Would Things Have Been (Slightly) Better If Punk Had Stayed?

[Lockard 23]

People seem to believe that if Punk hadn't walked out on the company back in January, at Wrestlemania we would have gotten Punk/HHH while Orton defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Batista in the main event, leaving Bryan to wrestle a heel Sheamus in the undercard. However, in hindsight, knowing that the reason Bryan was put into the championship match (and booked to win the title) was to appease all the angry Bryan marks who would have shit all over the match in the absence of Bryan's involvement, it's safe to say Bryan would have ended up in the match anyway even if Punk had stayed. The only difference is, he doesn't have to pull double duty at Wrestlemania and we get Orton/Batista/Bryan and Punk/HHH instead of Orton/Batista/Bryan and Bryan/HHH.

I know people will say that that means no Bryan/HHH at Mania, which is true, but there's a pretty big certainty that we would have gotten it at Extreme Rules, especially since it was originally reported that Hunter may have gone over Punk in their match at Mania. HHH being pissed off that his "boys" Orton and Batista couldn't defeat Daniel Bryan and so now he has to assume the mantle and take the championship from him himself. It would have made for a much better main event for Extreme Rules than Bryan/Kane and one hell of a strong start to Bryan's championship reign as well.

Considering all that, are you fine with the way it is now, or would it have been slightly better to get Punk/HHH at Mania (which could have been awesome granted Punk brought back some of his edge) along with Bryan's big championship win at the end and then Bryan/HHH for the first time at ER?

 

[Snowman1]

It obviously depends on how much of a Punk fan you are, but I'd say your with-Punk plan for Bryan does sound a heck of a lot better. With them sticking Bryan in the title match that way, it would have changed the WM build. Triple H and CM Punk would have some back and forth conversations which would (on paper) be as epic as can be, while the Authority tries to screw over Bryan and they're forced to try to make Orton and Batista much bigger deals going into the world title match.

And best of all, look at Bryan's momentum. Bryan could get his feel-almost-as-good Wrestlemania moment, then ride that title wave of momentum into Extreme Rules against Triple H. That would be awesome! Him going from taking out HHH and Boretista in one night just to face Kane next month is really lame, so I'll happily take Punk back now.

The one question is, what would Punk be doing at ER in this hypothetical? He'd have to job to Hunter at WM, so he'd just be lost in the shuffle now. Would we wind up with Punkk vs Kane?

 

[RedDwarfTechy]

triple threat for #1 contender or probably end his feud with kane and send him away (kane probably costs him the match against Trips and then punk beats kane, kane leaves for a break) They were building towards that at the rumble with Kane interfering and whatnot.

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

I would have preferred it DB didn't do a double, but he vs HHH was MOTN so hard to complain. so I'll vote fuck Punk

 

[Just Kevin]

It is better with Punk gone to be honest.... I like Punk as a wrestler, but WM30 would have been nowhere near as good as it was without the story of Daniel Bryan winning 2 matches to become champion. In my opinion, Wrestlemania would not have been special at all... just another PPV with Bryan most likely being screwed out of the title again instead of winning it.. and as @Dolph'sZiggler stated the MOTN was Bryan/HHH so we would not have had that either. WM30 would have just been an average PPV with Punk there.

 

[Lockard 23]

The one question is, what would Punk be doing at ER in this hypothetical? He'd have to job to Hunter at WM, so he'd just be lost in the shuffle now.

Maybe he takes time off again after Wrestlemania. Remember that he was/is physically and mentally burned out, and has been for some time, and the fact that he would have stayed and wrestled Hunter at Mania wouldn't have changed that. As for how to write him out, a couple of ideas:

1. He suffers a beat down at the hands of the newly re-formed Evolution that puts him out. It'd have to be pretty brutal to convincingly put Punk on the shelf, but how does a few sledge hammer shots, a punt kick as Punk is crawling on his knees and then a Batista bomb through a table sound? (That's on top of the various kicks, punches, clotheslines and slams into the steels steps/ring posts that the three of them would already force him to endure before hand.)

2. Maybe they add a big time stipulation to their Wrestlemania match that states that if Punk defeats Triple H, then he and Stephanie are stripped of having any sort of power in the company. That sort of stip could have even brought McMahon back on television for a brief stint. In turn, The Authority proposes that CM Punk put his career on the line and agree that if he can't defeat Triple H, he'll retire from WWE for good. Build the match around that stipulation being almost two years in the making since Punk first did his "shoot" on HHH and the company back in 2011. And the result of the match is that HHH pulls out a dirty victory and shocks the hell out of people (since everyone would assume that Punk would be going over so that both he and Bryan would get their big moments at WMXXX - in this case, Bryan winning the championship and Punk vanquishing The Authority) by forcing Punk into retirement. Again, kind of a downer moment for Wrestlemania, and I don't really fancy the idea of going back on the career stipulation since it irritates me when they refuse to honor big stipulations like that (although it's been done plenty of times before... Savage, Flair, Cena, Austin, Foley, etc. all come to mind), but it would have been a surprising way to write Punk off of television for several months, and in the process, get Triple H a lot of heat going into his match with Bryan at ER. Plus, for what it's worth, Punk could have still received a small bit of retribution at the end if he were to run out to Bryan's aid and stop HHH from interfering in the title match, ensuring that no outside interference would stop Bryan from becoming champion yet again.

 

[Wacokid27]

It would have been a stronger series of events with Punk still there, because we would be seeing an ER main event of a pissed-off HHH vs. WWEWHC Bryan (there was little chance he wasn't ending the night as WWEWHC once he was added to the mix; the whole reason he was put there was because of the ire of the fans with the fact that he was continually screwed out of his title reigns; the "You deserve it" chants are the feelings of most WWE fans, including, maybe especially, the casuals). Meanwhile, you would have Punk taking on Kane in an inferno match or something similar for Punk to retaliate after Kane cost him the win in the Mania match against HHH. Meanwhile, you'd likely have Rollins and Reigns (with Ambrose in their corner) against Batista/Orton (with Steph in their corner), plus Cena/Wyatt. The ER event would actually be a bigger deal.

As for the idea that Mania would have just been another event if Bryan had "just" been in the main event and we'd gotten Punk/HHH instead, I don't think so. Wrestlemania was always going to be a bigger-than-average event. We still would have gotten the Streak being ended, we still would have gotten Austin, Hogan, and the Rock toasting in the middle of the ring, we still would have gotten Cesaro throwing Big Show over the top rope, we still would have gotten Cena/Wyatt (which was an excellent match), we would have gotten a likely epic match between Punk and HHH (both guys are at their best when the lights are brightest, after all), and we still would have ended the night with the collective Universe orgasm of Daniel Bryan getting the WWEWHC over Orton and Batista. How could that event not be huge?

Having said all that, though, I think WWE have literally given us the best scenario they could with the reality being what it is. They have taken the proverbial lemons left by Punk's departure and made some extremely tasty proverbial lemonade.

wk

 

[Leo C]

I'm fine with the way it turned out. I think the scenarios even each other out, even though DB wouldn't be facing Kane here, assuming he faced Hunter on ER, who's to say he wouldn't have faced a lesser opponent on the following PPV? It would've been the same on the long run, except that Punk would've jobbed. I'd be fine with either, but I have to say the IWC heat when Hunter pinned Punk at WM would've been pretty entertaining :dawg:

 

[Lockard 23]

As for the idea that Mania would have just been another event if Bryan had "just" been in the main event and we'd gotten Punk/HHH instead, I don't think so. Wrestlemania was always going to be a bigger-than-average event. We still would have gotten the Streak being ended, we still would have gotten Austin, Hogan, and the Rock toasting in the middle of the ring, we still would have gotten Cesaro throwing Big Show over the top rope, we still would have gotten Cena/Wyatt (which was an excellent match), we would have gotten a likely epic match between Punk and HHH (both guys are at their best when the lights are brightest, after all), and we still would have ended the night with the collective Universe orgasm of Daniel Bryan getting the WWEWHC over Orton and Batista. How could that event not be huge?

Yeah, anyone who says the event would have been average just because of the difference of one match is being a silly goose. I know Triple H/Bryan was MOTN, but Punk/HHH would have still been excellent enough that on top of all the other pivotal moments of the event, it would have still gone down in the record books as a great Wrestlemania. If an event has to rely on the excellence of one match to be considered 'great' overall, it really isn't all that great.

 

[Wacokid27]

Yeah, anyone who says the event would have been average just because of the difference of one match is being a silly goose. I know Triple H/Bryan was MOTN, but Punk/HHH would have still been excellent enough that on top of all the other pivotal moments of the event, it would have still gone down in the record books as a great Wrestlemania. If an event has to rely on the greatness of one match to be considered 'great' overall, it really isn't all that great.

A "silly goose"?

wk

 

[Crayo]

I feel if Punk was there Bryan doesn't win the championship. Face Punk was stale and boring anyway so it hasn't made much difference, so with that in mind I'm glad he left when he did so Bryan could get the spotlight he deserved. However, I do wish he came back now. I'm hoping he returns as a heel to feud with Bryan once the Authority angle is over. Imagine Punk returning as a pissed off heel saying he should have been given the spotlight Bryan is in right now. The promos and the matches would be incredible.

 

[Leo C]

I feel if Punk was there Bryan doesn't win the championship. Face Punk was stale and boring anyway so it hasn't made much difference, so with that in mind I'm glad he left when he did so Bryan could get the spotlight he deserved. However, I do wish he came back now. I'm hoping he returns as a heel to feud with Bryan once the Authority angle is over. Imagine Punk returning as a pissed off heel saying he should have been given the spotlight Bryan is in right now. The promos and the matches would be incredible.

Yeah, that'd be pretty good. I agree face Punk was pretty boring before he left, but if he came back motivated and with an actual angle to work with as you said we could get some fun matches.

 

[Lockard 23]

A "silly goose"?

wk

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=silly goose

 

[Crayo]

The guy just wants to be a heel and is one one of the best wrestlers on the planet at playing a heel, but he's over too much with the fans. WWE still hasn't figured out how to use that and have him as one of the most entertaining faces in wrestling. Whenever Punk turns face he just loses most of his attitude, increases the amount of Cena-like jokes he says, and gets beaten down 99% of the time. All of the infamous heel tactics he used to use go out of the window and he becomes one of the most predictable, kayfabe-stupid, and boring faces on the roster. The most annoying thing out of all of that is the way he is booked like a superman who "overcomes the odds". What does WWE see wrong with a face winning in ways like Eddie Guerrero used to?

 

[Snowman1]

They tried to book ADR like Eddie when he was a face. Guess faces winning dirty is only an option for Mexicans.