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GUEST EDITORIAL
By Rick Gardner of Manchester, England
PWTorch.com Reader
C.M. Punk is in a unique position. It is looking increasingly likely that he will be headlining Summerslam, an idea that was implausible just two months ago when he lost clean to The Miz on ECW TV. Booked as an underdog champion, Punk's title reign has been enjoyable as it has revitalised the stale Raw main event scene. However, if he were to lose the title at Summerslam, his credibility would be seriously damaged and any momentum he has gained will be lost.
There are parallels between Punk's title reign and that of Randy Orton in 2004. Orton won the World Championship at Summerslam without a track record of Pay Per View main events. The WWE tried to present him as a top star, but a small decline in the Monday night ratings caused the WWE to panic and revert back to an established main event wrestler. Orton only enjoyed one month as champion before losing the title to HHH at Unforgiven, killing his credibility in the eyes of the fans. How could he possibly draw money as a Pay Per View title challenger when his own reign was buried so callously to the point that it looked like he wasn't even in Triple H's league. After the loss, Orton floundered until reverting back to the cocky heel character he should have always been. He was not considered for Raw's top title again until 2007.
On the surface things do not seem to be much better for C.M. Punk; he is yet to pick up a clean win and been referred to as a fluke champion on television. While this may seem counterproductive, it is logical from a storyline standpoint. It was not that long ago that C.M. Punk was jobbing to Mike Knox on ECW, so it would not make sense for him to suddenly start pinning Raw's top stars. The WWE has opted for a slow build that will hopefully result in C.M. Punk blossoming into a true main event draw in the long term. C.M. Punk's character constantly feels the need to prove himself due to the nature of his title win, and this provides an excellent backdrop for his progress in becoming a top-tier star. But this storyline will only prove effective if given the chance to develop over the course of several months.
The WWE pays close attention to the ratings, and the poor 3.3 that Raw pulled this week will not have gone unnoticed. C.M. Punk's detractors may already be pushing for him to drop the World Championship to a more established star, citing this bad rating as vindication for their belief that he is not ready for the title. However, if C.M. Punk loses the title at Summerslam it will have the same credibility-killing effect as Randy Orton's loss at Unforgiven 2004. He will not be considered a true main event star by WWE fans, and it could be years before he rebuilds the standing to win the title again.
C.M. Punk may have said "I'm not Bret Hart" in a recent promo, but privately he must be hoping that his title reign will be compared to The Hitman's first tenure as World Champion. Hart was not an archetypal WWF main event wrestler and did not have the benefit of a long build before defeating Ric Flair for the WWF title in 1992. Nevertheless, once becoming champion, he established himself by defeating a long line of top heels. By the time he lost the title to Yokozuna at Wrestlemania IX, Bret Hart was arguably the top babyface in the company and seen as a true contender when challenging for the title the following year.
C.M. Punk's World Title run should not be discounted yet. While he has had no clean wins, he has had competitive matches against top wrestlers. After jobbing to the likes of Elijah Burke and Mike Knox earlier in the year, it makes sense for him to be presented as a fluke champion initially. The WWE is trying to slowly build C.M. Punk's top-tier credibility, but cutting him off now would leave him dead in the water. He doesn't need to hold the title until Wrestlemania, or even the Royal Rumble, but Summerslam is pivotal to the development of C.M. Punk as a top-tier wrestler. Win and it could be the first step towards being taken seriously as a fighting champion. Lose and he may not see the title again until some time in 2011.
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