As every one of you will know by now, William 'Paul Bearer' Moody passed away on the evening of March 5th. After a public outpour of thanks from both the WWE Universe and the WWE Superstars past and present, it looked like absolutely nothing could ruin the passing of one of wrestling’s most successful and beloved managers. Everyone from the top, to the bottom of WWE and the wrestling world sent their messages of thanks and regret to the world about Moody and the WWE seemed genuinely humbled that it had lost one of its own.
Paul Bearer is one man that WWE could call one of its own with a sense of pride. Like Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Triple H and many others, when Moody had signed with WWE, he never left the company to go elsewhere. I don’t know if Moody was approached by other companies, I would have thought that WCW tried to acquire his services when WWE began to dip in the ratings. Eric Bischoff tried valiantly to drain WWE of its other finest talent, so I assume that somewhere along the line, in the office of Eric Bischoff and Ted Turner, there was at least one discussion on how best to poach Moody from WWE.
Whether or not WCW tried to obtain Moody to spite WWE, the fact remains that Moody stayed with WWE through its toughest time and in storylines with Undertaker and Kane, helped WWE to once again become the dominant force in wrestling. The point I’m trying to make here is that unlike other wrestlers and talent, Moody never jumped ship when all looked doomed. He painted his face white, grabbed his urn and headed for the ring despite the fact that WWE was falling around his ears. For that, WWE owe him a great debt of thanks. There isn’t many people who would have stayed with WWE had they had the offer to go elsewhere in 1997, but Paul Bearer stayed with the company that he loved.
When news broke of his passing, I image that deep in Titan Towers, WWE and Vince McMahon racked their brains on how best to pay homage to Moody. Would they induct him into the Hall of Fame? No. Would they bring out a DVD and Blu-ray of his legacy and his life? No. Would they dedicate and entire episode of Raw to his memory? Yes. And then in the same show totally disrespect his memory by having C.M Punk smash his legendary urn over the head of Kane. Not just any wrestler, but a wrestler who for the majority of his career was tagged as Paul Bearers son. Nice.
Do I understand why WWE booked Punk to do what he did on the March 12th edition of Raw? Yes, I do. For those who read this blog and don't watch Raw, Smackdown or keep up with wrestling regularly on television, then C.M Punk, the voice of the voiceless is now embroiled in a feud with the Undertaker which will culminate at Wrestlemania 29, in what will no doubt be one of the best matches on the card. The angle in which Punk smashes Bearer’s legendary urn over Kane’s head was designed to generate heat for Punk before Undertaker made the save.
The angle worked and achieved what it set out to. Myself, like all of you are aware that this is a business and a business has to make money daily and weekly. WWE felt that they had to add fuel to the fire of the Wrestlemania encounter between Punk and Undertaker. I fully and wholly understand this. But come on. Could they not have waited one week? Could they not have waited seven days until the whole thing had blown over? Did WWE really have to have one of its greatest talents of today stoop so low on a show that was dedicated to a man who had given so much without question, just one week after his demise? The answer is no.
There were other avenues WWE could have taken with Punk and this angle. For me, this angle was just another way of WWE saying, that it doesn’t matter if you’re dead or alive, it doesn’t matter if you stuck with the company through good times and bad, no one is bigger than WWE. Ridiculous. What makes it even worse is that it was C.M Punk, the man WWE had lambast Lawler with sickening comments on the night of his triumphant return from a near fatal heart attack, deliver the blow that would ultimately tarnish one show dedicated to a very fine man. It’s almost like WWE want us to think that Punk, who preaches the word of respect and wants it more than anyone, is a disrespectful prick who doesn’t care about WWE or its history.
That simply isn’t true and anyone who has seen ‘C.M Punk: Best in the World’ will tell you. Punk has a tremendous deal of respect for WWE and its lineage. I can only imagine how Punk sighed when he was given the two tasks, both insulting Lawler and disrespecting Bearer, to carry out. Of course, Punk would have towed the line like he always does. No one can ever say that C.M Punk was an awkward employee. Like all good wrestlers and good employees Punk did what he was told for the good of business. Punk and WWE may not have seen any damage when these incidents happen, but one has to consider what the lasting effects on both WWE and Punk’s image may be.
It’s time WWE stopped trying to make a point and allowed those who have served their times, paid their dues and were loved by the fans to have their one moment of glory, be it before or after their passing. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before Punk attacks a WWE Hall of Fame inductee, at the Hall of Fame Ceremony and spits on his fallen prey. I should have deleted that last sentence. We don’t need to be giving WWE any more ideas on how to disrespect their legends.
Onwards and upwards...
