Wrestling purists will tell you that Phil CM Punk Brooks did his best work in Ring Of Honor, long before he set foot in a WWE ring. Theres definitely an argument to be made for that: but you cant tell the story of Punks pro wrestling career without detailing his peerless heel work in the Straight Edge Society in 2010, the Second Summer Of Punk in 2011, and his 434 day reign as WWE champion from 2011-2013. After 2004s stellar performances against Samoa Joe, the Summer Of Punk in 2005 saw CM Punk sign a developmental contract with WWE to attempt to take his wrestling career to a higher, more lucrative level. He and Ring Of Honor would run a deliriously popular angle over the signing, with a heel Punk winning the ROH world championship after agreeing to leave, and then signing his WWE contract on the title belt, teasing that hed take the title to OVW with him and defend it there. The five-year fallow period in Punks fortunes between 2005 and 2010 is representative of the way that the WWE office would see him throughout his run with them. His immense popularity with the fanbase was matched by his unpopularity with the ruling political class at WWE: but Punk simply couldnt be buried. He was too over, and he was too damn loud. In 2009, when McMahon told him he was considering turning him heel for the first time (in WWE), and wondered aloud whether he had what it took, Brooks was livid: hed worked for the man for three years, and he still had no clue what CM Punk was all about. He might not have what it took to be a top heel? Hed show him. Punk ripped it up turning heel on perennial fan favourite Jeff Hardy, and then took it to a whole new level as the deluded messianic figure at the heart and head of The Straight Edge Society, a heel stable that more closely resembled a cult, but the angle was cut off in its prime. Furious, frustrated, Punk was given the go ahead to voice his anger as part of an angle, and he cut that worked shoot promo. The rest is history: literally, when it comes to his WWE title reign. But everyone knows about that here, have yourself a cuppa Joe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qFcFP72s2U
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
