Do you think Punk appears before Payback?

[Crayo]

Since he has a match announced, do you think he'll be on any RAWs coming up to help build it?

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

Nah

 

[DK JAMES]

Nah, I feel it'd be much more epic if he just returned officially at Payback in Chicago.

 

[Craveni97]

I didn't saw him since WM..Why was he gone?

 

[Super Saiyan Goku]

Nah, I feel it'd be much more epic if he just returned officially at Payback in Chicago.

I agree.

 

[Stopspot]

I didn't saw him since WM..Why was he gone?

In the story: He needed to find himself after losing the title and after losing to the Undertaker.

Real life: His knee was acting up and he was a bit burned out so he got vacation.

 

[GrammarNazi82]

I suspect he won't. It adds to the fans' suspense by not having him appear at all until the PPV. Plus as already mentioned it'd make his return have that much more of an impact if he just suddenly shows up at the PPV in front of his hometown crowd without a prior return.

 

[Aydind]

Sources say Payback and I will follow that.

 

[Lockard 23]

I'm doubtful if he's even coming back at Payback, let alone any Raw leading up to it. If he does return, it's more special if he doesn't appear until the PPV, since people would kind of have to pay to see his first appearance back. Since this whole angle is obviously setting up some Punk face turn via splitting from Heyman, it helps to have him come back to the biggest reaction possible, which would be his hometown of Chicago. Remember the reaction he got at MITB 2011?

If he doesn't appear until then, there would also be speculation if he's even returning at all if we don't hear anything about accepting the Jericho match except from Heyman himself every week. Reminds me of Kevin Nash promising Scott Hall would return to fight at his side at Slamboree 1998 and no one knew for sure whether he would until the PPV.

Either way, I'm expecting Curtis Axel to end up fighting the match for Punk.

 

[Crayo]

I too am doubtful he'll be at Payback in a match, but I could see a segment of some sort since it's in his hometown, and the fact he's being advertised to perform there.

 

[Brad.]

I really hope he doesn't.

Of course he won't back out of Payback. Imagine the anger of the fans as Heyman says "CM Punk isn't here tonight, but McGillicutty will take his place against Jericho".

 

[Lockard 23]

The most likely scenario (given he doesn't wrestle) is that someone attacks him off-screen and lays him out. As a result, Paul Heyman turns to Curtis Axel as the replacement, who ends up getting a big pin fall victory over Jericho (with some sort of cheating, I'm sure.) The next night, Heyman says that he wants Axel to find out who attacked Punk and then do the same to them. Axel says there's no need to look because he's standing right here. He confesses to laying out Punk because he feels Heyman is making a mistake with relying on Punk to fight a match with Jericho instead of him.

Heyman is impressed with the balls on Axel to go after the "best in the world" and take him out. He continues to support Axel over the coming weeks until eventually, Punk returns and some serious shit starts up, likely resulting rather quickly with Punk round house kicking Heyman in the skull and going after Curtis Axel for revenge.

I know Chicago fans will be pissed (and fans in general) of not getting to see Punk wrestle after being "advertised", but they'll simply try and transfer that heat (storyline wise) to Curtis Axel for attacking Punk and denying the fans and especially the home crowd Chicago of seeing Punk. They'll likely even promote the match with a question mark by having Punk remain silent during the build to the PPV, leading people to speculate on their own that Punk might not wrestle so that they won't set themselves up for disappointment if he doesn't.

 

[Swift]

I really hope he doesn't.

 

[Tumbas' #1 Fan]

I bet he comes back the Raw after Payback.

 

[Aids Johnson]

I bet he flies down the rafters like Owen Hart, and the chicago fans all pee their pants. He will be on Smackdown's go home show, just to kill the hype.