Copyright: WWE Royal Rumble 2014 Blu-rayWhen CM Punk failed to appear on Raw the night after the Royal Rumble, his absence was met with silence from the announcers, from the superstars, from corporate headquarters. It wasnt until weeks later on a conference call when Vince McMahon said Punk was on sabbatical that we got a real status update. It seemed like WWE went to great lengths to keep the reality of Punks departure apart from the internal fiction of WWE programming. That began to change at Chicago Raw, when WWE clearly couldnt ignore the chants any longer. But even then, they played to the chants with Paul Heyman, who then diverted away from Punk to Undertaker/Lesnar. Things didnt really begin getting hairy until recently, when Stephanie McMahon took fan chants and twisted them to tell Daniel Bryan that the fans wanted him to quit, just like CM Punk did. The question that fans keep asking over and over (and over) is whether Punk really has quit WWE or if this is the most elaborate ruse of all time. (For example, Punk quit (according to Stephanie), but his profile is still listed under the active roster.) The incessant speculation about Punks status or impending returns has led to a lot of web hits, but yielded little in terms of actual substance. Regardless of the outcome, the fact is that Punks real-life departure has become something of a storyline within WWE, and many fans are going crazy trying to figure out the truth.