WrestleMania So would you be mad if Punk beat Taker?

[Mustafar Reginald]

If Punk were to be put over Taker, I'm sure he'd make the decision to stay. WWE would make very sure he intended on having a long term career with them before handing over a twenty year streak to him. Punk was also gonna leave in 2011, but then the MITB storyline convinced him to stay and sign a new contract and look at where he is now.

Totally different scenario's there. Punk was going to leave in 2011 due to frustrations with the way WWE treated him ( like calling him "John Cena's TV program" during his feud with Orton, among many, many other things) and only signed back on due to the angle working out well and seeing a chance to change the place. His conversations with Mercury and Lars being the main point of why he re-signed (Mercury being the one who told him "you can't change the WWE from your couch", Lars told him some story but my memory's iffy on the details). That's no longer the situation, he's reasons for leaving the company and retiring will be because he's been doing wrestling the vast majority of his life non-stop (excluding certain injuries) so I highly doubt he'll be swayed to re-sign due to them having him break the streak.

On the question at hand, no I wouldn't be mad. I just don't simply care about The Streak, at don't place it on as high as a pedestal and firmly believe that they shouldn't hesitate for a second to end it when they have the right person. I don't think Punk is that person, but I won't be bothered if he wins it.

That said, it's not going to happen.

 

[Lockard 23]

Point is, Punk still changed his mind and decided to stay. If beating the streak gave him an extra career boost in terms of momentum (I'd have to think it obviously would), then he would make the decision to stick around longer. If he stayed at least five or more years, then I think that would be long enough to benefit from it, honestly.

 

[Mustafar Reginald]

Point is, Punk still changed his mind and decided to stay. If beating the streak gave him an extra career boost in terms of momentum (I'd have to think it obviously would), then he would make the decision to stick around longer. If he stayed at least five or more years, then I think that would be long enough to benefit from it, honestly.

The only reason his mind needed changing though was because he was unhappy with his position. Him retiring in a two (maybe three) years has nothing to do with his position. I mean, a similar example (not perfect, just similar) would be Shawn's retirement. He wouldn't have stayed around longer had they given him the streak, because his reasons behind it weren't tied to position. Actually, Jeff Hardy might be a better example ironically. WWE offered him a big time contract if I recall correctly and even gave him the World Championship a month prior to him leaving, yet that didn't change his mind.

Of course Punk changed his mind at Money In The Bank, the driving force behind him leaving was because he didn't like how he was being booked among other things within the company, so WWE starting to push him as a top tier and allow him free reign on the mic would persuade him as it's satisfying the need they previously ignored. That wouldn't be the case this time. Besides, he just came the longest WWE championship reign in what, twenty five years? If that isn't enough to motivate him to sign on longer than I don't really think breaking The Streak would be.

I'm not saying it's outside the realm of possibility, but just because he changed his mind about leaving the company once isn't enough for me to assume he'd do it again especially since the entire reason between his retirement is very different from the reason he planned to leave back then which would naturally mean getting him to stick around would require at least a slightly different approach. The reasoning behind decisions are much more valuable than the decisions themselves when trying to determine what someone would do in a particular scenario.

Also, in relation to the final sentence, he wouldn't even need that long to benefit from it. In fact, there'd be no reason to even re-sign as any benefit he gets from that will relatively quick after the fact. Let's be honest, wrestling isn't exactly something where an accomplishment from five years ago is still going to carry that much weight in the present day. Yes, it will always be there to boost the credibility of Punk but at that point in time that doesn't mean crap if WWE wasn't still booking Punk strong. Like Jack Swagger's previous World title reign, in the long run that only benefit to him winning the World Championship was occasionally being thrown in matches where being a former World Champion was a requirement. Granted the analogy isn't perfect, but I'm just trying to get across that the most beneficial point of him beating the streak will be immediately after and the months proceeding. He wouldn't even need to re-sign in this case because by the time he plans on retiring, he would've already ridden the wave of momentum he gained from ending the streak.

Then again, Punk isn't winning. It'd be a feather in his cap that he certainly doesn't need, and I don't even think Punk would agree to ending the streak first and foremost. Besides with the Taker/Cena match at Mania XXX kind of locked in, at least if Cena get's his way it is, I can't see the logic behind having Taker go in with a broken record.

 

[Lockard 23]

In that case, why would anyone really complain about Punk retiring in a few years? If the most he's gonna get out of it is just gonna be immediately what follows anyway, which is true. I brought up the "five or so years" stuff because people want the guy who breaks the streak to be around and have a lengthy career as opposed to just disappearing a couple of years later.

Once again, he could always just change his mind anyway about when he's retiring. Just because he made one or two comments before about giving it up in a few years doesn't mean it's set in stone. Hulk Hogan was also ready to retire from wrestling in the 80's but then he became huge in the WWF and couldn't stop making so much money so he stayed. WWE would obviously be absolutely sure about this before they gave him the streak, and to be honest, I can easily see Taker being willing to offer his streak up to Punk. Punk is in the perfection position to benefit from it - a guy who's a star but could use the streak to be elevated even higher, as opposed to someone like Michaels who couldn't have possibly gone any higher with the victory, or a guy like Barrett, who is still unproven as a top guy and could easily flop if pushed as one and his victory over the streak wouldn't matter a bit.

I'd like to think it's obvious that Cena/Taker is locked in for WM30 as well, but who knows. Sometimes, dream matches are just that.

 

[Snowman1]

You guys summed it up perfectly. The Streak's simply too big of a push at this point just to let it go to waste, and if Punk stays even for 5 years, he's set. He's a definite draw and main event star after that, and we're all happy. There will finally be a top babyface the entire fanbase (outside of horny women and Dolph's) can get behind as long as Creative doesn't fuck up his gimmick again, and there will plenty of time to pass the torch to somebody else before he goes (Ziggler?). What's there to complain about?

 

[Stopspot]

You guys summed it up perfectly. The Streak's simply too big of a push at this point just to let it go to waste, and if Punk stays even for 5 years, he's set. He's a definite draw and main event star after that, and we're all happy. There will finally be a top babyface the entire fanbase (outside of horny women and Dolph's) can get behind as long as Creative doesn't f*ck up his gimmick again, and there will plenty of time to pass the torch to somebody else before he goes (Ziggler?). What's there to complain about?

I personally don't want to see Punk end it. Something about that concept rubs me the wrong way.

 

[Saylor]

I would most defiantly be mad.

 

[Mustafar Reginald]

In that case, why would anyone really complain about Punk retiring in a few years? If the most he's gonna get out of it is just gonna be immediately what follows anyway, which is true. I brought up the "five or so years" stuff because people want the guy who breaks the streak to be around and have a lengthy career as opposed to just disappearing a couple of years later.

I honestly couldn't answer why people are complaining about that when considering Punk ending the streak. That hardly makes any sense to me.

Once again, he could always just change his mind anyway about when he's retiring. Just because he made one or two comments before about giving it up in a few years doesn't mean it's set in stone. Hulk Hogan was also ready to retire from wrestling in the 80's but then he became huge in the WWF and couldn't stop making so much money so he stayed. WWE would obviously be absolutely sure about this before they gave him the streak, and to be honest, I can easily see Taker being willing to offer his streak up to Punk. Punk is in the perfection position to benefit from it - a guy who's a star but could use the streak to be elevated even higher, as opposed to someone like Michaels who couldn't have possibly gone any higher with the victory, or a guy like Barrett, who is still unproven as a top guy and could easily flop if pushed as one and his victory over the streak wouldn't matter a bit.

I wasn't doubting that he could change his mind, just saying using MITB as a basis for the argument that he would doesn't really work due to having two very different reasons for leaving. I also think it's much more likely that Punk will stick to his guns on his retiring but eh.

Even if Taker offered Punk the streak, chances are he'd just turn it down like the rest of the people Taker offered his streak to. I definitely understand where your coming from with Punk ending the streak, but something about it just doesn't feel right. It's not exactly easy to pinpoint what and out of laziness I'm not even going to try (I might later though). I have no doubt whatsoever that Punk is losing though.

I'd like to think it's obvious that Cena/Taker is locked in for WM30 as well, but who knows. Sometimes, dream matches are just that.

The only way I don't see that happening is with injuries (which may actually be likely considering Taker's condition). Maybe it's my innate stubbornness that isn't allowing me to process another scenario where that match doesn't take place, but I think it's a safe bet. I'll be really depressed if that match doesn't end up happening, I've been wanting a Cena/Taker match at Mania for years and next year's Mania would be perfect for it (especially considering what they time in-between Mania's will be for Cena).

 

[Cloud]

No i want Punk to beat Taker.I say lose the streak.

 

[Lockard 23]

I wasn't doubting that he could change his mind, just saying using MITB as a basis for the argument that he would doesn't really work due to having two very different reasons for leaving. I also think it's much more likely that Punk will stick to his guns on his retiring but eh.

Even if Taker offered Punk the streak, chances are he'd just turn it down like the rest of the people Taker offered his streak to. I definitely understand where your coming from with Punk ending the streak, but something about it just doesn't feel right. It's not exactly easy to pinpoint what and out of laziness I'm not even going to try (I might later though). I have no doubt whatsoever that Punk is losing though.

I don't think Punk SHOULD beat it either, just that he more than anyone else on the roster would make sense. I still think him coming close but failing right when he's on the brink of making history is the way to go. I'm sticking to my original prediction that this leads to a fallout between he and Heyman (who might berate him on how he;s not the best in the world after all) and would naturally lead to a Punk/Brock feud eventually.

Punk ending the streak probably doesn't feel right to you because Punk isn't gonna be shot straight back into the world title picture afterwards, which is what could/should happen if Punk beat the streak. Cena is about to be champion and Punk isn't taking the title from him, especially with Vince tired of the Punk/Cena feud. Ideally, it would have worked out better if the 434 day title reign happened AFTER the streak was broken but that's not how it was to be.

He could work a program for the WHC, but that's very much the secondary belt, and I don't think there's any room for him there either (Del Rio having a lot of momentum as a face, Swagger and the heat Zeb can get for him, Ziggler cashing in soon, etc.) Would be neat for him to win the WHC and then go on another long title reign, especially since he actually could become the #1 longest reigning WHC since the belt was only introduced in 2002. Would also be ironic for him to defeat Del Rio again before going on another long reign.

 

[Brad.]

If Punk isn't gonna be around long-term then there is no point.

I've always thought that Kane should take Taker's streak, brothers etc. That would be awesome.

 

[Lockard 23]

I don't get the obsession with Kane ending Taker's streak that a lot of people have. Kane has lost twice to Taker and is a comedy character now.

 

[Leo C]

I don't get the obsession with Kane ending Taker's streak that a lot of people have. Kane has lost twice to Taker and is a comedy character now.

Yeah, I agree. Character wise I see why people want it but you know, now that Kane's a comedy character and the fact that they've already wrestled twice goes against that.

 

[Mustafar Reginald]

I don't think Punk SHOULD beat it either, just that he more than anyone else on the roster would make sense. I still think him coming close but failing right when he's on the brink of making history is the way to go. I'm sticking to my original prediction that this leads to a fallout between he and Heyman (who might berate him on how he;s not the best in the world after all) and would naturally lead to a Punk/Brock feud eventually.

Punk ending the streak probably doesn't feel right to you because Punk isn't gonna be shot straight back into the world title picture afterwards, which is what could/should happen if Punk beat the streak. Cena is about to be champion and Punk isn't taking the title from him, especially with Vince tired of the Punk/Cena feud. Ideally, it would have worked out better if the 434 day title reign happened AFTER the streak was broken but that's not how it was to be.

He could work a program for the WHC, but that's very much the secondary belt, and I don't think there's any room for him there either (Del Rio having a lot of momentum as a face, Swagger and the heat Zeb can get for him, Ziggler cashing in soon, etc.) Would be neat for him to win the WHC and then go on another long title reign, especially since he actually could become the #1 longest reigning WHC since the belt was only introduced in 2002. Would also be ironic for him to defeat Del Rio again before going on another long reign.

Actually yeah, I think that's it. You hit the nail right on the head there.

Oh, and I never thought that you thought he should end the streak by the way. I was just debating the idea of Punk ending the streak albeit briefly. Had fun though.

 

[seabs]

I don't get the obsession with Kane ending Taker's streak that a lot of people have. Kane has lost twice to Taker and is a comedy character now.

Not only that how long does Kane have left? He's mid 40s himself so as a full time guy he's gotta have 5 years max in the tank, why people would want to waste the streak on that I'll never know. Now if this was debut Kane arriving in 2013 it would be perfect IMO.