Why the WWE Has Perfectly Executed CM Punk's Heel Turn

As much as the WWE Universe has loved CM Punk throughout his title reign, the popular consensus was that he was a much better heel.

After months of dealing with a watered-down version of the “Voice of the Voiceless,” the company saw the error of their ways and realized how much better things could be with a heel as powerful as Punk.

So they turned Punk back into the bad guy.

Just as a wrestling company needs a super-strong face like John Cena, it needs an equally strong heel to counteract him.

Batman needed his villains, and wrestling is no different.

Why Turn CM Punk Heel?

There is no question that Punk is one of the biggest stars the WWE has—arguably the second-biggest star behind John Cena—but his face act was getting stale.

With WWE looking for that elite heel that could square off against Cena, The Rock or even Stone Cold eventually, turning Punk was the perfect answer—especially with the fans realizing the WWE champion was a better bad guy anyway.

As much as the company wants to convince us that Alberto Del Rio, Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler are elite heels, they don’t hold a candle to the likes of Cena or The Rock.

Punk, on the other hand, can be the bad guy that the WWE’s good guys need to be effective.

The majority of the fans are looking for an edgier character anyway, and Punk will offer the WWE Universe the perfect complement to the baby face Cena character.

Slow Burn has Turned Into Full-Fledged

There are two ways to turn a wrestler heel—making it black and white from Day 1 or letting the fans slowly start to question the star before going fully heel.

For the straight heel turn, there is no need to look any further for a great example than Hulk Hogan’s turn in WCW. Along with beating down Macho Man Randy Savage (crowd favorite and face), Hogan cut an epic promo with the two biggest bad guys in the company.

On the other hand, the subtle heel turn is what Chris Jericho did upon his return this year. Y2J slowly started to get people to turn on him with his actions before finally going full-fledged heel.

That’s exactly what Punk has done.

For the last three months, Punk has talked about respect and how he is the best in the world, but it has always come off smug and arrogant. That was the subtle foundation of what now has become an epic, full-fledged heel turn.

The attack on The Rock, the comments made to Cena and all of Punk’s actions set the table for kicking Jerry Lawler and beating him down in a cage.

That match was designed to show the audience that there was to be no question: Punk is a bad guy.

A New Alliance

As we saw at the conclusion of Monday’s Raw, Punk is now working with one of the best managers in wrestling history, Paul Heyman.

Remembering the original shoot promo that Punk cut before leaving the WWE at Money in the Bank, he described himself as a “Paul Heyman guy” because that is the man who opened the door for him when he was hired by the company.

Heyman is obviously a heel because of his work with Brock Lesnar, so the relationship between the duo further makes it clear that Punk is unquestionably a heel. With that said, this alliance means so much more.

With the help of Heyman—and potentially a returning Brock Lesnar—Punk could begin a reign of terror over the WWE and start his own heel stable full of the best talent in the world.

The WWE won’t call it the nWo, but it will essentially be the exact same concept.

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