A New Era in WWE(?)

When a PPV delivers, especially the main event, & then the show goes off the air w/ more questions than answers I'd say that's a good nite.

-Jim Ross (on his Twitter last night @JRsBBQ) 

Compelling: Evoking interest, attention, or admiration in a powerfully irresistible way.  When I watched CM Punk deliver his promo on Monday Night Raw this week, that was the word that came to mind.

-Gus Ramsey (June 28, 2011 on his blog, Gus Stuff) 

For the first time in a long time the WWE, and more specifically CM Punk, is creating compelling drama leaving their viewers guessing.  It all started with Punk's promo to close Raw on June 27 and last night continuted the trend.

Last night was an historic night in Chicago as the viewers of WWE's Money in the Bank pay-per-view saw the newly crowned WWE champion leave the arena and, as part of the storyline, the company with the flagship championship belt.

Some background:  CM Punk's WWE contract was set to expire at some point this month.  Rumors swirled that he was going to be leaving the company.  The June 27 edition of Monday Night Raw ended with an emotional promo by Punk basically calling out the WWE, namely Vince McMahon and his higher ups, for not recognizing him as a star and affording him the opportunities to be a headliner that others have received.  

That promo was a masterpiece because no one knew how much of it was a "work" (scripted) and how much was a "shoot" (off the cuff).  The next week saw Vince McMahon "suspend" him only to "reinstate" him after pleading by the company's top star John Cena.

Last week in Boston Punk and McMahon went face to face during a "public negotiation".  Punk tore up a fictitious contract and vowed to defeat John Cena at Money in the Bank, become WWE Champion, and to leave once and for all with the belt.

For the past week more rumors swirled that Punk truly was unsigned after Money in the Bank and that the pay-per-view would be his last appearance.  Punk even conducted an interview in GQ and spoke more about his dissatisfaction with the company and how he truly planned to leave and go elsewhere.

All of that set the stage for the match itself in Chicago (Punk's hometown) last night.  WWE continued to tease the storyline that Punk was unsigned.

Shortly before 10 o'clock in the east CM Punk emerged from behind the curtain and received a hero's welcome from his hometown fans.  Right about this time it became clear that Punk was staying with the WWE.  He was debuting a new t-shirt and Poopa quickly noticed that it had the WWE logo on it, and I later noticed at least one fan in the crowd wearing it.  Obviously the company is not going to go to the trouble of producing new merchandise for a superstar that is leaving so now the only questions remaining were how WWE would handle the story line.

And they hit it out of the park.  They teased a "screwjob" finish where Vince tried to have the match stopped and Cena declared the winner (much like Montreal in 1997 with Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels).  After that backfired and Punk won the match Vince got on a headset and tried to have Alberto Del Rio rush to the ring and cash in his title shot to "save" the title.  Punk was able to escape out of the ring and, with a kiss goodbye to Vince and the WWE, escaped out of the arena through the crowd with the WWE Championship in hand.

So, as stated before, it is now clear that CM Punk is indeed still a WWE employee in real life.  The questions now all lie in how WWE treats the story line on television.

Per "stipulation" John Cena should be "fired" from the WWE by Vince McMahon on Raw this evening.  After that nothing is clear. 

How long will they keep Punk off of television?

Will they have him appear with the title in some smaller promotions to sell that he has indeed left the company with its championship?

How will Cena's "firing" be handled and will he be kept off television for any significant amount of time?

It is clear that WWE has caught lightning in a bottle with Punk, much like they did with Steve Austin back in 1997. They need to tread carefully though.  If they keep Punk off television too long he may lose some of the momentum that he has built over the last month.  If they bring him back too quick then the story line loses some of its luster.

There are lots of questions to be answered in terms of the story line and that is a good thing.  Not knowing what is going to happen is a very refreshing feeling.  As recently as April it seemed that WWE may have been stuck in a rut with no way out.  The only thing people seemed to have to look forward to was the Rock-Cena match scheduled for next year's Wrestlemania.  June 27 changed that and the past month has gotten wrestling fans instead looking with anticipation to each week's episode of Raw.

It's good to know that CM Punk will be around long-term with the WWE.  A new era has seemingly begun.

I have no idea what will happen next and I see that as a very good development.

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