What could come of CM Punk's return to the dark side?

[GrammarNazi82]

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper once boasted, "When I'm good, I'm good. When I'm bad, I'm better."

The same can be said for Piper's modern-day spiritual successor, CM Punk.

Punk concluded the final minutes of WWE's 1,000th episode of Raw in memorable fashion Monday, first by taking advantage of the Big Show's interference in Punk's WWE Championship match with John Cena, then by laying out The Rock when he ran to the ring to fend off Show. On commentary, Jerry Lawler remarked that Punk's actions amounted to him turning his back on the WWE Universe.

But Punk did the exact opposite to his most devout fans. Anyone who's followed his career — as recently as last year and as far back as Ring of Honor — knows that Punk's at his peak when he's bad. When he's raging against the WWE corporate machine or sermonizing about his straight-edge lifestyle, Punk just breathes a fire he can't quite muster when he's making PG jokes about John Laurinaitis or flirting with AJ. As a longtime Punk fan, I welcome the change, and am sure many others will, too.

I am a little confused about Punk's turn, though, for two reasons. First, his in-ring work has been outstanding against the likes of Daniel Bryan and Mark Henry, and that's compromised by a character change, which all but necessitates a switch in wrestling style. Second, the next few months see some lucrative fruits of Punk's past year as the WWE's No. 2 (full-time) superstar. His DVD/Blu-Ray set "Best in the World" releases in October, and "WWE '13," which features Punk on the cover, comes later that month. I suppose Punk's supporters are the sort that'll buy his compilation regardless, and the video game is far bigger than just him. Still, WWE usually prefers to tie these kinds of products to people warmly regarded by its fans.

Turning Punk bad could have more specific implications than what I've described above, though. In terms of storylines and matches, Punk's newfound perch as the WWE's lead bad guy could rocket him to the top of quite a few cards over the next year....

Continue reading...

To be quite honest, I hadn't even considered the possible hurt to WWE's sales of the DVD/Blu-Ray and video game with Punk possibly turning heel. I could see how that might be an issue, but as it mentions the game is bigger than just one wrestler, and diehard Punk fans will likely buy the DVD regardless.

In order to not take up too much room, I snipped it at the part where it was about to get into some scenarios that the writer would like to see, but I thought it was an interesting read and wondered what others might think of some of those scenarios (some previously mentioned here, some not).

Also, I do like the final line of the article, "Such a star-studded itinerary of matches coming true for Punk would cement the fact that being bad just does him good."

 

[Aids Johnson]

Booooooooooooooooo. Thats all im putting.

 

[Crayo]

Very good read. As for the sales, Punk isn't a draw as a face if you judge by the statistics. I doubt such a franchise like WWE video games will be hurt by one guy, especially hen the main draw seems to be the return of the attitude era on the game. As for his DVD, I think their target audience for that seems to be the smark fans, or long-term fans of CM Punk. Who knows, I'm not sure how much profit they get from DVD's anyway in comparison to merch etc.

As for the topic on hand, I agree with it all. Either way this is great for Punk and great for fans,. Him aligning with Lesnar and costing HHH thus entering a feud with big nose himself would be great, but HHH will have to put him over this time. No bullshit burials like before, I'm not sure if his ego could take losing to Lesnar THEN Punk.

The most likely one imo is feuding with Cena, keeping the belt until Rock takes it from him. Then Rock will feud with Cena at WM.

 

[GrammarNazi82]

Booooooooooooooooo. Thats all im putting.

:finger:

 

[Aids Johnson]

:finger:

no you! :serious::

 

[GrammarNazi82]

no you! :serious::

Never, damnit! :serious:

 

[Aids Johnson]

Never, damnit! :serious:

:bury:

 

[GrammarNazi82]

Very good read. As for the sales, Punk isn't a draw as a face if you judge by the statistics. I doubt such a franchise like WWE video games will be hurt by one guy, especially hen the main draw seems to be the return of the attitude era on the game. As for his DVD, I think their target audience for that seems to be the smark fans, or long-term fans of CM Punk. Who knows, I'm not sure how much profit they get from DVD's anyway in comparison to merch etc.

As for the topic on hand, I agree with it all. Either way this is great for Punk and great for fans,. Him aligning with Lesnar and costing HHH thus entering a feud with big nose himself would be great, but HHH will have to put him over this time. No bullshit burials like before, I'm not sure if his ego could take losing to Lesnar THEN Punk.

The most likely one imo is feuding with Cena, keeping the belt until Rock takes it from him. Then Rock will feud with Cena at WM.

Glad someone else enjoyed it. I agree. I hadn't considered the sales aspect of it, but I really don't think it would hurt their sales much -- if any -- to have Punk turn heel between now and then.

I do think it will be a good change for Punk and will hopefully keep him from becoming stale, as some have complained about with him lately. Being a heel or tweener seems to fit him better, and I can't really see him ever being 100% face. The Lesnar/HHH bit with Punk could be interesting and was one scenario I hadn't personally thought of. However, if they took that route, they'd have to be careful how they handled it. No burials, like you said.

Still agree it will most likely be Punk/Cena feuding. I could also see that angle from the standpoint of Punk being champion yet still not being in the ME for so many PPVs and such, with Cena still typically holding the ME spot.

Regardless, I think this could be a nice turn of events and could really go somewhere, as long as WWE Creative will put forth the effort and keep it from going to shit.

 

[Crayo]

This is probably the first time I have faith in WWE Creative. They've handled Punk brilliantly since his shoot. They have so much faith in him which is all we ask for. When was the last time someone who wasn't stupidly built and actually deserved the spotlight had so much faith in them by WWE? It seems both Bryan and Punk have that and that's a great sign.

 

[Mainstream87]

Wherever they put Punk he's going to thrive (even at commentary.). As a diehard Punk fan that was a good read man.

I can't see sales being concerning really at all. Pre-Shoot I disnt really like where they were taking Punk at all, even if he made it still somewhat entertaining. With this faith wwe obviously has with him, it's nice to see this long unpredictable title run. So for me the heel turn makes this even more creative and interesting. So at the moment high praise. Next they need to bring back Colt Cabana :'(

 

[Crayo]

Wherever they put Punk he's going to thrive (even at commentary.).

Nobody can touch me :isee:

 

[Asskicker]

I honestly can't wait for the promos Punk will make. They will be sweet and he will make WWE interesting again. Maybe this year Punk will remark on how ever since he got the championship and returned, he went soft and not a lot of changes were made but now he realizes he was the biggest thing in WWE and still should be so he would start pushing for changes.

 

[GrammarNazi82]

Wherever they put Punk he's going to thrive (even at commentary.). As a diehard Punk fan that was a good read man.

Thanks, man. :dawg:

I agree with you, though. I'm a huge fan of Punk, and I like him both in the ring and outside the ring. I think he can do a great job wherever they put him, and so many people do enjoy him on commentary. (I still love the "camel fur" blazer bit, and his exchange with HHH when HHH told him he could do commentary and wear his blazer.)

I don't know if Colt will ever get to come back to WWE, but I do like him, as well.

 

[Mainstream87]

I honestly can't wait for the promos Punk will make. They will be sweet and he will make WWE interesting again. Maybe this year Punk will remark on how ever since he got the championship and returned, he went soft and not a lot of changes were made but now he realizes he was the biggest thing in WWE and still should be so he would start pushing for changes.

Like a new title design he said he'd change :')

__________

Thanks, man. :dawg:

I agree with you, though. I'm a huge fan of Punk, and I like him both in the ring and outside the ring. I think he can do a great job wherever they put him, and so many people do enjoy him on commentary. (I still love the "camel fur" blazer bit, and his exchange with HHH when HHH told him he could do commentary and wear his blazer.)



I don't know if Colt will ever get to come back to WWE, but I do like him, as well.

I still love the bit where Michael Cole thanks everyone for joining them at the end of the PPV, and Punk just screams "You're Welcome". Hah many classics.

 

[Crayo]

Anyone else think he'll come out with a new title design soon?

Edit: Posted this without reading the above posts, damn I was ninja'd.