It’s very fitting that CM Punk uses so many of Randy Savage’s moves now, because this title reign is shaping up to be the exact same kind of reign that Savage had when he first held the world title. Savage literally held the title from one Wrestlemania to the next, yet at no point during that reign was he seen as the top star in the company. It’s also very clear during this reign that CM Punk isn’t the top star in the WWE. Let’s take a quick look at the PPVs during his title reign.
Starting with TLC 2011, there have been twelve PPVs. CM Punk has been in the main event of four of them, with three of them being in the last three months. Of these twelve PPVs, John Cena has been in the main event of eight of them. Think about that. Cena has DOMINATED the main event scene for the last year while Punk has been in one third of the main events in the same span of time.
This presents the problem with Punk’s heel turn: it’s hard to disagree with him. Punk talks about not getting respect and he’s right: he hasn’t gotten much respect. If the talk hasn’t been about needing to beat John Cena, it’s about how Rock will certainly end his reign at the Rumble and go on to the real main event against Cena. Somehow, despite having what is likely to wind up as the sixth longest world title reign in company history, Punk is going to look like a transitional champion.
It also certainly doesn’t help that before he feuded with Cena, Punk’s feuds as champion had been with Dolph Ziggler, Chris Jericho and Daniel Bryan. While big names, they’re a clear step below the main event level guys. Jericho is a main event jobber, Ziggler is famous for having a fifteen minute title reign, and Bryan cashed in MITB and has since become a comedy character.
Despite all of the great matches he’s had, Punk has never been the top star of the company. Look back to the time he turned heel (it was at Raw 1000 when he attacked Rock in case you had forgotten). Even at the next PPV (Summerslam), the main event was a boss vs. a guy who had wrestled one match in the WWE in over eight years.
CM Punk has been world champion since November of 2011 and is going to wind up having the sixth longest WWE Championship reign of all time, yet when you look back at it, he’s been second on the WWE pole at best. WWE has clearly never seen him as the top guy, and that’s a major reason why the WWE Championship is considered much weaker today than it has been in the past. These 365 days, while an historic landmark, are going to be a footnote in WWE history, which is sad from Punk’s perspective and a shame for the championship itself.
