Well the wrestling world must be abuzz with the events occurred at Money in the Bank on Sunday. I myself haven’t seen the event yet and as always the report is backdated so any results or events will appear next week, but I’m sure that whatever happened there will certainly a lot to talk about. For now though let’s focus on the past week and just get on with the report…

Weekly Top Ten:

1st Place: C.M. Punk (10/10)

Where to begin? Well first of all lets all say thank God that C.M. Punk returned to Raw and delivered another great showing for himself. Again despite the fact that everything is obviously a work, that contract signing got me wondering exactly how much was scripted since Punk got damn personal with the Chairman of the Board. Either Vince has a great sense of self-deprecation, which I can believe with the whole Bed-Pan, Pissing himself, and Rikishi and Big Show ass kissing incidents, or Punk has the biggest set of stones in the whole of professional wrestling. In the end like everything else in this particular storyline I think it has to be a bit of both. McMahon told Punk to do whatever he liked and he promised to go along with it, and being the successful business man that he is, that is just what he did. The best part of the promo, apart from making McMahon apologise for fucking the fans and wrestlers over again and again, has to be the whole Ice Cream Bars thing, which as Punk said; probably will make McMahon a million dollars alone in demand as people on mass are sheep and give them an idea and they will run with it. On to the match itself and I can only speculate how this one went down. Money in the Bank is winging its way to me as we speak and you will hear more about it next week of course, but for now I’m just going to hope and pray that Punk wins and has signed another contract backstage that will ensure a true summer of Punk where Punk invades Raw on a weekly basis, just to rub it in the face of Super Cena and the Chairman of the Board. Hell they could even do an Outsiders angle with him and Colt Cabana, and hell why not throw in Kaval as well and Daniel Bryan and do a R.O.H. invasion angle, but a proper one where they act more like the Nexus at their inception…Basically the possibilities are endless, as long as Punk has won the belt! If not then I will riot.

2nd Place: Christian (9/10)

The man with yet another big opportunity at Money in the Bank stepped up his heel game this week, as if to compete with Punk’s antics on Raw (as if he could). Still the former Captain Charisma gave it a try and certainly put in a good effort to antagonise the World Heavyweight Champion. The only question is whether the…whatever time is the charm and Christian has come away with the title. I for one can’t wait and honestly hope he has beaten Orton as having new blood holding the championship is always interesting, even if it isn’t something the WWE particularly likes happening.

3rd Place: Wade Barrett (8/10)

A squash match on Superstars and a dominating attack on Smackdown puts Wade Barrett into third place on the chart and in prime position to have won the Smackdown MitB match. Barrett is a guaranteed main eventer and having him win the briefcase could launch him into an immediate feud with Orton, presuming that he retained that is, however part of me hopes that if Barrett won the briefcase that he will feud with Orton before cashing the case in. I’ve always thought that if I was in the position to do so I would antagonise the champion into a championship match and then use the briefcase as a back up in case I didn’t prevail in the first match. I think that would be a shrewd heel move and suit Barrett down to a tee, but we shall see, that is if he even has the case of course.

4th Place: Alberto Del Rio (7/10)

Surely Raw’s pick to win MitB, Del Rio is hot right now in the WWE and is so over backstage it is unbelievable. The only reason I would doubt his position as winner of the Money in the Bank Briefcase is that he could get a title shot by most any means, so the briefcase is a bit wasted on the Mexican sensation. Still with WWE’s creative on the case I’m sure this is an opportunity they would have been willing to waste in the space of having anything better to do to put Del Rio into the title picture.

5th Place: Cody Rhodes (6/10)

The owner of the Beautiful Disaster managed to beat Daniel Bryan once again on Smackdown this week. Rhodes is my pick for winning Smackdown’s Money in the Bank match and my favourite after Wade Barrett. Cody has proven himself to be solid in the ring and on the mic and I think would make a good champion, if he wait’s a few months to cash the briefcase in. In the end it all comes down to how the WWE want to play the briefcases this year and if they want to stretch the times out. My own personal opinion is that they will have on guy cash in and lose and then the other wait until Wrestlemania to build for the main event that way, but if Rhodes will be one of these two men I don‘t know.

6th Place: Zack Ryder (5/10)

The Woo Woo Woo kid got a measure of revenge on Superstars this week, squaring off against Santino Marella and coming out on top with his patented Rough Ryder leg drop. The internet champion keeps on going from strength to strength, relatively at least, and I honestly think that the WWE are planning to push Ryder, at least to the extent where they won’t be giving him a ‘Future endeavours’ any time soon. If only the WWE’s tag team division was stronger I’m sure that the Major Brothers would be getting a big push right now, as it is I think that a tag team is the worst place you can be and is at best a stopgap in the WWE at the moment, mostly leading out the front door.

7th Place: R-Truth (4/10)

A crazy promo from Truth gets him to seventh place on the chart this week before his big match at MitB. Truth has some promise to win the match as it very often favours a wild card heel. Still I’m not so sure the WWE want to push Truth anymore as he strikes me as a heel that they have built up who they will gradually let job out until he is back to mid-card status. Not a true main eventer.

8th Place: The Miz (3/10)

The former Most Must-See WWE Champion didn’t do too badly this week, with a decent promo, match and finishing segment. Still he was not exactly dominant when everything was said and done. The real question is whether the Miz has been able to pull off a Punk and win the MitB twice. It’s a possibility certainly, but somehow I doubt that it’s a reality.

9th Place: Mark Henry (2/10)

Getting into ninth place for ramming the Big Show off the stage and accidentally sending McIntyre to a sticky end. It’s not much but it’s enough to extend their feud until Money in the Bank. It’s funny but I while I have little interest in both these Superstars I’m pretty sure that this is one of the most anticipated ‘Big Man’ feuds in recent history, just because it has for once been booked right. Basically we all just know that in this match, somebody’s gonna get their ass kicked.

10th Place: Dolph Ziggler (1/10)

Ziggler gets his points this week for simply hiding behind the ring and not getting destroyed by the Big Show and Mark Henry. Sure this cowardly move stops the US champ from losing momentum and it probably avoided him shortening his career like McIntyre’s has been after his fall, but I think that once again Ziggler might have missed out on an opportunity. If McIntyre isn’t properly hurt from his fall and carries on, I think that is the exact type of thing that ‘the boys in the back’ respect and honestly might get him the push he deserves since that is how the ruling brass think some times I believe.

2011-2012 Season Top Ten: Overall Top Ten:

1st Place: R-Truth (100/150) – 1st Place: C.M. Punk (637/1150)

2nd Place: The Miz (83/150) – 2nd Place: The Miz (627/1150)

3rd Place: Cody Rhodes (72/150) – 3rd Place: Chris Jericho (564/1150)

4th Place: Alberto Del Rio (69/150) – 4th Place: Jack Swagger (343/1150)

5th Place: C.M. Punk (59/150) – 5th Place: Cody Rhodes (309/1150)

6th Place: Wade Barrett (51/150) – 6th Place: Dolph Ziggler (307/1150)

7th Place: Sheamus (44/150) – 7th Place: Sheamus (289/1150)

8th Place: Michael Cole (43/150) – 8th Place: Alberto Del Rio (264/1150)

9th Place: Christian (41/150) – 9th Place: Wade Barrett (254/1150)

10th Place: Jack Swagger (35/150) – 10th Place: Randy Orton (224/1150)

Weekly Filler:

The Face-Off: TNA Contracts

This comes from the four-way match at Destination X for a TNA contract. Now the match itself was great, but all I’m saying is that I agree with the live crowd; “sign them all”. Al four men are such phenomenal athletes that TNA is completely missing the boat if they don’t make sure that all four men stay with the company. Especially now of course that they have lost the Young Bucks and Orlando Jordan. TNA needs some new, or at least relatively new, blood to keep things going.

Face the Facts: Destination X

This PPV was always going to be good but it was honestly one of the most solid PPVs I have seen in awhile and is just a reminder that TNA was clearly better before Hogan and Bischoff ever got involved. Instead of messing around and making everything into WCW again, why couldn’t they have just used their pull and appeal to bring in guys like RVD and Mr. Anderson, but still keep things the way they were. TNA were gradually growing and not to say a cliché but if you are facing the right direction, all you have to do is keep on walking. Still at least perhaps with the crowd and fan reaction the TNA higher ups will realise that they should be running the company this way and be focusing on the Knockouts and the X Division like they used to damn it.

On the Rise: C.M. Punk

Obvious, but this mention comes solely from Punk telling Cena that he is ‘the man’, something that I honestly don’t know if Cena realises given what he has said in interviews on the subject of why people boo him. It was another one of those moments where you had to be wondering if Cena knew exactly what was coming. The whole sports team thing confused me in my English way, but it seemed like it was a big diss to say that the Red Sox are now like the New York Yankies and I wonder if that shot was planned. Most likely it was but again I’d like to think that they just said “give Cena an excuse to swing at you”, Cena being in on it as well of course, and then Punk just went with it. I hate being a mark.

Flat-Footer: Mr. Anderson’s Title Run

This is the second time that Anderson has won the belt and then lost it to the same guy in the space of about a month. It’s like the company doesn’t trust him with the belt, which makes little sense to me because he seems like a solid wrestler who is fantastic on the mic. Not to mention the fact that the first guy who lost the belt to, and then won it back from, Mr. Anderson was that strung out junkie Jeff Hardy, who then screwed things up royally. And now Sting has won the title back from Anderson, which seems stupid to me since Sting is ancient. Sting is certainly TNA’s version of the Undertaker, if only for the fact that he keeps on being given the title despite his age and draw without the belt. It’s all just ego and it’s pointless, stop focusing on the stars of yester year and help build the stars of today!

That’s all for this week and all I can say is bring on the PPV! So much can change and I have to admit that MitB is a great idea as it is at least as monumental to the shape of the coming year as the draft, if not more influential as it can set up storylines leading up to the next Wrestlemania. We can only hope that the WWE sees sense, the heels prevail and the faces are buried where they belong. Somehow despite what the fans clearly want I am sceptical and for now all I can say is that this is James Wright signing off.