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Tonight on RAW, it was announced that we will see a WWE Championship match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, as current reigning champion CM Punk defends the title against former World Champion Daniel Bryan.
The Bryan/Punk feud has been waging for several months now, with both men working their tails off to prove that they are the stars of the show, despite not being 6’5″ and 275 pounds a piece. Bryan and Punk are two of the absolute best wrestlers in the world, and at Money in the Bank, they will prove it once again.
The match was made just before RAW went off the air, as a result of the match earlier in the night. In a pseudo – No Way Out rematch, Kane, Daniel Bryan and CM Punk once again faced off in a triple threat match, with elimination rules added. Punk scored the first elimination after nailing Kane with the Go To Sleep (after he had been distracted by AJ, who had been skipping around the ring moments before), but was immediately picked off by Bryan, who nailed Punk with a kick to the back of the head to score the second pinfall and win the match overall. Due to Bryan pinning the champion, he was automatically made the #1 contender for Money in the Bank.
This will actually be the third title defense for Punk against Bryan in three months. They faced each other at Over the Limit, with Punk retaining, and then again this month at No Way Out, when Punk retained against both Bryan and Kane in a triple threat match. Since Over the Limit, many fans (including myself) have been clamoring for a Punk/Bryan one-on-one rematch and, although we have gotten a few since then, none of them have been for the title. While Punk and Bryan always put on a great show against one another, they absolutely excel when a major championship is on the line, and as great as their Over the Limit match was (a classic, if you haven’t seen it), I expect this match to blow that one out of the water.
There is a very good possibility we will see a title change in this match. Although Punk is rumored to retain the title through Summerslam, Bryan has been rumored to wear the WWE title for some time now. In fact, Bryan was originally scheduled to beat Punk at Over the Limit for the belt, but the match was changed at the last minute. At No Way Out, Bryan was once again on tap to win the belt, and once again, last minute changes intervened.
This has happened in the past, as Wade Barrett was scheduled to win the WWE title on several occasions during his feuds with Randy Orton and John Cena, but it was always put on the back burner (Barrett is still rumored to win at MITB this year and become World Champion before year’s end, BTW). However, WWE seem much more serious about pushing Bryan than they were Barrett at the time, so do not be surprised if Bryan does walk out as champion at the PPV. Either Punk or Bryan, though, you can’t go wrong.
