From: JaKyL25 | #338
And my point is that those compelling storylines meant very little as far as truly turning Punk into a draw. The part that built him up was that his opponent was John Cena.
The question here is which gets Punk closer to where he is now? Punk raging against the machine and having his opponent be Randy Orton? (Let's try and forget that the storyline makes a lot less sense with Orton than Cena)
Or Punk being booked in a series of matches against Cena where he comes off as a threat, then wins the championship, leaving Punk bashing the company and walking out and all that stuff out.
I think it's very easily the former. You seem to be implying it's the latter.
And yeah Raw 2004 doesn't touch the attitude era as far as storylines go. SD 2002 if anything helps again prove that storylines matter because that was mostly match/talent driven and the product was still declining there.
From: SmartMuffin | #339
To build him into what? For what purpose? He's already built.
To build him into a star that can carry the company in a boom period rather than a start that can carry the company when it's on the downswing. Cena's the best in the company, but he's not a Rock or an Austin or a Hulk Hogan right now. Cena is a big fish in a small pond right now-- if the fish gets even bigger the pond will get bigger to accommodate it, if that makes sense.
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I tried to have a fierce rivalry with SuperNiceDog, but he made me look worse than a GameFAQs Contest!