WWE Mailbag: Answering Your Questions on WrestleMania 28, CM Punk and More

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to my second installment of B/R's WWE Mailbag.

I started the mailbag last week, and you can read the first installment here, which answers reader-submitted questions on a number of WWE-related topics, including a look at Randy Orton and Big Show's world title aspirations.

If you're interested in submitting a question to be answered in next week's mailbag, you can do that through Twitter or FormSpring using the hashtag #mailbag.

I will answer all questions (unless they're ridiculous), but I'll pick the best ones to answer in the mailbag.

Alright, now that that's out of the way, let's get started.

Here is the second edition of the WWE Mailbag, with answers provided by yours truly. 

Is Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan Worthy of WHC Match at WrestleMania?

"Do you think D Bryan v Sheamus is a worthy title match for mania?"

Although the build to this match has been borderline-terrible, I say yes.

The three biggest matches on the WrestleMania 28 card are obviously The Rock vs. John Cena, The Undertaker vs. Triple H and CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, so this was a perfect time to give two up-and-comers a chance to compete for the world heavyweight championship.

Sheamus vs. Bryan will, at best, be the fourth-most high-profile match at Mania, and although the creative team hasn't helped them out with the booking of this feud, they are still great at what they do.

Bryan has established himself as a top heel in just a few months as a bad guy, while Sheamus is incredibly over as a babyface and has had the fans firmly behind him since he won the Royal Rumble.

Both Bryan and Sheamus have worked their tails off to get where they are, so I definitely think it's a Mania-caliber match that could be really good if given enough time.

This match is a perfect example of the WWE changing eras, but that's not necessarily a bad thing like some seem to think it is.

Should Punk vs. Y2J Open WrestleMania?

"Do you think Punk and Jericho should open WrestleMania?"

Yes, I do.

While I know many fans are vehemently opposed to such a big WWE championship match starting off WrestleMania, I look at it this way: If Chris Jericho and CM Punk open WrestleMania 28, they're going to start the show with what should be a phenomenal match that isn't limited by time restraints.

If Punk/Jericho was later on in the show and a few matches prior to it ran long, then the match would likely end up being shortened, with its quality taking a big hit as a result.

Plus, why start Mania off with another match that may not be very good? That sets the wrong tone for the rest of the show.

Another reason: Undertaker/Triple H and Rock/Cena are the other two huge matches on the card, and you don't want them all jumbled together because the fans may use all their energy on one of the matches and, as a result, be dead for the other.

Spread those three out--Jericho/Punk at the beginning, Triple H/Taker at the middle and Rock/Cena at the end--and the crowd should be ready to go for all three bouts.

Best Finisher?

"best finisher?"

The two I like to watch the most come from two high-flyers: Justin Gabriel's 450 Splash and Evan Bourne's Shooting Star Press. They're like Eve Torres-level gorgeous. 

But the best? I'll go with CM Punk's GTS.

(Waiting for someone to call me a Punk mark...)

It's just that I prefer finishers that seem like they could really hurt, and Punk's Go to Sleep maneuver (although you can't tell by watching John Laurinaitis' facial expression) looks absolutely devastating when it's executed correctly.

At the very least, it's a lot different from most of the other finishers in the WWE that have already been used before in the company. 

Will SmackDown Ever Be Live?

"Will Smackdown ever be live?"

I don't think so.

While there are some obvious advantages of holding SmackDown live every Tuesday, there are plenty of disadvantages that some wrestling fans love to overlook.

For starters, the production costs of running a live show are much higher than they are to produce a taped show, which means less money in Vince McMahon's pocket.

Secondly, taping a show allows the WWE to cover up mistakes, which it can't do on Raw. It's great to have one show that's live and one that's taped, so you can fix any botches on the taped show.

Not to mention that on pay-per-view weeks, this would mean that the TV production crew would have to produce a live show on three consecutive nights, which is much harder than it seems.

Finally, I don't think it would be a great idea to run the WWE's two biggest TV shows on the first two days of the week. If we were to get Raw on Monday and SmackDown on Tuesday, then that means there would be a five-day gap every week between WWE programming.

That means no WWE TV show between Wednesdays and Sunday. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that's a smart thing to do.

Cena or Punk?

"Cena or Punk?"

I'm assuming that this is asking who is better, and though I prefer CM Punk and think he's the most well-rounded performer in the WWE, I don't think that either is necessarily "better."

John Cena is the face of the company, someone who (as the announcers point out all the time) always generates a reaction, is great on the mic and doesn't get credit for how good he is in the ring.

Punk, on the other hand, is sort of like the anti-Cena. He's still one of the faces of the WWE, but he's more of a rebel, not so cookie-cutter, is phenomenal on the mic and is a consistently excellent performer in the ring.

It's simply a matter of personal preference when you want to debate "who is better" because they've both had fantastic feuds and matches and have also racked up a number of other accomplishments in the WWE.

Like I said earlier, I prefer Punk, but that doesn't necessarily make Cena any worse than him.

More Overrated: Cena or Hogan?

Who is/was more overrated in their respective eras,Cena or Hogan?

This one really isn't even close for me.

Though John Cena is often referred to as the "Hulk Hogan of today," the truth is that Cena has always been an overall performer than Hogan.

While the Hulkster is probably the best showman in WWE history, he was never very good where it matters the most for me: In the ring. This isn't to say that he was downright awful, but there's a reason why Hogan is called the "face of pro wrestling" and not "the best wrestler who ever lived."

The best wrestlers are guys like Shawn Michaels and Undertaker, and believe it or not, Cena has had a number of great matches that rank up there with guys like them. You can call Cena overrated if you must, but I think overpushed is more appropriate.

In fact, that fits Hogan, too. Both he and Cena have always been more overpushed than overrated, but I'd much rather watch Cena wrestle a match than Hogan.

That's why I'd say Hogan is the more overrated one--the dude just was never great in the ring. 

Best Canadian Wrestler Ever?

Who is the best Canadian wrestler to ever wrestle?

You're looking at him: Bret Hart.

The Hitman has had countless great matches (such as his submission match against Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13 or his steel cage match against Owen Hart at SummerSlam in 1994), and he's widely regarded as the best technical wrestler ever.

It's only fitting that he be called the best Canadian wrestler ever as well, which is a great honor because Canada has produced some unbelievable wrestlers over the years.

You've got guys like Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Edge, Christian and Owen Hart who also were or have been phenomenal during their careers, and all of these men proved that there definitely must be something in the water in Canada.

That being said, no one touches Bret Hart: The best there was, the best there is and the best there ever will be.

Favorite WWE Match?

"What was your favorite match in WWE?"

I change this all the time because there are literally dozens upon dozens of matches that I like to label my favorite.

But if I had to choose, I'd go with the Triangle Ladder match between the Hardy Boyz, the Dudleys and Edge and Christian at WrestleMania 2000.

This bout featured four of my favorite wrestlers when I was growing up (the Hardyz and E&C), and I'm a sucker for ladder matches.

The ladder match is my favorite gimmick match of all-time, and this is the match that revolutionized the ladder match and spawned a new creation, TLC.

The risks that all the wrestlers involved this bout (and any of the other early TLC tag-team bouts) were willing to take still blow me away to this day, and though there are plenty of technical classics that were better than it, I never enjoyed those nearly as much as I enjoyed watching these guys defy gravity.

If I Could Book One Dream Match, What Would It Be?

"Wrestlemania often bills matches as "dream matchups" so if you could book a dream match up what would it be?"

There are two dream matches that have never happened that I really want to see: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. CM Punk and The Rock vs. Shawn Michaels.

The more realistic option of the two, though, seems to be Austin vs. Punk, as these two have gone back and forth on Twitter a lot recently and appear to be teasing a potential blockbuster match at WrestleMania 29.

As much as I'd love to see Rock/HBK, I wouldn't want to see HBK go back on his word and come out of retirement just for a WrestleMania match that is billed as a dream match, even though it would certainly qualify as one.

There are plenty of parallels between Punk and Austin, though, and I'd absolutely love to see these two go at it next year on the grandest stage of them all. 

I think it may actually happen, too.

Best Feud in the Last 10 Years?

"Best fued in the last decade?"

Again, this is another one of those questions that changes with someone's personal preference, but my pick is the feud between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels in 2008.

It started off with Jericho serving as the special guest referee for a match between Michaels and Batista at Backlash. HBK won the match, but later admitted to Jericho that he faked an injury during the bout in order to get the victory.

Ultimately, this would lead to that fantastic heel turn by Jericho on The Highlight Reel, and an incredible series of matches that culminated with one of my favorite matches ever, Michaels vs. Jericho in a Ladder match for the world heavyweight championship at No Mercy.

Everything about this feud was simply amazing: The story, Jericho's heel turn, the matches, everything.

If there's one feud I would tell a prospective wrestler to go back and study, this would undoubtedly be it.