleMania 29.  

Should Ziggler pick up steam between now and next year, he will certainly prove to be formidable competition towards guys like CM Punk and Zack Ryder, who actually disappointed this year with a second round exit. 

With that said, if his interviews with the wrestling media are any indication, Ziggler seems to be a consummate company guy known to tote the company line and stay safe with his comments about being a WWE superstar. Surely, this will not sit well with an Internet crowd that tends to embrace anti-establishment.

The result could be a drastic decline in online popularity should Ziggler eventually be transformed into the WWE's next "it" guy a la John Cena, especially given Ziggler's rather generic athletic look compared to CM Punk's persona which will forever be underground. 

Moving forward, the talk of dynasty will surely be a theme for next year's Mark Madness tournament with both Punk and Cena as strong candidates to capture their second ever Mark Madness Championship in three years. 

I'd like to thank every member of the Internet wrestling community for making this tournament another success with tens upon thousands of votes calculated in just over a week of action. We don't always get along, but at least for one month out of the year, we could all come together and crown the champion of our world.  

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