WWE: CM Punk, Your Change Is Upon Us

Since walking back in to the WWE with the championship, Punk has been the one man looking to change the face of the company. 

He was as sick of the same old song and dance, as the rest of us were. He wanted new management, opportunities for his colleagues who don't get the respect they deserve and ice cream bars.

If Hell in a Cell proved anything last night, change is upon us. It may have only just begun, but it's far from concluding.

Continued Tag Team Revitalization

Currently the tag team division stands much taller than it did this time last year. Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes were the tag champs last year and held the title for one whole month before losing it to David Otunga and John Cena. From there they dropped to Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater by orders of Wade Barrett then, the Nexus members entered a feud with the comedy tag team of Santino and Vladimir Kozlov.

Needless to say, the tag team division was a complete joke for a while. Now, Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne have been put together as Air Boom and doing a splendid job of making tag team matches cool again.

They have successfully defended their titles three times in a row now, defeating former champs Otunga and Michael McGullicuty, Miz and R-Truth as Awesome Truth and ZiggSwagg (Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger). 

Each match they have had has generated enthusiasm out of the crowd that use to take bathroom breaks during random tag matches. Air Boom is a fluent tag team that encompasses both men's natural flying ability and belief in each others abilities to combine to make a fierce team.

Since Air Boom's inception, we have already seen two new tag teams we other wise would never have gotten to see without their existence.  This opens the door for other seldom used talent such as John Morrison, Alex Riley, Drew McIntyre and many others to start tag teams and gain some recognition for a change.

Air Boom is far from done for being a force in the tag team division so look for even more teams to form and challenge for their titles.

New Frontier on Smackdown

Mark Henry has now defeated Randy Orton cleanly twice, once to win the World Heavyweight title and another to retain it.  Towards the end of their match last night inside the cell, Orton started to realize he could not beat Henry. 

With the way the landscape is changing on SmackDown, don't expect that to change anytime soon. Henry has destroyed anything with legs and that includes the Viper, the Great White Sheamus and even the King Jerry Lawler. 

Now that Orton no longer has the title and has lost his rematch attempt to regain it, it's logical to see Orton go on to feud with somebody else such as Rhodes who is not currently in the title picture.

Orton has had his time in the limelight since moving to true blue, but now is the time to let him work on something else other than the grand prize the brand has to offer.  Cena did it last year so Orton can do the same.  The sheer fact he has lost cleanly twice in a row with the title on the line proves that they are pointing to a new, fresh direction on Friday nights. 

With Henry leading the charge, change is coming around slowly in the WWE and it starts with the World's Strongest Man. 

Henry can now do battle again with Sheamus and many others.  Unfortunately as it stands, Sheamus is the only face left to face Henry for the title.  After that, the list is extremely thin.

However, that just means that this is the perfect time to make more credible main eventers on SmackDown so it's not left just to Orton, Henry, Sheamus and Christian.  More superstars are going to get their shot to take down the monster and that's very exciting.

Diva Feuds That Matter

Finally Beth Phoenix has climbed to the top of the mountain in the diva's division, winning her first career Diva's Championship last night.  By the tears in her eyes, you could tell just how much that meant to her.  I think her win last night meant as much to us as it did to her.

Beth and Natalya have joined forces to try to rid the division of Barbie stereotypes that have been surrounding them for years.  Pin up strong as they call it is the foundation for a swing in direction for divas all over the company. 

Gone are the days of Twin Magic winning the title while putting on laughable matches in an effort to let Kelly Kelly improve in the ring against a mannequin.  Sex appeal and strength are back in the woman of today and that's not about to change back to the norm quickly.

Beth has the chance to make the woman seem legitimate again. Unfortunately she may have to wait a month or two for that because she will have to continue her feud with Kelly and teach her the finer points of proper diva's wrestling style.

In the very near future, though, the diva's division will once again be something worth watching now that Beth holds the title.

Prestige to the Mid-Card Titles

Last night, Cody Rhodes re-introduced the old school Intercontinental Championship belt to the title scene.  He stated he wanted to hold what the greats wore and that he was going to defended frequently and upon request.

Requests didn't wait to long to start coming from the locker room as John Morrison came out to try to win the title from a suited up Rhodes.  Rhodes would retain his title in decently impressive fashion while wearing very stylish khaki pants, making it three times in six days Rhodes defended his title and being successful each time.  

This could spark a new trend where mid-card champions start to make their names remembered for much more than very uneventful title reigns.  Unlike Wade Barrett before him, Rhodes isn't about to start running away from potential foes in an effort to bring prestige back to titles that are currently seen as nothing more than giving other guys something to do.

The United States and Intercontinental titles were once seen as the stepping stone to an eventual world title reign, but now those titles get lost in all the hyper surrounding the main event title scenes. Rhodes is going to start a trend that consists of champions willing to defend their titles to prove the reason why they have them is because they deserve them. 

Rhodes may be the first one to want to bring back success to the mid-card, but soon enough he will not be alone.

Horrible Bosses

While Punk started to advocate for change, he ruffled the feathers of the boss, Vince McMahon.  Once he was relieved of his duties and Triple H took over, he once again made an enemy out of the head honcho of the company, mocking him and his wife in the process.

This led to Punk losing his WWE title after Kevin Nash and Del Rio combined to screw him over at SummerSlam.

Punk now has the pleasure of being able to blame whomever was boss at the time for a vast number of his short comings throughout the Summer and now into early Fall.  He's been made out to be the good guy in a bad situation. He can even blame him getting beaten up by Miz and Truth on a number of occassions because of Hunter's lock of ability to control his employees. 

Not since the days of Stone Cold Steve Austin has somebody so popular had the direct attention of the boss and Punk clearly has that more times than not.  Everything was going just fine for Punk until Trips came around and now he's being buried yet again.  His stock my be rising but his fan base continues to blossom through it all.  Whether it's been Vince or Triple H in charge, Punk has a bone to pick with the boss and it's just starting to truly heat up. 

In Closing

While CM Punk has been urging the WWE for change, he doesn't see it happening.  In reality, change is happening all around him. 

Everything in the WWE is changing as we speak, just not for CM Punk.  The only change he has gotten recently is his ever growing popularity with the fans.

Change is something that takes time to understand and acknowledge. The change Punk was asking for once he officially made his switch from straight up heel to rebel face didn't come as quickly as he would have liked, change is imminent.  It's closing in on us rapidly and before we know it, the product we knew back in January will be forgotten as the new era sparked by a cry for difference from the norm is the catalyst.