CM Punk is now officially feuding with The Authority. What I really do not like about how they handled this is that it wasn't really CM Punk jumping right in to stand up against the corporate heels. In terms of the storyline, this all seemingly started off of Punk saying something bad about The Authority. They then sent The Shield to take Punk out. CM Punk is supposed to be this guy that is against the status quo and the establishment. It would have been so much better if he took the fight to them. I am not implying his character has become that of a sellout. I just find it weak that it took The Authority targeting Punk for Punk to really start being against the establishment again.
You have CM Punk in a match against three guys. The Shield has been booked to look so strong as a team. What would it mean for one CM Punk to beat them all at TLC? The only way it can properly happen is to have The Shield tease friction again and have that lead to their downfall. To have CM Punk simply overcome them all as a united front by himself would be unbelievable. Go back a few months to when CM Punk feuded against Paul Heyman and his minion. I brought up the point that they would either have to take Curtis Axel out of the picture or get CM Punk a friend to help him even the odds. To have CM Punk go through both Curtis Axel and Ryback by himself to knock off Heyman might have been too much. Having CM Punk go through all three members off The Shield by himself would be even more unbelievable than that.
You have CM Punk getting involved in a good storyline where he is not chasing after a World title. You have Daniel Bryan involved in a good storyline where he is not chasing after a World title. Not surprisingly, John Cena, the centerpiece, is involved in a storyline involving the World titles. This is just another great example of what it means for the men's division to be an open division. You do not need to be the centerpiece or in a major title feud to get a good feud. You have three big faces all getting separate feuds and storylines. So much space to still feature the guys well. The diva division is not like that.The diva division is a closed division. If you are not getting pushed as the centerpiece or a major periphery diva, you are likely being wasted or just being used to serve a purpose and will eventually be wasted. The men's division still has some issues, like developing good midcard storylines and developing better tag-team feuds, but it is better than how things are in the diva division.
Let me switch gears. On last Sunday night's NFL game between the Washington Redskins and New York Giants, you had a controversial finish. During the final drive of the game for the Redskins, the refs signaled that the Redskins had gotten enough yards for a first down. A "down" in football is an opportunity for the offense to make a play. You have 4 downs to get enough yardage to get a new set of downs or score, or the ball automatically goes back over to the other team's offense. Thing is, after the Redskins made their next play, believing they had a new set of downs, the refs changed their minds about them getting the first down before and signaled that it was now 4th down. The Redskins go from thinking they will have at least a few more shots to being told this is their last shot. Personally, I don't think it was a big deal. The Redskins still had a chance, almost still kept the drive alive, and it was a turnover that caused them to lose. Of course, I'm no football expert. And you cannot deny that this confusion by the refs might have had a mental impact on the Redskins players and coaches as they tried to prepare for what ended up being the last play of the game. And the commentators mentioned the fact the plays the coaches are going to call when it is first down are not necessarily going to be the same in this situation if it is 3rd down or 4th down. They have to know how many chances they have left to help plan what to do. What does all this have to do with anything? It goes back to the idea I talked about just a few weeks ago on playbooks in football. The coach is going to have different plays planned and different strategies for different situations in the game. The commentators pretty much said the same thing. How is that relevant to what I talk about? When you are analyzing the diva division, you have to understand the situation, or landscape, the division is currently in. That can help you better understand why the WWE is pushing this diva that way and that diva this way. You cannot take things out of context. Just like the situation in a football game influence the plays that might be called, the situation in the diva division influences the decisions the WWE will make. What happened on Sunday just reminded me of what I was talking about before, so that's why I wanted to bring it up again to mention it alongside the controversial finish.
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