Boarders is one of my favorite shows in recent years. Without turning this into a Boarders recap, the long and short of the show is it features a group of unprivileged British kids on scholarship at a posh private school. One of the kids decides he needs something major on his CV as they prepare to wave bye-bye to high school and step into the real world. He runs for this prestigious position the school, which, of course is just a popularity contest. Rather than let his opponents diss him for his foibles, he pulls an Eminem. Putting his mistakes and accidents on front street takes all of the air out of them, therefore giving his rivals nothing to say.
I was all set to talk about how Roman Reigns did that to CM Punk on Raw. Early in the evening’s proceedings, Roman said Punk has nothing new to say about him since he keeps falling back on the “part-timer” thing. Reigns took that perceived weakness and turned it into a strength by referencing the time his dad, and his cousin’s dad, spent with them as kids. If being a part-timer makes Roman a “full-time father,” he said he’ll take that all day. It was a dope moment that made Punk look small. Maybe I’m just a softie but it’s dope that Reigns or anyone else is is a position to spend more time with their family than on the road working for their family. The move put Punk in a weird position because who can argue with anyone trying to be a full-time parent and partner?
Like I said, I was prepared to talk about that. But then their main event promo happened. Roman’s been on the wrong end of these things in terms of letting Punk get inside his head. Even before Punk disrespected Roman’s dad, Roman lifted that cool as ice veil in their first go round to tell the world how much he hates Punk. So it was time for a table turner. But how? Well, Roman kept it simple: Punk is old.
Now, that may not sound like much, but within the larger context, it’s obvious why it got under Punk’s skin. Remember when AJ Styles retired? Of course you do, it was all of five minutes ago. Punk confronted AJ but later said AJ’s sunset made him think about his. John Cena is gone. AJ is gone. If they’re “too old for this shit” then what does that say about him?
Of course the thing that gets under Punk’s skin is his mortality. Besides the lack of spring in his chicken, he’s suffered several pretty big injuries in successive years. He knows the end is nigh, even if he doesn’t want to admit it out loud. Roman doing so cut a nerve. How can one be the best in the world if they can barely keep up with the rest of the world? The line also plays into the psychology for most of Punk’s matches these days; they’re a bit slower, require more effort, and look like they take a huge physical toll on the champ. Punk’s subtly telling the story of a guy slowing down. Roman is always telling the story of a guy only getting better. They’re not that far apart in age, but as a man with a hat once said, it’s not the years, it’s the mileage.
Funny enough, Roman’s desire to be a better dad and husband than his late father was plays into him clocking less miles, putting him in a position to be all the things he told Punk he is in that ring.
Excellent Raw. It opened big and ended big. And nothing in the middle felt like filler. Oba will be the big story here but I couldn’t resist diving a bit into some longterm storytelling with CM Punk and Roman Reigns.
What say you, Cagesiders? Does Brock Lesnar have a shot at Oba Femi? Is this Brock’s last WrestleMania?
