Why does the WWE want CM Punk to succeed so much?

[The Roid Rage]

I hereby declare Slyfox the victor in that argument as I agreed with pretty much every point he said and had to make. Below I will showcase those points of Slyfox and others to put my argument up rather than going through redundantly and regurgitating the same thing in a few different words.

Punk on Raw sucked. Punk on ECW sucked. I'm not going to hold out much hope that Punk on Smackdown is worth a shit.

I've yet to see a Punk match, in the WWE or elsewhere, that has been worth a damn. The guy has spotty selling, poor offense, and a moveset stolen from various Japanese signature moves.

His skills don't match his potential, and there's no reason he should be where he is on the card.

Doesn't matter if they notice it or not, it draws from the quality of the match. Quality can be decreased, regardless if fans realize it or not.

Unbelievable, dependent upon his opponent, and at times, just completely ridiculous. Not to mention, poor execution.

This to me is probably one of the best run downs on C.M. Punk I have ever seen, and heavily reflects my own views of him to a "T".

Choshu popularized the Standing Grapevine Leglock (or, Scorpion Deathlock). Konnan taught Hart the Scorpion Deathlock. Hart adapted the move into his Sharpshooter.

Then you're saying the Scorpion Deathlock and the Sharpshooter are the same moves...and they're not. They're executed differently, and hurt differently.It's not the same move. But, even if it was, Hart didn't steal his entire moveset from Choshu...see the difference?

I actually talked about this in another thread about submission moves. There is a difference between the Scorpion Death Lock, and The Sharpshooter. Most noticeably Bret Hart steps into the move with his left leg and positions the feet differently, whereas Sting steps in with his right leg, kind of crosses the feet rather than folds them and stands up rather than sitting down on the lower back. For the record, the Sharpshooter is far more painful.

I also wanted to add that Bret making his own version of the move is just another credit to the character and class of Bret Hart as he was obviously concerned about making sure he didn't blatantly rip off someone elses move or move-set.

He isn't a great wrestler and doesn't play a great character.

If he was great like you say, how come he toiled in the midcard on Raw?

His SummerSlam match with JBL was good? If you thought that was good, then I have no use for your opinion on quality.

Any good match gets talked about.So why is it I haven't heard those matches being good, when they all happened recently?

I have never heard anyone coming from a PPV or Raw/SD/ECW and talk about his matches. His matches are easily forgettable and add little if anything to the show in my opinion.

Oh, I see. So now that Punk is on Smackdown, he's been able to showcase his selling a lot more right?

He's worked in the WWE for 2 and a half years, but now in the last three months, he's suddenly blossomed into a great wrestler. That makes a lot of sense.

I, for one, can't get into his matches. It's nothing but a lot of kicks. Then he does a bulldog, then he does the GTS. I would never dog a person for having a smaller moveset, especially when they're in the main-event, but damn. His moveset just seems really unbelievable

Punk failed this previous year; I'm not going to argue about whose fault this was, but the fact still remains that Punk flopped big in any role he was put into prior to this Championship reign. And, I don't think it can really be argued that he's done well so far

To finally sum this all up as to why it seems the WWE is so "Punk-Drunk" I would have to say that it mostly comes down to money. He can sell t-shirts, and arm sleeves. Obviously he is a safe avenue for them to travel in some respects as well, but his actual ability is questionable to put it politely.

 

[GNR8701]

Im a little suprised that nobody mentioned Vince McMahon's feelings towrds Punk yet. I could be dead wrong on this but something clicked in my head while reading through the posts and I think it was at a hall of fame ceremony a few years back when punk was ROH or OVW champ or possibly another sub-WWE promotion and he attended the ceremony and I believe he was sitting close to the mcmahons or hhh/steph and was seen talking and laughing with the family. It is very possible that he is well liked by the family. If punk is one of 'Vince's boys' then he will have title runs for years to come. Again - I might be wrong but something like that wouldnt click in my head if I havent already heard it before.

 

[Ledco]

I'm guessing that they've gone with CM Punk because he's obviously a good role model. He's straight edge, no drink or drugs so kids look up to him and follow is lead. And after smackdown he basically answered it himself, he's never been suspended or or failed a drug test so is reliable in that sense. Most importantly he's good in the ring and on the mic, got over pretty quickly and is still fairly young so WWE will invest time in him to carry them later on when the veterans leave.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Going off topic a little but what's so hard to believe about Punk's offense? I mean, the criticism seems to be that it's mainly made up of kicks. Kicks hurt. Punk's kicks look painful and make a noise when they hit his opponent.

In a sea of wrestlers throwing thousands of fake-looking pitty-pat punches at each other every two seconds, I fail to see why that interrupts your suspension of disbelief.

 

[klunderbunker]

I think leans more towards the fact taht they can trust him to not get in trouble. He's someone they can put on a poster and say this man is clean and look at what he's accomplished. He's good in the ring, good on the mic, gets reactions and is marketable due to his lifestyle. What's bad in there? Punk is a smaller guy that looks about average size. he's a breath of air compared to all the muscle guys, making him appealing to the average guy. I like that the Straightedge thing is mentioned but not shoved down our throats, making it nearly an afterthought, which is what it should be. In conclusion, it's more about what's he doesn't do wrong rather than what's good.

 

[Bobbywoodhogan]

Maybe they see a kind of Bret Hart in him as in Bret could carry the company on his wrestling ability alone and although i have seen very little of CM Punk he looks pretty good to me. Looks very talented. Maybe they think he can carry the company through this tough time with the ratings been poor.

 

[TheTruNoLimit]

Here's the thing. Punk was pushed initially because he was on ECW and he had a really good buzz coming into his ECW debut in '06. Heck, once Punk was on DX's team at Survivor Series and you had HHH and Shawn Michaels in the ring, fans were chanting for CM Punk over two legends. That right there probably by itself gave Vince reason enough to push him.

Add to that, he's clean, he's a reliable asset for the company. His matches are generally ok even with opponents who aren't good in the ring. Heck, his work against JBL was amazing. The matches weren't, but the fact that he managed to get a passable match out of JBL was astonishing. Plus, he's had a few very good/great matches with opponents who can go at his level.

On a side note, why is this a heel turn? Punk has never resorted to cowardly acts. He has never come out and turned on the fans. His eye injury is backed up by a substantial trip to the doctor and a prescription. Just because he states the real life truth about Jeff doesn't make him a heel. Once this feud is over, I can easily see him going back to being a face. Especially since right now, Punk is kind of straddling the fence the way Jericho did. They both began their heel turn by telling the not so pleasant truth about a popular face.

 

[Black Snow]

Right now CM Punk has all but one thing that Vince McMahon loves in his wrestlers. The only quality that he's missing in a massive physique... and, well, maybe a hillbilly gimmick. God knows Vince loves him some hillbillies.

The biggest plus going for Punk right now is what he mentioned in his brilliant promo Friday night. He has never violated the Wellness Policy. He most likely will never violate the Wellness Policy. In the wake of the Chris Benoit tragedy a guy like Punk is a rare find indeed. Abusing steroids is one thing but a guy like Punk won't even get a DWI. The man is teflon.

Another big plus going for Punk is that he's considered a homegrown talent. He didn't cut his teeth in WCW or TNA (outside of a very short, less than memorable performance as a tag team guy.) Sure, he was big on the indie circuit but he never worked for the so-called competition. There's a very clear track record of guys who have only really spent time in the indies getting nicer pushes than those that were already names in bigger promotions.

Punk also has a very unique look. He's cutting edge. In 2009 he's what Jeff Hardy was in 1999. He presents a persona that has never been seen in the WWE before. Love him or hate him that immediately captures some attention. Vince has always been about there being no such thing as bad press so I can see why he'd get behind that.

People can talk about if they think Punk has good offense or if his matches are good all they want but you can still table all of that and just talk about his look and personal life. That's enough to label him an interesting, marketable guy that's worthy of a push.

As far as his wrestling goes, I enjoy it. It's new and different. I love that he depends so much on his kicks. Smaller wrestlers tend to go to the top rope a lot or focus mostly on technical wrestling. While Punk does throw a little of both of those styles into his own he mainly focuses on charging straight ahead as if he was a big guy. But he doesn't go for typical power moves or punches. He works on kicks. Logically, that's a good plan. Legs are always stronger than arms.

So what if he cribs a lot of offense from Japanese wrestlers? This isn't Japan. Most American fans haven't seen offense like Punk's. Besides, you'll be hard pressed to find many wrestlers who can't attribute a large chunk of their moves to other wrestlers. Every wrestler steals from one another and most readily admit that. The Rock was bouncing off the ropes with a silly move before John Cena or MVP. Every wrestler and their mother was including a powerbomb and spinebuster in their moveset before Batista. When has J.R. NOT called Triple H's high knee a "Harley Race-like high knee?" At least the moves Punk steals are foreign to the bulk of WWE fans.

If you don't personally enjoy Punk as a wrestler/talker/whatever. That's your choice and I can't tell you that your opinion is wrong (other people on the forums make that their job already.) But you can't deny that the obvious reasons for WHY Vince would at least want to try to get behind Punk are there. He's by no means a terrible wrestler and that coupled with a unique look, a solid fanbase built from the ground up and the knowledge that he won't violate the Wellness Policy are more than enough upsides to give Punk a chance.