Is C.M. Punk continuously getting pushes because he is Straight edge?

["Cool Guy" Jensen]

C.M. Punk made his in-ring WWE debut on August 1, 2006 on the ECW brand. He went undefeated for several months, with wins against Justin Credible, C.W. Anderson, Stevie Richards, and Shannon Moore. He then competed in the ''Extreme Elimination Chamber'' match for the E.C.W. World Championship at December to Dismember, being the first eliminated. Then he went on to fued with Hardcore Holly who ended his winning streak on the January 9, 2007 edition of E.C.W. He competed in his first of three Money in the Bank ladder matches at Wrestlemania 23, coming within seconds of winning. Later that month, he joined the ''New Breed'', before betraying them 2 weeks later. In June 2007, he qualified to face Chris Benoit for the vacant E.C.W. Championship, but we all know what happened then. Johnny Nitro replaced Benoit and went on to win the title. Punk faced Nitro, later turned Morrison 3 times before finally winning the ECW Championship on the September 4, 2007 edition of ECW. He holds onto the title for over 4 months, before losing it to Chavo Guerrero. At Wrestlemania 24, C.M. Punk wins the Money in the Bank match and then gets drafted to Raw a few months later. Six days later, he cashes in his briefcase and wins the World Heavyweight Championship from Edge. He loses his title in a match that he wasn't even involved in, gets his rematch, loses and then wins a ''Slammy''. On the October 27, 2008 edtion of Raw, Punk along with Kofi Kingston wins the World Tag Team Championships from Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase. Punk then gets involved in the Intercontinental Championship Tournament to crown a new #1 contender. Punk wins the tournament, but the day, prior, loses the Tag Team Titles. He gets his match against the IC Champ and after 3 matches, wins it, becoming a Triple Crown Champion in the process! Shortly after, he loses the title and goes on to win Money in the Bank for the second year in a row.

Wow! Those are a lot of pushes for a man who has been in the WWE for less than 3 years. Every time Punk does something great and loses it, WWE finds another way to put him over. With WWE being so vocal with steroid and drug use, could this be because of Punk's straight edge lifestyle? Now, I'm not saying that Punk isn't great in the ring, but can a person continue to get push after push for ring skills alone? I'm a fan of C.M Punk, but I would hate to see everyone else who deserves a push, have to take a back seat, just because Punk is trying to accomplish everything there is to accompish in the WWE.

So, the question is... why is Punk getting all these pushes? Is it because he's straight edge? Is it because of his ring skills? Is it something about his reputation backstage? What? Please tell me what you think. Add detail.

 

[Blade]

The way you say "getting pushes cause he's straight edge" sounds so cynical.

Part of the reason he gets pushes is because he's straight edge. Not because WWE want as much publicity about him as possible, but because he's reliable. If he's straight edge, he won't fail the wellness test thingy.
He's also very over with fans in general. Kids like him, adults like him, and the IWC... well, nevermind.

He has ring skills too. He's shown that he can have really great matches and doesn't need to be carried.

You also suggested that backstage stuff could be part of the reason. But I don't really think that's true. Triple H supposedly strongly dislikes Punk's in ring skills, and Vince doesn't like small guys. So Punk is extremely lucky to have done what he's done.

To answer the original question, yes, partly. But I don't think it's for media attention, if it was we'd hear the commentators pushing his straight edge-ness like crazy for every match. But they never seem to mention more than once, if at all. So I think it's the same reason why guys like Edge, Triple H and Chris Jericho gets pushes; they're reliable.

 

[LCShazardous]

well i personally see punk to be a better role-model than cena or HHH so i think they're "trying" to push him because he's kinda kid friendly. but i don't think the kids like him so his pushes keep becoming flops but yeah he's getting pushed because he's a god role model being straight edge and all

 

[The_Phoenix]

Ok, I've seen many threads questioning Punk and quite honestly I'm about fed up with it. Not bitching or anything, but why the hell wouldn't they push him? Good in ring skills, he's got the look and the gimmick, and if they'd give him a heel turn he's got mic skills. You could make the argument that he's being pushed for any of those reasons, but if you step back and stop criticizing WWE for this then you'll see the big picture. His pushes remind me of Edge when he was just crossing over into the main event scene. People bitched and moaned, whined and complained about how he was a coward, etc. And now those same people are jumping his bones saying he's the best heel (debatable) WWE has.

But to shorten my point and I suppose answer your question with a question: If Vince is serious about going PG and promoting role models that don't drink or do drugs etc, who better to have as a main player than Punk? Who would be more reliable than Punk? Honestly, his gimmick is something he practices in his real life and it shows.

And as far as his title reigns being flops, blame the booking, not the performer. Creative has killed those reigns, not Punk.

Just seeing the uproar that has come from a big indy star getting pushed on the main stage makes me dread when they start bringing Evan Bourne up to the ME. Success breeds smark ass IWC haters when it comes to guys that have good indy circuit followings.

 

[Rated R SuperFan]

CM PUNK is getting a continuious push because he is a hell of a worker has great match after great match , has been a triple crown champion in a very short time PUNK is this generations Shawn Micheals and the sky is the limit as it goes for the career for CM PUNK !! I think the striaght edge lifestlye has helped his career as far as marketiblity but not in the way that got him over with fans . CM PUNK got over with fans because he's a good worker and can have a good match with any wrestler on any night .

Thank you all for reading .

 

[ThaRaph]

I think all CM Punk is missing is a bonafied marketing device...much like Austin's improved "3:16" speech at KOTR.

With the Benoit thing still looming over WWE's head, and the recent death of Andrew Martin, CM Punk is what the WWE needs. Bulky guys like HHH, Batista and Cena are gonna boost the skepticism about WWE and steroids as long as they remain in the top spot.....even if you show them testing clean for a year straight, there's gonna be some people who refuse to believe they DONT take anything.

 

[rowdy ruben]

its cause wwe is going pg. i cant take way his talent he is very talented. its about about timing. 10 yrs ago he would have been a jobber even though he deserves a better push. now he is a main eventer cause of the whole pg thing. he should be i.c. or us. champ but not wwe or wh champion. winning mitb 2 yrs in a row shouldent of happen

 

[figocantos]

yes, i have to agree that cm punk's straightedge lifestyle is a major factor on those push he receives, same way as the kid-friendly persona that john cena has right now.

on the other matter, i do hope punk cashes it against the wwe champ. he already has the other 2 world title.

thanks for reading

 

[DD84]

It might. I can't deny it, why would they give him a second chance, yet not give Christian one chance? I know that Christian has gotten title shots or a shot, but when you win the Money in the Bank, it is an automatic World Title, you just don't know when. But at the same time he is very good in the ring, so that with the fact he is straight edge both have something to do with it, to me. I hope he succeeds this time as Champ to shut up certain people on this forum.

 

[Switch]

I think the biggest thing that we need to remember is that whether he's getting pushes for being straightedge or not, he's not the one asking for them. His straightedge lifestyle is real, not a gimmick for the company. If the company wants to use that to further business, that's their choice.

 

[Ty Burna]

You can't be serious. Honestly how much media attention has the WWE received for Punk being straight edge? Little to none, mostly because media today doesn't care about the positive stories, they only care about the negative. And really if they put Punk on a huge media tour to promote the Wellness Policy and his straight edge lifestyle, any positivity it would promote would be decimated immediately after the death of another former or current wrestler.

Now in regards to why Punk is receiving all these pushes? Hell I don't know, I think it may be because of them trying to do the same thing with him as they did Cena and push him down our throats until we accept him. Maybe they see him as the future of the company, or they see something special in him that the Punk haters don't see. But I think asking why Punk is receiving these pushes is partially relevant, and most irrelevant to the question because we are focusing on if his lifestyle as the catalyst for his push.

My answer to that is it is a part, not a major one, but a part of the reason he gets these pushes. Think about it though, they could be pushing the forum's loverboy Shelton Benjamin through the roof, and then he blows a drug test. Negative media attention. I mean it really did wonders for the WWE when RVD got caught with the chiba in his car. His lifestyle is relevant to his pushes yes, because he is a safe bet for the WWE that he won't fail a drug test or caught with anything that will cause negative media. But to say that him being straight edge is the main or sole reason for his pushes is complete asinine and a ridiculous argument. So to sum it up, I can't see how you can pin his push and the successes the WWE has decided for him all on his straight edge lifestyle. Other than the crowds that Houston drew the last two days, he's been relatively over with the crowd and a solid merchandise seller. Plus they have to showcase some of their younger talent, or the WWE will get stuck in neutral. If Punk wasn't selling merchandise or doing anything positive for the WWE, he would be wished future endeavors by now.