[LIL' WINNING FOOT]

216. The number of cumulative days that CM Punk has been WWE Champion, all within the past 12 months.

213. The number of days that Bobby Roode has been the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, all within the past 12 months.

In the current era of wrestling, long championship reigns are becoming cool again. And we have these guys to thank for it. TNA X-Division Champion Austin Aries is a longer reigning champion than both at 258 days, and TNA Knockouts Champion Gail Kim isn't far off at 195 days.

But Bobby Roode and CM Punk are the alpha dogs in their present companies. Yes, Sheamus is the World Heavyweight Champion, but he appears to have fallen off a bit since winning the championship. In fact, the man he beat in 18 seconds at WrestleMania 28 is arguably in a better position than the Celtic Warrior (or Great White, if you must) at this point. Roode is carrying TNA, a point that Hulk Hogan is putting over on television. Punk's reign has cemented him as the guy while John Cena is stuck in creative purgatory for the time being.

But they didn't start out like a John Cena—not at all.

CM Punk was, as he puts it, a Paul Heyman guy. I'm sure they've had a great conversation or three backstage since Heyman's return. Here's the thing about being a Heyman guy. Heyman leaves and you're no one's guy. Dave Lagana has written about creative's support of CM Punk and how many ideas got shot down, and how Shawn Michaels saved Punk's push. Punk doesn't look like a "face of the company guy." Yet one famous promo last summer and he's there. He "walked out" as champion, made a scene at the San Diego Comic Con, and returned as quickly as he exited. In doing so, he was elevated to elite status.

Bobby Roode was just another guy in Team Canada. Sure, had tag title reigns, but Petey Williams was the star of the bunch. And Eric Young broke out first. Bobby Roode did end up with a singles push as Robert Roode. Remember "It Pays to be Roode"? They teased a big name manager for Roode, and he ended up with Traci Brooks. And that ended in a feud with Ms. Payton Banks (Rain). Then came Beer Money. Even that... everyone saw James Storm as the breakout star, not Roode. Roode wins the Bound For Glory Series, but doesn't beat Kurt Angle at Bound For Glory itself. The week prior, Hulk Hogan is quoted as saying "Bobby's not the guy" while putting over Jeff Hardy as the guy. James Storm wins the title first, and everyone goes nuts for it. But then Roode gets desperate and turns heel—leading the "Selfish Generation" and becoming World Heavyweight Champion. He cheated to win—or sometimes just to love & retain. But he's slowly building into a credible champion. Most heel reigns start off with a legit tone and the champion slowly becomes desperate. But as Hulk Hogan has said, they did Roode's reign in reverse. He's now winning matches like a champion. He's becoming dominant. And honestly, there is no end in sight.

CM Punk retained his championship at WrestleMania 28, defeating one of the most beloved superstars around in Chris Jericho. After ending the feud at Extreme Rules, it was hard to see what he'd do next. Thankfully the WWE paired him with Daniel Bryan, 2012's fastest shooting star. They recently introduced a new wrinkle with AJ—Punk "kinda digs crazy chicks." As a feud, the sky is the limit with Punk & Bryan.

Bobby Roode recently overcame James Storm, and followed that up with a ladder match victory over Rob Van Dam at Sacrifice. As TNA builds Slammiversary, they have potential challengers in AJ Styles, Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Bully Ray, Mr. Anderson and now Sting. They could easily bring back The King of The Mountain Match with those guys. They won't, but they could.

WWE Champion CM Punk and TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Roode are on top of the world. They're the top champions in their respective companies, they're both at the top of their game, and there really is no end in sight for either. In a world where championship belts are props and toys, two men have made them important again. Bobby Roode and CM Punk.

You Decide: Are Punk & Roode a great pair to sit atop the wrestling world?

http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/columns/239850/The-Wrestling-5&1-5.25.12:-Christy-vs.-Kaitlyn!.htm

 

[Firallon]

I don't watch TNA much but from what I've seen Roode really isn't any good.

I like CM Punk but his reign has lasted too long and he's getting boring. Take the belt off him ASAP and possibly turn him heel.

 

[THANOS]

I don't watch TNA much but from what I've seen Roode really isn't any good.

I like CM Punk but his reign has lasted too long and he's getting boring. Take the belt off him ASAP and possibly turn him heel.

Roode's one of those 'take it or leave it' type of guys that polarizes the IWC. Some love him and think he's the 2nd coming of HHH, some loathe him and think he's the 2nd coming of lance storm on the stick. I happen to like the guy and think he's pretty good but understand the criticisms.

Punk desperately needs his edge back and it's becoming increasingly difficult to root for him when he continues to spew out these 'cena-like' craptacular promos. If he does one more I may start becoming indifferent to the man .

 

["Dashing" CJ]

Since when was Storm seen as the breakout star of Beer Money?

Anywho, I like both guys & I think Punk is doing a great job. Roode is doing well too

...but I'm really tired of him. Not necesarily Roode himself, but the idea of a heel champion in TNA. CM Punk is doing great as the Champion people can believe in, I just wish TNA had that as well. Not Jeff Hardy or Sting, but a TNA guy who plays the babyface World Champion.

Hopefully, if Storm is the one to beat Roode, they give him a long ass run with the belt.

 

[Firallon]

Roode's one of those 'take it or leave it' type of guys that polarizes the IWC. Some love him and think he's the 2nd coming of HHH, some loathe him and think he's the 2nd coming of lance storm on the stick. I happen to like the guy and think he's pretty good but understand the criticisms.

Punk desperately needs his edge back and it's becoming increasingly difficult to root for him when he continues to spew out these 'cena-like' craptacular promos. If he does one more I may start becoming indifferent to the man .

Agreed. His promos have been pretty awful, almost up there with Cena's horrendus Jim Carrey-esque promos. Punk can definetly deliver an excellent promo, give him some better lines for Christ's sake. Wasting potential, usual WWE.

 

[Emberdon]

216. The number of cumulative days that CM Punk has been WWE Champion, all within the past 12 months.

213. The number of days that Bobby Roode has been the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, all within the past 12 months.

Shows why ratings and buyrates are in a slump. Robert Roode is a charisma vaccum, no personality, generic as hell, horrible mic skills, overpushed and overrated.

 

[Caponex75]

I hate the IWC. They want to turn everyone heel.

 

[SporadicAttack]

I'm glad to see Punk have a long title reign. Long Title reigns are better and more interesting than flip-flopping the title every other PPV.

 

[JBL_Wrestling_God]

Very nice article as it's always a positive for a company to have lengthy title reigns like both Punk and Roode have had. I'm not Punk's biggest fan in the world or anything like that but he deserves it and I'm cheering for him to become the next babyface star. Most of Punk's promos have been pretty medicore and that's being nice. WWE just hasn't really allowed him to be himself like they were during the 'Summer of Punk'. They are giving him these typical babyface promos and it just doesn't fit his personality so everything comes off as forced. I'm not going to sit here and bash his entire title reign though because it has still been very good in terms of match quality having a very good triple threat match at TLC, two CLASSICS with Jericho and also another classic match with Bryan at OTL. The last three PPVs Punk has just been on fire with his in ring workrate and should quiet his critics of his ring work.

I consider myself a WWE fan for the most part but I still check out TNA nearly every week just to see the differences when comparing it to WWE and also to check out Angle, Bully Ray, Aries and the biggest breakout star in there company Bobby Roode. Bobby Roode plays the heel role very well as far as I'm concerned with a solid heel look to him and good mic skills. A lot of people probally liked Roode's heelish look with the long hair and I'm sure that's what sparked the HHH comparision but I've never really seen any similarities between the two. I actually made a thread in the TNA section months ago when Roode was in the middle of this long title reign and I made the suggestion that he should cut his hair kind of like JBL did when he seperated himself from the tag team division to a cowardly heel to give him more of a sellout look. Most people disagreed with me and said that his long hair is what made him unique. I don't necessarily disagree with that but he ended up cutting his hair a few weeks back and I actually think it looks good on him but would of made more sense if he cut it as soon as he turned heel.

Anyways...enough about his hair and overall look. Let's talk about his charisma and mic skills that I hear a lot of criticism for. Roode is a guy that is either hated or loved but I never really understood that. He has good delivery in his promos with good mannerisms while he's talking or just doing anything in general. He comes off as very natural in his promos and also backstage segments at least to me anyway. Even his lengthy promos don't ever come across as boring to me as he gets huge heat on a consistent basis. So it makes me wonder why some people think he's just god awful on the mic when he clearly is the opposite. I'm not saying he's a mic master or anything like that but he gets the job done and I'd probally put him in the top ten as far as mic skills in the entire world today. WWE hasn't really had a lengthy title reign for a HEEL in a long time so it's very nice to see TNA giving a good heel like Roode that opportunity. I'm looking foward to the rest of his title reign and even watching him whenever he drops it.