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CM Punk Exits WWE?
The Rare Falls Count Anywhere Return!


Can he rest on his laurels?.

On Monday, about an hour before RAW, CM Punk had a meeting with Vince McMahon where he informed him he was flying home and wouldn't be on the show, and was leaving for the time being. While he had some injuries from the Royal Rumble the night prior, he had been cleared with a concussion test, according to the Wrestling Observer newsletter.

Apparently, this is not the first time that Punk has had a talk with Vince where he said he was leaving.

In the months leading up to the angle that made him the star he is with John Cena and his pseudo-shoot 'pipe bomb' interviews, he told Vince that he was leaving, wasn't going to re-sign, but ended up being convinced to stay by an offer of bigger money.

He had a certain amount of frustration at that point with the creative team, and has felt the same recently, but he's a wise man with his money, and he's had two-plus years of good payoffs that make it easier to step aside now. You can hear in Punk's interview with Ariel Helwani, he's talking about how he's beat up.

Another thing that comes up and is most interesting here is Dave Batista, who returned and won the Royal Rumble, which set the crowd off because they were behind Daniel Bryan and he wasn't even put in the Rumble itself, though he had an excellent match with Bray Wyatt earlier in the show. Punk, who has had issues with guys like The Rock coming in and taking spots on Mania from full-timers, said that he didn't mind Batista's win and main event at Mania because he's in full-time now, not just a visitor. He is also passing up the famed 'WrestleMania Payday' which comes from the bonuses paid for working Mania every year.

There is fear among the wrestlers that the new WWE Network will hurt the pay-per-view buyrates and everyone'll make less money off of it (and a few in the company, and one who has been talked to about coming in, believe the network will actually lead to the complete downfall of WWE).

This could all be an angle, with an idea that was being floated around being that Batista either wins, and Punk attacks him as a surprise, or loses with Punk returning and costing him the title. That idea's interesting, because it allows Punk to rest up for a couple of months, get his Mania payoff, and be a good pop from the crowd.

Punk's contract is up in July, and most folks have been saying that he's leaving when his contract is up. He's talked about doing MMA potentially, but really, he's got all those years of wrestling injuries, and he's a bit old to start out in MMA as he's 35.

SO, the situation seems legit at the moment, but as has often happened, it could be a work, or it could be turned into one.

Chris Garcia

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