WWE backstage: The Rock vs CM Punk

The match between The Rock and CM Punk was practised before the event and the result of the match was kept highly confidential.

A curtain was put around the ring so that no one could see the end result.

The actual match ended with Punk pinned down after receiving The People’s Elbow. Punk had said that the people don’t matter and the Rock said they do.

Now that The Rock is again the WWE champion, he’ll get a lot of publicity for upcoming movies, talks about Wrestlemania and more.

The Rock returned to WWE after a long time out making movies and has a few releases coming up this year. One can expect a lot of promotion from the current champ in WWE.

Backstage Note on The Rock Winning

WWE officials had discussions about CM Punk retaining the WWE Title against The Rock at the Royal Rumble and then have Rock win it at Elimination Chamber.

F4Wonline.com notes that since Rock swore to God on RAW that he would beat Punk at the Rumble, the idea of Punk retaining was likely nixed.

It’s not a hard and fast rule but usually if a babyface guarantees or swears to God that he will win, he wins.

WWE to Tease Ryback vs. Rock

WWE officials are going back and forth on whether or not the Ryback vs. CM Punk TLC match will actually take place at the January 7th RAW.

With The Rock in the house that night, should they do the match, the plan would be to have The Rock at ringside. The idea is that they could hype the match up all night with the idea that it could be Ryback going on to the Royal Rumble to defend against The Rock. A source says to expect at least one segment with The Rock and Ryback that night.

Backstage Talk on Rock vs. Cena

The Rock is perfectly fine with dropping the WWE Title to John Cena at WrestleMania 29. It’s been reported Rock has been under the impression that he will be the one to end CM Punk’s title reign at the Royal Rumble.

Backstage News on Brad Maddox

WWE is expected to bring Brad Maddox back to the storylines in time for January’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view. There are plans for him to start wrestling. As noted, Triple H is high on Maddox.

Backstage News on Cena & AJ Teaming

WWE officials had been building towards a mixed tag match with John Cena and AJ Lee vs. Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler but with Tamina Snuka being introduced into the storyline, she may end up being Ziggler’s partner.

Backstage News On Sheamus Vs. Big Show At WWE TLC

Sheamus vs. Big Show in a Chairs Match for the World Heavyweight Title for the TLC pay-per-view was made official at last night's SmackDown tapings.

There had also been talk of having the two compete in a Tables Match using some of their history as Sheamus' first WWE Title win over John Cena was in a Tables Match and Big Show lost his Intercontinental Title last year in a Tables Match.

Now we know the match will be a Chairs Match but word is that the feud between Show and Sheamus will end at TLC.

Backstage Update on Cena at HIAC

In case you missed it on last night’s RAW, John Cena announced that he has been medically cleared to wrestle. The feeling is that WWE officials will still take it easy with him over the next month or so.

There are no plans to put him in the Hell In a Cell main event but he is expected to have a role. There has been talk of having Cena face the winner of Ryback vs. Punk after Hell In a Cell is over.

Backstage News on Ryback vs. CM Punk at Hell In a Cell

WWE creative is having a hard time coming up with a finish for the Ryback vs. CM Punk match at Hell In a Cell.

They don’t want to have Ryback lose but also do not want to switch the WWE Title before the Royal Rumble in January. They also don’t want to end the pay-per-view with a screwjob and obviously can’t do a DQ finish inside the Cell.

Officials also do not want to end the show with Big Show vs. Sheamus so it appears they are going to end up having to do something that they do not want to do.

There has been a lot of online speculation about Brock Lesnar interfering to cost Ryback the match with the idea of Ryback vs. Lesnar at WrestleMania 29.

This would create a number of issues including messing up plans for Triple H’s revenge on Lesnar and the extra cost of using Lesnar on another pay-per-view above what he is contracted for.

Backstage News on WWE Putting Ryback In HIAC

The decision to main event WWE Hell In a Cell with Ryback vs. CM Punk for the WWE Title was made on Monday afternoon after John Cena reportedly had another medical examination earlier in the day.

Cena’s right arm had improved significantly over the past week but doctors could not assure WWE officials that Cena would be ready in time for Hell In a Cell.

The feeling was they needed two weeks of strong promotion for the main event and because they couldn’t get a solid answer on Cena’s status, the decision was made to go with Ryback.

We noted before that two scripts for Monday’s RAW were created – one building things up to end with John Cena getting the WWE Title shot against CM Punk and the other for Ryback getting the shot.

Even after the decision was made to go with Ryback at Hell In a Cell, they still ended up re-writing his script for RAW that night.

Possible Plan For The Undertaker

Vince McMahon is expecting The Undertaker to work WrestleMania 29 and there is talk of trying to get him into coming back for January's Royal Rumble pay-per-view to help boost the buyrate.

The idea is that he would be a huge name in the Rumble match and they would tease that he could get one more big-time title match at WrestleMania.

Backstage News On WWE Royal Rumble Plans

Officials are actually trying harder than usual to keep WrestleMania plans for Brock Lesnar, The Rock, John Cena, CM Punk, Triple H and The Undertaker quiet because the idea is they will build the Royal Rumble up into a big show where a lot of different angles will begin or at least everything will fall into place then.

As noted, Rey Mysterio vs. Sin Cara is a likely match. We also noted that Ryback vs. The Undertaker has been discussed a Streak vs. Streak build. Apparently this is a Vince McMahon idea.

Other possible opponents for The Undertaker include Brock Lesnar and Triple H. This is unlikely but Punk vs. Taker was at least suggested internally.

Backstage News on Possible Plans for Cena

 

After last night’s RAW, most within WWE believe that official have no idea if John Cena will be ready for Hell In a Cell or not.

There is talk of having Cena wrestle the Hell In a Cell match against WWE Champion CM Punk but then take some more time off.

Backstage News On Kelly Kelly & Beth Phoenix Leaving WWE

 

Regarding Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix leaving WWE, most in the company are under the impression that Kelly won’t be back anytime soon. Beth is scheduled to finish up in October and she is expected back in the future.

A source describes Beth’s departure as it just being time for to leave. There’s also speculation that Beth is leaving in part to help take care of her boyfriend Edge after he has neck surgery in early November.

We’ve noted that a source close to the WWE Divas division expects other Divas to be leaving soon. There has been no talk of WWE Divas Champion Eve Torres leaving but officials are aware of her recent change in life.

Eve was just engaged to Rener Gracie and the feeling is that she may want some time off once they are married.

Backstage Talk on Cena

WWE sources have noted that John Cena getting some time off from the ring is the best thing that could have happened to him.

Word has been going around that Cena is really banged up a lot worse than most people realize and he desperately needed rest from the job.

Backstage News on Dolph Ziggler

We’ve noted before that Ric Flair was rumored to be brought in as a new mouthpiece for Dolph Ziggler. While WWE officials say they aren’t negotiating with Flair, there has been talk of having Ziggler fire Vickie Guerrero before winning the World Heavyweight Title.

The idea would to pair Ziggler with a new mouthpiece once he’s won the World Heavyweight Title. Ziggler is expected to become champion before the year is over.

Backstage News on WWE’s Tag Team and Divas Divisions

We noted back in August that people within WWE expected Triple H to put more focus on the tag team division when he takes over more of Vince McMahon’s duties and gets more power.

That change is coming now as the new focus that we’ve seen lately on tag teams comes straight from Triple H. They hope to have a credible tag team division before the year is over.

Back in August, the feeling was that more focus on tag teams would mean the Divas get put on the back burner. That doesn’t look to be the case as word is they have some significant things planned for the Divas division over the next few months.

Backstage Tension Between HHH & Vince

While Triple H’s power backstage has increased exponentially over the past year or two, Vince McMahon still has the final say on most important matters, including Triple H’s feud with Brock Lesnar. Triple H is said to be convinced that he’s more effective as a heel but McMahon insists that he remain a babyface. One source says there appears to be growing unspoken tension between the two over the issue, especially since SummerSlam.

Backstage Talk on Plans for Orton-Ziggler and More

The official WWE website is advertising Randy Orton for this weekend’s SmackDown live event tour of Ontario after “The Viper” was briefly pulled from listings. He will also appear at a non-televised Raw and SmackDown event on Sept. 15. It will be his last live event appearance until November since production for his latest film role, 12 Rounds: Reloaded, begins Sept. 26 and will go through the month of October. He is, however, advertised to appear at all SmackDown tapings in the meantime.

Future plans for Randy Orton were also discussed at this week’s WWE TV tapings. Orton has been re-added to this weekend’s live events and could be wrestling at Night of Champions. Regarding him taking time off to shoot 12 Rounds: Reloaded, it looks like WWE will be working his filming around what they need him for on the road.

The talk at this week’s tapings was that by the time Orton finishes 12 Rounds, they may have Dolph Ziggler cash in and win the World Heavyweight Title from Sheamus. This would set up Orton’s return with the idea that he’s coming back for revenge and the World Heavyweight Title.

Backstage News on Wade Barrett’s Return

WWE will air the Wade Barrett vignettes on RAW and SmackDown until the SummerSlam pay-per-view is over. Barrett will then return to WWE TV. Barrett is currently on tour with the SmackDown brand in Japan.
Originally, WWE officials wanted to bring him back at Money in the Bank, have him win a World Heavyweight Title shot and then either begin to chase for the title or actually capture it at SummerSlam.