WWE: Did They Miss the Mark with the Punk/Bryan/AJ Love Triangle?

The feud surrounding the WWE Championship throughout the summer has been the love triangle between CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and AJ Lee. Punk and Bryan have had some of the most outstanding matches in recent memory while AJ's involvement has added a very unique dynamic to the program.

If the last two editions of Monday Night Raw are any indication, it would seem that the WWE is moving on. In addition to a possible future feud between The Rock and Punk, it would seem that the WWE Champion is turning heel and moving into a program with John Cena.

Bryan also seems to be moving on, too. The former No. 1 contender looks to be revisiting his brief conflict with Kane from earlier in the summer. On top of that, Raw 1,000 planted seeds for a match between Bryan and Hollywood star Charlie Sheen.

As I said, Bryan and Punk wrestled some of the best matches of 2012. That, in and of itself, qualifies it as a top feud of the year. Punk's consistently successful title defenses made the feud conclusive in that respect. 

However, the fact that they never really delivered on AJ's involvement in the angle left a huge cliffhanger. While the matches were great, they failed to deliver a big, conclusive moment to establish the feud as a truly outstanding program. In that regard, they missed the mark.

I remain optimistic that they can tie up the loose ends in this angle. The WWE could revisit the feud in the future, after all. With Punk, Bryan and AJ all in prominent positions on television, it's definitely a possibility.

Many fans believe that Punk's heel turn prevents them from revisiting the feud in the future. I disagree. Punk is currently playing more of a tweener role. If he remains a tweener, Punk and Bryan can pick up where they left off. They could wrap up the feud in the months prior to the Royal Rumble and use AJ's popularity as a babyface to make Punk a full-blown heel.

Making Punk a strong heel heading into a match with The Rock at the Royal Rumble would make the dynamic between the two even better. They could even choose to turn Bryan babyface in the process, freshening up his character prior to the Road to WrestleMania.

At the current moment, the love triangle program has missed the mark. They built up a great amount of anticipation around AJ and failed to deliver. That said, they could always revisit the feud and ultimately deliver on the hype.

In the grand scheme of things, there's still a chance this feud could truly go down as one of the best of all time. Only time will tell, though.

Michael Prunka is a Bleacher Report Featured Columnist. To stay up to date with his WWE and NHL commentary, you can like his Facebook page, follow him on Twitter, and follow him on Tout.