CM Punk is likely gone from wrestling forever. In leaving wrestling in the way that he left wrestling - as well in the how and why of his motivations to be in professional wrestling - it's a sign of major sea change coming to WWE, and to the wrestling business in general. Since being eliminated by Kane at the 2014 Royal Rumble, CM Punk has not appeared on WWE television. As well, since April 7, 2014, AJ Lee - Punk's real-life fiancee - has not appeared in the company since dropping the Divas championship to Paige. Also, on May 8, 2014, Punk's ex-girlfriend and current confidant Natalie Slater (of vegan baking company Bake and Destroy fame) stated in a bittersweet and angst-ridden column about the price of fame that Punk was "retired." In leaving WWE, Punk did so in a manner that has never been done before by a performer at his level of renown in the wrestling industry. Due to a mix of WWE's expanded financial largess, Punk's own punk-inspired DIY motivations and the evolution of business and industry overall. In the fourth wall between commerce and knowledge being removed, CM Punk just bested the McMahon family at the business model they've used for the past 50 years, and that certainly is worth digging into exactly what the future holds not just for WWE, but for professional wrestling overall.
7. CM Punk Leaving Changes The Dynamic Of Emotional Control WWE Has Over Its Wrestlers
Pro wrestling is a strange business. On an intrinsic level it preys upon a need for connection/deficiency (depends on perspective) in humans to have to seek approval or hate from other humans in order to feel whole. For 50 years, WWE has always preyed upon its employees intrinsic human desire to connect with people. An individual can initially decide to pursue professional wrestling because they enjoy the art of grappling. However, once you do it in front of others and you can ideally control their responses, that human desire comes into play and the dynamic changes. That dynamic shift is what makes pro wrestling different from Olympic wrestling, and is why someone like Mick Foley probably hobbles out through the curtain every few years to fall through a flaming table, fall down a flight of steps, or bleed profusely for our entertainment. It's why Terry Funk has retired a seeming umpteen million times, and why broken down old wrestlers become managers or become sad, yet perversely entertaining caricatures of themselves on WWE's Legends House. But Punk is different. A man who marches to the beat of a different drummer, he has the strength in his own character to walk away, and as well not even remotely engage with fans in any way, shape or form. He may be the first wrestler ever to have a wholly disengaged notion of wrestling as just a job, wherein getting fans to cheer and boo is but just one task of many that is a part of what is required to be successful at his position. Are there more CM Punks out there? Are there more individuals who walk into WWE already jaded about the nature of employment in the industry of pro wrestling to be predisposed to being disengaged prior to even cutting their first heel promo or nailing their first highspot to induce support from the WWE Universe? It's entirely likely, and what that means for the future of how WWE "controls" its most crucial assets is important.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
