WWE: CM Punk Shows Why Heels Need Motivation and Purpose for Turning

Having a face turn heel is commonplace in professional wrestling, but too often it is done for the sake of doing it and not for any real reason. WWE Champion CM Punk has bucked that trend, however, as his heel turn since RAW 1,000 has had true meaning and purpose, as all of them should.

Punk's heel turn was initially surprising and it didn't make much sense at first, but over the couple months since RAW 1,000, Punk's motivations have become quite clear. For Punk, it all comes down to respect, as he doesn't feel like he has been respected by the WWE and its fans despite the fact that he has been the top dog for 300 days.

Punk felt like it was disrespectful for The Rock to interrupt him when he was cutting a promo on Daniel Bryan during the 1,000th episode of RAW and he felt like it was disrespectful for The Rock to run down and save John Cena from an attack at the hands of the Big Show after his match, so he took The Rock out.

Over the past several weeks, Punk has talked about disrespect a great deal, including Jerry "The King" Lawler saying that Punk turned his back on the WWE Universe and the fact that he hasn't main-evented a pay-per-view since TLC despite being the WWE Champion for nearly a full calendar year.

All of those are legitimate gripes and things that WWE fans have been saying for quite some time. The WWE Champion should always be the focal point of the product, but Punk has been going on second to last for the vast majority of his title reign while Cena has been in the main event of essentially every pay-per-view over that time frame.

Even Cena addressed that issue on Monday, as he told Punk that his title reign has been irrelevant to this point. It isn't often that heel turns are crafted so thoughtfully and meticulously, but Punk most definitely has a reason to feel insecure and defensive, and those feelings have led directly to his new character.

The last time I can remember such a carefully crafted heel turn was Chris Jericho's against Shawn Michaels in 2008. That turn was similar in that Jericho felt he was being disrespected as well. Michaels faked an injury during a match Jericho was officiating and Jericho called him on it, so the fans turned against him.

It turned out that Michaels admitted the injury was fake, yet the crowd still supported him. Jericho was fed up with the disrespect and ultimately turned on Michaels, setting into the motion the best feud of the year and one of the best overall feuds in recent memory in the WWE or any other promotion.

The overall angle is so much better when there is some sort of motivation behind it, and that is why I have such high hopes for Punk vs. Cena this time around. Their feud last summer was entertaining, but Punk ultimately turned face due simply to the favorable crowd reaction he received, and there was honestly no substance to it. That is likely why it was abruptly ended at SummerSlam last year.

Punk has a reason to be upset with Cena, a reason to be upset with the establishment and a reason to be a jerk in general right now, though. This feud has so much more staying power than their previous one did and I'm confident that it will last through Survivor Series, at the very least.

If more wrestlers turned heel for an actual reason like Punk, then turns would be much more effective and feuds would be infinitely more meaningful. As important as actual wrestling is, storylines are what fuel the WWE and keep the fans interested, so hopefully the writers use Punk's heel turn as a template moving forward.

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