Booking CM Punk's WWE Return

CM Punk's WWE return has moved a step closer with the news that the company is reportedly prepared to extend an olive-branch to its former world champion.

That means all we need for the fairy-tale ending to come true is Punk himself to rekindle his love of professional wresting, a sport for which he says he now feels "zero passion", give up the MMA career he's spent the last three years training for, and set aside a lifetime's worth of bitter resentment.

(And even then there could be issues over pay and merchandise royalties to straighten out first.)

However distant and far-flung the dream of a WWE-CM Punk reunion, though, wrestling fans can ill-afford to turn down such a tantalising fantasy booking opportunity - particularly with the real-life product given to slipping into a mid-year lull right around now.

Qualfiier: we're going to book things as though he will be signing on the dotted line tomorrow, however improbable that may be. This is so we can bounce off of present-day storyline and title dynamics, instead of trying to second-guess who will still be at the top years down the line.

It should hardly need to be said that Punk is unlikely to agree to a return without the promise of a red carpet being rolled out before him (indeed, the absence of leading man roles being sent his way was one of the primary reasons he took his ball home in the first place).

Simply put, the 38-year-old has to be shoe-horned into the main event, and it has to be at WrestleMania (oh, and they have to get Living Colour perform his entrance music live too - because it's just really cool).

So, in short, we're working backwards from the Straight Edge Superstar being in the headline match at WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans. And here's how we get there.