WWE: Why CM Punk Has to Regain the Main Event Spot

Off the top of my head, I can think of three or four wrestlers who have more star power in the WWE right now than CM Punk.

That’s a shame since Punk has been the WWE champion for the better part of the past year and we have just celebrated the year anniversary of his now famous “shoot” interview that rocked the wrestling world.

Who knew we would still be talking about it today?

But what we are also talking about is a wrestler who has taken them all on and won, but in the process may have gotten soft, may have lost some stroke, and certainly lost some of the “voiceless” that he so highly proclaimed to want to represent.

At times, I see Punk wanting the crowd support more in match to help him “Hulk up,” in the words of the former WWF icon.

But now, we have a champion who is not considered the top draw in the company (we will leave that to Mr. Cena) and may not even be the second best draw (Christian, Daniel Bryan?), and that opens a whole other can of questions for a wrestler who was supposed to be this generation’s Steve Austin.

If I recall correctly, Austin never took a backseat to anyone. And neither should Punk.

The WWE has been so concerned about its image (and rightfully so) that maybe it lost sight of the fact that at this time last summer the brand was as hot as it ever was since the end of the Attitude Era.

Wrestlers were getting over, Punk was selling his magic and everyone wanted a new hero to follow other than John Cena. Randy Orton and Christian were red hot as well. And then, like the stroke of midnight, everything stopped. And Punk wasn’t the biggest thing to come along. We can thank Creative and the lost storyline for that.

Right now, the rivalry with Daniel Bryan is a good thing—it makes us harken back to Macho Man and Ricky Steamboat. It makes us think of wrestling days gone by. It makes us think of superstars who could hold their own in the ring with Punk or Bryan and have one hell of a match (HBK or Bret Hart).

But for some reason, our champion isn’t the guy he used to be, and he needs to find that mojo. So much is made of being the WWE champion that without the endorsement of the company where he is the last one to speak on television or the last match of the night in a PPV event, it means nothing.

If Punk is to be believable as the wrestler who shocked us all, then give him the stage to recreate that magic.

Because right now, it’s nothing more than just an act, and that act is one that is not believable.