What the Continuation of CM Punk's Title Reign Would Do for His Legacy

As far as WWE championship reigns go, CM Punk's might be the most impressive one that we have seen since the turn of the millennium. It is approaching the 300-day mark in an era in which the title is going to change hands on a month-to-month basis just to pop a rating on Raw the next night. 

With Night of Champions fast approaching, Punk's reign has never been more in doubt, because he is going up against WWE's golden child, John Cena. 

Everyone knows that Cena, not Punk, is the top star in WWE. Prior to SummerSlam, when Punk, Cena and Big Show squared off in a triple-threat match for the gold, Cena had not been in a pay-per-view championship match since October 23, 2011. 

Despite his lack of title matches, it has been Cena, not Punk, headlining show after show.

You have to go all the way back to TLC last December to find the last pay-per-view Punk and the WWE title were in the main event. 

Since Cena is now involved in the title picture, Punk finally gets back in the main-event spotlight. Even though this match doesn't have the hype that their match at Money In the Bank 2011 did, it could be the most important match in Punk's career. 

Punk's present legacy in WWE is an interesting one. He is pushed as a top star, though you would be likely to get very few casual fans to tell you that he is among their favorites, because he never gets the spotlight that a lot of other top stars get. 

What is Punk's Legacy Right Now?

Punk has had a rocky journey through the WWE thus far. It started out in the organization that might as well have been called WWECW, because the ECW product that was presented was certainly not memorable. 

He went through various feuds that really had no lasting impacts, but he was getting cheered by the hardcore audience, who knew how good he was from his days in Ring of Honor, and because he was so different than anyone else in WWE. 

In 2008, Punk's star started to rise.

He won the Money In the Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania, moved to Raw and became world champion by defeating Edge. It could have been a momentous occasion, one that turned his career for the better. 

Instead, the WWE did what the WWE tends to do with smaller guys who come from different organizations: Punk got beat up a lot and was holding onto the title in fluky ways that didn't really get anyone over. 

Punk would forfeit the title after an attack by Legacy at the Unforgiven pay-per-view that year and would wallow in a lot of meandering feuds for the next few months. 

His second Money In the Bank win, in 2009, led to another world-title run. This one was a little better than the first, as he and Jeff Hardy put together one of the best feuds of the year, culminating with their outstanding TLC match at SummerSlam. 

He then started a feud with the Undertaker, once again one which was designed to make Punk look like a fool. He would retain the title until Hell In a Cell, when Undertaker beat him so badly that WWE had no choice but to get the title on him. 

There were other feuds that worked, especially when Punk was the leader of the Straight Edge Society, but there was nothing that made you really stand up and take notice. 

Everyone pinpoints the promo from Raw on June 27, 2011, as the moment Punk took the next step. Certainly that was a great moment in WWE history, but it never really changed anything.

The feud that should have started on that night was Punk vs. the WWE.

Instead, the WWE turned it into an angle revolving around Vince McMahon's being incompetent. Ratings never went up for the show, and buy rates were largely the same, but Punk was getting bigger matches. 

Even today, he has gotten some spotlight matches against big-time opponents (Chris Jericho, Cena), but he is still no bigger than he was when he cut that promo on Raw.

That is a problem. 

How the Title Can Define Punk

Since Punk is in the midst of one of the longest title runs of the last 10 years, he should stand to gain something from it. 

But it all depends on what the WWE plans to do with him. Being the champion is nice, but it doesn't mean nearly what it used to. There was a time when that meant, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you were The Man in the WWE. 

Right now, the belt is nothing more than a cheap prop that is still around because policy mandates you have a title. 

Starting with Cena at Night of Champions, Punk has the chance to do something special over the next three months.

I would expect Cena to be kept in the title picture for the next month or two, which is only going to help keep Punk relevant at the top of the card. 

It all starts with Night of Champions. Punk is in the midst of his biggest heel push ever. He is aligned with Paul Heyman, in a move that can only be seen as good news, given how strong Heyman is as a performer. 

WWE can't pull the plug on Punk's reign yet, though. A great heel finds a way to win matches no one wants to see him win. Punk's journey as a heel is just getting started, and a loss would effectively cut that push off at the knees. 

Sure, Punk might stay in the title picture—he might even win it back at another event—but it wouldn't have any impact, because there would be that gap. 

I think there is something to letting Punk retain the championship all the way through the Royal Rumble, where he will challenge the Rock, who told the world that he is getting the title shot at that pay-per-view. 

That would give Punk a reign of 13 months.

In WWE terms, 13 months is an eternity.

They haven't all been good or smooth, but you have to look at 13 months as an accomplishment. For someone who hasn't always been in the WWE's back pocket, it is even more impressive. 

This title reign is the most important one in Punk's career. No one will remember the three world-title reigns. All that will matter is what happened with this title run and how it ended. 

Now is not the time to stop the reign. A new direction was exactly what Punk needed to re-ignite his character, which had become nothing more than a cheap WWE creation, spouting catchphrases and coasting by. 

Punk needs the title for at least the short-term future to validate his turn and continue to prove that his legacy in WWE will not be one that is defined by being behind Cena in the pecking order. 

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