CM Punk vs. Kane - Backlash

I want to talk about Kane vs. CM Punk from this years Backlash. I didn’t watch Backlash back in April, but I remember hearing bad things about it at the time. Particularly this match. In the Wrestling Observer it was voted the worst Backlash match, and Meltzer agreed. I picked up the Backlash DVD from the library a few weeks ago, just to check out the Cena/Edge LMS match, Swagger/Christian and Jericho/Steamboat. I hadn’t planned on watching Punk/Kane but boy am I glad I did! I don’t know what everyone is thinking, I found this match to be incredibly well put together.

Quite honestly I was shocked this match was rated so poorly even before I’d seen it because the two had an incredible match a year or two ago on ECW TV. A match so good that the ECW crowd actually popped for Punk doing a sunset flip. This wasn’t quite that good. Unfortunately the crowd wasn’t as into this match and they only got about six minutes to work.

Still it was the best match on the card in my opinion. The story was Punk working over Kane’s arm so Kane’s chokeslam wouldn’t be as effective. Unlike 90% of these types of matches, they actually kept this story going from bell to bell. Highlights were: the first time Kane tried a choke slam, Punk reversed it into the old divorce court, which I popped for. Anyone who’s a fan of Jim Cornette knows what I’m talking about it. Punk brought back Tajiri’s tarantula back to work over Kane’s arm some more. Kane whipped Punk into the corner for the baseball slide/balls into the post spot, but it didn’t seem to happen. Punk ended up going rib first instead. Kane showed how much of a pro he is by improvising and gave him a sliding dropkick, hard. Then Kane went to work on Punk with a body scissors. Loved the finish with Punk doing all the Muay Thai kicks and whatnot, then Kane grabbed him for a chokeslam. Only, remember, his right arm was shot from all the work Punk did on it. So Kane had to use both hands to lift Punk for the chokeslam and the pin. All the strikes, submissions, and slams were crisp. Pretty fast paced with the exception of the body scissors which was obviously intended to slow things down a bit. I give this match ***1/2. No MOTY but definitively the most underrated WWE match in 2009.

I think that Kane is being way under used on SD, jobbing, no running, from Kahli.

Yup. It amazes me how they continue to sacrifice Kane for people who would otherwise be doing nothing. Khali has been irrelivant for months and NOW they want to make him a big shot at Kane's expense? C'mon. Bring back Heidenrich or someone to fill Kane's role as the monster jobber.

Mr. Tambourine Man wrote:

Yup. It amazes me how they continue to sacrifice Kane for people who would otherwise be doing nothing. Khali has been irrelivant for months and NOW they want to make him a big shot at Kane's expense? C'mon. Bring back Heidenrich or someone to fill Kane's role as the monster jobber.

I am not saying that Kane should be WHC, but he can have a great match with lots of guys, big, small, or in between. Kahli is awful and there is no need for him to be on SD. I say bury him on ECW.

I think Kane is great. It annoys me that the use him for jobbing, when he really has the potential, as we all have seen in the past, to be a main event star.

And I can't believe he's only ever held the title for a day. Seriously? Give the guy a break, how long has he been in the business now and he's only ever held it for 24 hours?

But yeah, about the match.. I heard that it wasn't very good, but I never actually watched it myself. I'll have to see if I can find it on the net.

Tiff wrote:

I think Kane is great. It annoys me that the use him for jobbing, when he really has the potential, as we all have seen in the past, to be a main event star.

And I can't believe he's only ever held the title for a day. Seriously? Give the guy a break, how long has he been in the business now and he's only ever held it for 24 hours?

I would love to see Kane get another wHC title run, but I know that it won't happen. 3 years ago, Kane was stuck jobbing Kahli.