5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (27 June - Results & Review)

2. Basic Punkanomics

So, you think you're untouchable? Word life, this is 'Basic Punkanomics'! It was clearly dumb and clearly parody, but CM Punk ripping off John Cena's old 'Doctor Of Thuganomics' persona was colourful and fun. He gets an 'Up' just for remembering most of those lines, if nothing else. Meanwhile, Cena himself enhanced the segment by standing in-ring speechless and looking totally dumbfounded by Punk's behaviour.

The Scottish term for that is "clamped" - John was clamped and had no rebuttal for this.

Anyone who read last week's report on SmackDown will know that this opinionated writer didn't like what countless others watching did. Cena's personalised version of the old "pipebomb promo" was duller than WWE want to admit, but Punk managed to be a little more succinct and delivered some clever lines (even if he did mess up a couple that production tidied before the USA Network broadcast aired!).

It can't have been easy for somebody with a lot to say like Cena to stand there silent, but he knew this was Punk's moment to get inside his head. From a psychological standpoint, CM turning into JC (not Mateo) of old as a receipt for the so-called "pipebomb" made perfect sense. Of course, none of this will matter if their match at Night Of Champions flatters to deceive.

Regardless, it was nice to see both playing their roles well. Punk's rapping might've gone over better had it happened in Chicago or somewhere like that, but the Saudi crowd did their best to follow along and react. Someone please ask CM how much he was sweating when rehearsing this backstage.