CM Punk’s favor to Paul Heyman: The request that will turn things around
Look in my eyes what do you see? Punk’s main eventing ‘Mania! I have this feeling of CM Punk will make it to the main event not just one night of WrestleMania 41, but TWO consecutive nights. As stated by Punk himself during the March 28th episode of SmackDown, he be facing Roman Reigns at WrestleMania was not the favor he asked from the Tribal Chief’s wiseman, but it was another. The latter did not mention the exact favor he asked from Paul Heyman, but this will get even more interesting as we get close to the big event. As we can see, CM Punk’s history being involved at past WrestleMania is quite thick. He won the Money in the Bank ladder match twice in a row, walked in and out as WWE Champion, faced The Undertaker and almost broke his undefeated streak in a brilliantly orchestrated match, but none of these made to the main event and closed the show.
Is this the right year for CM Punk to make it to the main event? I guess it was as early as last year’s WrestleMania where he might just went for the World Heavyweight Title against the current champion at that time Seth Rollins, but due to injury at Royal Rumble 2024, he failed to snap an opportunity for a match, but he was still lucky to be involved during the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins and even helped Damian Priest to successfully cash-in his Money in the Bank contract and took the title away. Amid the injury he took in earlier that year, he still took part and showed to Triple H what he really wanted – main event WrestleMania one day.
This is the right time for CM Punk to live his dream and wrestle in the main event of WrestleMania 41 and it is all going to come true this time. This is not just because he is aging or whatever but going to the main event in a match with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in a triple threat match is probably a dream (re)match I never expected to happen for the past ten years since CM Punk left WWE. The last match that all three men were involved was wayback TLC 2013 where Punk singlehandedly defeated all three members of The Shield, which Reigns and Rollins were part of that stable, while the other man was Jon Moxley who wrestled in WWE under the ring name “Dean Ambrose”.
Roman Reigns’ Wiseman Paul Heyman, called CM Punk in an episode of SmackDown in November 2024, to become the fifth man and help the original Bloodline members in a WarGames match against the “new” Bloodline members led by Solo Sikoa. Even though Punk and Reigns had a great team-up at Survivor Series: WarGames, there was something behind the Punk-Heyman agreement. It was not for a match against the “Original Tribal Chief” but for a bigger prize. As the Road to WrestleMania comes close, CM Punk and Paul Heyman will replicate Roman Reigns’ sudden involvement in the WWE Championship match on night 2 between Cody Rhodes and John Cena.
I’m placing my bet that CM Punk’s favor to Paul Heyman is to main event WrestleMania and be included in the WWE Championship match. Going back at the start of this column, CM Punk might be placed in the main event two nights in a row! How about Jey Uso’s historic win at Royal Rumble? Poor “Mid Event” Jey Uso that his match with a washed Gunther will be in the lower card of either night, but I believe he will dethrone Gunther and become World Heavyweight Champion. Spoiler alert, he might be forced to defend the title the following night on Raw and make his title run short.
Just a quick reminder that both Royal Rumble match winners will not be the main event of either night at WrestleMania 41 this year due to the overly hyped Jey Uso and overrated Charlotte Flair’s lack of storytelling and audience impact that tend to invest in either storyline, which was overall a great decision made by WWE. For the Charlotte side, I would rather see Bianca Belair vs Iyo Sky vs Rhea Ripley and Tiffany Stratton vs Nia Jax or maybe Trish Stratus anytime of the day.
How can this be a monumental pivot for the current WWE product? The unbelievable history between CM Punk and John Cena can be witnessed once again by the WWE Universe and in my high hopes that this feud will culminate at SummerSlam as this reminds me again of “Summer of Punk” reincarnation, but with Punk defending the WWE title this time around. Long term storytelling is the key without insulting the audience’s knowledge as these events will eventually draw connection from WWE’s rich history of feuds and storylines in the past.
CM Punk’s longing for a well-deserved WrestleMania booking means something within the WWE right now that it did not exist a long time ago. Although we are now here to give CM Punk’s flowers, let me place a caution for the WWE management not to spoil him too much like what AEW did a few years ago. I’m afraid he will leave WWE again and look for “greener pasteur” somewhere else just for the sake of his own self gratification if he’s being spoiled too much. I just hope CM Punk is whole-heartedly happy and content with his current status in WWE right now.
I’m just grateful, from a point-of-view of an avid viewer, that Triple H gives WWE wrestlers opportunity especially to legends like CM Punk even if he sometimes prioritizes to book one wrestler at a time but to the extent of making them stars to say the least. Nevertheless, he also gives wrestlers freedom to express themselves without being imprisoned to follow the script in verbatim, while also making them feel that there is an authority.
As long-time WWE commentator Michael Cole once said during his interview with Logan Paul on the Impaulsive Podcast, “[WWE is] an entertainment product and it’s the emotional connection, whether you’re a bad guy or a good guy.” This is the main reason why viewers are being kept hooked in WWE’s latest happenings as story mainly involves everything in place. Additionally, casual and new viewers will understand contexts easily as the story progresses.