Things have gotten off to a much slower start than last year. WWE has been okay to good for the past month or so, but no match felt worthy of receiving the first Silverdome Match of the Week for 2012 until this past week. Last Sunday marked the start of the 2012 Road to WrestleMania with the Royal Rumble PPV. Opinions about the Royal Rumble PPV were ultimately mixed, heard a lot of people saying it was not that good and a good number of people say it was an enjoyable event. While the Rumble seemed a bit disappointing, no one can argue that with the fact the last Monday’s Raw was off-the-charts. Great matches, great promos and some excellent set-up for the feuds that will dominate this Road to WrestleMania. It definitely got this writer excited for tomorrow’s episode of Monday Night Raw. This week saw two other matches worthy of the Silverdome of the Week as Randy Orton faced off with Dolph Ziggler on Raw and battled Wade Barrett in a No DQ Match on Smackdown, but they were both beaten out by the match fans like yours truly have been waiting to see for a good two to three years now. The first Silverdome Match of the Week of 2012 goes to WWE Champion CM Punk vs. World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan from Raw.
As a last ditch effort to save his job, John Laurinaitus booked CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan, Champion vs. Champion for Raw. Ever since Bryan was signed by WWE back in 2009, many wrestling fans wanted so much to see these Punk and Bryan wrestle one-on-one in the WWE. So it was a great treat to see these two lock-up at the top of the second hour of Raw. From the lock-up, Punk would lock Bryan in a headlock. Bryan would send Punk into the ropes. Trying to gain the advantage Punk and Bryan run the ropes. Punk dropped Bryan with a shoulder block, but the American Dragon got back up and connected with a dropkick as Punk bounced off the ropes. With the clear advantage, Bryan would start working over Punk’s leg by locking in a surfboard-type submission while also stomping on Punk’s leg. Cm Punk would fight back and hit a big kick to back of Bryan’s head for a two count. Bryan would get back up and try for a back suplex, but the WWE Champion rolled out of the move and go out to the apron. Confused Bryan turned around just in time to get hit with CM Punk’s signature springboard clothesline for another two count. Now with the ball in his court, CM Punk started to pummel Daniel Bryan with various chops. Backed into a corner, Bryan would send Punk into the opposite turnbuckle and try to follow up with some sort of running attack, but Punk would surprise the World Heavyweight Champion with a well-placed dropkick for yet another two count. The two men would go back-and-forth trading holds until catch Punk’s arm with a hard kick. Bryan would gain control of the match by working over Punk’s hurt arm. With a sense of security, Bryan would go to the top rope, but Punk would catch the American Dragon on the top rope with a super hurricanrana. That move would light a fire in the Straight-Edge Superstar as he begun one vicious assault on Bryan. Punk would hit the World Champion with a dropkick, a clothesline and a neckbreaker immediately followed by his signature high knee bulldog combo. This assault was meant to set up Bryan for the GTS, but the reeling World Champion would roll out of the ring. Thinking he was safe, Punk surprised Bryan with a baseball slide then immediately tried for a suicide dive through the ropes, but Bryan caught the Voice of the Voiceless with a thunderous forearm. Bryan’s forearm staggered Punk long enough for Bryan to hit his signature Missile Dropkick from the top rope for a two count. As Punk tried to stand up, Bryan would hit him with some impactful kicks to the chest followed by a big roundhouse kick to the head, but Punk would duck the big kick and roll Bryan up for a two count. Punk and Bryan would enter another gear as the two wrestlers would trade strikes, moves and pinfall attempts. After hitting one crushing Madness Elbow Drop off the top rope, Punk would try to hit the GTS, but Bryan would reverse it into a roll up of his own. Once Punk kicked out of the pinfall attempt, Bryan would then try for the LaBell Lock. Punk would slide out of the submission hold then catapult Bryan into the turnbuckle, which would send the American Dragon to the ring apron. Before Bryan had a chance to counterattack, Punk connected with a devastating kick to the skull. Right when Bryan went down, Chris Jericho ran down to the ring and would throw Bryan from the apron into the barrier before hitting CM Punk with a Codebreaker. Due to Jericho attacking Bryan first, the World Champion got the win by disqualification. Even with the DQ finish, this match was absolutely amazing as Punk and Bryan put on the best wrestling match to grace our TV screens so far this year. Personally I am looking forward to seeing these two in another match sooner rather than later.
As we continue down the Road to WrestleMania, this Monday will continue the build to Elimination Chamber, which is in two weeks. While there are no matches announced for tomorrow night, there are a lot of answers that wrestling fans are looking to find out. Is John Laurinaitus fired? Why did Triple H walk out on Undertaker’s challenge? Why did Jericho attack Punk? For those who were disappointed by last Friday’s Smackdown, this week looks to be much better as Daniel Bryan will face Randy Orton in the main event. It should be one great match. Well until next weekend, have wonderful wrestling filled week. Cheers.
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