Why CM Punk's Lengthy Reign Has Added Legitimacy to WWE Title

CM Punk has become one of the biggest stars in the history of the wrestling business, but it is the legitimacy that the star has brought back to the WWE title that will ultimately be his legacy.

Just like John Cena, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, Punk is taking the WWE to the next level.

While Punk is a long-time veteran of the sport—spending years in the independent wrestling scene before cutting his teeth in the WWE—his biggest impact was made last year during the build to the Money in the Bank pay-per-view.

It was during the weeks leading up to that PPV that Punk proved to the world—not just the niche fans that knew who he was already—that he was worthy of not only being in the main event or holding a title but eventually carrying the entire company.

After 316-plus days as the WWE champion, it has become perfectly clear that the big-wigs behind the scenes trust the young star enough to allow him to become one of the new faces of their business.

There is no question that Cena is still a huge focal point of the company moving forward, but Punk is the popular alternative that wrestling fans love to hate.

The WWE needs the strong heel to counteract the strong face, and now, they finally have that dynamic again.

The WWE Title’s Importance

Since the first time it was awarded in 1963, the WWE Championship has become the quintessential title in all of wrestling. With the company's dominance in the wrestling industry, World Wrestling Entertainment has only put that title on its biggest and brightest stars for long periods of time.

So much history shouldn’t need legitimacy brought to the WWE belt, but the company gave it to meaningless wrestlers in forgettable moments too many times, and it has devalued the title.

The WWE made its own mess.

One fact that has remained true through the years, though, was that the stars who got the extensive runs with the strap have been the greatest the business has ever seen.

From Hulk Hogan to Macho Man to John Cena to Bruno Sammartino, the company leaving the title on one person for that long proves how well that star can draw.

Punk isn’t just a Heyman guy; he’s a top guy.

The WWE is a business first and foremost, and the Champions with the longest reigns will be the men who can sell the product most effectively.

As long as Vince McMahon and company are watching the money roll in and the product stays hot, they will ride the WWE Champion until there’s nothing left in the tank.

While the WWE has been pushing Cena as its top star over the last few years, Punk’s current reign proves the company now has a second superstar who can carry the workload.

CM Punk’s Reign

As great as Punk's creativity and character have been over the last few years in the WWE, the knock on his current title reign was how irrelevant it has been. Despite feuding with Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan and others, many fans don't feel like it's all that memorable.

While that may be true, we can’t forget that the WWE turned him face to capitalize on the buzz the superstar was getting from the audience after Money in the Bank.

Punk’s face gimmick worked fine for what it was, and it even opened him up to much a broader audience, but the ultimate goal is to make a heel powerful and viable enough to go against Cena.

For years, the WWE didn’t have a heel who could stack up to Cena, and the product suffered because of it. The old mantra in the wrestling business is that the product is better with the face chasing the heel champion, but the WWE didn’t have that luxury.

Punk’s emergence as a legitimate champion and as an elite heel brings wrestling back to its basics.

In the truest sense, Punk’s current WWE title run can be broken into two parts—the initial face portion and the slimy heel portion. While the first half wasn’t as impactful as many fans would have hoped, it was building the foundation for the second half of Punk’s run.

Now that Punk is heel, the battles with Cena will have the necessary dynamic to make this feud legendary.

When Mick Foley said that title reigns are made of moments and not dates, he was right to a point.

While a few more big memories would be great for how fans remember Punk's title reign, the memory of a champion holding the title for upwards of a year in an instant world is enough to make this one of the greatest reigns in wrestling history.

Check back for more on the World Wrestling Entertainment as it comes and visit Bleacher Report’s wrestling page to get your fill of WWE/TNA. For more wrestling talk, listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot topics you just can’t miss (some language NSFW).

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