Why CM Punk Has to Defeat John Cena Again

Much to the surprise of, well, no one, Raw General Manager AJ Lee announced on Monday’s Raw that CM Punk will defend his WWE Championship against John Cena at Night of Champions.

It’s a match that we could see coming from 100 miles away. It’s a match that probably should have happened at SummerSlam.

It’s also a match that should only have one outcome: Punk wins.

Yes, I know that it’s been almost a year since Cena has held the WWE Championship. Similarly, Punk’s title reign is approaching a year as well.

But this isn’t about Cena deserving the title because he hasn’t had it in a while, nor is it about Punk needing to drop the belt because it’s time for him to move on to something else.

Triple H said on this week’s Raw that he was at a crossroads in his career. So is CM Punk.

Week by week, Punk is becoming a little more heel-like. He’s gone from simply wanting respect to committing despicable acts like attacking an announcer who’s in his 60's.

This isn’t the same Punk that we saw beat Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 28 and Extreme Rules, or Daniel Bryan at Over the Limit and Money in the Bank.

That Punk was a full-fledged baby face who just about all the fans loved. But the Punk we're seeing today is becoming just that, a punk.

Although Punk is still getting cheered at times and it will likely take several more months of heel-like actions for him to get a majority of boos, the one thing that would kill Punk’s heel momentum before it really even starts is having him lose to Cena at Night of Champions.

In today’s WWE, it’s damn near impossible for heels to win big matches, especially if its on pay-per-view, involves a world title and/or features someone like Sheamus or Cena.

But just because Punk is going bad, that doesn’t mean he should suddenly start losing after dominating his competition for almost a year now.

Forget Punk’s wins over Jericho and Daniel Bryan. The most important match of his current WWE Championship reign will come at Night of Champions.

That’s when we’ll be able to tell what Punk’s status will be when he’s a top heel rather than a top baby face. That’s when we’ll be able to tell if Cena is going to be pushed ahead of him.

But Cena shouldn’t be.

“The Champ” has that nickname for a reason. He’s won a dozen world titles, has defeated anyone and everyone he’s stepped into the ring with and has typically done so in clean fashion.

He needs to beat Punk at Night of Champions about as much as Brodus Clay needs a hamburger.

Punk, on the other hand, really does need this victory over his biggest rival. He needs it because taking the title off him would absolutely destroy any real chance of his heel run succeeding anytime soon.

By having Punk lose his first major PPV match as a bad guy, the WWE is doing the same thing to him that it does to most of its heels: Turning him into a loser.

I get that the WWE is on this kick where the good guys almost always triumph over the bad ones, but that’s a philosophy that has little to no payoff.

If the baby faces always win, then why should we care about the heels? Well, we shouldn’t.

But if you give Punk the victory over the face of the company at Night of Champions, that calms any fears that Punk will become a loser just because he’s a heel.

Rather, it will turn Punk into something that’s very rare in the WWE these days: A heel who actually wins.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter!