Punk's Promo

Everyone seems to be talking about the promo CM Punk did at the close of Monday night's edition of WWE Raw.

And rightfully so.

It was one of the best pieces of mic work that I had seen done in quite a while and was similar - in ways - to the worked shoot style that was cutting edge back in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Of course, this style of promo had been done to death and lost its effect over the years but there was something special in Monday night's one.

It was established recently that Punk's WWE contract is set to expire. He had been in intense negotiations but the two sides had failed to reach an agreement. This is a shoot.

They must have reached some sort of a solution for this angle to be given the green light, though.

With the contract coming up in storyline, Punk was threatening to walk out of the company as WWE Champion at the close of next month's Money In The Bank pay-per-view as he is in the main event challenging for the title against John Cena.

At the end of this past Monday's show, Punk attacked Cena and then went to the entrance-way and delivered the promo.

In it he discussed how Cena got the spot he did because he kissed Vince McMahon's ass just like Hulk Hogan (mentioning of a wrestler from the rival company) but was not as good of an ass-kisser as 'Dwayne' (The Rock).

Punk then detailed how he was not respected by many in the company as he was seen as being a 'Paul Heyman guy' (A lot of truth here). He then went on to discuss how another Heyman guy - Brock Lesnar - also quit the company on them (true as well, plus referring to a fighter from UFC which is also in competition with WWE).

He went on to discuss Ring Of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Colt Cabana (an ROH wrestler) before landing back to the McMahons and noted how the company will be in an even worse position when Vince dies because it will be in the hands of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon (people have these fears but they've never been expressed in this way on TV). Punk was then about to talk about Vince McMahon and something about the bullying campaign they are embarking on but his mic was turned off. The show then faded to black.

It was all a work but was done in a way where some - but not all - could have felt it was a shoot. The mentioning of former wrestlers and other companies as well as 'real' backstage feelings was something that made the worked shoot.. work.

Whether this is a new approach remains to be seen. It surely will lead to a lot of interest in July's pay-per-view.

I have my own idea how this will play out but I'm going to leave that for another day.