When you call yourself "The Best in the World" repeatedly, that means you should be able to adapt to any situation in wrestling. Whether you work as a face or a heel, you have to have an ability to do whatever the company asks. In CM Punk's case, he turned a few times in his career. Each time he did he became a bigger star. Punk turned heel in the summer of 2012 mainly because there was a realization that he could be a bigger star that way. It allowed him to have some huge matches in early 2013 with The Rock (twice) and The Undertaker. If he was a face those matches wouldn't have been as big a deal. Following his great match to Undertaker at WrestleMania 29, Punk went home for a couple of months. He had some nagging injuries that needed to heal, so it seemed like the right move. The June 2013 Payback event marked the return of Punk. He was cheered not only because he was in his hometown, but because he embraced it. Three months earlier, Punk drew massive heel heat by taunting Undertaker by using the urn that his dead friend Paul Bearer used to carry around. Punk also dumped the ashes from the urn onto Undertaker's body, which the fans absolutely hated. Wrestling fans have short memories, though. They cheered and he was back to being a good guy again. It could be argued that this turn was more of a manufactured one that WWE set up. In some ways it was, but it was telling to hear how much he was cheered three months after he had tormented The Undertaker so much. That's just another great example of how awesome WWE is at toying with the emotions of their fans.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
