He isn't though. He is a poor mans Jericho and they let real one walk twice and return down the line. He busts his ass in that ring, can talk up a storm, but at the end of the day he is nothing more than a transitional champ or star of a brand in transition.
He is no go to guy and his ceiling isn't high like Cena's or Miz's when it comes to reaching an audience of more than wrestling fans. He doesn't appeal to a demographic like Rey and Del Rio. He isn't the guy who can be a monster at any time like a pissed off Kane or Big Show. He isn't the 3rd generation, relatively young and highly over pretty boy like Orton. He also isn't a guy who can appeal to the old fan, current fan, and new fan like Taker and HHH can.
His place is that of upper mid carder, but he will never be the man on the A brand. He will never be the big draw, merch pusher, headliner of events during an upswing, or guy who goes in and as a heel with a stacked deck and can seriously be thought of as prevailing versus the underdog face like a truly great heel will. He just has his limits; some of you might not like them but it is clear as day what they are.
I know that Mak, Pyro, Sal, and even you will want to say differently and call me out for it, but you can't really cite anything factual in his WWE run that says anything different from what I just posted. I'd bet you also can't tell me that you honestly believe, not want, but believe Punk is close to an equal with a chance of winning when put against Cena, Rey, Big Show, or Orton even with SES and Nexus as his stables. Miz, Orton, Dave, Edge, Taker, HHH, HBK, and those guys never didn't have a legit believable, not wishful, but believable chance to win in a big match environment as a heel; Punk however has always been the guy who they book to fall flat on his face with everything in his favor at every stage, in short a joke of a threat to the main guys.
And at the end of the day if you are Vince, you know he is too big for ROH and has had it way worse at TNA, so you don't kiss his ass. You just let it play out, how it plays it because while losing Punk hurts, he isn't a top tier level star to make a difference and you have lost far better and more important when it comes to the bottom line.
That is 100% Real Talk!