The Epidemic of Rushed Storytelling (And How Nobody Profits)

[Harthan]

Last night's episode of Monday Night Raw highlighted a fundamental flaw in the WWE's current booking strategy - an overt tendency to rush storytelling. Let's just walk through this.

Rey Mysterio wins the title in the opening match. This is all well and good - it was the continuation of the storyline from last week. In fact, I applaud their decision to stretch the tournament out to two weeks. It built suspense (this is a key idea). Mysterio heads to the back, everyone celebrates, then he runs into Cena. Again, through this, everything is just great. Then, the madness begins. Announcing John Cena vs Rey Mysterio for the main event...of that night's Raw? I continually assumed the match would be rapidly interfered in, or something would happen to end it unsatisfactorily, leading up to a rematch. But, no. Instead, John Cena won the match, CM Punk returned, and now they are moving to a rematch at SummerSlam between Punk and Cena.

The entire storyline moved at a breakneck pace, without any room for suspense, development, or intrigue. CM Punk returned all of eight days after leaving the company dramatically, supposedly never to be seen again. Why was there even a need for a tournament? Ostensibly, Triple H re-signed Punk sometime during the course of the week. He would have known that the WWE Champion was returning, and should have cancelled the tournament in progress. There is absolutely no logic to it. We barely even got to miss CM Punk, or see his storyline build up outside the WWE. An appearance at Comic-Con and an AAW show are great foundation work, but it should have been more.

Furthermore, Cena and Mysterio in and of itself was horrifically rushed. It was one of the WWE's last dream matches to put together using stars they still have under contract. And what do they do, exactly? Blow it on free TV, unadvertised. It won't even spike the ratings. CM Punk's return will no doubt increase ratings the next week, to be sure, but it is almost certain that if they held off on his return longer, it would have done more. Punk could have spent his time off making appearances on radio, doing interviews, showing up at indy shows with the belt - building this entire storyline to an epic return. Instead? He makes two appearances and comes back a week later.

Mysterio/Cena could have been at least a month long program. It would have been an incredible main event to SummerSlam. Let's just imagine that happened, shall we? Mysterio and Cena have a feud of respect over the next month. SummerSlam comes around. The two get to have more time than they had on TV to put together a great match, and in the end, suppose Cena wins. At the end of the show, as Cena celebrates, Punk returns in the same way he just did last night. Let's look at the effects this would have had, as opposed to the way it played out in reality.

1) The WWE gets a month of good television, using two of their biggest draws as a focal point
2) The WWE build a huge SummerSlam main event that will increase buys
3) The WWE better develops the CM Punk saga, making his return a bigger deal, which in turn spikes Raw ratings the next night (presumably, anyway)

Are there any cons to stretching this storyline out another month? Not that I can see, unless you hate money.

The bigger problem is that this is not an isolated incident. It happens all the time with WWE storytelling. On SmackDown, Christian's title run was jilted after two nights to start a program with Orton where he turned heel. The program has actually been good - the problem is, it could have been stretched out. Suppose that, after the draft, Orton instead feuded with Cody Rhodes, or Wade Barrett, or whomever. Let Christian work a program with Sheamus, moving into a Triple Threat, and then on a PPV, drop the title one on one to Orton. Conceivably, this could have given the WWE three PPV main events for SmackDown in a row - Christian vs Sheamus, Christian vs Sheamus vs Orton, and Christian vs Orton. Instead, they did it in two days. Three months of TV and PPV, versus two days. Do you see the problem there?

This happened last year, too, with the Nexus. The Nexus was well booked through Hell in a Cell, where Cena was forced to join the Nexus. The ensuing storyline was an abomination of rushed booking and, though this is a different subject, an inability to make Cena look weak for a second. Cena was never, not even for a moment, subjugated by the Nexus. He rebelled constantly, when there should have been at least a few weeks of him struggling with their control. Then, he gets fired for refusing to obey Barrett's orders. Not a bad development...except that he never even left programming. For the entire duration of his "firing" he was on TV. Every week. They couldn't even take him off of house shows. Would it have been so much to ask for Cena to leave programming for a month, making his return at TLC to confront Barrett, and concluding their saga at the Royal Rumble? This would still have allotted time for Punk to take over the Nexus and play out the entirety of that storyline.

I can't fathom the WWE does this, time after time. They blow off months of television for quick developments that don't build any suspense or properly build storylines. If they just took some time, they would have bigger PPV matches, more compelling television, and more money. They lose, using this strategy. And so do we, as fans, because we are robbed are that same compelling television and storylines. Nobody profits from this type of booking, so why do it?

You tell me - what am I missing? Is this actually an effective strategy for the WWE? Do you feel the storylines are rushed as well, or are they cutting out boring bits, to the benefit of all? Would the hypotheticals discussed above made for good TV and PPV, or do you prefer the way the real thing played out?

 

[SecondCitySaint]

Yeah...the E dropped the ball on this one. Definitely came back far too soon. Of course we're getting the rematch at Summerslam, which Cena wins so that he can hold the title for another 8 months. Perfect, right? I was really hoping Punk would show up at ROH's first tv tapings for Sinclair with the belt in hand, or around his waist. I am not giving up hope, though.

 

[j2early]

I think the idea people are missing in all of this is that Cena vs Rey was never going to garner alot of ppv buys for Summerslam. It all comes down to the money, and now everyone will order Summerslam to see a rematch of a great fight at MIB. If they held punk out for too long it would have killed the buzz around him. When you captivate so many casual fans with a storyline, you cant just make the main character disappear for 6 months, cuz then you lose interest. Do you really think Vince cares about what we think? He has created a billion dollar industry doing things his way, and as a longtime fan i love to just sit back and watch. Sure Rey was a great story, but he is an intercontinental/united states champion at best, hes too small to realistically go against the likes of Cena or Orton. If you listened to that crowd, no one came anywhere near the roar that Cena received, so he is the face, the fans chose him, and whether you like him or not, we as fans created the monster.

As for Summerslam, now i can see Rey and the Miz having a really great feud leading up to the event, and after their match on raw, i would be willing to pay to see that fight. I can also see Cena turning heel at the event, possibly aligning himself with a returning Vince, to battle a Triple H-Punk tandem. Because it is clear after Monday, that they are making Triple H a face owner.

 

[Harthan]

I think the idea people are missing in all of this is that Cena vs Rey was never going to garner alot of ppv buys for Summerslam. It all comes down to the money, and now everyone will order Summerslam to see a rematch of a great fight at MIB. If they held punk out for too long it would have killed the buzz around him. When you captivate so many casual fans with a storyline, you cant just make the main character disappear for 6 months, cuz then you lose interest. Do you really think Vince cares about what we think? He has created a billion dollar industry doing things his way, and as a longtime fan i love to just sit back and watch. Sure Rey was a great story, but he is an intercontinental/united states champion at best, hes too small to realistically go against the likes of Cena or Orton. If you listened to that crowd, no one came anywhere near the roar that Cena received, so he is the face, the fans chose him, and whether you like him or not, we as fans created the monster.

As for Summerslam, now i can see Rey and the Miz having a really great feud leading up to the event, and after their match on raw, i would be willing to pay to see that fight. I can also see Cena turning heel at the event, possibly aligning himself with a returning Vince, to battle a Triple H-Punk tandem. Because it is clear after Monday, that they are making Triple H a face owner.

I disagree with your assessment that Rey vs Cena wouldn't attract buys. Rey is a merch machine and is incredibly over with the children, a huge constituent of the WWE's fan base. Match him up with Cena, who is the WWE's largest draw currently, and you get a match that most of the WWE's fan base is going to want to see. The kids will see their two heroes collide. The older fans will still recognize it as a huge main event and want to see it. After last night, they proved they can wrestle together very well and keep a crowd engaged. Put them in Los Angeles, where a large Latino fanbase will be in support of Mysterio, and you get great attendance. Attendance in LA, and buys from the fans at home? Sounds like a match I'd want to put on. CM Punk vs Cena is probably just as big of a draw (we need to see hard data on MITB buys and that sort of things, but in all likelihood it was at least as good as Rey vs Cena would be). It would be practically effortless money for the WWE to take home and still get to cash in on Punk. Furthermore I don't believe anyone would have lost interest in CM Punk if he was gone until SummerSlam, or even a bit longer. Eight days was far too short.

 

[ralphie9181]

They could have given it at least another week, I mean geez, its like he never left. Hot shotting angles is what got WCW into trouble and its what gets TNA into trouble a lot of times. I remember when Angle entered TNA and the showdown with Joe was imminent, they built it all right had the first match, and then they had like a billion more matches in a row, by the time it was over no one wanted to see Angle/Joe ever again until they had their Lockdown match. Let things marinate. Its how you draw money. Hogan and Andre barely were ever in the same place together leading up to WM3, Same with Sting and Hogan, they drew it out for over a year, it was the highlight of that run for WCW, match sucked but the build was great. I wanted Punk gone for minimum 2 months, at the very least. Not because I don't like him on TV, but his tweets and vids were doing a great job of showing the supposed WWE champ running around other orgs and bad mouthing his former company.

 

[TCBT]

Yeah I agree. I don't care what they do with the storyline now. It's just like Nexus. They had something great. Dropped the ball big time in Summerslam, and after that, they couldn't pick the ball back up.

Punk might have a total change in character, he might bring in people from ROH, he might do something great within the context of the storyline, but the facts is he's back before the fans had a chance to miss him with little to no hype for a return, and back in a program for the WWE Title, which is not as relevant as the WWE itself.

What made Punk's storyline so intriguing was his battle with the WWE, NOT John Cena, and NOT the Title. Cena was just the vehicle, the pawn for the WWE. When Punk battled Cena in Chicago, the Title was secondary. It was about a company bigger than individual people (as mentioned in the storyline) and an individual person challenging that theory. Now, this became the same-ol same-ol approach to booking. Good guy versus bad guy for the WWE Title with little emotional connection for the audience to care.

Sad thing is, we were all hoping for Punk to light that fire under WWE's ass. The company badly needs it. I don't care how big the company is. It's not providing the PPV sales and TV ratings it once was. It's not 'cool' to be a fan anymore like it used to be. That could've all changed. They had lightning in a bottle. But they let it get away. And regardless of what happens in the weeks to come, I highly doubt my theory/opinion is going to change at all. I've been watching wrestling for far too long to expect anything different.

 

[j2early]

You know what, i agree with you on they should have made him come back at Summerslam. He was just way to hot in the outside world for them to hold off. Cena vs Rey, ur right on that too, they may have gotten decent ppv buys for all the reasons you mentioned, but can you or anyone else realistically see Rey beating Cena clean? With both wrestlers going in as faces, a clean win is necessary, and i dont see them letting Cena fall to the 619. With Punk vs Cena(hopefully a ladder match), they have the "potential" for a major ppv in terms of interest from casual fans alike. Because i can see Punk beating Cena again.

As a fan yes, i would have liked to see them play the Punk angle out a bit longer, but from a business standpoint, i feel they stuck while the iron was hot, and i have no problem with that. Especially how some fans are saying they completely f-ed up, i dont think its that serious.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't have a problem with Punk being brought back so soon. Truth is, I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect it. I didn't know it'd be last night, but I knew it'd be very soon. Vince McMahon, while someone that's shown himself time and time again to be extremely capable at what he does despite IWC hate, does sometimes demonstrate a profound level of impatience. He was expecting big numbers for Raw following MITB and that didn't happen. Raw didn't draw terrible numbers but it wasn't what Vince was hoping for or expecting. Last night's Raw drew the exact same number of viewers as last week. The first hour got it's audience cut into due to Obama's speech but the second hour increased to 5.13 million viewers. The WWE has invested a lot of effort into this angle and Vince is miffed that it hasn't delivered as quickly as he'd like.

The second hour of last night's show is the first time an hour of Raw has averaged 5 million viewers or more since the Punk angle started. Maybe if Obama hadn't been making a speech, the overall show would have gotten more of what he'd have wanted. Now that Punk is 100% back, Vince is going to be watching the ratings like a hawk next week. I'm sure that Punk will have a more pronouced and prominent part on next week's show.

A very logical possibility is that there's going to be a temporary lull in the ratings for a while that might be the price to be paid in the short term in order for WWE to truly elevate Punk to the next huge player on the field.

 

[nWo2]

They could have done a lot. They could have made an actual heavyweight title picture like the good old days. They could have brought some credibility to the division and show.

They could have saved Rey vs. Miz for SummerSlam and had Mark Henry (in the absence of Kane & Big Show) try to destroy Cena to prove his dominance.

Imagine if you will... SummerSlam
"WWE" Championship Rey vs. Miz (rematch for the title)
Cena vs. Mark Henry (after Henry puts Cena through a table to close Raw)
Alberto Del Rio still clinging to the MITB briefcase threatening to use it THAT night!
And CM Punk the real champion comes out with the belt at the end of the night to declare he's the REAL champ!

If Punk came from the crowd and no Titantron that would keep the mystique live, but now who's Miz, Rey, Henry & Del Rio gonna wrestle against at the PPV?

 

[Kane-a-Roonie]

At the moment no it dosnt make sense but we are all rushing in and saying what they should and what will happen before anything has happened. We've been told rey is getting a push and although thaty may have been a 'decoy' we still dont know whats going to happen. So lets stop pretending to be bookers telling everyone what we would have done and just be fans and look foward to next week.

 

[CyberPunk]

While the story may feel rushed, here is why I think it was required for them to rush it.

Summerslam is their second biggest PPV. I hate the idea of monthly PPVs but they couldn't have left their biggest draw out of this. We still don't know what will transpire but with just 2 more RAWs to go before Summerslam, they needed Punk back to make most of the momentum this story has got.

Also, if we leave this story out, what actually will they build this PPV around? Miz-Riley? Dolph-Kofi no 1000? Orton-Christian match no 500? Diva's title? While a Rey Cena match looks good on paper, where is the heat? After OTL and CP they needed solid numbers and this is their money making feud. Not to say that this could result into something bigger as well.

Finally, whatever the fans want, numbers matter. With so little time between PPVs, it is bound to happen. Afterall, we no more have only 4 PPVs a year.

 

[The A]

Correct me if I'm wrong but on that radio interview with the former writer recently didnt he say it was week by week or somethin? anyways its not that important but everything said is true but do you think its for a reason this time? maybe rock? The rey/cena match was great but they could have took it to raw next week at least since when does that EVER happen? someone wins the title and has to have another match the same exact night? I felt embarrassed for rey.

I think they might have rushed it to make the matches for summerslam already because its not that far off and Im not interested yet unlike the MITB

 

[GrandSword]

I know Summerslam is approaching and it's the 2nd top ppv of the WWE calander, but I think also they could have slowed down just a bit. If I can go into fantasy booking for a minute:

Raw 1
Vince mentions the 30 day title clause and if CM Punk doesn't defend the title at Summerlsam he will be stripped of the Championship. He doesn't care if he has a contract or not.

Vince recognises that Alberto Del Rio is technically a number 1 contender from a few Raw episodes ago and that they will have King of the Ring tournament. If Punk doesn't return to defend the title against Del Rio at Summerslam than the KotR winner will face Del Rio for the vacant Championship.

Vince is about to fire Cena when he is interrupted by The Rock who says that he can't fire him as he will lay the smackdown on him for letting the title fall inot Punk's hands and for bad mouthing him. Vince acknowledges this and says Cena is safe for now, in which the Rock replies, he isn't safe as Raw goes off the air after a stare down.

Raw 2
KotR tournament continues

Footage of Punk at Comic Con

Vince wants to punish Cena so puts him in a match or maybe two to send a message.

This then brings out HHH who releives Vince from his duties

Raw 3 KotR tournmant continues

Footage of Punk at another event where WWE is present

HHH new chairman promo and Cena confrontation - Trips pedigrees Cena

Raw 4
KotR winner crowned- Mysterio/Miz whoever

Punk footage from another event

Cena calls out HHH they argue over the whole Vince situation HHH says at Summerlsam with all the money they would have given to Punk they have signed maybe ..Mark Henry to fight Cena.

Summerslam

At the edn of the night HHH has Del Rio in the ring with him and then is about to strip Punk of the title when Punk's RoH music hits he walks in through the fans, Trips allows security to let him jump the guard rail. The bell sounds Punk as a face defeats Del Rio in a great match and then exits through the crowd.

Cena comes out and calls him out but Punk is gone and the storyline continues past Summerlsam with Punk still holdingt he WWE Champiosnhip hostage, he is still over, he is now a face and Cena is still in the mix...

 

[Belladonna29]

While I do think the storyline with Punk and Cena is being rushed, I'm guessing it's a chance the WWE is willing to take because they're afraid of losing any fair-weather fans who might have started tuning in just to see CM Punk.

These fans who wait around for a storyline to play out the way smarks will, and they won't search online for an viral campaigns or indy appearances Punk
might have made outside of Raw.

They're taking a risk with throwing so much into to Raw, but I don't think the storyline is "ruined" as much as it's gotten a little convoluted, and now there's some plot holes to fix.

If they insist on having Punk back on the show so quickly, they've got to a.) have him explain why he's back so soon, and b.) Let the audience decide where the face/heel/tweener focus lies.
If they force turn him face because he's hot right now, he'll probably lose some of his edge, but they can't ignore how over he is right now.

I'd have him cut a promo next week talking about how he intended to stay away from the WWE and all their BS, but the tournament for the "new champion" was too much of an insult for him to stay away.
He could say realized he'd be doing Cena a favor by leaving the show and letting him run around with a fake title like he accomplished something.
If they want him to be straight heelish and say he's not back for the idiot fans who are desperate for him to be their savior.
He's back because he's the best in the world and the easiest way to make the WWE tolerable would be for him to stay and destroy Cena and Rey and the Miz and anyone else who thinks they deserve the title when they don't.

That's where I'd start from where things are not at least.

 

[JaDoE05]

At the moment no it dosnt make sense but we are all rushing in and saying what they should and what will happen before anything has happened. We've been told rey is getting a push and although thaty may have been a 'decoy' we still dont know whats going to happen. So lets stop pretending to be bookers telling everyone what we would have done and just be fans and look foward to next week.

I couldn't have said it any better myself. I truly understand why we get such a bad rep on forums such as these. Quit bitchin about every little detail and let the story unfold. COULD the storyline(so far) have been longer? Sure. SHOULD it have been? Matter of opinion. You guys accuse them of rushing a storyline, but you are just as bad for rushing to conclusions. In what way shape or form is the storyline over? Unless the players involved are no longer interacting ie: an actual dropped storyline, as long as there are questions to be answered the storyline isn't over.

Please keep in mind that the following is pertaining to the storyline

Who said that Punk has signed? On air he didn't even say anything. Off air he said two words, "I'm Back". Let's say storyline wise he has resigned. How will his resigning be explained? Why did he decide to come back? Who signed him? So there are two champions now. How will that be handled? What does all this mean in relation to HHH taking over the company and its "new direction"?

I know that most of you think you know the answers to some of these questions. You may be right or wrong. But the key to enjoying wrestling is suspension of disbelief. If you nitpick every aspect of anything, especially professional wrestling, you will likely find reasons not to enjoy it.

 

[willross]

As soon as they announced Cena vs Rey for FREE on TV, I slapped my forehead. The two biggest and purist babyfaces since Hogan and Warrior in the late 80's early 90's. SOMEHOW, in todays wrestling world of booking and how quick things happen, managed to stay AWAY from each other for almost 10 years.

How can you give away that match for free? Everyone here knows how big of babyfaces Rey and Cena are with most of the audience. Everyone that watches knows they are a big deal.

HOW DID THEY LET THIS HAPPEN? Rey vs Cena had Summerslam written ALL OVER IT. It didn't even have to be for the title, it could of been a number 1 contenders match. HUGE LETDOWN.

Rushing the CM Punk angle led to this debacle. The fact that he is using new music, running around posting videos and pics, etc would of made a return sometime after Summerslam HUGE!!!!!!!!!

 

[[cL]]

I think the idea people are missing in all of this is that Cena vs Rey was never going to garner alot of ppv buys for Summerslam. It all comes down to the money, and now everyone will order Summerslam to see a rematch of a great fight at MIB. If they held punk out for too long it would have killed the buzz around him. When you captivate so many casual fans with a storyline, you cant just make the main character disappear for 6 months, cuz then you lose interest.

No one assumed or even desired for Punk to be gone for six months. that would have been crazy, but there are ways to continue a storyline without having him on television. Punk could have been "spotted" at indy shows, they could have used the footage from the AAW show and Comic Con and he could have done the ESPN shows and the Late night shows...There are MANY ways that this angle could have played out without losing the interest of the casual fan. ON TOP of that since they've decided to bring him back so soon they could have at LEAST brought him out through the crowd with no music and his megaphone. Anything but having him jerk the curtain to new music (his old ROH music) and stand in the middle of the ring of a company he's no longer "employed" with, with not even a hint of security coming to do anything about it.

Sure Rey was a great story, but he is an intercontinental/united states champion at best, hes too small to realistically go against the likes of Cena or Orton.

Didn't he win his first championship from Randy Orton? Then go on to defend and retain beating Kurt Angle right after that? He's been a little guy fighting big guys his entire career. This arguement holds zero water.

 

[techx1122]

I would have liked to see a tournament that lasted until SummerSlam. Do like the KotR and have people qualify. Then at some point during the tournament, preferably the first round, somebody gets injured and Triple H wanting to give Cena the chance he should have to regain his title, gets put in that persons place. At SummerSlam, Cena and Rey could have been the final two. Once Cena wins, Punk comes out and steals all of his glory.

This way, we don't have a champion and it makes the build for a new champ that much more compelling. I hate tourney's in wrestling now. They are almost all one night events and I find them to be very boring. there is hardly any mystery to them anymore. I'm sure many others would agree with me.

 

[Pedigree1]

Why for the life of this program does the wwe seem to drop the ball big time?? Punk is gone all of 8 days way to build suspense WWE!! So we get another long reign of super cena as champion till WM... I am not complaining just stating facts!! I dont pretend to know what a booker has in store but i know im not the only one sick of seeing this crap week in and week out. Punk was the only good thing going and just like the nexus this too will be fumbled like ernest bynar against the broncos!!!

 

[chubbsisevil]

Yes Punk was brought back early but that does not mean at all that this storyline officially has sank. You guys may say you're not interested anymore but you know you are. This storyline has the whole IWC jizzing their pants. You know you're gunna watch next week to see what else it has in store for us.

If Cena wins at SummerSlam, then honestly yeah I'll be disappointed because I'll probably be thinking, "ahhh shit supercena wins again and this storyline just got shat on." That's why this match has me sucked in because I actually really WANT Punk to win. It's not necessarily bad booking on their part. They just want their top feud to be the main focus of SS, not a rushed face v. face feud with Cena and Rey. Cena/Rey should be saved for Royal Rumble or something. The reason I say that is because c'mon, you all know Rey will not be winning one match out of this feud. He will not defeat Cena for the title, ever. And you can shove it in my face if I'm wrong. At least if it's at the royal rumble it would be a good secondary draw to the actual RR match. It would also probably make a lot of people bitch and whine if WWE decided to make Cena/Rey for SS because there would be endless talk about how WWE is back to pleasing the kids and not the real fans by having the 2 heroes face off for the belt instead of going ahead with the most intruiging storyline in years.

 

[Syborgg]

The biggest thing I didn't like about Punk's return is the way he returned. He should have came out of the crowd with his mega-phone in one hand and HIS WWE title in the other. Also he should have been dressed similar to the way he was dressed at the Comic-Con incident. They should have treated it much in the same way they treated the first Matt Hardy run in during the Matt-Edge-Lita storyline. Have security try to restrain him while still allowing him to speak his mind through his mega-phone.

It was rushed, and could have been built up longer. Even if it was Rey vs. Cena at Summerfest....err...Summerslam, the match itself was entertaining and a good match. Plus it would have given Rey atleast a couple weeks to enjoy his title reign. Then, perhaps because the world is Twitter driven, they could have had Punk hint on his Twitter account that he was gonna be in L.A. during SummerSlam weekend. Hell even have him make a "cameo" at the Fan Axxess event on the Saturday before SummerSlam.

Point is, there's tons of ways this story could have been told and it does seem like they are rushing to get back to status quo, but I'll let it play out before I make full judgement.

 

[ultramattman]

The original post assumes two things that I don't think are necessarily true.

1) Cena vs. Rey is a big-draw match. Not right now. HEEL Cena vs. Rey is money, but not face v. face. Especially with only two weeks of buildup, and ESPECIALLY when Cena's already in the middle of a white-hot feud with somebody else. Booking anything other than Cena/Punk for Summerslam would be moronic.

2) Holding off on Punk's return would INCREASE the buzz. It wouldn't. It would kill it, because you're essentially abandoning the storyline. Punk's getting mainstream buzz. This is an exceedingly rare thing. Probably Hogan/Rock was the last time the mainstream picked up on an actual wrestling storyline. But those people aren't going to keep caring forever. Viral appearances will stop being interesting in a week or two. If people are flipping on RAW and don't see Punk and John Cena seems to be doing something else, they'll be confused. When Punk finally returns in October or whenever, he'll be met with a shrug.

Making your triumphant return after a long absence is how you begin a storyline. Punk and Cena are in the middle of a storyline. Putting it on the back burner for weeks or months makes no sense.

 

[Trill Co$by]

Pardon my harsh language, but to the OP... SHUT THE FUCK UP!

Last week, when CM Punk was GONE, everybody from their grandmother to their grandchild that's involved in the IWC was swearing up and down that CM Punk being OFF of TV last week was what killed the storyline and pushed CM Punk to the side. Now WWE puts him back on TV and it's this that kills the storyline. For fucks sake, can't people just shut the fuck up and quit pretending to know what Vince and company are thinking? Can WWE put the damn storylines onto the TV screens?

Like seriously, has everybody been drinking Kanye West's cool aid? Because if you have, you really need to stop.

 

[Jayba4490]

The WWE over the last couple of years has suffered from a couple of major flaws. Rushed angles and bad faction management. CM Punk should have been off tv for at least till Nov or showen back up the night of survivor series.
Could you imagine a CM Punk face to face with his good old buddy "Dwayne"?
But instead, once again, the WWE dropped the ball.
So why the rush? Simple, lack of star power and the need of a big number for SSlam. SSlam is one of the big 4, and with PPV rates in the toilet, WWE needs all the big names they can get. How many top tier guys are left?
Not many, so someone has to help the old buy rate out. But I actually think it leads to something bigger.
Punk V HHH or as I like to call it, Austin V McMahon 2.
The groundwork has been laid, Punk trashed HHH and the family, is not a good guy or a bad guy, just a rebel in the old grey area. They have a chance to really build a great storyline with Punk/HHH, lets hope they do not rush it.