Here's How WWE Can Make CM Punk's Controversial WWE Championship Storyline a Winner
Controversy and CM Punk are not strangers.
Still, the latest batch for Punk is an odd one. The pro wrestling world is still at least slightly reeling after he returned and ripped the title off a still-triumphant Sami Zayn.
Punk turned around and immediately accepted a challenge for SummerSlam, not against Zayn, but against Cody Rhodes.
Sure, there's a pre-built story there from a little while ago. Punk has been friendly with "Dusty's kid" since he returned to WWE and indeed, promised a title shot at a later date. Rhodes is cashing that in now.
But it would help if the whole thing didn't feel so corporate. Even for the blurred-lines era, this one stinks. Punk went to SmackDown, immediately won a title and will immediately have a main-event program with Rhodes at the second biggest show of the year. It has pleasing broadcast partners written all over it. Never mind the short-sighted booking-for-pops stuff with Zayn in Saudi Arabia and Punk in Chicago.
So…what's a booker to do?
There's Punk, finally grabbed by the non-Raw network for the sake of ratings, back and defending a title already and shoving aside Zayn. And he's in a feud with Rhodes, who infamously won't go heel and has been overexposed for a while now.
Rhodes wins? That would mean more of the same for him, before the threat of another exhausting WrestleMania run yet again possibly spoiled by outside meddling from the likes of TKO and Pat McAfee or whoever else they drag through the door.
Punk wins? Fine, provided Zayn and a host of others then get title shots, even though WWE has deemed them "not big enough" to headline SummerSlam alongside him. And it begs the question of just who he might feud with at next year's WrestleMania, provided he makes it that far as champion.
Let's say it's all in the execution, then. We know Rhodes is above going heel. So maybe the match should have Punk turn to retain. From an in-ring psychology standpoint, he's one of the greatest of all time. We saw that with the "old man" narrative at 'Mania against Roman Reigns.
How about a "savvy veteran" route where he uses heel tactics to get a win over Rhodes? They could slow-burn it throughout the course of the match, going from a respectable friendly bout to bloody mess where anything goes.
Punk winning would mean keeping the main-event scene as compelling as possible. Rhodes is better in chase mode, provided he doesn't take a merciful hiatus of his own. There's maybe some meat on the bone to savor if WWE even goes full-blown corporate heel Punk and loops in meta TKO storylines and stuff. Fans wouldn't complain. But it doesn't feel like a requirement, either.
Despite all this, one would think this is better off as a WrestleMania match. But with 'Mania heading overseas, the whole thing gets a little tricky.
Maybe, at the end of the day, WWE and all involved are worried about the injury bug, too. How many times have fans been looking at a "dream match" in six months or at a "bigger" show, only to have injuries ruin it? Punk himself, now 47, had a lengthy feud with Drew McIntyre while rehabbing a serious injury not all that long ago.
This is the fun of pro wrestling, though. Punk's title win feels like outside broadcast partner meddling, fair or not. But good old-fashioned storytelling can save the match and Punk's run as a whole.
After all, on paper, Punk should remember being "too old" to beat Reigns and what it cost him. He's going to do whatever it takes in the ring to make sure that history doesn't repeat itself against Rhodes, even if it means going from morally grey to all the way in the red.
Oftentimes, the "just go heel dude" suggestion is a clunker. But this is one of those times where Punk's recent history would justify it and make for must-see television weekly. And it would save the weird Zayn defeat, program-hopping stuff and instead make it a highlight for WWE.
