What a difference a month makes. Last month, WWE's roster was drowning in stale feuds and story lines that nobody cared about. Fast forward to after Night of Champions and the RAW after that. We now have two new World Champions.
The biggest story here isn't Mark Henry reaching the top of the ECW mountain or Triple H finally defeating John Cena. Hell, it's not even Vince McMahon and the Million Dollar Mania Accident of Doom.
The biggest story coming out of WWE post-draft and Night of Champions is that CM Punk is now the new World Heavyweight Champion. Not the ECW "sort of World" Champion. Not the Mr. Money in the Bank of 2008 champion that got jobbed out more often than not lately. No, WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION.
He cashed in his Money in the Bank opportunity this past Monday night on RAW against Edge (with a huge assist from Batista). That win was extremely significant, as was his victory over John Bradshaw Layfield at the end of the show.
There are a few reasons why CM Punk's World Title win is more significant than most.
For starters, he was not exactly made out to be the strongest title contender over the last few weeks, so him winning the belt was definitely a surprise. The other reason is that Punk is the champion of WWE's perceived flagship show Monday Night RAW. No, not John Cena, Batista, or Triple H, but the straight-edge superstar from Chicago, Illinois.
The most important reason Punk's title win is significant is because he is the most unlikely World Heavyweight Champion in recent memory. This is a guy with nowhere near the muscle mass of most of WWE's main eventers. His look is radically different from others.
Rather than a giant bad ass, Punk looks more like a cool guy you would see at a Megadeath concert.
But that's not a bad thing. Punk's World title win gives smaller wrestlers that aren't jacked out of their mind hope...Hope that they can rise to the promise land. Yes, the Eddie Guerreros, HBKs, Chris Jerichos, Rey Mysterios, and (dare I say) Chris Benoits certainly showed fans in the past that you don't have to be the biggest wrestler to hold top gold.
Yet, Punk won the title without too much momentum coming into the impromptu match. He also hadn't mixed it up with top stars like Triple H or John Cena in the past, considering most of his WWE career has been spent on the ECW brand.
CM Punk is a great in-ring competitor, but was rumored to rub officials backstage the wrong way. For every cheer he received, he was always criticized for being "too indy" or ripping off the Japanese puroresu style wrestling.
Well for now, CM Punk has silenced his critics and satisfied his fans, along with countless others who wanted to see a change. Right now, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Ted Dibiase Jr., and Kofi Kingston all hold RAW's major titles. If that's not a new talent initiative, I don't know what is.
CM Punk is now World Heavyweight Champion, but who knows for how long.
These next few weeks will be crucial to not only Punk's career, but WWE's future. Will he be the fresh face that can become a popular mainstay in the main event scene or a wrestler that will keep the belt warm for Batista or John Cena? Only time will tell. CM Punk won't have to wait long to get the message.
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