The Disturbing Truth Behind A CM Punk In-Ring Return
To Cody’s fans, and this is very hyperbolic, looking at Dynamite’s TV ratings and receding gates, he saved professional wrestling. To them, he did something more significant than changing WWE to usher in new blood and ice cream bars. He created a genuine alternative to it. To them, he didn’t just break Triple H’s throne at Double Or Nothing.
The irony, of course, is that Punk created the appetite for that change, but regardless, the drive that babyfaced CM Punk is no longer a USP.
Those fans don’t relentlessly, obnoxiously chant “CM Punk!” for nothing. Perhaps they don’t give a sh*t about Cody. Perhaps they don’t even know about Cody. But if Punk does come back, for real, there are two narrative avenues to explore, and both present flaws.
1) WWE acknowledges the bitter acrimony behind his departure, which can only lead to a WrestleMania encounter with Triple H. It might light up his customary bore with actual heat—furnace heat, even—but you can’t watch a Triple H WrestleMania match and expect something with any energy to it. Not in 2019. There’s no doubt that Punk and Triple H could engineer real, authentic tension, but Punk’s very character lived and died on its integrity. How seriously could you take a disenfranchised old talent fully cooperating with the Head of Talent Relations? It would have to be perfect to work, and that’s the very last word anybody would use to describe WWE in 2019.
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