CM Punk: Breaking Down Shocking Heel Turn on WWE Raw 1000

When CM Punk refused to help John Cena last night on WWE’s 1,000th episode of Raw, the groundwork the WWE champion had been setting on Twitter and in his promos made sense.

Punk was turning heel.

The suspicion was confirmed by Punk when he leveled The Rock mid People’s Elbow.

The message had been sent: The WWE title is being held by arguably the best heel in the sport today.

This is a very good thing for wrestling fans.

While most casual fans didn’t love Punk before when he was the straight-edge heel just over a year ago, it was his bad-guy promo the WWE champion cut that catapulted him to stardom.

With one quick face turn, Punk turned into the man WWE needed him to be.

With Cena and The Rock taking care of the face duties now in the main-event scene, the company needed a great heel to counteract both former champions.

Punk is their man.

What It Means

As fun as Punk’s title reign has been so far for the fans, it has been nothing compared to the impact he will make as a heel champion. We always say how much better it is when the face is chasing the title, so that’s exactly what we have now.

With Punk likely spending the next few months with the WWE title to fully develop this new character, Cena and The Rock can start their chase for the gold. This will give Punk enough fuel to bury both men and continue to get himself over as one of the greatest champions of all time.

As great as Punk’s feuds with Chris Jericho and Daniel Bryan were, they have nothing on the battles the current champion waged when he was the bad guy. How soon we forget the Jeff Hardy feud or the Straight-Edge Society.

Punk is an amazing heel.

What’s Next?

To be perfectly honest, the title run for Punk has been lackluster at times. That has more to do with poor booking and poor placement on the card than anything Punk could have controlled.

Now that the WWE champion is heel, prepare for the return of the pipe bomb and a return to anarchy; just the way it was before Money in the Bank in 2011.

With the title scene getting a bit stale over the last few months, the heel turn couldn’t have come at a better time. Add in The Rock and John Cena as potential face opponents, and this storyline has done its job of getting people to care about Raw’s 1,001st episode.

That was something I was convinced WWE wouldn’t care about, but I was pleasantly surprised.

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