WWE: Could Former Rivals CM Punk and John Cena Form a New Alliance?

The WWE seems to be full of new trends of late, such as long-term storyline planning and some actual focus on the Divas division.

But one trend that seems to have gone unnoticed is the emergence of the dynamic duo.

Just over the last few months or so, we’ve seen the creative team pull the trigger on numerous pairings on both Raw and Smackdown.

Ted DiBiase reunited with Cody Rhodes, Beth Phoenix and Natalya have teamed up as the Divas of Doom, The Great Khali is essentially serving as Jinder Mahal’s bodyguard, Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger might be forming some kind of partnership alongside Vickie Guerrero, R-Truth and The Miz are rebelling against Triple H and the WWE’s conspiracy theorists, and Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne hooked up to become the WWE Tag Team Champions.

It seems that the new rule among the creative team is the old “two is better than one philosophy,” with some of the WWE’s most well-known superstars no longer going at it alone.

That trend could very well continue with a surprising alliance between two huge stars who were once bitter enemies: John Cena and CM Punk.

It’s hard to imagine these two guys getting along given the long history they have with each other, but some circumstances call for drastic measures. And this appears to be one of those times when Cena and Punk will have to unite for the good of the WWE.

Why? Because there is undoubtedly something fishy going on at the top of the company.

Going back to the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Vince McMahon sent out the WWE’s Vice President of Talent Relations, John Laurinaitis, to prevent Punk from leaving Chicago (and the WWE in general) as the WWE Champion.

Laurinaitis failed to do so, Punk pinned Cena and then bolted the company with the WWE title in tow. Ultimately, that led to the WWE’s Board of Directors deciding to relieve Vince of his duties and appoint Triple H as the C.O.O.

Now, at SummerSlam, Punk once again defeated Cena for the WWE Championship, but it was not without controversy. Someone—we still aren’t quite sure who—sent a text to Kevin Nash, telling him to “stick the winner” after the match.

Nash followed the orders, laid out Punk and cost him the WWE Championship. Then, on Monday’s Raw, Nash did it again.

Laurinaitis had told Triple H earlier on Raw that Nash was involved in a car accident, causing Triple H to leave the show and Laurinaitis to take control of Raw in Triple H’s absence. But, lo and behold, Nash wasn’t involved in any car accident whatsoever, and he showed up during the main event between Cena and Punk, distracted Punk and screwed him over once again.

Most of us initially assumed that it was Triple H who sent the text to Nash, but based on what happened on Monday’s Raw, it appears that Laurinaitis is the man behind the campaign to screw Punk over and is perhaps doing so at the request of Vince and/or Stephanie McMahon.

After all, Punk is the main reason why Vince is longer working as the WWE’s C.E.O., and the recent backstage segments between Punk and Stephanie lead me to believe that Stephanie is attempting to get revenge on Punk for getting her father fired…and she is getting Laurinaitis to do most of the dirty work.

However, in the attempts to screw Punk over, Laurinaitis has pissed off someone else as well. That man is John Cena.

After two stellar matches with Punk at Money in the Bank and SummerSlam, Cena has continuously praised Punk, even going so far as to tell Del Rio that Punk is the only guy in the WWE who can go toe-to-toe with him. Thus, Cena hasn’t taken kindly to Del Rio cashing in on a wounded Punk and, in all likelihood, won’t be thrilled about the way he became the No. 1 Contender to the WWE Championship on Raw.

Cena only won that match due to the distraction from Nash and the inaction of Laurinaitis, and I’d fully expect him to call out Nash, Laurinaitis and Del Rio on next week’s Raw in order to see why they didn’t want Punk to become the No. 1 Contender.

Another question on Cena’s mind: Why have Laurinaitis and Nash essentially caused both Cena (at Money in the Bank) and Punk (on Monday’s Raw) to lose their shots at the WWE Championship?

Seemingly, there’s a conspiracy—how do you like that, R-Truth?—to keep the WWE Championship of off both Cena and Punk, who are Raw’s top two faces. And the person who’s benefited the most from what’s recently happened to Punk and Cena is none other than Alberto Del Rio.

Now, it’s unclear at this point whether or not Del Rio is in cahoots with Laurinaitis and Nash, but it’s beginning to appear that way. And, if that’s indeed the case or even if it isn’t, then Cena and Punk could band together to prevent Nash—or Laurinaitis, Vince, Stephanie or whoever it exactly is behind the text—from working together to help Del Rio, while also preventing both of them from winning back the WWE Championship.

Though this might not make sense given the recent history between Punk and Cena, they’re now arguably the two top faces in the WWE.

We’ve seen in the past that former rivals—like Cena and Randy Orton—can completely put their past behind them once they’re both fan favorites, and that’s exactly what we could see happen here.

For instance, we could see Nash, Del Rio and Laurinaitis on one side, Punk and Cena on the other, and Triple H somewhere in the middle.

Now, it’s time to play the waiting game and see if a union between Punk and Cena will actually happen.

For the greater good of the WWE, it might have to.