The CM Punk angle...

The current angle CM Punk is working through all kicked off with that promo a couple of months back. In 6 minutes, he blew us away with the delivery and content of one of the most memorable promo’s in recent years…

But:

Has he really been held down that much? In 6 years in WWE, he’s won 2 Money In The Banks, won the triple crown of world, IC and tag crowns quicker than anyone. He’s lead his own faction, wrestled at 4 Wrestlemania’s, and has received the kind of attention most wrestlers could only dream of. For me, that takes away some of this angle: he’s had the chances, and to some extent it’s his own fault that things have gone south. His run with Jeff Hardy left him right on the brink of superstardom, and it’s his ill-fated chat with the Undertaker that caused his demotion down the card.

So, my theory is this: would this angle have worked better if Christian was in the CM Punk role?

Christian’s a guy who has been hugely over-looked for years, and really only got his eventual main event and 2 very short reigns because Edge was gone. Sympathy reigns, if you will. Imagine the promo if Christian had delivered it…:


John Cena, while you lay there, hopefully as uncomfortable as you possibly can be, I want you to listen to me.
I want you to digest this because before I leave in 3 weeks with your WWE Championship, I have a lot of things I want to get off my chest.
I don’t hate you, John. I don’t even dislike you. I do like you. I like you a hell of a lot more than I like most people in the back.
I hate this idea that you’re the best. Because you’re not. I’m the best. I’m the best in the world. There’s one thing you’re better at than I am and that’s kissing Vince McMahon’s ass.
You’re as good as kissing Vince McMahon’s ass as Hulk Hogan was. I don’t know if you’re as good as Dwayne though. He’s a pretty good ass kisser. Always was and still is.
Whoops! I’m breaking the fourth wall! (Punk waves to the camera)
I am the best wrestler in the world.
I’ve been the best since day one when I walked into this company. And I’ve been vilified and hated since that day because Jim Ross saw something in me that nobody else wanted to admit. That’s right, I’m a Ross guy. You know who else was a Jim Ross guy? Jeff Hardy. And he split just like I’m splitting. But the biggest difference between me and Jeff is I’m going to leave with the WWE Championship.
I’ve grabbed so many of Vincent K. McMahon’s brass rings that it’s finally dawned on me that there just that, they’re completely imaginary. The only thing that’s real is me and the fact that day in and day out, for almost eleven years, I have proved to everybody in the world that I am the best on this microphone, in that ring, even in commentary! Nobody can touch me!
And yet no matter how many times I prove it, I’m not on your lovely little collector cups. I’m not on the cover of the program. I’m barely promoted. I don’t get to be in movies. I’m certainly not on any crappy show on the USA Network. I’m not on the poster of WrestleMania. I’m not on the signature that’s produced at the start of the show. I’m not on Conan O’Brian. I’m not on Jimmy Fallon. But the fact of the matter is, I should be.
This isn’t sour grapes. But the fact that Dwayne is in the main event at WrestleMania next year and I’m not makes me sick! Hell, I was a glorified corner-man at Mania this year, and finally got a world title shot because it took my best friend to retire!
Oh hey, let me get something straight. Those of you who are cheering me right now, you are just as big a part of me leaving as anything else. Because you’re the ones who are sipping on those collector cups right now. You’re the ones that buy those programs that my face isn’t on the cover of. And then at five in the morning at the airport, you try to shove it in my face and get an autograph and try to sell it on Ebay because you’re too lazy to go get a real job.
I’m leaving with the WWE Championship on July 17th. And hell, who knows, maybe I’ll go defend it in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Maybe…I’ll go back to TNA, where they recognized my talent and made me world champion!
(Punk looks at the camera and waves)
Hey, Kurt Angle, how you doing?
The reason I’m leaving is you people. Because after I’m gone, you’re still going to pour money into this company. I’m just a spoke on the wheel. The wheel is going to keep turning and I understand that. Vince McMahon is going to make money despite himself. He’s a millionaire who should be a billionaire. You know why he’s not a billionaire? Because he surrounds himself with glad-handed, nonsensical, douchebag yes men, like John Laurinaitis, who’s going to tell him everything he wants to hear, and I’d like to think that maybe this company will better after Vince McMahon is dead. But the fact is, it’s going to be taken over by his idiotic daughter and his doofus son-in-law and the rest of his stupid family.
Let me tell you a personal story about Vince McMahon alright. We do this whole (anti) bully campaign...

At the moment, I’ve almost lost interest in the CM Punk story, because I just don’t believe in him anymore. He left… and came back barely a week later. He’s had so many opportunities in comparison to a lot of guys on the card… I’d find it much better, more believable if WWE had gone with Christian instead.

not sure if christian could've cut the promo with the same kind of passion as Punk did and im a big christian fan

I wouldn't say i've lost intrest in the CM Punk Story just yet. He's cutting really good promo's. I've read that they are the same as he cut in RoH and apparently that was his best work.

Regarding Christian, it could work. But he would be one of the very few who could do it but at this moment in time, CM Punk, for me, is the right person.

CM Punk has had the title reigns, Wrestlemania matches, MITB wins and but why has Christian not? Surely something has happened there to stop him elevating to Punks level?

For me, the whole angle has just got too stupidly complex. It should have been the easiest angle to put together - unhappy employee wanting to leave loudly, unscrupulous boss not wanting him to go. Hell, they pulled off a variation of this with Austin and Vince...

Instead, we get Kevin Nash, text messages, fake firings (now up to three), John Laurinaitus, car crashes, heels interrupting and then totally going against their earlier actions within 3 minutes...

As well as Punk is playing his role, it's all over the place around him. Because of the titles he's won, and the booking attention he's enjoyed, he's achieved far more than most guys will ever do in WWE. And that takes away the believability of it.

Christian, on the other hand, has been the internet darling for years, had legitimately been overlooked and it took Edge to retire before he got anywhere. There has to be some frustration on his part at how his career went after resigning with WWE (from a rumoured match with Jeff Hardy at Mania, to a bit-part in MITB, to ECW)... I think he'd be equally as passionate as Punk is.

But why is Christian being over-looked??? I get what you are saying Grec and I agree (it just takes a little longer to sink in) with you. They have made it to complex.

R-Truth and The Miz being around this angle seems a little silly. They should of kept the conspiresy theory angle going but kept it away from Punk. Just focus on HHH

I don't think anyone has ever come up with the definitive reason why Christian is overlooked - the popular theory is that he's too slender to be champ, but that's not something I buy at all. There's not much difference between him, Shawn Michaels, Edge, Bret Hart or even CM Punk, builld-wise.

My theory is that if he'd stayed in WWE in 2005, and not gone to TNA, he'd have been a main-eventer. he was starting to get world title PPV matches (I remember a triple threat between him, Cena and either Kurt Angle or Jericho), and then he left, having refused to sign a new contract. I honestly think if he'd stayed, he'd have made it. Instead, he went to TNA which pissed off Vince n' Steph, and they've 'punished' him since he came back.

I've always kind of thought the first part of your post grec. It's easy to make comparisons to hhh's first 5 years to cm punks. And now instead of marrying steph, he's feuding with hhh and steph even popped up on tv ffs lol. But as it's wrestling we have to suspend disbelief and punk is pretty good at helping with that through top quality promo work. Did christian ever steal the show in tna? I can't remember seeing him as a top top face even in tna, eloquent, yes. X factor, not too sure. Although i didnt see much of him in tna and he was actually part of the reason i stopped watching first time round. When he threw himself into the ring apron while his opponent stood there about to throw him into it. Not the soul reason, but it was a cherry on top of how embarrassing tna was.

Sexton Hardcastle wrote:

I've always kind of thought the first part of your post grec. It's easy to make comparisons to hhh's first 5 years to cm punks. And now instead of marrying steph, he's feuding with hhh and steph even popped up on tv ffs lol. But as it's wrestling we have to suspend disbelief and punk is pretty good at helping with that through top quality promo work. Did christian ever steal the show in tna? I can't remember seeing him as a top top face even in tna, eloquent, yes. X factor, not too sure. Although i didnt see much of him in tna and he was actually part of the reason i stopped watching first time round. When he threw himself into the ring apron while his opponent stood there about to throw him into it. Not the soul reason, but it was a cherry on top of how embarrassing tna was.

Wasn't it Scott Steiner who threw himself into the apron?

It was Christian, but it was Steiner who was involved, or not involved as Christian done it himself.