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CM Punk’s rivalry with Jimmy Rave is the focus of “CM Punk: Icon”

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CM Punk: IconCM Punk‘s Ring of Honor rivalries with Samoa Joe and Raven have been well documented, as has the infamous Summer of Punk in which he threatened to take his ROH World Championship with him upon his departure for WWE. With such impactful feuds during his ROH tenure, followed by the success he’s had in recent years in WWE, it might be easy to forget the bitter exchanges Punk had with Jimmy Rave leading into the Summer of Punk. These matches are the centerpiece of CM Punk: Icon, the latest Punk DVD compilation from ROH.

Picking up where CM Punk: The Second City Saint left off, Icon begins with Punk’s match against Ricky Steamboat, a turning point in Punk’s career as his demeanor during the match changes drastically after he is humbled by Steamboat’s still-impressive abilities, as well as his post-match words for Punk. With the fans solidly behind him, Punk and his longtime friends Colt Cabana and Ace Steel go on to battle the likes of the Briscoe Brothers, Austin Aries, Alex Shelley, BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs. All great matches, mind you. But it’s not until Punk’s clash with Rave on the third night of ROH’s Third Anniversary Celebration that Icon really starts to gel as a cohesive collection of matches.

After defeating Punk (with a good deal of help from the Embassy, a boot lace and a can of air freshener) in front of his hometown Chicago crowd, Rave definitely stokes the ire of Punk for several months. Stooping to numerous personal lows (including attacking Punk’s then-girlfriend Traci Brooks, which is alluded to in commentary), Rave and the Embassy continuously antagonize Punk, only to scurry away or attack from behind when faced with his fury head on. With Bobby “The Brain” Hennan in his corner to help neutralize the antics of Prince Nana, Punk comes out on top against Embassy member Mike Kruel at Stalemate in April of 2005, only to be attacked from behind by Rave and the rest of the Embassy after the match while Heenan is showing respect for Punk.

When Punk finally gets Rave in a position in which Rave seemingly has nowhere to run (a dog collar match at Manhattan Mayhem in May of 2005), Rave again uses Kruel as a distraction to attack the already-collared Punk from behind before the match is officially underway. What follows is 15 of the most intense minutes in ROH history as Punk and Rave battle inside and outside the ring while chained together, followed by a passionate backstage promo from a bloodied Punk that makes his malicious intentions for Rave all too clear. But it obviously doesn’t resolve anything as the two face off again only a week later at Nowhere to Run, this time inside a steel cage.

With the Embassy kept at least somewhat at bay thanks to the cage, Punk and Rave go back and forth in a bloody battle to conclude this long-standing feud. But in a match where anything goes, Rave is allowed to resort to his previous tactics without having to hide them from the referee. With his hometown fans behind him once again, Punk finds a way to fight back from every obstacle Rave and the Embassy put in front of him, eventually turning some of them around on Rave. With a huge suplex off the top of the cage, Punk finally gives Rave his comeuppance before setting his sights on attaining the ROH World Championship.

In one of his final matches before the Summer of Punk gets underway, Punk takes on Roderick Strong in a respectful exchange that leaves both competitors looking like heroes. And after a surprising turn of events, Unscripted II lives up to its name as Punk makes a one-time return to ROH (while already under contract to WWE), teaming with Bryan Danielson to take on Rave and Adam Pearce in February of 2006. Having built a career on, among other things, unexpected actions and surprising promos, this seemingly impossible return/send-off somehow seems like the perfect end cap for Punk’s ROH career. And considering his contributions to ROH during his time there, Icon is certainly an appropriate title for this latest collection of his classic matches.

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“The Summer of Punk” chronicles CM Punk’s final months in Ring of Honor

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One summer, CM Punk became an underdog champion whose fan support was divided between those who recognized his talent and those who saw him as a turncoat. Truth be told, Punk did betray many of his supporters when he proclaimed that he would hold the title hostage and take it with him when he left the company. Oddly enough, I’m not talking about the events leading into last year’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view, where Punk defeated John Cena for the WWE Championship, only to walk out the front door of the arena with the belt, as his contract expired that same night. I’m actually referring to a very similar series of events that took place in 2005, when Punk became the Ring of Honor Champion, then proclaimed that he would take that title with him as he left the smaller promotion for WWE‘s grander stage.

While WWE’s highly anticipated CM Punk: Best in the World DVD set comes out Oct. 9, ROH chronicled Punk’s 2005 departure months earlier with The Summer of Punk, a two-disc set featuring matches that took place during his final months with the company. And it’s strange how similar that summer was to the summer of 2011, when Punk revealed that his WWE contract expired the same night he battled Cena for the WWE Championship (in Punk’s hometown of Chicago, no less).

The Summer of Punk begins with Punk, a fan favorite, defeating Austin Aries (himself on his way out for his first stint with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling) for the ROH Championship. As his victory speech progresses, he gradually becomes more and more arrogant, stating that a microphone in his hand is like a pipe bomb, saying he is “the devil himself,” referring to himself as the “greatest pro wrestler walking the Earth today,” calling the fans his puppets and generally foreshadowing everything from the inception of his Straight Edge Society to his current WWE title reign.

The Summer of Punk includes some of the most memorable matches and promos from the summer of 2005, including the moment that he signs his WWE contract on the ROH title belt. But just as he has done over the past year or so in WWE, Punk is able to back up everything he says by defeating several of ROH’s top wrestling talents, including Jay Lethal, Roderick Strong, Christopher Daniels and longtime ROH rival Samoa Joe. Though Punk had previously had some great matches with many of these people, he truly brings out the best in them with his threats of leaving with the title. But for those three months, he is unbeatable and it really does look like he will cripple ROH by taking its top prize to another wrestling promotion.

From his numerous battles with an unlikely savior in James Gibson (this DVD is almost as much about Gibson’s quest for the title as it is about Punk’s determination to retain it) to his infamous confrontations with Mick Foley (yet another instance of history repeating itself in recent weeks in WWE), Punk’s ability to play with the emotions of his competitors and the ROH fans is phenomenal. But even after his tyrannically turbulent final months in ROH come to an end, as Punk wrestles his longtime friend Colt Cabana in his farewell match in the Chicago suburb of Chicago Ridge, he is visibly emotional as the fans chant his name and shower him with streamers (a common show of respect for ROH fans). And when the locker room empties and the ROH roster shows its respect to a man that helped elevate ROH to greater recognition, it’s clear that The Summer of Punk is a bittersweet chapter in the story of a man whose potential in WWE has only become popularly apparent in the past few years.

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