As you probably noticed, CM Punk wasnt at Raw in Chicago. The big question we received afterward is, Why? Although there was a lot of speculation and assumption that Punk had to return in Chicago, the reality is that WWE and Punk, according to WWE sources, have had very little, if any, contact and Punk made it clear he wasnt returning. Punks deal expires this July. According to WWE sources, no version of the Raw script was ever written with a Punk return segment. The opening with Paul Heyman was planned several days before with the belief that the company had to face the Punk chants in his hometown head on, because ignoring them would only lead to them becoming a distraction for the viewing audience. Raw was also loaded up to give Chicago a big show that would appease them as opposed to giving them a reason to chant that they wanted Punk. One person believed that was a Vince McMahon call. One version of the Raw script, as late as a few hours before they went on the air, was to feature Bad News Barrett delivering some bad news about Punk not being there in addition to the Heyman promo that opened the show, but the decision was made to cut the segment. I think that may have been wise as what made Heymans promo work was not burying Punk, but also acknowledging he was not there - then placing the blame on the fans and Undertaker to get heat on Heyman and build a new dimension for the Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar Wrestlemania 30 showdown. By having Barrett bring it up again only would have stoked the fire and possibly pissed off the audience. WWE certainly hoped to at least tease Punk might show up as a way to level off some of the pro-Punk chanting. AJ Lee was also not used on the Raw taping, likely because of her real life relationship with Punk, as a way to prevent loud chants for him. As far as Punk going forward in WWE, internally, the decision has been made to remove him from all marketing and publicity material as well as all videos that are played during live events. They wont publicly acknowledge the departure beyond what was said on TV as they have merchandise still to move and Punk was the #2 merchandise mover behind John Cena. So, they want that material to move for as long as it can. The bigger issue WWE will have to deal with is that Punk is a big part of several upcoming projects, including their Flintstones WWE Studios animated film and their Camp WWE online cartoon. WWE placed Hunico under a mask to continue the Sin Cara character partially because Cara was a big part of the Scooby Doo animated WWE Studios film and didnt want to date the project by having a departed character. If CM Punk doesnt return to the fold in some form, it should be interesting to see what the company intends to do about his inclusion in other projects.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 22:13:59 +0000