WWE Vengeance 2011: Exploring the History of CM Punk & HHH vs Awesome Truth

At WWE’s Vengeance PPV in two weeks, former enemies CM Punk and HHH will put aside their differences to take on the newly reinstated tag team of Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) in what promises to be a grudge-filled, extremely heated match. 

The bout was announced by new Raw GM John Laurinaitis backstage at the very end of last week’s Raw, as he watched Punk and HHH chase off Awesome Truth on the monitor. In addition, while there are no titles at stake, the match can be considered the main event of the card.

Indeed listening to the tepid reaction from the crowd to the announcement earlier in the evening that John Cena would take on Alberto Del Rio for the WWE Title on the pay-per-view, it seems this may possibly be the only match on the show endowed with a sense of importance and big-time feeling.

Aside from the popularity of CM Punk and HHH, fans appear see this tag match as a big deal mainly because of the history involving all four competitors. This is bout that has been months in the making, ever since HHH announced on Raw that his increasingly erratic father-in-law, Vince McMahon, had been relieved of his duties by the WWE’s Board of Directors and he had been chosen to take over as COO.

While HHH has brought back CM Punk (who had walked about defeating John Cena for the WWE Title at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view), a petulant Punk was ungrateful and would take constant verbal shots at HHH (and his family) claiming that HHH merely represented the bland, boring status quo and was henpecked by his wife, Stephanie McMahon. Tensions eventually boiled over and the two had an inference-heavy match at the Night of Champions match, which saw HHH emerge victorious.

The following night, the two officially called a truce, with Punk acknowledging that he no longer felt Hunter was behind all the problems on Raw and vowing to help him find who was responsible for the vast conspiracy on Monday Night Raw. Their newfound mutual respect was cemented last week on Raw when CM Punk came out to the ring and threw his full support behind the then COO after most of the WWE roster staged a walkout.

Some felt it was a highly unusual path for the rebellious Punk to take (if his character was consistent, would not he have been out for in the parking lot with the wrestlers, instead of siding with management?) The message was clear: an alliance with the two has been formed, and the two will be united as they take on Awesome Truth.     

Of course, Awesome Truth has been out to get Hunter since he fired them the night after Night of Champions for assaulting several referees on the show. The two did not take their release lying down, and dramatically ran in during the main event of Hell in a Cell, taking out everyone in sight as the cell was lowered after the finish (who exactly lowered the cage, allowing the cage, is still an answered question in the storyline).

After the cops managed to get into the cage, they arrested and handcuffed the duo, who surrendered peacefully. While they were being led out, however, an enraged HHH tore of his jacket and attacked them both, before being dragged off by security. 

The next day in a Youtube video (that also aired that night on Raw) a somber-looking pair apologized for their actions, but said they were pushed to the brink by HHH. They then announced they were taking legal action against Triple H and WWE for “wrongful termination.”  

Of course, this lawsuit was conveniently swept under the rug and forgotten about the next week when HHH was removed from power and new Raw GM, John Lauriniatis, reinstated them. Laurinaitis announced that not only were the pair rehired, they were taking on the team of Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk (the two had been participating in a one-one match singles match before Laurinaitis interrupted.)  

That match quickly fell into a chaos and saw Miz and R-Truth attempting a brutal beatdown on Punk, before Hunter ran in for the save.

With this match, we will be seeing HHH abandon his corporate persona once and for all, and embrace his wrestling roots. He will also be settling some scores with Awesome Truth (whose wild behaviour likely added to HHH’s problems as COO and led the most of the roster walking out doe to “Unsafe Working Conditions”).

Can the unlikely Punk and HHH friendship last? Well, for Hunter’s sake, he’d better hope so.