4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (9 February - Results & Review)
UPS…
4. Punk Carries The Day
After Finn Balor finally left, CM Punk got down to business with his World Heavyweight Championship feud with Roman Reigns, who will challenge him at WrestleMania 42.
Punk had just accepted a challenge for the title at Elimination Chamber against Balor, so he leaned into that a bit, pointing out that he would fight anybody, anywhere for the crown. He then delivered a very self-aware “without risk, there’s no reward,” and that he’s humble enough to know his title reign could end at any given moment – but not today.
It’s an unfortunate truth that Punk is going to have to carry large swaths of this rivalry in the build to Mania, and distractions like this can help elevate a placeholder week, which is what Monday was. Punk was able to use his just-accepted World Heavyweight Championship challenge as fuel for the WrestleMania match, which was very economical of him.