WWE Money in the Bank 2012: Was There a Pay-Off for All the Hype for AJ's Angle?

CM Punk retained his WWE title in what is sure to be added to the growing list of classic Punk vs. Bryan matches, but was the pay-off for the AJ angle there?

AJ was the special guest ref in the match, and she sure made it clear that she was no longer in the corner of either man.

At one point, she took a chair and placed it in between a downed Punk and Bryan. It was something that reminded me of a scene in one of the Saw movies. She was playing the role she was assigned well.

Then when she went to count for both men at different points and both men kicked out, it seemed as if both were upset that she did not count quicker for them.

The one thing that has to be said is despite the fact that she certainly intervened at times, she did not play favorites.

She gave both men advantages at points and stopped both men from successful attacks on their opponents at other times.

When push came to shove and Punk covered Bryan, she counted a completely standard three-count and Punk took his title, celebrated and left.

That was it. She did not choose sides. She didn't really screw anyone over and she certainly did not decide the outcome of the match.

While it is clear that this is not the last we have seen of this storyline, one thing is clear: The hype for her being the special guest ref did not have the pay-off many may have hoped for.

The match itself was highly entertaining, and it was probably a plus that she did not have a ton of influence because Punk and Bryan put on a great match regardless of who the ref was.

Maybe we will get more answers at Raw, or maybe we will just continue to see AJ play the puppet master while not actually doing anything new.

Her character is very intriguing, and WWE has certainly found an unpolished diamond they were able to shine up into a polarizing character, but the storyline needs to go somewhere new soon.

She can't just keep doing the same things over and over anymore. We have seen her insanity; now we need to see her motivations.

What do you think? Was there too much hype and not enough payoff with AJ being the special guest ref for the WWE title match?