– He might be gone from WWE, but CM Punk has left a presence in the company. Nearly ten months after his last appearance for the sports-entertainment organization, fans continue to chant for the Chicago native at live events. This often occurs during matches featuring his wife, AJ Lee. While WWE has been able to censor signs acknowledging the former WWE Superstar, this may now extend to chants.

According to a fan who sat ringside at last night’s Survivor Series pay-per-view event at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri, WWE personnel directed security members for the venue to not allow fans to chant “CM Punk.”

wwe is telling security to not allow cm punk chants on the camera side. Yikes

— Victor (@TheVicMacias) November 24, 2014

– AJ Lee is once again a former Divas Champion after losing the title Sunday night at Survivor Series to Nikki Bella in 33 seconds. Brie Bella planted a kiss on Lee, leading Nikki to quickly pin the stunned Diva. As short as the match, it was actually supposed to be shorter. Plus, the participants weren’t notified of the creative direction for the match until the last minute.

“Do you know when these two were told they had 20 seconds?” Bryan Alvarez mentioned on today’s Bryan & Vinny Show on F4WOnline.com recapping Survivor Series. “They were told right as they were going over all of the spots in their match.”

See photo of Randy Orton from over the weekend

The following are highlights of a new Journey Of A Front Man interview with CM Punk:

On how CM Punk became part of the AP Music Awards: “How CM Punk became a part of the APMAs: Well I think it’s pretty obvious throughout my career that I am a huge wrestling dork and any opportunity I ever could have to involve wrestlers in any project I’m working on, I’ll take advantage of it. I met Phil in 2008 when we did the first Golden Gods Awards. I reached out to the WWE to involve some of the talent. This is a really funny story, I was at an AC/DC concert and I had really good seats through work, but the whole row behind me was empty. Halfway through the show, I was wondering who was not showing up to an AC/DC concert at the Garden? And all of a sudden, this security guard came down and was like, “Alright, the row is clear. Bring ‘em in.” And it was Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, John Cena, John Laurinaitis, Bruce Pritchard, a couple other wrestlers and all these hot chicks. I was like, “What the hell’s going on here?” I turned around and Vince McMahon was right behind me and I was like, “Oh, Vince McMahon, I can’t believe I have a better seat than you. Come on, take my seat.” And he was like, “Come on kid, turn around. Come on, come on.” I told him I wanted him to take my seat. He told me he to turn around and enjoy the show. So I got the vibe that he was basically telling me to F off. I then turned my attention to Shane McMahon and we started talking. I told him how I had interviewed for the WWE earlier and I had passed on the job, since my current employer said if I stayed, I could do this awards show idea. He gave me his card and said to stay in touch. When the Golden Gods was launching and he put me in touch with WWE public relations. I knew Jericho was a music fan, but he was unavailable at the time. So I said, “Listen, there’s this guy, CM Punk. I have Killswitch Engage booked for my awards show and they do his entrance theme. Maybe he could come out and introduce the band onstage?” They agreed, so we got CM Punk to appear at the first Golden Gods Awards. He did a great job. I reminded him of the story that I thought him being straight edge was just a gimmick for television, like Big Boss Man being a cop and I offered him a bunch of drink tickets and he was like, “Are you kidding me?” I was like, “Oh, you’re really straight edge?” And he goes, “Yeah, I’m really fuckin’ straight edge.” (laughs) I told him I was so sorry. He forgave me. So we then were launching the AP Awards. I know Chris Jericho loves metal, but the punk stuff isn’t really his bag. I just reconnected with CM Punk and the WWE and invited him to partake. It was obviously tricky because at the time I started talking to him, he was still wrestling in WWE. And by the time the awards show came, he had gone AWOL. No one really knew what was going on. I had to basically keep his involvement secret until his contract ended. And that contract didn’t end until three or four days before the awards show, so we didn’t announce his involvement until the very end. When we did, it was his first real public appearance since he left WWE. I knew it was going to be a big deal. He had gone to some ballgames and he was on Talking Dead, but this was his first big appearance. He’s just such a cool guy. He’s a legit fan of the music and scene, so I knew he would not only be wonderful as host on the carpet, but a great presenter as well. It was cool working with him and the bands loved that he was there. I’d love to work with him again for sure.”

On his relationship with CM Punk: “As you can imagine, once word got out before the show, you would’ve thought I was his agent or manager. No one knew how to even get a hold of him. I got a movie offer for him. I got a commercial offer. I got labels wanting him to put out a record. It was insane. We’re trying to do an awards show here with 75 different participating bands and he easily got fifty percent of all press and interview requests. MMA folks were calling me. TNA called me. I found myself becoming very protective of him because he’s not a character, he really is that guy. I gave him my word that I would be professional and I would protect him and make the experience comfortable. I found myself fending off all these swarming flies, so to speak. Of course, every interviewer wants to ask him that one burning question. I didn’t want him to have to deal with that. I just isolated him until the show. But at that point, I couldn’t block all the wrestling questions. That night, he was being interviewed and he replied by saying, “I will never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever wrestle.” To be honest with you, I know this sounds crazy, but I never asked him what was happening. Even as the biggest mark in the world, I didn’t ask one wrestling question. I didn’t want to be “that guy.” He was getting married in the middle of the process too and I was like, “Oh, congratulations to you and your wife!” To me, I wanted to be professional and not like an idiot fanboy. When I interviewed for WWE years ago, I thought they might not hire me because I was a wrestling fan. So I just played dumb. They told me, “This guy Undertaker, he has a brother.” And I was like, “This Undertaker guy has a brother? Oh my god, that’s crazy!” But probably by the third interview, I snapped. I said, “I can’t do this anymore! Of course I know who Kane is!” They asked why I was lying to them. I told him that if they knew I was a fan, they wouldn’t take me seriously. I want to them to hire me because I’m the right guy for the job, not because I know what’s in the urn and about Paul Bearer and all that. I want to earn their respect separately based on merit before they find out I own wrestling figures.”

Check out the complete interview at JourneyOfAFrontMan.com.

– ECW originals Stevie RIchards and The Blue Meanie were at WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut this week to film material for the upcoming “ECW Unreleased” DVD, as well as future WWE Network programming.

– The WWE Shop website once again has CM Punk merchandise available. As of right now, a special edition baseball t-shirt, wrist sleeves, a women’s “Best in the World” t-shirt, texting gloves and a pendant are the CM Punk items that are available.

– In the following video from Diamond Dallas Page’s official YouTube channel, WWE Hall Of Famer Scott Hall pays tribute to fellow WWE Hall Of Famer “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig.

– Former WWE Superstar CM Punk recently filmed some footage for Nerdist.com in Aquora Hills, California. Below is a photo from the shoot.

Shooting some fun stuff with @CMPunk for @NerdistDotCom! pic.twitter.com/6k52SIwwEz

— Jack (@jackofalltweetz) November 19, 2014

EMINEM Raps About RONDA ROUSEY In New Song (VERY FUNNY RHYMES)

We are just days away from the WWE’s latest pay-per-view, Survivor Series. At last year’s event, Randy Orton defended his championship against the Big Show in a highly criticized main event. This time around, it will be John Cena risking his job in an attempt to slay the Authority.

The shelf life of a WWE superstar can be short, so it’s always important for competitors to make the most of their time in the ring, especially at pay-per-views. Here is a look at the superstars who have progressed, regressed, or remained stagnant over the past year.

Progression:

Luke Harper

Harper has made tremendous strides over the past year. He and former partner Erick Rowan were destroyed by Daniel Bryan and CM Punk at last year’s Survivor Series. He walks into this year’s event as a surprise Intercontinental Champion, and is booked into the main event with Team Authority. Harper’s stock is definitely on the rise.

Ryback

It appears the company is once again fond of Ryback. The Big Guy was basically buried in the midcard after his feud with John Cena last year, including a quick defeat at the hands of Mark Henry last year at Survivor Series. He has been the focal point of WWE television over the past few weeks, so it will be interesting to see where they go from here. One can hope that this isn’t simply a stopgap measure until guys like Reigns and Lesnar get back on television.

Honorable Mention: Ambrose/Rollins

It’s difficult to talk about progression without mentioning the former Shield brothers. These two were destroyed last year in a match whose only purpose was to get Roman Reigns over as a singles competitor. (Dean Ambrose was eliminated 2 minutes into this match and Rollins eventually stepped aside so the Spear party could commence.) What difference a year makes, however. Rollins is the leader of Team Authority and arguably the star of the main event, while Ambrose has elevated himself and will attempt to solidify the midcard on Sunday.

Part-time WWE Superstar Chris Jericho recently appeared on the Sam Roberts podcast and spoke about the fact that CM Punk no longer keeps in contact with many people who thought they were his friends since he left WWE.

“Punk and I were pretty tight and I haven’t heard from him since then,” Jericho said. “I’m not surprised that he left, but I’m surprised that he stopped talking to everybody, stopped talking to me, because we talked about a lot of stuff beyond wrestling.”

Jericho continued, “And that kind of surprised me more than anything, he just detached himself. From what I understand, I’m not the only one, that he pretty much of detached himself from a lot of people who thought they were his friends, but that was him. Maybe he’ll come back and maybe he won’t. In 2005 I did the same, I left and couldn’t take it. I came back and was able to be way better than I ever was.”

Check out Jericho’s full appearance on the show above.

WWE Hall Of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts appeared at Mick Foley’s one-man show in Atlanta, Georgia this past weekend. During the Q&A session at the show, Roberts spoke about beating cancer for a second time and also revealed that if he could have one final match in WWE, he would like it to be against Bray Wyatt.

When Mick Foley was asked who he would like to work with if he could have one final match, he named former WWE Superstar CM Punk.

– While talking to The Miami Herald to promote Sunday’s RONIN Pro Wrestling event in Miami, Colt Cabana was once again asked about CM Punk. Cabana was only willing to offer the following comment:

“When Punk wants to talk, he will talk. That’s not for me. I enjoy seeing him being happy right now. So that’s where I’ll leave it. I know he is very happy. Things are going well for him. When he wants to talk, I’m sure he will do it.”

– The latest edition of “WWE Top 10,” which you can view below, takes a look at “surprising Survivor Series eliminations.”

The following are highlights of a recent Jim Ross website Q&A update:

On longer WWE PPVs on the WWE Network and Hell In A Cell running short: “It’s impossible for me to say but WWE’s goal used to be to get as close to a three hour PPV as possible. I’m thinking that the show simply went short and someone missed a time cue.”

On who the nicest people in wrestling are outside the ring: “There are many good guys outside the ring too many to start mentioning here or to erroneously leave off a list. It mirrors life…there are good people to be around while there are others that aren’t.”

On Brock Lesnar and the WWE title rarely appearing on TV or PPVs: “I had no isue only seeing Brock occasionally on RAW but to not see him for endless stretches of time isn’t a good scenario for WWE or their fans. Apparently, WWE made a financial deal that isn’t company or fan friendly.”

On if he’d like CM Punk to call the NJPW Tokyo Dome show with him: “That’s not my job. I’d love to work with him nonetheless but it’s not likely.”

For more JR Q&A updates, check out JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.

Former WWE Superstar CM Punk and current WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee recently commented on the six-month anniversary of their marriage.

The two wrestling personalities posted the following via social media today.

Been married to an angel for six months now. Since neither has maimed the other, lots of our friends owe us money. Pay up suckers!

— player/coach (@CMPunk) November 13, 2014

@CMPunk And to think 2 years ago you were bro'ing me on tv…also define "maimed".

— AJ Mendez (@TheAJMendez) November 13, 2014

• NEW Photos Of Women’s MMA Star GINA CARANO! [View Here >>]

– Below is part two of a new “Talk Wrestling” video interview with Rob Van Dam. In this installment, RVD talks about CM Punk’s departure from WWE, if he feels Punk will return at some point and what his opinion is of Punk as a person.

– Speaking of CM Punk, a long hand-written note from him on Marvel’s “Superior Foes of Spider Man #17” will take over the final page of the final issue that is scheduled to be released next week.

– CM Punk has been in Los Angeles, California recently and managed to get himself another booking on the AMC program, “The Talking Dead” this Sunday night at 10pm EST. “The Talking Dead” is the official post-show for the AMC hit series “The Walking Dead.”

– The following are some attendance figures from the WWE European tour:

November 5th in London drew 6,500 fans
November 6th in Dublin drew 6,500 fans
November 6th in Cardiff drew 3,500 fans
November 7th in Birmingham drew 7,700 fans
November 7th in Belfast drew 5,600 fans
November 8th in Manchester drew 8,000 fans
November 8th in Minehead drew 4,500 fans
November 9th in Nottingham drew 7,500 fans
November 9th in Leeds drew 5,500 fans
November 10th in Liverpool for RAW drew a sellout of 8,500 fans
November 10th in Bournemouth drew 2,900 fans
November 11th in Brighton drew a sellout of 3,400 fans
November 11th in Liverpool for SmackDown drew 2,500 fans

As you might have picked up on, the top priority for WWE television this past week was to elevate Ryback back to the top-tier status he enjoyed prior to his lost to CM Punk at Hell in a Cell 2013.

Speaking of Ryback, he’s official for “Team Cena” at the upcoming WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view on November 23rd, as he joins team captain John Cena and team members Dolph Ziggler, Big Show and Sheamus.

On the other end of the match, which is a traditional ten-man elimination style match with the big Authority stipulation, is Seth Rollins, Kane, Mark Henry, Rusev and Luke Harper.

Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt and Nikki Bella vs. AJ Lee for the WWE Divas Championship are the only other two matches official for the show thus far.

As noted, Adam Rose vs. The Bunny in a Kickoff Show match and a WWE Tag-Team Championship four-way with Goldust & Stardust vs. The Usos vs. Los Matadores vs. The Miz and Damien Mizdow is also expected.

• PHOTOS: Ronda Rousey SHOWS ALL (…and I mean *ALL*) In BRAND NEW Photo Shoot!

(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

If there was ever an awful time for a ten-person pay-per-view main event … this is it.

Why WWE is choosing to run with a ten-person elimination match for the upcoming Survivor Series show is completely beyond me. At this point in time, the depth among WWE’s roster is at one of the lowest that I can ever recall.

With top stars such as Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns on the shelf, and guys like CM Punk leaving at the peak of their popularity and Brock Lesnar working infrequently, WWE is left with very little at the top of the card. The only positive is that it forces them to move guys up the ladder at a faster rate than they normally might do.

With that being said, and I’m well aware that it’s a tradition to have multi-person elimination matches at Survivor Series, but I just can’t fathom why WWE is running with that concept this year, considering the state of their roster.

There’s been plenty of times in the past where they abandoned the elimination match concept at Survivor Series, so it’s not like something they have to make work because they do it every single year.

Regardless, that’s the direction we’re headed this year.

Having said that, one has to wonder how Survivor Series will come off later this month. WWE has put on some pretty solid pay-per-view shows in recent months, but I’ve got my reservations as to how well this show will come off in two weeks.

With pretty much all of the top guys either injured or involved in the main event, what is the rest of the show going to look like? Outside of Bray Wyatt vs. Dean Ambrose, thus far there’s virtually nothing on the Survivor Series undercard that I’m looking forward to.

Sure, Adam Rose vs. The Bunny will no doubt be an instant ring classic, but I digress.

All kidding aside, what’s left for the Survivor Series undercard? How many people that matter that aren’t tied up in the main event are left? The answer — not many.

It will be interesting to watch as the card continues to take shape in the final week of television next week leading up to the event.

By the way, if the stipulation in the Survivor Series main event has The Authority losing power if “Team Authority” loses the ten-man elimination main event, why isn’t Triple H trading his suit in for a pair of tights?

Beats me.

You would think with so much on the line, “The Game” would take matters into his own hands, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Unless I’m missing something, however, I guess it’s still possible, as last I checked there is one spot yet to be filled on the heel team. One would assume Triple H will fill that spot, although I haven’t seen any hints aimed in that direction.

While the roster is badly in need of some more depth right now, it is refreshing to know that the talent pool in developmental is as deep — if not deeper — than the current main roster in terms of promising young talent.

I can’t wait for guys like KENTA (Hideo Itami), Kevin Steen (Kevin Owens), Prince Devitt (Finn Balor), Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville, Tyler Breeze and The Ascension to get their chance to make a splash on the main roster.

Look at some of the recent call-ups from NXT and how they are performing on the main roster. Guys like Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt and others are among WWE’s absolute top-tier performers these days. If WWE brings in guys like the names I just mentioned the way those guys were, as opposed to say, the way Adam Rose and Bo Dallas were brought up, the WWE main roster could be quite the group this time next year.

If and when that day comes, WWE can put on as many ten-man elimination matches as they’d like. For now, however, it just boggles my mind that they are choosing to do so with the roster in the state that it’s in.

What do you guys think? Leave your feedback in the “Comments” section below. You can also hit me up on Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBooneWZR and/or on Twitter @MBoone420.

Paul Heyman praised CM Punk during last night’s live ECW Exposed special on the WWE Network. When asked about which modern day stars would make it in the original ECW, CM Punk was one of the people he named. He said still to this day, CM Punk remains the “Best In The World.”

Scott Fishman of The Miami Herald tweeted:

Paul Heyman with the chutzpah to mention CM Punk on #WWE TV and stand behind his opinion that he is #BestInTheWorld. #ECWExposed

— Scott Fishman (@smFISHMAN) November 11, 2014

Heyman replied:

. @smFISHMAN I praised @CMPunk LIVE ON RAW in Chicago when he and @WWE had just parted ways. #BITW Now, Then, 4ever!

— Paul Heyman (@HeymanHustle) November 11, 2014

From the WWE ring to the pages of Marvel comic books. Former WWE Superstar CM Punk has signed on with Marvel Comics to write a story for the “Thor Annual #1” story, due out in February 2015.

Here are some highlights from Punk’s interview with Marvel.com:

How He Got Linked Up With Marvel Comics:

“I mean, you know I’ve been pestering people at Marvel. I think it might’ve been…well, I think I met you at San Diego Comic-Con 2011, something like that? …. And was always kind of like, ‘Yeah, yeah. We’d love to have you do something! We’d love to have you do something.’ And you know, I was always just so busy. I think I just pestered all the right people and the right things kind of popped up. How exactly it came up, I can’t really, exactly remember. I can’t remember who said, ‘Hey. Wanna do Thor?’ You know what I mean? That pretty much blew my mind. I have to say, it’s been a long process.”

How His Wrestling Career Prepared Him For Comic Book Writing:

“You know, I think I’m more suited for it just because I’ve been reading comic books my entire life. Wearing tights in front of thousands of people and kind of, almost play-acting, I think down the road, it might give me some sort of insight depending on what kind of characters I’m writing and what the story is, but I’m not really sure it prepared me so much for being able to script a comic book.

I’m definitely prepared to fall flat on my face, I think. If anything, [wrestling] got me used to understanding that failure is part of a process, and the only real failure is if you don’t try. Like I could be nervous and bite my fingernails, worried that I think my book is gonna be a piece of crap, but I could be not doing it, and that would be the true failure.”

WWE released the trailer for the new WWE Studios film “Queens of the Ring,” which features cameo appearances from CM Punk, The Miz and Eve Torres. It’s worth mentioning that while Punk’s name is still included on the DVD cover, WWE did not list his name in the description of the video they posted on their official YouTube channel.

WWE posted the following description with the video trailer, which you can view above.

“In a desperate attempt to reconnect with her estranged son who is a passionate WWE fan, Rose grabs his attention by joining a rigorous training program to learn to wrestle like a legitimate WWE Diva. She convinces her bored fellow cashiers at the local supermarket to join her challenging new adventure and together they become the “Queens of the Ring”. Featuring cameos by The Miz and Eve Torres.”

Ahead of his match against Dean Ambrose at Hell in a Cell this Sunday, Seth Rollins spoke to Digital Spy.

Since the former Shield teammates are ‘co-main eventing’ the show with John Cena and Randy Orton, Rollins was asked whether he cares which match is going to be on last.

“Yeah, it is. I’d be lying to you if I didn’t say that it was. We won’t know the answer to that question till Sunday comes. Of course it’s important. I want to go on last every single night, regardless of the match, regardless of the show,” Rollins said.

“But you throw in the added element that we’re going up against a Cena-Orton match, which has been headlining pay-per-views for the last decade, that’s something huge. That’s a big thing to be able to go on after that match and exceed all the expectations.

“That’s important. I want that challenge, I want that responsibility and I wanna go on last and I wanna be known as the guy who goes on last every single night. That’s important to me.”

After nearly cashing in the Money in the Bank briefcase on Brock Lesnar at Night of Champions, Rollins had an interesting chat with Paul Heyman afterwards. Rollins was asked whether it’s possible he will be a “Paul Heyman Guy.”

“You never know. Paul’s a very intelligent guy, a good guy to have on your side, clearly. He’s representing, advocating for the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion and I’d never rule it out,” said Rollins. “I’d be lying if I’d tell you right now that I’ve never taken a piece of advice from Paul Heyman, ‘cos I surely have. And there’ll probably be more pieces of advice in the future that I’ll take from him. Paul’s a guy who’s always helped me out, always been on my side.”

Another “Paul Heyman Guy” was CM Punk. Rollins was asked whether he will ever be back, possibly before WrestleMania 31.

“Before WrestleMania 31 highly, highly unlikely. Down the road? Part of me was 100% sure he’d be back at some point but the longer he’s away, the more it makes me wonder that maybe he’s gone. He spent a good portion of his life dedicated to this business, it’s good for him to maybe get away,” Rollins said.

“He’s done all there really is to do. So I hope that he’s happy and I hope that he’s doing well for himself and enjoying his life away from wrestling. You know, that’s what we all work for is to be able to retire early and enjoy our lives, so I hope that’s the case for him.”

Rollins also discussed Hell in a Cell memories, his rivalry with Randy Orton and the NXT star he feels is the one to watch. The full interview is available here.

Seth Rollins was closed to being released by WWE – details ->

There were several reports stemming from Monday’s edition of WWE RAW in Kansas City that claim CM Punk signs were confiscated from fans in attendance.

The website PW Insider reaches out to a WWE source to ask about the situation and was reportedly told that the current relationship between Punk and WWE is not going good at all.

Additionally, it’s said that WWE is likely going to now go out of their way to make sure no one brings attention to the fact that Punk is no longer around.

– Apparently the reason current WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee can’t be added to the cast of E!’s “Total Divas” reality show is because of the fact that she is married to former WWE Superstar CM Punk.

– Jim Ross has finally published his long-awaited editorial feature on the famous Undertaker vs. Mick Foley “Hell In A Cell” match from the WWE King Of The Ring 1998 on the FOX Sports website. You can check that out at FOXSports.com.

WWE Superstar John Cena was recently interviewed by Fighting Spirit Magazine to promote the new WWE 2K15 video game. When asked about CM Punk’s inclusion in the game, Cena said he’s glad Punk’s in the game since he did leave his mark in WWE in recent years.

“Whether he’s here or not, he’s certainly left a mark in WWE,. He’s got to be in the game, and it’s cool that that moment is not forgotten.”

He also talked about who he would like to face in the game.

“There are a lot of first time scenarios, such as with Sting. The fact that you can use current me or the old [Doctor of Thuganomics] is always good, and I like rivalry mode [vs CM Punk] because 2K listened to the WWE Universe as to which they wanted most. You can relive those rivalries and stories that went along with them.”

WWE 2K15 is scheduled for release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 28th in North America and October 31st in Europe, and on Playstation 4 and Xbox One on November 18th in North America, and on November 21st in Europe.

The latest issue of Fighting Spirit Magazine is on sale now.

We are less than one week away from the WWE’s latest pay-per-view, Hell in a Cell. At last year’s event, Shawn Michaels betrayed Daniel Bryan in a championship match against Randy Orton.

A lot has changed over the past year, evidenced by the fact that Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose will be headlining half of the double main event. The shelf life of a WWE superstar can be short, so it’s always important for superstars to make the most of their time in the ring, especially at pay-per-views. Here is a look at the superstars who have progressed, regressed, or remained stagnant over the past year.

Progression:

1. Dean Ambrose

Nobody had made more progress since last year than Dean Ambrose. At last year’s event, Ambrose was an invisible US Champion and lost his undercard contest to Big E by countout.

This year, he will be headlining the event in a Hell in a Cell match with Seth Rollins. He continues to receive as much airtime as anyone on Raw each week and has been getting great reactions from the crowds. What a difference a year makes.

 2. Seth Rollins

Although Dean Ambrose has progressed the most over the past year, his former partner Seth Rollins is a close second. Rollins will be joining Ambrose inside of a Hell in a Cell for half of the main event, and also holds the Money in the Bank briefcase.

Over the past year, Rollins has improved every aspect of his game. He is stronger on the mic, he developed a convincing and unique finisher, and has adopted a heel personality that has gotten over with the fans. Rollins is a star on the rise and without a doubt a future world champion.

– Former WWE Superstar CM Punk was a guest on Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast this week. The episode was recorded from Punk’s home in Chicago, Illinois. During their brief exchange, Cabana asks Punk if there is anything that he’d like to say to the public. Punk asked Cabana when the episode will air. When Colt said it will be posted Thursday, Punk replied that he’s got nothing to say.

– Last week on RAW, AJ Lee left Emma to fend for herself during a tag team match, dancing around instead of fighting for her team. During Monday’s show, when AJ teamed with Layla, Emma appeared backstage on the WWE App to say that she and AJ are “BFF’s.”

“Last week, AJ and I clearly hit it off. I’m just a little confused how Layla became apart of this equation. Anyway, I asked AJ if she wanted to hang out later and I’m sure we’ll reunite just like the BFF’s that we are.” 

Emma said she’s still waiting to hear back from AJ.

The following are highlights of a new Busted Open Radio interview with Chris Jericho:

Is wrestling a lot less organic than it was when you were at the height of your career? “Brian Gewirtz is very much responsible for some of the greatest things we seen over the years. That guy is close to being a genius in the wrestling things on coming up with ideas as Vince. Then you had Shawn Michaels who is one of the best in the business and Chris Jericho who is a Shawn Michaels disciple who is at the peak of his game after 17 years in the business. It is a perfect storm of trust and creatively. You had the fans buy into it. When I punched Rebecca in the face it was supposed to happen but obviously I wasn’t supposed to hit her for real. She zigged when she was supposed to zag and I zigged when she was supposed to zag and I actually hit her. We felt so devastated and I thought for sure Shawn was going to kick my ass and I gladly would have let him. All she got was a fat lip and after she got up she was like ‘Is that all you got Chris?’ people that were watching because people say then after a week we realized this was the best thing that could have happened. It made it real and the people are saying if anyone hit my wife, my husband, grandmother and grandfather I am going to kill them. That is when the feud went into overdrive because it got real.”

Is it difficult for a fan to buy into the current state of professional wrestling? Well, it is different. After Michaels there was the Mysterio angle. That is what I pitched to Vince to work around Rey’s mask. Vince said ‘they don’t care about the mask’, and I said ‘of course they do that is why they buy it.’ We had this guy wear a mask and never explained what it means too him. I want his mask. Vince said ‘Why do you want his mask’? I said because I am a bully. I want his milk money. I don’t want any milk. I am going to take it and throw it into the lake. Then Vince loved it. Then with the CM Punk feud in 2012 my thing I wanted to take it to this next level I wanted to tattoo him. Vince loved it and then was kind of talked out of it. I think someone got in his ear that there is going to be blood. Plus, Vince said he has a million tattoos. Well, it doesn’t matter if he has a million tattoos. What if I tattoo my initials on him FOR REAL? Punk was saying let’s do this for real and that is like being violated. That is why we switched over to the alcoholic thing and I got a lot of hate for that. People saying ‘Oh my father is an alcoholic and how dare you say and use that as a crutch for a pro wrestling storyline.’ Guess what? That is why I did it.”

Was CM Punk okay with the alcoholic angle? “I was begging Vince for us to do the tattoo angle; someone had told Vince that tattoos will create blood and Vince got scared. Plus no one would see it for the reason to describe but he doesn’t have tattoos so he doesn’t get it. He came up with the idea that Punk’s dad has problems with alcohol and you think he wouldn’t go for it and to Punk’s credit and he went for it. I don’t know if he had issues with his family and he wanted to take it out with them and I don’t think he even told his dad about it. Punk gave us full 100 percent with it as he should have and then his sister got involved then it got real. Can we do that now, I don’t know because you got to go into a deep place? When I came back with the Bray Wyatt thing and I was on fire and I was pitching so many ideas. I went in to pitch some ideas to Vince for Summer Slam and the PPV after that, and his response was (and this is great I should save it for my next book.) He was eating steak and I went through this entire 10 minute pitch about this and that and this guy will come back and this retired gunslinger will come in and help his old rival and this whole thing and his response while eating his steak and he says ‘Bad cow’ I said what? ‘Bad cow, this steak is tough, bad cow’ I am like’ is that all you have to say?’ And he is like ‘what else you got’ and I am like okay he doesn’t like this idea. We didn’t do much with the story but like I said all I can do is make suggestions and he is the boss, so he makes the suggestions, but I am a big fan for long storylines.”

It seems like you always had Vince McMahon’s ear: What happened was I finally came into my own in 2008. I came back in 2007 and it was kind of stagnant and I was still doing the Y2J thing that I was doing in the early 2000s and it wasn’t working and I needed a switch. That is why I changed everything and I watched the movie ‘No Country for Old Men’ with the character Anton Chigurh the very quiet, slow speaking psycho, I am going to kill you and that is the way it is. I took that kind of mindset and some people were still ‘Hey let me tell you something I’m going to do this!’ I took it down and turned the volume down and made people listen and I remember people saying ‘We can’t hear you’ when I was doing promo,s and I was like that is the point dummy. Just be quiet and listen to what I am saying, and when you have to pay attention to what I am saying, then you are going to understand that I am serious. I dropped the countdown, dropped all the catchphrases, dropped the highlight reel, stopped wearing tights and switched to trunks.

“I started wearing suits which people weren’t doing at the time. Letting people know that this is different and this is KISS without the makeup. People still ask me why did you switch from tights to trunks? I still get that until this day! I also watched a lot of Nick Bockwinkel tapes. They did that AWA anthology and he was using big words and talking over people’s heads and it pissed people off. Combine those two things and combine it and also with the Shawn Michaels hypocrite thing and bam I found who I am going to be. It made Vince a lot money and it caused a lot of problems. I was getting attacked on the streets. I got attacked by crowds in B.C. I had to pie face a girl who was on Nancy Grace. I was public enemy number one. The whole company was in an uproar. Rob Zimmerman who was the head of PR, he was angry, Stephanie was angry, the company was angry, but the only guy who stayed by me was Vince McMahon. He said you should never have been put into that position with all those fans in the first place. I will fight this until days end.

“When the glow stick happened I was cutting a heel promo and I had a glow stick hit me in the face. It actually hit me in the eye. I freaked out, and said ‘who threw that son of a bitch, you want to throw something? Then throw it! Then all of a sudden a blizzard of glow sticks come into the ring. It’s on YouTube you should check it out. Everyone in the company was so angry. I was going to get suspended for 15,000 and then Johnny Ace called me saying you’re getting fined or even suspended. I was so angry that I called Vince McMahon and saying maybe the corporate Vince McMahon would be angry, but the Mr. McMahon the heel would be like this is what we work for. I caused people to hate me so much that they spent money for a glow stick and threw it at me.

“He got mad at me with the Brazil kicking flag thing. I can’t say that he had my back on that one,but he did have my back to get me out of Brazil that night, He said ‘you know you’re in trouble? I want you out of the country.’ You’re fined and suspended and I want you out of the country, if not you can be in big trouble. He pulled some strings, and paid some people to help me get out of the country. Even though he was furious at me at the time, I didn’t agree with it, but in retrospect he was right. In the end he knows I draw money for the company, and I had the best interest in the company, because I was never an asshole. Even though people thought I was hard to work with.

We missed you at WrestleMania 30; we know at some point you will come back but will you be back by WrestleMania 31? I was going to come back for WrestleMania 30, but we just couldn’t find anything to do. There is a certain thing I need to do to come back to, but I will not do the Fandango thing again. The next night on Raw Fandango was the biggest character on Raw and I will put that directly on the work we did together. I need something that I can sink my teeth into. Something I can believe in and something that has some steam to it. It doesn’t have to be for a title, but it needs to be a semi- main event or something that I think people want to see and that is why when I came back I wanted to work with Wyatt. I wanted to work with Wyatt at WrestleMania 30 but he had the Cena thing. I wanted to work with Daniel Bryan but he was first scheduled to work with Sheamus, but he went on into the main event. So for me to come back and be in the Andre the Giant memorial battle royal, that wouldn’t have worked for me. I want to come back and it comes down to schedule with Fozzy and if I can work it out with Vince.”

– CM Punk and his wife, WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee, were spotted at the Chicago Blackhawks NHL game on Wednesday.

– Responding to the “#MyLoveLifeIn3Words” hashtag-game trending on Twitter today, WWE Superstar John Cena tweeted the following, referencing his girlfriend — Nikki Bella.

#MyLoveLifeIn3Words Nicole Garcia Colace. @BellaTwins

— John Cena (@JohnCena) October 16, 2014