WWE: 10 Reasons CM Punk's Heel Turn Was Brilliant

The biggest story coming out of the 1,000th episode of Monday Night Raw is CM Punk's shocking heel turn.

Well, at least the appearance that the WWE Champion turned heel.

While it remains to be seen exactly where Punk's character is headed, it's pretty safe to say that he's shifting back over to the dark side.

Odds are that the older fans love this move, but it's probably not going to take very long for the younger ones to start to despise Punk once again.

No matter what side of the fence you're on, though, it's hard to argue that Punk's surprising heel turn wasn't extremely well done, both because of how it happened and what it means for Punk now and moving forward.

Here are 10 reasons why CM Punk's heel turn was absolutely brilliant.

10. It Came on the Most-Watched Raw in 3 Years

Talk about perfect timing.

It's no secret that Raw hasn't been popping huge ratings like it has in the past, but CM Punk's heel turn took place on the most-watched Raw show in more than three years.

According to Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com, the 3.84 rating and more than six million viewers for Raw's 1,000th episode are the best numbers the flagship show has done since way back in February 2009.

In layman's terms, the WWE's biggest TV audience in three-and-a-half years was watching last Monday when Punk turned heel.  According to Meltzer in his subscriber-only Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the final segment that included the turn popped whopping 4.43 rating.

Pro wrestling is all about the doing the right thing at the right time, and the WWE could not have picked a better spot for Punk's heel turn.

More than six million people saw it, which means more than six million people are likely still talking about it.

9. It Puts Him in the Spotlight

Although CM Punk has been at or near the top of the WWE for more than a year now, he's often found himself being overlooked.

At times, Punk has played second or even third fiddle on Raw to guys like Triple H and especially John Cena.

Want evidence? 

Despite being the WWE Champion since Survivor Series in November 2011, Punk has yet to main-event a WWE pay-per-view in 2012. Meanwhile, Cena has main-evented every PPV other than The Royal Rumble.

While Punk has obviously been absolutely great throughout the year, the spotlight has often focused on Triple H, Cena and even guys like Daniel Bryan.

But now with Punk turning heel on the biggest Raw in three-and-a-half years, he's at the center of the biggest storyline in the WWE for the first time since last summer.

And that's right where he belongs.

8. WWE Needs a Major Storyline Heading into the Fall

As the title of the slide says, the WWE needs a major storyline as it heads into the fall.

With school picking back up soon and the summer nearing an end, people are more likely to stay in on Monday nights to watch TV.

But the fall TV lineup is usually loaded with some of the biggest shows of the year, most notably ESPN's Monday Night Football.

WWE Raw will be in a dogfight for viewers in just a few short weeks and throughout the fall, and thus, the creative team needed to come up with something to generate some serious interest in its No. 1 show.

There are tons of ways that the WWE could have done this, but CM Punk's heel turn is one of the few surefire ways to guarantee an increased interest in Raw.

The WWE will undoubtedly still be battling other highly watched shows on Monday nights this fall, but Punk's heel turn (and its great timing) should give the company the momentum it needs to combat its competition in the coming months.

7. It Will Refresh His Character

I wouldn't go so far as to say that CM Punk had gotten stale as a baby face.

But was he at the same level he was at during the initial phase of his face run a year ago? Of course not.

While Punk excelled as a rebel baby face of sorts last year, the WWE seemed to gradually portray Punk more and more like a typical baby face as the year went on.

He's still been great in the ring and on the mic, but you could make a case that he became almost too John Cena-like as the baby face who always did the right thing and wound up overcoming the odds in the end.

But that's not the Punk that became so popular last year.

The main reason that Punk rose to the top of the WWE was because, in true Steve Austin-like fashion, he did whatever he wanted, but did it in a way that made the fans like him.

As Punk shifted away from that as his title reign progressed (largely because of the creative team), he lost a bit of his edge and did become at least somewhat monotonous in what he did.

Perhaps with his latest heel turn, he'll get that edge back and freshen up his character to do something different from the typical top baby faces.

6. It Was a Bit Ambiguous

There are still some fans out there wondering if CM Punk even really turned heel on Raw 1000, and the reasoning is simple: His actions were so ambiguous.

Yeah, he didn't help John Cena when he was being attacked by The Big Show. But all he really did was avoid getting beat down by a 450-pound giant and avoid helping the guy he just had a match with.

Just because Punk's a baby face, that doesn't have to make him obligated to help Cena, who—face and heel alignments aside—is still one of his biggest rivals.

The same goes for The Rock.

Punk and The Rock have interacted a number of times on both WWE TV and Twitter, in which they teased friction and an eventual WWE Championship match between the two.

So, why is it not OK for Punk to attack a guy he's developed a bit of a rivalry with?

Look, I'm not saying Punk is staying baby face. Like most, I think he's turning heel.

But his actions on Raw 1000 were more tweenerish than anything else, and they were so ambiguous that they've left everyone with a lot of questions for tonight's Raw.

In the end, Punk's heel turn was a major success for the very fact that no one seems to be 100 percent sure exactly what it means for the WWE going forward.

5. The Rarity of a Face Champion Turning Heel During a Lengthy Title Reign

I asked myself this question the other day and still haven't been able to answer it: When is the last time that a face World champion turned heel in the middle of a lengthy title reign?

Of course, CM Punk himself turned heel during his World Heavyweight championship reign back in 2009, but that came very early on in a reign that lasted less than two months.

For the most part, the WWE has shied completely away from establishing a baby face firmly as World champion and then turning him heel four, five or more months into that title reign.

Quite simply, it hasn't happened very often, with some friends of mine mentioning to me that they can't remember it happening since Randy Savage turned on Hulk Hogan.

Regardless of exactly when the last time a face World champion turned heel during a lengthy title reign was, though, the fact remains that is an extremely rare occurrence.

It's something that many of today's wrestling fans have never seen before, which means we should be treated to a very unique storyline going forward.

4. The WWE Needed to Turn One of Its Top Stars

The WWE's top four full-time stars are John Cena, Randy Orton, CM Punk and Sheamus.

And prior to last Monday's Raw, what was the common link between those four? 

They were all baby faces.

That created a bit of a problem for the WWE because having its four biggest stars all performing as good guys resulted in an uneven balance in the WWE's face/heel alignment.

Sure, there are still more quality heels than faces in the company, but the problem is that none of the top heels (outside of maybe Daniel Bryan) have been perceived to be on the same level as the top baby faces.

But thanks to CM Punk's heel turn, that changes.

Punk is probably the No. 2 star in the WWE at the moment, and his turn to the dark side gives the company the top full-time heel that it so desperately needs.

3. Punk Is Just so Damn Good as a Heel

CM Punk is a fantastic performer.

Put him in any role in any storyline with any gimmick, and chances are that he'll make it work extremely well.

But man oh man, Punk just takes things to another level when he's a heel.

This isn't to say that Punk is bad as the antihero/tweener or the full-fledged baby face. He's excellent in those roles as well.

It's just that Punk is absolutely phenomenal as a heel performer.

He's arguably the best actor in the WWE, and that shines through in his promos when he's a bad guy. There's something about the way he talks and carries himself as a heel that makes you genuinely despise everything about him.

Punk can be sadistic (like he was with the New Nexus), creepy (like in the video) or any other type of character that you want him to be, and he can play those roles to perfection.

Baby faces are genuinely pretty limited with what they can do in the WWE, but with a heel Punk, there's really no telling what we might be in store for.

2. Who It Involved

Sometimes, a superstar's heel or face turn might fail simply because of the other wrestlers involved.

But CM Punk's heel turn won't do that.

Why? Because it involved two of the biggest stars in wrestling history, The Rock and John Cena.

When Punk failed to help Cena and then clotheslined The Rock (not to mention hit him with that GTS), he essentially turned on two of the biggest stars ever in a span that lasted only a couple of minutes.

Had Punk's heel turn come in a less meaningful situation with lesser superstars, it wouldn't have had anywhere near the impact that it had on Raw 1000.

But by having Punk screw over two of the biggest baby faces in the business, it will be seen as was one of the biggest, most memorable and most shocking moments in Raw history.

As much as we like to criticize the WWE for its failures, Punk's heel turn worked perfectly because of the popularity of the two stars he left lying in the ring at the end of the show.

Good job, WWE. I'm not sure that situation could have played out any better.

1. No One Saw It Coming

Let's just be honest: How many people legitimately saw CM Punk's heel turn coming?

Very few, if any at all.

While I predicted that Big Show or The Rock would get involved in the WWE Championship match between Punk and John Cena, I never dreamed of it playing out the way that it did.

At no point did I consider the possibility of Punk turning heel, much less doing so by failing to help Cena and then taking out The Rock.

And that's precisely why it worked so brilliantly.

There are too many times when the WWE puts on a predictable show or ends/starts a storyline in a predictable way, but Punk's heel turn was completely unpredictable.

He has developed into the No. 2 star in pro wrestling, and he was at the peak of his career as one of the longest-running WWE Champions ever. As long as he was on top of the WWE, we expected him to stay there as a huge baby face.

But the WWE threw us a major curveball by turning Punk heel, and it was executed to damn near perfection.

Perhaps that why Punk's turn will likely go down as one of the most memorable in WWE history.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions on Formspring.