The Cult of Personality: CM Punk’s Heel Turn

Over the last ten years, WWE hasn’t had any real competition. Therefore, the company has been able to do things its own way without many consequences.

In the process, it seemed as if some arts of character establishing were lost. The people behind the gimmicks were now more tightly wound than they had been, and in return seemed as if Vince McMahon went back on what he promised back in 1997.

When the seeds were hatched for CM Punk’s turn to the dark side on RAW 1000, there was skepticism.

Not only was Punk still getting cheered like a mad man, but Jerry Lawler on commentary made a double-standard that somehow made Punk look more face-ish than almost ever.

It started out with The Rock who pretty much side-stepped Punk in a promo earlier in the show. It should be noted that the continuity from the initial pipe bomb promo was inexplicably absent.

Then it was Lawler’s misstep on commentary. This led to Punk downright owning Lawler multiple times on the microphone and inside of a steel cage. 

Then it was John Cena telling him that respect needs to be earned every night at every arena. A Falls-Count-Anywhere match led Punk to interfere on his “night off”, and perform Go-to-Sleep on Cena on a Chrysler 300.

Add in a dash of Paul Heyman, who was the driver of said 300 (not the SE Spartan Edition), and we got a slow-burn heel-turn that quite frankly is kicking all sorts of ass.

While many people don’t see the sense of a Punk and Heyman pairing, it should be noted these two had been going back and forth on Twitter months leading up to the reveal. Punk having a manager in Heyman would also bring attention to not only themselves, but also to Brock Lesnar, and this could lead to mega main-events on PPV’s for months to come. Some people have also watered at the fact that the breakup (which is inevitable in yo-yo WWE writing) would have some epic shoots.

Punk, whose status as WWE Champion apparently means nothing in the universe, can really elevate himself to the wide-open spot of top heel if he can carry this momentum past Night of Champions. With Heyman as a manager, the possibilities seem endless.

With Lesnar as mentioned before, Heyman has some former clientele on the roster. There is Big Show, whose potential affiliation with Punk and Heyman could potentially salvage his floundering heel turn. Also there is Tensai, who as A-Train, was seemingly coming up through the ranks with Heyman as a manager. Tensai is not in a good place right now, and a sense of familiarity from the past could very well awake a sleeping monster.

That four-man alliance (Punk/Lesnar/Show/Tensai) could easily be a new ‘Dangerous Alliance’. Make a team of Cena/Rock/Triple H/Undertaker, men with various chips on all their shoulders, and we have ourselves a main event for Survivor Series that could blow the roof off wherever that event takes place.

I’m really curious as to see where Punk’s assholetry is going from here. Punk’s been a capable heel before, but he’s in a new echelon now. May the Alliance begin!

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