WWE Royal Rumble 2012 - WWE World Champion CM Punk vs Dolph Ziggler

WWE Champion CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler (Special Guest Referee John Laurinaitis)
January 2, 2012
Tags: Royal Rumble 2012, CM Punk, Dolph Ziggler

At the 25th anniversary of the WWE Royal Rumble, CM Punk will defend his WWE Championship against Dolph Ziggler in a highly anticipated title bout. In addition to making the match, Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis declared he would be the special referee. For Punk, the Royal Rumble provides the opportunity not only to put the loudmouth challenger in his place, but also to remain under the skin of Mr. Laurinaitis. For Dolph Ziggler, the Rumble allows the WWE’s resident showoff the chance to turn words into actions and walk out of St. Louis with the WWE Championship.

After weeks of back-and-forth between the two Superstars that included the showoff challenger stating his intent to beat Punk and become a “real” champion, Punk and Ziggler will finally settle their score at the Rumble, further ensuring that the pay-per-view’s 25th year will be a memorable one.

Perhaps the most egregious affront to The Straight Edge Superstar’s well-being during the course of the past month came during the final Monday Night Raw of 2011. With the cards stacked squarely against him by Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis, The Second City Savior faced an uphill battle to make sure his hometown Chicago faithful left the arena happy. In the second of three title-free Gauntlet Matches scheduled by Laurinaitis, Punk faced Ziggler after defeating Jack Swagger just minutes earlier.

After an untimely distraction from Raw’s esteemed Interim General Manager, Ziggler hit a devastating Zig Zag, pinned Punk and momentarily silenced The Voice of the Voiceless. Furthermore, in typical Ziggler fashion, the braggart paraded around Chicago’s Allstate Arena with Punk’s WWE Championship in hand, leaving its true owner to watch intently from inside the ring. (PHOTOS)

On the first Monday Night Raw of 2012, the WWE Universe got another glimpse of Punk vs. Ziggler — this time for the WWE Championship. However, instead of a decisive end to this budding rivalry, tensions ramped up as a result of a Mr. Laurinaitis causing the WWE Champion to be counted out. Now these two outspoken Superstars will collide in St. Louis on January 29th at the Royal Rumble with the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Raw's Interim GM in the middle, elevating both rivalries to new heights.

Will Mr. Laurinaitis remain fair and imparitial? Can The Second City Savior put his Royal Rumble opponent to sleep and retain his title when it matters most? Or will the WWE Universe have to get used to hearing a whole lot more bragging by Ziggler (and, by proxy, his overly vocal and heavily involved manager, Vickie Guerrero) in 2012? Find out at the 25th anniversary of the Royal Rumble Sunday, January 29, live on pay-per-view.

Second Rumble title match for the caddy. The program is already better than the one with Edge due to Ziggler actually winning matches. I think it's pretty clear this is just a filler feud for Punk until his Wrestlemania program can begin, but it's a pretty great way to kill some time.

Rule of thumb: special referee matches always mean victories for whoever they're feuding with.

Can't say I care for Laurinaitis' involvement but hopefully it doesn't overshadow the match too much. I've seen far too many heel authority figure as referee matches and they're all detrimental to the quality. Dolph vs Ziggler as a match should be really good though.

Sorry to be picky and all but shouldn't it be, "Royal Rumble 2012" not "2011"? hahaha.

With WrestleMania 28 already being heavily promoted by the involvement of Dwayne, I could see Dolph winning here and holding on until 'Mania, where Punk could regain the belt. I think the idea of the title matches having to be big name guys is kind of redundant when you have The Rock vs. John Cena headlining the show.

Plus the feel good moment of Punk regaining the belt would be a nice consolation prize for the fans rooting for Rocky to win, only to see him get screwed over by a Cena heel turn.

Like Tommy said though, I can't see Johnny Ace effecting the quality of the match itself. Maybe the finish, but not the match.

Punk/Ziggler should definitely be a good match, regardless of Funkhouser's involvement. This match should definitely be a pre-indicator of what Ziggler will be doing post-Wrestlemania.

Originally Posted by heel316

Anaconda Vise --> Ziggler taps --> How can Lauranitis stop/affect this?

They've done that a couple of times in special referee matches and the referee just ignores it. It's the referee that has to call the bell (similar to if the referee was knocked out and a wrestler taps out, it doesn't count).