Match Of The Week: 03.24.07.

March 26th, 2007.
WWE Monday Night Raw
C.M. Punk vs. Kenny Dykstra

Well, well, well... It was the last week before Wrestlemania 23 and most things were just going crazy. Within WWE, wrestlers were jumping brands like there were no longer contracts to each show, while at the same time not really doing too much of anything new because, well, you know, it was almost Wrestlemania so they couldn't do too much to ruin the show in advance.

While TNA has pretty decent matches on Impact!, WWE seems to keep winning the war with wrestlers like C.M. Punk, Paul London, Brian Kendrick and Carlito on a more permanent basis. I've picked a Punk match again for this week, but don't mistake this simply for any sort of bias toward Punk himself-- he was on EVERY show this week. On Tuesday, he competed in an eight man tag match on ECW, part of the Money In The Bank Wrestlemania Ladder match deal. He teamed with The Hardyz and Edge to take on Ken Kennedy, Booker T, Finlay and Randy Orton. On Friday Night Smack Down!, C.M. Punk wrestled Booker T which was really neat to see as well and probably would have won this spot had it not been for this match on Raw and the history behind it.

Most people may not remember, but C.M. Punk was actually involved in feuds with Ken Doane and Johnny Jeter in OVW. Since it seems like Punk is scoring wins (And the occasional loss) over the same guys over and over again (How many matches can he have with Stevie Richards or Hardcore Holly?) in ECW, it's about time he's got some new competition. Sure, he's faced Johnny Nitro, Ken Kennedy and I said a few moments ago Booker T at various points in time, but this match was different. Punk and Doane both have a great feel to each other in terms of knowing each other well from OVW and, well, they worked a great match. It was great to see this as kind of a tribute to their OVW days more than just C.M. Punk gaining some random victory over someone who loses more often than wins any way or is just... you know... the same guy he fought two weeks ago.

Despite what you may believe or read on the internet, Ken Doane and C.M. Punk really are the future of this business. I look forward to seeing this match on a much bigger scale one day, perhaps even with a title or two involved. Now if we could just get WWE to bring Johnny Jeter up to the ECW brand to work some matches with Punk, we'd be all set.

This was also- don't forget- Punk's biggest showing yet in ways. While part of ECW, he tapes in front of the SD! crowd any way, but this was live on Monday Night Raw, arguably the "A Show" over SD! being the "B Show". So people who may not watch ECW or Smack Down! for whatever reason may have been exposed to Punk for the first time here. Let's hope it will not be the last time.