WWE SummerSlam 2012: Why CM Punk Should Be the Main Event

There have been seven WWE pay-per-views in 2012—seven PPVs that have one thing in common. 

Each pay-per-view that has come and gone has featured CM Punk defending his WWE Championship, but each PPV has failed to feature Punk in the main event slot.

Instead, all but one PPV (The Royal Rumble) has given the main event match to—surprise, surprise—John Cena. 

At Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view, however, one of those has to give: Either Cena’s main event slot streak will end, or Punk will compete in his first main event of 2012 while Cena’s streak continues. 

It has to be the latter. 

One could argue that Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar is the biggest match on the SummerSlam card, especially when you consider Lesnar’s drawing power and the fact that this match has never taken place. 

If it was 2002, I would be all for this. But it’s 2012, and a WWE PPV should never feature a main event with two part-time stars.

Lesnar is, as far as we know, only scheduled to be around until WrestleMania 29. Meanwhile, Triple H is shifting to a corporate role in the company and only comes and goes as far as story-lines are concerned. 

There is no benefit—long-term or immediate—to giving the main event spotlight to a 40-something-year-old executive and a guy who has hardly even been around to promote this feud. 

While Lesnar vs. Triple H is a huge match that will undoubtedly draw in viewers, neither guy is a building block for the future of the company. 

Punk, on the other hand, is one of the WWE’s biggest assets, and despite holding its most prestigious title for the better part of a year now, he’s largely been overlooked in favor of other top stars. 

It’s absolutely absurd to think that a guy like Punk can become a global sensation as the No. 2 star in the company, but somehow be unable to get so much as one main event match in an eight-month span. 

The optimistic side of me likes to think this was all part of the WWE’s plan to have him complain about being overlooked and turn heel in the process. But you and I both know that that’s giving the company far too much credit. 

The real explanation is that Cena, whether he’s holding the WWE title or not, is viewed as the main event guy, even if he’s facing a retired non-wrestler on a B-level PPV. 

That logic is certainly flawed, but it’s been the WWE’s take on things for years now and will continue to be so. 

Now, however, the WWE has no excuse to leave Punk out of the main event slot at SummerSlam.

A year after Punk and Cena clashed at the WWE’s big summer PPV, things have come full circle and they’re set to do it again, this time with Big Show involved for a Triple Threat match. 

Cena has main-evented the last six pay-per-views, so why stop now? Why change that just because Punk is included? 

I could see the WWE doing so to play into Punk’s complaints that he’s been overlooked, but I think it would make just as much sense for the match to take the main-event slot and result in Punk griping that the only reason it happened was because it involved Cena. 

It makes for an interesting storyline, one that could catapult Punk to heel dominance. 

Think about it: Punk doesn’t get a main-event match for eight months, Cena enters the WWE Championship picture, and suddenly, Punk’s getting that main-event spot he’s coveted. 

This is a great way to expand the Punk/Cena storyline to something that is much more than simply a battle over the WWE title. 

Rather, it becomes a desire to do what Punk has wanted to do all along: Become the top guy in the company. 

The Rock did it with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and what resulted was one of the greatest and most unforgettable rivalries in WWE history. 

It’s a simple story, with two major stars looking to take a spot that only one superstar can fit in. 

Punk doesn’t want to share it. He wants the spotlight, he wants the main-event slot, and he wants to be the face of the WWE because he believes he is truly the best in the world. 

He can take that spotlight for the long-term, but in order for that to happen, he needs to get it for the short-term at SummerSlam. 

Punk needs to face Cena and Big Show in the main event at the pay-per-view, and he needs to walk away still the WWE champion. 

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.