After the plug was finally pulled on the Straight Edge Society, Punk was traded back to Raw in exchange for Edge in October 2010. Before long, Punk was sidelined due to a hip injury. Ever the performer, Punk found another way to entertain WWE audiences by joining the Raw commentary team in November 2010. Punk generally favored heels, especially the Nexus, who eventually adopted Punk as their new leader after Wade Barrett lost one too many times to John Cena. Cena was still the Nexus' prime target when Punk took over the stable. Once again, Punk was the hottest heel in WWE and had some great free television matches with Cena. Punk had an outstanding showing at the 2011 Royal Rumble, but it was all for nought. WWE had already committed to The Miz as its heel champion to face John Cena at WrestleMania 27. It didn't matter what the crowd wanted, as creative had its outline to follow. Instead of continuing his hot feud with Cena, WWE shifted Punk's attention to Randy Orton. In one of the most delayed revenge plots ever, Punk was finally going to avenge that punt to the head Orton gave him in September 2008 that cost him the World Heavyweight Championship. The angle made no sense as the dynamic between the two wrestlers had flipped since then. Punk was a heel, so the crowd was supposed to boo him even though he had a perfectly legitimate reason to be angry with Orton. Meanwhile, Orton was now a face and supposed to be cheered since, hey, that was so long ago and Orton was good now! Ultimately, WWE just needed someone to eat an RKO at WrestleMania and they found just the guy in Punk.
