The Silver Report: May 26-June 1

Say goodbye to the month of May and hello to June.  We are just a few weeks away from the official start of summer and the Payback PPV.  Payback in the oh so glorious wrestling city of Chicago will be the beginning of the build-up for the Biggest Event of the Summer, Summerslam.  There is a lot to hope for this coming summer as we move out of a lackluster few months.  To hype up this summer, next week’s blog will be this writer’s Top 5 Hopes for the Summer.

Clash of the Best in Chi Town

CM Punk disappeared from WWE television just over a month ago after a rather cryptic promo.  What this promo meant was anybody’s guess, but we will not have to wait much longer.  Last Monday in Calgary, Chris Jericho hosted a special edition of the Highlight Reel with Paul Heyman as the guest.  While pleasantries were exchanged at first, Jericho quickly got down to business, the whereabouts of the self-proclaimed Best in the World.  Heyman tried to redirect Jericho’s questions, but nothing would deter Y2J.  Jericho kept pushing Heyman’s buttons by saying Punk no longer deserved the Best in the World moniker and getting the Calgary crowd to chant said moniker at Mr. Heyman.  Heyman would eventually succumb to Jericho’s mind games and accept Jericho’s challenge to face CM Punk at Payback.  While it has only been a year since CM Punk and Chris Jericho feuded over the WWE Championship, it is still exciting to see these two wrestle especially considering the roles have been reversed since their last feud.  This match at Payback looks to be more of a way to bring Punk back in time for the summer rather than the start of a summer long feud.  Either way, the match should be entertaining nonetheless.  Considering that Payback takes place in Punk’s hometown, the atmosphere surrounding this match should be nothing short of electric.  This story should keep many fans interested in the weeks ahead.

The Axel Begins to Turn

From the Shield to Fandango, this year has already seen a good number of fresh faces debut.  The latest to join the main WWE roster is Curtis Axel, the son of “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig and the grandson of Larry “The Axe” Hennig.  With the mentorship of the one and only Paul Heyman and the supposed backing of the WWE big wigs, Curtis Axel is primed to being pushed to the main event of the WWE.  Those plans are not for certain considering WWE executives love to change their minds on a dime.  Axel has gotten a win over Triple H (funny it took a week to tell the audience the result) and John Cena in his first two weeks on Raw.  While these wins have only been by count-out and knockout (I believe), they are wins nonetheless.  It will be interesting to see how Axel will be booked in the coming months.  It is nice to give him wins over main eventers like Cena and Triple H, but Axel will need some pinfall victories if Creative wants the fans to believe Axel is a bona fide main eventer.  This writer just hopes that Creative does not get scared when it comes to pulling the trigger on taking Axel to the next level like they are currently doing with Ryback.  Only time will tell if the Curtis Axel experiment is a success or failure.  Considering the WWE is in dire need of stars, expect Axel to be pushed heavily in the weeks and possibly months ahead.

The Silver Report: May 19-25

Extreme Rules marked the end of WrestleMania season.  Now we enter the dry spell, which are the spring months, as nothing big happens during these months.  Most of the bigger angles are left for the most important season after WrestleMania season, the summer.  The seeds for these angles are usually planted in the spring.  To see these seeds come to fruition can be absolutely exciting or excruciatingly boring.  As the WWE heads toward the new Payback PPV this coming June, it will be interesting to see if the spring slump takes hold this year.  

Game Over?

When you are the COO of the WWE, the question comes up whether you should still be competing as a wrestler anymore.  Over the past year that question has come up multiple times for Triple H.  While Triple H may still be a big star, the company has moved on from the point of needing him to sell an event.  Considering that Triple H is not the most enthusiastic about giving rubs to the younger talent, there is not much reason for him to stick around in a wrestling capacity.  Look no further than this past Monday when Triple H made his way out to interrupt the reveal of Paul Heyman’s newest client, Curtis Axel (the re-branded Michael McGillicutty).  Instead of making Axel look like a million bucks, Triple H made him look like a chump in the span of three minutes.  It did set up a match later in the night between Triple H and Curtis Axel, but that match did not go any better.  Triple H did absolutely nothing to put over Axel as Creative decided to do a concussion angle with Triple H about four minutes into their match.  The match went to a supposed No Contest and everybody was left confused as Raw came an abrupt ending.  If a concussion angle was planned, the least Creative could do was put over Axel in the process.  Have Axel beat Triple H in a quick five-minute match or have the referee call for the bell after Axel beats Triple H to the point where he cannot compete any longer.  There were definitely better ways to put together this angle, but we were left with one of the worst endings in Raw history possibly due to Hunter’s ego.  After this past Monday, it might just be time for Triple H to step away from the ring and take on the Mr. McMahon role that he is currently being groomed for.

The Ryback Situation

Well, the misfortunes of Ryback continue.  WWE must be scared to pull the trigger on a Ryback WWE Championship reign because they trying to find any way possible to keep it off of him.  While Ryback did not face defeat at Extreme Rules, he did not leave Extreme Rules in better standings as the Last Man Standing Match ended in a No Contest.  WWE has hit Ryback’s glass ceiling.  The only way to get him more over as a heel now is to destroy John Cena and take the WWE Championship.  As much as Ryback still has room to improve on both the mic and in the ring, he will not be able to improve if not given the opportunity to excel.  It might seem too early to place the title on Ryback considering he debuted only a year ago, but WWE has booked this powerhouse into a corner.  The only way to get Ryback out of that corner is to give him the WWE Title and see if he can run with it.  If Ryback cannot carry the title, there are ways to take the belt off of him.  To push Ryback so heavily and do next to nothing with him in the main event scene is a complete and utter waist.  With the right direction, Ryback could be WWE’s equivalent to a Goldberg-like monster.  Even though this writer may sound like a broken record by now, it is time to stop stalling and take the Ryback experiment to the next level.  A dominating victory in the Ambulance Match against Cena at Payback will be the best time to take that next step.