Did a face CM Punk fool you?

[CM Steel]

Right before the summer of Punk last year. CM Punk had been playing a heel for awhile before dubbing himself "the voice of the voiceless" last summer. We hated Punk from his time as the leader of "the Straight-Edge Society" to being the new leader of the Nexus. Now after this kayface angle the WWE ran with Punk last summer with the WWE championship. He's an instant babyface! He's going after John Cena's spot in the company some people saw it. And some even compared CM Punk rise to one Stone Cold Steve Austin, and look to a future Wrestlemania match between the two.

Now a year later, CM Punk is a heel again. Same "voice of the voiceless" charactor and all. But CM Punk is once again a top heel in the company. So with all the hype that was built around CM Punk last year as a top face in the company. How can the WWE just wash it away like that? I mean we all saw that CM Punk had momentum going into a big feud with Kevin Nash before Nash couldn't wrestle and his buddy Triple H stepped in to fill his spot against Punk and defeat CM Punk killing alot of his momentum.

CM Punk doesn't have "the look" in the eyes of the WWE. And after RAW this past monday, Punk looks to be in the WWE doghouse pretty soon.


So all in all. Did a face CM Punk fool you?

 

[rge2010]

No, Punk never fooled me, my post history on him proves that. People were so blinded by his 'shoot' last summer. It wasn't a shoot, it was a promo. A good one, but a simple promo.

Punk has been in WWE for like what, 6 years? It took 5 years to get where he wanted to be. Punk is/was very good, but he will never be 'that guy' He simply doesnt have it. His WWE Title run has been a afterthought to Rock/Cena, and all the other fueds Cena has had since then with Lesnar and Jonny Ace.

In short Punk is vastly over rated by the IWC. He isn't a big PPV draw and he isn't a big ratings draw either. Rock and Brock are the real draws as is John Cena. People will deny the latter but its a fact. Its no surprise Cena was paired with Rock and Brock on their return to action.

 

[j2dlyc]

Yeah its true, Cena is the main guy. But to say Punk is an afterthought is ridiculous. He may not be the 'company guy', but Punk is still the biggest draw for young adult males, which is the largest demographic the WWE has. Yes the Rock and Brock are huge draws, but they are THE ROCK and BROCK LESNAR. These are two of the biggest names in recent WWE history, its akin to having Hulk Hogan return with the NWO a decade ago. Austin feuded with scott hall, whilst Rocky went with Hogan, yet you could hardly say Austin was an afterthought could you?!

 

[Wald]

Not as the top face, but it wasn't his fault it was creatives. He was never booked as the top face of the company and was never even remotely positioned to be it. The Triple H loss proves that, and anyone who comes in saying 'but it took 3 Pedigrees to beat him!' can save it. John Cena would have won that match, CM Punk couldn't, that's how it was booked.

I think it was Bret that said it in his book about his heel turn that he was sold on it by Vince basically saying you're not going to be the top face any more, Austin is going to be that, so what's left is to either move back or try for the top heel spot. Punk is better off where he is now.

 

[justinept]

Did a face CM Punk fool me? As in, did I think that CM Punk was suddenly too good to ever turn heel again? Is that the question you're asking? If so, then no. Punk's character has always worked best when he's a heel. That was true in ROH during the original Summer of Punk - and is especially true in the WWE where every face has to smile, kiss babies and pander to a PG audience.

Now, if you're asking whether or not I saw Punk as the top guy in the company after his promo - or if I thought that it would eventually propel him past Cena - then no, I wasn't fooled. The WWE has no interest in making stars anymore - if they did, then they'd make a new one already.

Instead, they took a guy that was white hot last summer ... put him in a feud w/ Kevin Nash, which saw a pay-off match between Nash and Triple H ... they made him an anti-establishment figure only to have him team up with his boss to take on the new threats - this, by the way, led to a payoff match of Rock/Cena vs Miz/R-Truth... they put him in a feud with John Laurinaitis, which saw a pay-off match between Laurinaitis and Cena ... and somewhere in there, Triple H was able to score a clean win over him.

Perhaps the powers that be in the WWE realized that CM Punk wasn't a main draw early on, and that's why they derailed his push so badly last fall. Perhaps they feared his ascension to the main event would cause the ratings to drop. That would only make sense, right? I mean, we all know that since Cena took over as the face of the company in 2006, gates and ratings have only gone up... you can't have a guy like CM Punk screw that up!

 

[rge2010]

Yeah its true, Cena is the main guy. But to say Punk is an afterthought is ridiculous. He may not be the 'company guy', but Punk is still the biggest draw for young adult males, which is the largest demographic the WWE has. Yes the Rock and Brock are huge draws, but they are THE ROCK and BROCK LESNAR. These are two of the biggest names in recent WWE history, its akin to having Hulk Hogan return with the NWO a decade ago. Austin feuded with scott hall, whilst Rocky went with Hogan, yet you could hardly say Austin was an afterthought could you?!

Austin was an afterthought at that time. He was spent and well past his best plus he was an awkward cunt. In 2002/2003 - Rock was given Brock, Hogan x2 and Goldberg. He also carried Austin through the WM19 match. Rock was the man and Austins crown was slipping. Lesnar was getting huge, Goldberg was about to sign, plus they had Triple H, Taker, Angle and a few others who were huge stars. So yeh, I think Austin was an afterthought...dont forget, this all happened after his terrible 2001 leading The Alliance.

Anyway, lets not compare Punk and Austin. Austin was a class above. As for Punk, he can be the number 1 heel without a shadow, but will never be the number 1 face. His heel run is good at the moment, then again so was Randy Ortons a few years ago.

 

[JaylisJayP]

You should do a better job clarifying what you mean by "did Punk fool you?"

I honestly have no idea what you're talking about, but I'll at least speak to the Punk character. Punk sucked as a face just like most wrestlers suck as faces in the current WWE. WWE coasts off a couple awful jokes and smirks, NEVER has them lose, and there's your face character.

Punk became just an "insert"...as in "insert" random face character into the pattern, rinse and repeat. You could've put Sheamus, Orton, etc... into any face story the same as Punk.

Punk turning heel is the best thing for Punk and the WWE. Cena is an amazing man who does a lot of great things for so many people, but he's a plague on the other wrestlers in the industry, to the point where he's rendered 98% of them undrawable (a word?).

Not that I pay for PPVs anyway, but I wouldn't pay to see anyone who REGULARLY wrestles outside of Punk. Kane/Bryan have a decent storyline going, even though it's being beaten into the ground now, but I still wouldn't pay to see them wrestle one of the other worthless tag teams. PTP do nothing for me. Rhodes/Sandow seem awkward and they should be wrestling as singles. Mysterio/Cara, no mic skills no interest...and the rest.

Punk, the Punk character....there was no intent to fool. WWE doesn't plan that far in advance. They don't even plan 2 weeks in advance it seems.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

The funny thing is... I wonder if his "shoot promo" was even meant to be that of a face's. He did go out and say all the fans were too lazy to get real jobs etc. Somehow people ignored that and began cheering him like crazy and then he turned into a face. Even his opponent going in was John Cena who was the clear face so go figure. Punk is like Randy Orton, just better off as a heel because he doesn't have any real range, he's an asshole and his true personality comes across better than supposed acting skills. I think Daniel Bryan actually developing a character and playing parts shows someone who can have more range in his career and thus go even further. Can't see punk ever going to anger management with Kane or having so much fun with fans screaming YES YES YES or NO NO NO. Sorry to get off topic, just been noticing that for a while.

 

[Smokeydogg7]

guys one hell of a heel he could be a top babyface if done correctly but he needs a vince mcmahon type to really push him to the top punk and mcmahon on monday was good and picture it with punk as face and vince a heel punk able to lash out about being held back you could have austin mcmahon all over again

sadly vince is way to old they could of had it with HHH as the heel but they blew it last summer

 

[Spookusjoe]

guys one hell of a heel he could be a top babyface if done correctly but he needs a vince mcmahon type to really push him to the top punk and mcmahon on monday was good and picture it with punk as face and vince a heel punk able to lash out about being held back you could have austin mcmahon all over again

sadly vince is way to old they could of had it with HHH as the heel but they blew it last summer

Shane-O-Mac maybe down the line?

As for the OP, Punk fits better as a heel, face doesn't suit him. I think his face run was awful, and Cena cant be completely blamed for that. Punk was given his chance but just couldn't pull it off, like many before him, which is why Mr Cena is still top face. Top dog isnt easy, not many can be the guy. I'm bored stupid of the Cena character, but it isnt going anywhere until somebody steps up and take his place, its not Cena's job to just move aside.
Did punk have anyone fooled? Hell no, I hate him more as a heel than I liked him as a face, there's your answer!

 

[Slash-LN]

I don't really get what you mean by fool you.

Speak for yourself when you say we all hated him during this time or that time. I've always been split on Punk. There are times where I think he's awesome and I really get behind him and there are times where I start to wonder why I'm so behind him.

I actually liked the S.E.S. stuff. By the op that would make me in the minority but I feel like a lot of other people liked that angle too.

I was one of the people who thought his promo last year was awesome but in no way did I ever expect that he was going to be the face of the company.

I don't really know what else to say here because the question isn't too clear.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Punk has been in WWE for like what, 6 years? It took 5 years to get where he wanted to be. Punk is/was very good, but he will never be 'that guy' He simply doesnt have it. His WWE Title run has been a afterthought to Rock/Cena, and all the other fueds Cena has had since then with Lesnar and Jonny Ace.

Triple H/Undertaker/Shawn Michaels/HIAC was also an after thought compared to Rock/Cena leading up to WM. It's nothing against Punk if his feud with Jericho couldn't overshadow Rock/Cena. As for Cena and Lesnar, keep in mind this is Lesnar's very few special appearance even Lesnar's appearance in Summerslam was put higher in the Card than Cena's.

In short Punk is vastly over rated by the IWC. He isn't a big PPV draw and he isn't a big ratings draw either. Rock and Brock are the real draws as is John Cena. People will deny the latter but its a fact. Its no surprise Cena was paired with Rock and Brock on their return to action.

Big PPV draw compared to what? Compared to Cena, ok Cena might be able to get better buy rates but Cena wasn't a PPV draw compared to Austin, Hogan in 2005 or 2006 or even now. Does that mean at Cena isn't a draw as well.

Bottom line is Punk is very popular he's not on Cena's level of popularity but that's like saying every "#1 guy" after Hogan should not have been the "#1 guy" since they couldn't draw the numbers Hogan did. Which includes a long list ... The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, The Ultimate Warrior, etc.

 

[Lord Awesome]

The thing that fooled me is that he already has had lengthy feuds with all the top faces. The only faces he hasn't feuded with are Brodus Clay, Evan Bourne, Kofi Kingston, R Truth, Ryback, Santino, Sin Cara, Tyson Kidd, and Zack Ryder.

WWE has just been shit at making decent faces recently and as soon as they made one they turned him heel again. Then they release a CM Punk documentary that makes him seem face again but not really. I really don't think WWE knows what its doing anymore. WWE needs more credible faces stat.

 

[King Michéal]

I don't think Punk was ever supposed to be a face. Punks shoot promo was basically him bitching and whining - heel traits

But because we the WWE audience cheered him and bought his merchandise WWE kept him face.

Storyline wise things dried up for punk as a face, so we now have Punk as heel and we are probably getting a variation of the storyline we were supposed to get last year

 

[Mustang Sally]

Yes, it fooled me. Whenever you hear a wrestler express an opinion as to whether he wants to play a face or heel, he says heel. For that matter, whenever a member of this forum is talking about the same thing, they pick heel for just about any performer named. The reason is clear; it's easier to play a heel.....easier to perform dastardly deeds to make people hate you than it is to get people to cheer you as a face.

So it was with CM Punk. Before the Summer of Punk, he was a heel already, and a very good one. After his cross-legged speeches in ring center, I figured he'd continue as he was. Instead, they made him a face.

Thinking back, the purpose of turning him good was to keep him from direct confrontation with the #1 guy in the company......John Cena. If it remained good guy vs. bad guy, they would be in conflict from day one of Punk's new direction, which is something Creative plainly didn't want. As the top two guys, management kept Punk and Cena peripherally involved with one another but still operating in different areas, going after different opponents. Yes, they met briefly as enemies at the beginning so Punk could become the champion, but Cena had a huge program with the Rock to keep him busy, while Punk was establishing himself in his new exalted place in the company.

Now, the time for them to clash has arrived, and since it's been anticipated for so long (we knew this was coming, no?), the stage was set for one of them to turn bad. For quite awhile, I thought it would be Cena, but I was wrong. It's Punk, and he's doing a great job of it, even though a lot of fans seem slow to turn against him.

I was fooled, yes.

 

[Akhilleus]

CM Punk can work as both a heel and a face, and WWE knows that. They realize that they lack a lot of talented heels, at least in their opinion, for the WWE title picture. They figured that they would spice the picture up by redirecting CM Punk's character. To be honest I enjoy CM Punk regardless of his status. He cuts some fantastic promos either way, and I enjoy that. But also being honest, one thing I don't like is that his promos are similar for both face and heel. Of course he can go more over the line as a heel, but in the end most of the things he says are the same things he'd say as a face. He actually just uses logic to make what he does sound justified, and we all go "That actually makes sense" after he does so. Take a guy like Chris Jericho for example, his face and heel characters are entirely different. One is a slow talking business man who will call you a hypocrite, a parasite, and any other thing he can come up with. They other is a fast talking, very humorous character who is charismatic and thrilling. In a way both styles work for both characters, and I actually don't the difference between Punk's heel and face promos, because in the end it makes more sense. He's still the same person, just with a different attitude.

As for turning him heel, I am already packed and on the train for Punk vs Austin at Wrestlemania. It is a match I would die to see happen, especially alongside Cena and Rock on the card. Whether the likeliness of it happening or not has increased or decreased over the last couple of months, I still think it can happen. But Steve Austin has said himself that if it were to happen, Punk would have to turn heel. So I'm hoping Punk's heel turn was simply a slow step in building for this feud between CM Punk and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

 

[theBec2101]

Did Punk full me? Well I never thought he was going to leave. I also knew they weren’t going to give him the belt and he was going to leave afterwards. Don’t get me wrong that was some of the greatest work I’v seen in awhile in wrestling.
Did Punk full me when he turned heel? Question should be was Rock going to become heel and still be able to promote all his movies? No, they needed a heel incase Rock and Punk vs. Now do I wish Cena made the turn? Yea a little I would of liked to see where they would of went. But then again creative now is just so horrible why you would trust them repackaging your top star as a heel?
.

 

[TheRuDOLPHIN]

I don't understand what you mean by "being fooled" by Punk.

I thought his face run was decent, but he works better as a heel. However, his recent heel turn has felt forced to this viewer, especially the whole "respect" angle. I don't understand how he hasn't received respect as the WWE Champ in a kayfabe sense when he had been getting crowd pops and the commentators spoke good about him, etc.

I do think Punk is better as a heel, though. I suppose that, no, I was never foold by Punk, but I didn't quite understand what the op was trying to convey.

 

[Lockard23]

Punk is not in the doghouse. He's the guy who's been WWE Champion for almost a year and will face The Rock in January. That ain't doghouse drama, that's top star drama. And yeah, Cena is the top draw. But not the top star. It's pretty much been Raw is Punk for awhile now.

 

[AshBlackstone78]

No, Punk never fooled me, my post history on him proves that. People were so blinded by his 'shoot' last summer. It wasn't a shoot, it was a promo. A good one, but a simple promo.

Punk has been in WWE for like what, 6 years? It took 5 years to get where he wanted to be. Punk is/was very good, but he will never be 'that guy' He simply doesnt have it. His WWE Title run has been a afterthought to Rock/Cena, and all the other fueds Cena has had since then with Lesnar and Jonny Ace.

In short Punk is vastly over rated by the IWC. He isn't a big PPV draw and he isn't a big ratings draw either. Rock and Brock are the real draws as is John Cena. People will deny the latter but its a fact. Its no surprise Cena was paired with Rock and Brock on their return to action.

I often wonder if people who post things like this suffered brain damage as a child.

He's a big draw, because he's not an elite star yet like an Austin or Rock. But that's not his fault. You people think guys working their way up through the company have a lot more control and power over what happens to them than they really do.

Punk would be an elite megastar right now, had the WWE not screwed up his run last summer. It's that simple.