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GUEST EDITORIAL
By Marty Sheehan of Wilmington, Del.
PWTorch.com reader

WWE recently made a big mistake and needs to rectify it immediately. They took the World Heavyweight Championship off C.M. Punk. Never mind that they put it on Undertaker. It really doesn't matter. Though, come to think of it, the decision to put the title on a forty-something year-old babyface with very little mic skills who got his shot for no other reason than sneak-attacking the champ repeatedly for little or no reason raises many questions in its own right.

But back to Punk. WWE needs to wake up and realize that they have a terrific talent who could be the 2009-and-beyond answer to Ric Flair.

Stay with me here. There are numerous reasons to stay with Punk as a long-term champion, but let's closely look at three of them.

Punk has made a career out of his real-life clean living. He goes out every week and extols the virtues of a healthy and sober lifestyle. This works with any crowd. No one wants to be told to live a certain way, so this draws heat no matter where he goes. Plus, this works with any opponent.

With Jeff Hardy it was simple. With The Undertaker, he pulled out the material about people being deluded by the "smoke and mirrors." Think of the possibilities for the future. He could feud with Randy Orton and use mental instability as the angle (something about wanting to "punt" everyone in the head makes this work nicely). With Cena it could be the incessant pandering to the fans and the need for constant affirmation. The list of possibilities with other opponents is endless.

Now we've all heard the arguments that his promos are repetitive. But that's not a bad thing in his case. Mostly because it's the truth. That's how he lives. I seem to remember a certain couple of Hall of Famer's who made a career doing promos in much the same way. Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair used virtually the same promos their entire careers. Watch their DVDs. Every promo from Flair was a variation on his love of wealth and women. Every promo from Dusty was a variation on his working man or "plumbers son" persona. But they made it work by tailoring each promo just enough to encompass the style of their opponent at the time. It was genius.

Punk can work with anyone. His style seems to mesh with anyone he's put in the ring with. He looked just as comfortable with Umaga as he did with Jeff Hardy. He's made the Undertaker look great in their (so far) brief feud. Again, Ric Flair made a career out of this. He looked the same wrestling Vader and Hogan and the Big Show (The Giant in WCW) as he did wrestling Bret Hart or Chris Benoit or Rey Misterio.

Lastly, Punk sells like nobody's business. Now this is where Punk truly excels and stands above his peers. Punk has that Ric Flair quality of making anyone he wrestles look worthy of being in the ring with him and of having a credible chance to beat him.

From Mike Knox to Umaga to Jeff Hardy to Matt Hardy to the Undertaker, Punk makes them all look that much better than they already are. In an era where John Cena recovers from a hellacious beating in no time to foil the heel, Punk stands out. Heck, he even continued to sell his TLC match with Hardy by limping to the ring and stepping gingerly through the ropes. Then he took it a step further by acknowledging that the match was the toughest and most brutal of his career.

In an era where it seems to be "not cool" to sell too much, Punk stands out by doing just that. In Flair's autobiography he talks about taking jobber Mike Jackson aside at a TV taping and telling him they were going to go 20 minutes. I remember that Flair made an obviously gassed and outclassed Jackson look like a million bucks. Punk has that same gift.

As one final note, Punk does something I haven't seen since the heyday of Flair. He treasures the title. It's such a simple thing, but no one seems to do it anymore. Maybe it's a product of everyone knowing that wrestling matches are predetermined. Maybe it's because some think it's not cool to revere the title. Whatever the reason, it was a lost art until now. Take a look at some of his most recent defenses prior to HIAC. After beating Jeff Hardy, he fell to his knees and embraced to title belt. The following week on Smackdown, he came to the ring WEARING the belt. Again, it's a little thing, but it elevates the title in such a strong way. If he cares so much about it, maybe we should too.

For the sake of the business and of the man's superior skills, WWE needs to put the title back on Punk and leave it there. The WWE, which has become known for switching the titles in rapid fire succession, needs to take advantage of Punk's unique qualities and maximize them to the fullest.

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[C.M. Punk art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]

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