Street Snap from Smart Mag. Issue of 10/6, 1997

鈴木伸明 (18)

Both top and bottom: Masaki Matsushima, t-shirt ¥13,000, pants ¥25,000. Dirk Bikkembergs shoes bought at Midwest: ¥49,000. The socks are by Nemeth. The point of this outfit is that it is a little bit space-conscious.

Survivor Series 2023

I was wrong...

When the copyright logo popped up on the bottom right corner to close out Survivor Series, I thought that was it, but it wasn't. Chicago's own, CM Punk made his WWE return after nine years. I have mixed emotions about his return.

Punk made his return to professional wrestling in 2021 for All Elite Wrestling. It was magical. Seeing Punk back in a wrestling ring was a moment I'll never forget because I never thought I'd see it. He even gave out the ice-cream bars he wanted so badly during his WWE run. Punk looked happy, I know I was. Then came the media scrum. This was embarrassing to watch. The unprofessionalism from Punk was through the roof. He threw the EVP's under bus, while insulting Adam Page. He dragged the company through the mud, while Tony Khan sat there looking defeated. Punk said he ''didn't approach it in the right manner" in an interview, but it was too late, the damage was done. The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega were suspended and the first trios champions had to vacate titles. While Punk was suspended, he was also injured, so he didn't matter if he was going to miss TV anyway. I also blame Khan not putting a stop to the media scum once Punk started going off. He should of shut Punk down and sent him home. Instead, Punk got his own show, Collision.

Collision could only have certain talent on it. No way were the Bucks, Omega or Page allowed on this show. Apparently Cristopher Daniels, Matt Hardy and Ryan Nemeth were turned away. I hated all of this. During his time off to rehab his injury, Punk showed up at WWE, but had to leave shortly after. It seemed like Punk knew his time was going to be short in AEW.

Punk would get into another altercation, but this time with Jack Perry at All In 2023. This was another disgraceful moment for CM Punk. This led him to being fired as Khan said he feared for his life. I don't feel like AEW quite recovered since the media scrum. Khan did not handle Punk well, so a lot of the blame goes to him, but Punk is the veteran here. He should of known better. Look at Sting, a veteran whose caused zero issues during his time in AEW. Sting come across as a humble and grateful individual.

When Punk was fired WWE, I thought there was no way he was going back. For weeks I heard CM Punk chants, and I honestly found them frustrating and pointless. But I was wrong. They weren't pointless. The fans that hoped and said that he would return were right. As bad as Punk's time in AEW was, he's history with WWE looked worse. He was never given the chance he deserved in the company for a long time. He never got that WrestleMania main event. He almost died due to a MRSA staph infection that was mismanaged thanks to a WWE doctor, and let's not forget that he was fired on his wedding day. So to see him last night was a shocker. I can't say I'm excited due to the mans history, but I'm interested in the plan going forward. How does it effect storylines going forward? Have plans now changed? Who will Punk face first? How does his return effect the dynamic in the locker room? So many unanswered questions.

Let's jump into the first match. It was the women's WarGames. This match never got boring. It worked at a nice pace. There were some high risk moves, but everyone came out safe. I thought Shotzi was going to die when she used a chair to leap off of and almost landed head/neck on it. Iyo Skye stood on top of the cage and put a bin over her and leapt off. I loved that spot. Charlotte Flair also did backflip off the top cage and almost landed directly on her feet. The tension between Becky Lynch and Charlotte got resolved as they worked together. The babyfaces won when Bayley took the pin. There were two moments during this match when Bayley stepped into save her teammates, but I have a feeling she will get the blame for being pinned. Bayley has been a heel for four years now, so it's time to mix it up. Overall, this was a pretty good match.

Gunther and The Miz had a way better match than I expected. At one point I thought Miz had it won when he delivered a low blow and skull crushing finale to Gunther, who kicked out. The Miz lost here and that was a good thing. As mentioned, I want to see Miz go through a bad patch after this. Change his character up. Have him scratch and claw his way back.

Santos Escobar has an exciting bout with Dragon Lee. Santos won clean, but he needed to look strong as he has just gone solo. Lee looked great and he is still new enough to the WWE, so the loss isn't major.

Zoey Stark and Rhea Ripley had decent match. Stark lost, and she still needs more time to develop, but I think she's got something special about her.

The men's WarGames didn't pull me in like I thought it would. Maybe having two WarGames matches in one night is not the best idea as it takes away some of the magic of the match. I didn't think anyone slacked or did a bad job, it just didn't excite me. Although, Randy Orton's return did get me invested. Orton looked great as he packed on some muscle. The babyfaces won the match and CM Punk returned to eye up the competition in the ring.

This was a solid PLE, even tough it was obvious Gunther, Ripley and Santos were going over. I don't know what the fall out for the men and women of the WarGames matches will be, but having Bayley turn face would in interesting. With Punk watching on after the men's match, we have some stuff cooking for the Royal Rumble.