CM Punk: Should He Be the WWE Champion Despite Poor Ratings?

CM Punk is the WWE Champion, and to many diehard wrestling fans, all is right in the world. 

Or so we thought. 

While Punk’s incredible rise in popularity in 2011 and his skills as a performer undoubtedly warranted a legitimate run with the WWE Championship, expectations of that actually happening took a big hit when news broke that Punk’s title run might soon come to an end. 

From F4Wonline.com (via SEScoops.com): 

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F4WOnline.com reports that WWE officials are considering taking the WWE Championship off CM Punk due to ‘terrible ratings patterns’ for his weekly segments on Raw. 

The matter was broached prior to Sunday’s WWE TLC pay-per-view event, which saw Punk ultimately retain the strap in a Triple Threat Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match against Alberto Del Rio and The Miz. The trend of lackluster ratings for his segments continued the following night on Raw as the program’s overrun, which saw the Straight Edge Superstar, Daniel Bryan and Zack Ryder overcame The Miz, Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler, only gain 59,000 viewers. 

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While the ratings speak for themselves and you can’t refute them, many are hoping that WWE officials will change their minds and keep the title on Punk for the foreseeable future. The main fear is that a continued trend in disappointing ratings will lead to Punk losing the strap and it being put back on the WWE’s go-to guy, John Cena. 

There also seems to be some concern that another of Raw’s top talents—such as The Miz or Dolph Ziggler—might end Punk’s reign before it really begins as well. The thought is that Punk as Raw’s top guy isn’t translating to good TV ratings, and the WWE creative team will freak out and put the WWE Championship on someone else as a result. 

While Punk might not be drawing in viewers like company officials thought he would, I don’t think stripping him of the title would be the right move. 

With the way the current storylines are shaping up, Cena will be busy with Kane and The Big Red Monster’s attempts to turn Cena heel, leading me to believe that Cena just doesn’t fit in the title picture at the moment. I mean, putting the WWE Championship on Cena when he’s supposed to be in the midst of an inner struggle makes little to no sense. 

Cena should be going through a character change over the next several months, in which he tries to ignore the boos rather than embrace them. Then, he should transition into his WrestleMania feud with The Rock, leaving almost no time for him to be worrying about the WWE Championship. 

So, my question is this: If Cena has no place in the WWE title picture, then who else would consistently increase ratings if he was WWE Champion? 

The answer is no one. 

I question if Cena is even that much of a ratings draw on Monday Night Raw to begin with—after all, it’s not like he causes a drastic increase in TV ratings—so you can imagine that I’m not sure there’s anyone currently on the WWE roster who is going to do much better at bringing in viewers every week than CM Punk. 

Theoretically, Punk is probably the third most popular star in the WWE (behind Cena and Randy Orton), so why anyone in the company thinks that another Raw star would garner higher TV ratings than Punk is beyond me. 

Alberto Del Rio didn’t prove to be a fantastic draw, nor did The Miz. And, truth is, Raw’s ratings really have been roughly the same throughout the last year or so. 

They might spike here or there at certain times during the year or because of certain storylines, but for the most part, Raw stays in that 3.0 range, and there is very little evidence to support that any Raw star is going to cause a dramatic, long-term increase in TV ratings or vice versa. 

Sure, Punk’s segment with Zack Ryder and Daniel Bryan from a couple of weeks ago performed historically bad, but that is one show for crying out loud. If WWE officials went crazy and altered storylines every time the ratings decreased, then we would see absolutely no continuity in storylines because ratings fluctuate all the time. 

The WWE seems to be looking for a scapegoat in this situation, and that scapegoat appears to be CM Punk. 

So, go ahead, WWE. Take the WWE title off Punk, put it on Ziggler or The Miz or Cena, and see how much it increases Raw’s ratings. 

Just know that you’ll be waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting, and nothing will ever come out of it. 

Ratings do not increase or decrease due to one superstar. They go up or down because of a wide range of factors, from what time of the year it is to how interesting the storylines are to what else is on TV that night. 

Punk is not the problem, and taking the WWE Championship off of him will solve nothing—unless, of course, you think getting Cena even more haters is something.