CM Punk vs. the Miz for the ECW Championship
We continue through the fall of 2007 with Punk as the top dog of ECW and after the rough outing back at No Mercy, he was looking to get back on track with a much better outing here at Cyber Sunday. When it was announced that the fans would get to choose Punk’s opponent for the PPV, it was going to be interesting to see who would be chosen given that two of the choices were Punk’s old rival in John Morrison and Big Daddy V who Punk faced at No Mercy. Finally, the third choice was the Miz who was slowly gaining steam in ECW thanks to a feud with Balls Mahoney and having Extreme Expose be involved, but going into the show he seemed like the most unlikely choice to win the vote. No matter who the fans voted for, you just hoped that the match would be at least solid and that Punk would have a successful title defense on PPV.
On the 10/9 ECW, V defeated Tommy Dreamer as he and Matt Striker cut a promo on facing Punk again, and Miz would defeat Balls Mahoney while Morrison would make his return from his suspension and pinned Punk clean in a non-title match. It was also announced that GM Armando Estrada would make an announcement on Punk’s opponent at Cyber Sunday, and he would announce that the fans would choose Punk’s opponent with Morrison, Miz, and V being the potential choices. On the 10/16 ECW, all three men cut a promo on being the one to challenge Punk and Punk would team with Kane to defeat all three men in a handicap match, and later that night Morrison and Miz wrestled to a no contest when V got involved. On the 10/23 ECW, all three men again cut a promo on facing Punk and V would lose to Kane by DQ while Punk teamed with Mahoney to defeat Morrison and Miz in a tag match. It was going to be interesting to see who the fans would end up going with as it seemed like Morrison was the obvious choice, but perhaps the fans would throw a curveball.
Punk gets a good pop from the crowd as Todd Grisham hypes the choices to challenge Punk for the title and we see them waiting backstage, and in an upset Miz wins the vote with 39% to 33% for Morrison and 28% for V as Miz has tepid heat as a heel. The two men lock up to start with Miz going behind Punk as he takes him to the mat and rides him, and Punk escapes and hooks a front facelock as Miz escapes and grabs the arm before hooking a headlock. Punk escapes as they engage in a test of strength with Punk hooking a headlock and he takes Miz to the mat, and Miz fights to his feet and whips Punk off only for Punk to trip him up and hook a rollup for a two count. Punk takes Miz back to the mat with the headlock as Miz escapes with a headscissors and Punk nips up to escape, and he takes Miz back to the mat with the headlock as Miz again escapes with a headscissors and Punk nips up again to escape. Punk again takes Miz to the mat with the headlock as Miz again escapes with the headscissors and Punk nips up again to escape, and Miz shoves him away and they have a staredown as Miz gets a shot in and he pounds on Punk. Punk reverses a whip and hits a dropkick on Miz before pounding on him as he hits a snapmare and kicks Miz in the back, and he hits a slingshot suplex on Miz for a two count and rams the knee into Miz repeatedly until Miz gets a kick in. He hits a snapmare and a legdrop on Punk before dropping a fist on him and he goes up top only for Punk to get a shot in, and he goes up himself only for Miz to get a shot in as he drops to the apron and trips Punk up on the ropes. Miz returns to the ring and kicks at Punk before stomping on him as he hits a snapmare for a one count, and he rams Punk into the buckle and pounds on him in the corner before splashing him for a one count. He hooks a submission on Punk who fights to his feet and escapes the hold with an armdrag, and he catches Miz with a back elbow and hits a springboard reverse crossbody though Miz is not in position and Punk lands awkwardly on him for a two count. Miz rakes the eyes and pounds on him on the ropes before launching off his back and he hotshots him on the middle rope, and he rolls back into the ring and gets a two count as he drives a pair of elbows into Punk and goes back to the submission. Punk fights to his feet only for Miz to get a knee in and he pounds on Punk before hitting a suplex, and he goes up top only for Punk to leap up top and hit an armdrag off the top as he fires up on Miz. He hits a pair of back elbows on Miz and knocks him down before getting a kick in and he kicks him in the head repeatedly, and he hits the running knee on Miz in the corner and hits the running bulldog before going out to the apron and he hits a springboard clothesline for a two count. He hoists Miz onto his shoulders only for Miz to slide off as he hooks a rollup and grabs the tights for a two count, but Punk rolls through for a two count and Miz gets a kick in only for Punk to avoid the Reality Check as he hoists Miz up and hits the Go 2 Sleep which gets the three and he retains the title.
The match itself was decent as both men worked hard and put on a pretty basic title match. Going into the show, I think many figured that Morrison would win the vote as he seemed like the safe bet and it also seemed like he was going to get the title back after serving his suspension, and after the match Punk had with V back at No Mercy you knew there was no way V was winning the vote. However, the fact that Miz won was a bit of a shock as he was slowly growing as a character on ECW, but it also showed the lack of depth on ECW that he was considered a top challenger for Punk even though he wasn’t ready for it. Having said that, this was a good test for him as he holds his own against Punk here even though you figured he had no shot of winning and it does give Punk a solid title defense on PPV to keep his reign strong. The crowd was into the match and did pop for Punk when he won. Punk retains the title over a game Miz, but this issue isn’t over yet as Morrison also has his sights on Punk and the title.
Final Grade: **1/4
