WWE: CM Punk's Unlikely Rise Is the Modern-Day Underdog Story

Remember that kid in high school that had it all?

Good hair, big smile, lean muscle, quarterback of the football team, and dated that hot cheerleader that every guy drooled over whenever she walked by?  

CM Punk was not that kid.

Punk was that kid fumbling with his book bag in the hallway, dropping everything he had as the bell rang and everyone was rushing to get to class.  

He was short.  He was hairy.  And he spent more time in the bargain boxes looking for X-Men back issues than he did actually doing homework.

That kid was a nerd.  And, that’s why we love him.

Let’s face it, there’s no fun in the story of the guy who has it all, and everyone loves him.  There’s no drama in that, and at then end of the day, no one cares what happens to that character.

The tale of the nerd, the geek who comes up from nothing, to somehow find his way in the world, that is the classic underdog story.  That story is one that the audience can really sink their teeth into, the one that they can become emotionally invested in.

You not only want that character to win, you want him to win it all.  To see him overcome the usual bully, who is typically the aforementioned quarterback, and to see him get the girl, who could actually end up being the aforementioned cheerleader, that’s what people want to see.  

For me, this is why Punk is over to the degree that he is.  He is that geek that has no business being the best at anything, the guy that refuses to conform and bow down to what society expects him to be, and the nerd who succeeds despite having the whole world against him.

How do you root against him?  How do you look at CM Punk and not want to seem him reach the top?

Watching him step to the front of the company is like watching that kid who was dropping his books suddenly wind up winning class president.

You may not have voted for him, but you soon realize yeah, this could work.  Why?

Because, you didn’t really care for that other guy, his spoiled rich-kid buddies, and his cheerleader girlfriend who looks down her nose at everyone else.

Seeing Punk rise up the way he has is like thumbing your nose at the WWE corporate machine who insists on rolling out one overly manufactured Superstar after the other.  Punk is the exception to the rule, the underdog that defied the odds and now reigns as WWE Champion.

And, to think, all it took for him to get there was one promo.

One unassuming, seemingly harmless little promo, that rocked the pro wrestling world, and changed WWE forever.  This was CM Punk’s Declaration of Independence, the opening shot in a war that continued until he eventually climbed to the level he’s at now.

There’s a ‘work,’ there’s a ‘shoot,’ and then there’s the incredibly rare ‘I don’t know what it was, but man, that was epic.’  Punk put all his chips on the table, and went for the latter.  He walked away with a small fortune.

There is just something about a CM Punk promo, something about his delivery, that does not say promo.  He has a way of looking into the camera, and just telling you what’s on his mind.  

Every time he speaks, it’s like he’s sitting on the couch next to you, watching Raw and arguing over who gets the last slice of pepperoni.

He’s just real.  Everything he says, he everything he does, just flat-out screams honesty, not scripted, not predetermined, not phony.  Punk is a regular guy who goes through the curtain, works a match, then goes back through the curtain as the same regular guy.

There is no character.  There is no over-the-top personality, no manufactured gimmick that was handed to him.  He’s not playing a role, or trying to be someone else.  He’s just being himself.

It’s the tried-and-true formula that made "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes a Hall of Famer.  It did the same for "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and made him a household name.  

Because despite how colorful Dusty was, or how crazy intense Austin was, fans connected with them because they were just a couple of ordinary men who went out and made history.

CM Punk is that guy for this generation.  

Will he always enjoy success in WWE?  Will his star fade at some point, and he land back at mid-card status?  

Will he eventually be completely overshadowed by WWE quarterback John Cena and other like Superstars whose marketing ability and politically-correct images once again seemingly consume his career?

Keep watching the story to find out.  And, never forget, don’t count out the underdog.