CM Punk

I have always had a liking for professional wrestling. When, I was a kid, when I thought it was all real, I used to love the action and contests, following storylines as if they aren’t scripted.

Then came the time that I realized that everything was fake – well, all the story lines – and I started losing interest. Then came startling plots starting with the take over of WCW by WWE. Then came personalities like the Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock who were more than just wrestlers, but entertainers.

That was followed by a time when the whole wrestling industry took a bit of a beating – they couldn’t find people to fit in the shoes of these biggies who had found greener pastures – Hollywood, to be more specific.

Then came CM Punk – Punk has been here a long time, however, but he hasn’t risen to such a stature until recently - and the wonderfully plotted storyline where he was supposed to leave the the WWE with the championship.

That main even – Money in The Bank pay perview in Chicago, was the best that I had seen in my entire life. The energy in the crowd was amazing. And of course, this was all thanks to that wonderful guy behind the mic – CM Punk.

Thanks to him and his extraordinary skills – and some wonderful writing from the WWE – wrestling has become entertaining once again.

To CM Punk – thank you!

Sports Entertainment

This is a wonderful time for a spectator-sport admirer. The World Cup is going great guns with the English cricket team doing every bit to make life more exciting. The Irish are show grit outside the pubs, the Bangladeshi Tigers have surprised a few with their spunk, and teams like Pakistan, India, and West Indies are showing tremendous inconsistency to even things up.

It's not just the cricket which is grabbing the attention. WWE is pulling out all their trump cards out. The Rock, Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, - all legends, pulled out from from hibernation and thrown into programmed television. Today, I saw the RAW episode which featured the return of Stone Cold. And what at return it was! Honestly, I fell in love with him again!



It's not just WWE. Even TNA is trying to get their act together by bringing icons like Sting back and holding their title. Alas, Jeff Hardy fucked up again, falling prey to substance abuse (yet again!), bringing the whole industry down when it was really on the way up. I hope TNA finds its way out of this slight mess that Hardy has pulled them into and competes head on with WWE.

Whatever, it's compelling viewing for the sports entertainment lover! And guess what, IPL is just around the corner! Long live sports of television!

The Rock's back

This weekend, I spent most of my time watching sport and sports entertainment of television. My excuse was that I was recovering from a brutal week which reminded me of my days during internship and residency. I still remember a 108-hour shift that I had taken during my internship - I was so tired that I fell asleep by the side of patient of snake poisoning! My present non-medical life lacks stories of such superhuman effort. :-(

The highlight of the weekend, hence, was the coming back to WWE of the one and only Rock (Dwayne Johnson). It seemed that WWE was running out of ideas to come up with interesting stories and personalities. All the 'faces' were too juvenile (John Cena and Rey Mysterio for example) and all the 'heels' were incredibly annoying (The Miz and Cody Rhodes).

Vince McMahon, I think, did a careful analysis of the present scene. There were no 'faces' who were brash, arrogant, charismatic like to good old days featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin and the DX. He must have looked back at the roster to see if anything could bring him back the audience which love blatant cockiness that such superstars bring to the table. He must have found the Rock, the one guy which combines all of those missing elements and adds an amazing mic-presence and sense of humor to them.

I'm not going into a cliché here, but Rock did arrive and conquer the WWE universe in all but a 15-minute presence in the ring where he narrated everything that was going wrong with the WWE and how he's going to change them come Wrestlemania XXVII. This has reignited my interest in watching professional wrestling again - if the stories/plots aren't good enough, at least you can hear one of most flamboyant superstars make fun of everything under the sun!

On behalf of all fans of professional wrestling, welcome back Rock! We missed you!