6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (Results & Review - January 29)

1. The Wheels Fall Off… Again

Call it unlucky, call it whatever you’d like, but CM Punk fans can’t help but think their guy is snakebitten.

After a decade away from WWE, hell froze over for the Second City Saint, allowing him to return to the company he walked out on, setting the stage for the most improbable comeback story maybe in WWE history. The fact that his first televised WWE match in a decade was the same as his last – the Royal Rumble match – was too perfect.

Monday, however, Punk revealed that he had torn his triceps in the match, all but assuredly taking him out of WrestleMania 40 and scuttling any plans of him achieving his dream and main-eventing the Showcase of the Immortals. While it’s not anyone’s fault, it also can’t be given an “up” either, hence the incident’s placement here.

Punk’s rah-rah speech rang a bit hollow when you realize that this is now the third significant injury he’s sustained in his last 14 televised matches, dating back to June 2022. Sure, it might be a “flesh wound” or a “bump in the road,” but it keeps happening and keeps sidelining the mercurial superstar. At some point, it’s not adversity, it’s either insanely bad luck, or it’s Punk’s body trying to get his attention.

Wrestling is better with CM Punk in it, so you hope this is just what he says it is, and he returns later this spring or summer and picks right back up where he left off. But this is a tremendous blow, especially with Seth Rollins’ immediate future unclear as well.