For now.
There is speculation a plenty — it could be the fact that Punk went almost sixty minutes at the Rumble on Sunday and got ZERO minutes of air on Raw the next night. It could be further fallout from his girlfriend being in the doghouse with Vince and Co. over an odd public incident. Those two problems could be reasons enough, along with an expiring contact in July, for Mr. Straight Edge to walk straight out the door.
For now.
CM Punk has always had WWE brass by the short and curlies. He’s said as much in interviews. On an episode of WTF with Marc Maron, Punk explained that the first time around, in the game of contract negotiations, Punk held the upper hand because he just didn’t give a shit if he got inked again with the big brand. He was fed up and fine with going back to the indies or overseas. Then the “shoot interview” happens days before his old contract expired, Punk becomes a mega-star, and holds on to the championship strap for an obscene amount of time in today’s wrestling biz. All seemed right with the world.
For a while.
Punk is getting pulled off WWE ads and won’t appear on any TV shows any time soon. There might even be a chance that he doesn’t make the Wrestlemania card since plans are probably being drawn up for the biggest event of the year as I’m writing this column. The face of the federation over the last 48 months (not counting the guy on the Fruit Pebbles box) will disappear from the WWE Universe.
For the best.
Daniel Bryan is the hottest worker in the WWE. Cena will always be in the main event conversation whether fans want it or not. Batista is back. Lesnar is doing his “monster” thing. Orton is the unified champ. The fight for the top is super crowded. Punk’s presence muddles the waters even more and it doesn’t help that the creative team has zero idea what to do with him. His recent run as a face was bland and hard to fathom considering Punk is a natural born heel. So he wanted to go home. So the WWE let him.
Again, for now.
Punk will work independents. Maybe he’ll go overseas. He’ll wrestle with his buddy Colt. He’ll recharge, regroup, heal up and show up on WWE TV eventually. Probably when we least expect it though hopefully as a heel and the MOMENT Cena gets the belts back. This isn’t the last of C.M. Punk in the WWE. Not by a long shot. If Vince can induct a noted egomaniac into his Hall of Fame who once held him up for money before a PPV he can bring back the best heel heavyweight champion of the last decade. Even if his contract does eventually expire.
Punk splitting town spares the fans from the continued face run, a forced feud as a heel that makes little sense or a middling mid-card matches from a mopey main event star. Punk was right to walk.
For a while…
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