By Chris Newth, PWTorch contributor

After another eventful week in WWE, it's time to alternate the focus of this column to another intriguing feud as the company prepares for its latest PPV, known simply this year as The Bash. At this point, we've covered the Orton-Triple H, Edge-Hardy, and Christian-Swagger storylines. And after reviewing all four of WWE's television shows this week, the feud that sticks out as most paramount leading up to The Bash has to be the intricate storyline between CM Punk and Jeff Hardy.

Allow me to offer an abridged recap of events, stemming from Extreme Rules and leading into yesterday's episode of Friday Night Smackdown: Jeff Hardy valiantly defeated longtime rival Edge in a Ladder Match in WWE's most gimmick-happy PPV event of the year. Immediately following the conclusion of the matchup, CM Punk promptly cashed in his Money in the Bank contract, swooping in to unceremoniously take Hardy's newly won World Heavyweight Title.

Last week on Raw, Punk managed to successfully retain the World Title in a Triple Threat match against Edge and Jeff Hardy. And on last night's Smackdown, Edge found himself branching off into a potentially strong new feud with John Morrison, WWE's latest rising star. That same night, CM Punk officially began what seemed like a clear heel direction. Recap complete.

The storyline here has been nicely crafted, but it revolves as much around CM Punk's upcoming character change as it does around the World Heavyweight Championship. That's a sound combination, and a great deal of focus deserves to be placed upon Punk if WWE intends to go through with a complete heel turn.

Jeff Hardy, who is portrayed on TV every week as a hard-working, independent, intrepid babyface on the Smackdown brand, has a valid point in his arguments against CM Punk. Although Punk technically broke no rules in obtaining the World Heavyweight Title and subsequently retaining it, fan sympathy still lies with Jeff Hardy, who did all the work to take the prestigious position from Edge at Extreme Rules only to have it swiped within minutes by an opportunistic indefinite number one contender.

Of course, while the crowd sides with the title-less Hardy, CM Punk inadvertently adopts the heel position once held by Edge in the World Hvt. Championship rivalry. The true beauty of this feud is that CM Punk isn't turning on anyone to become a heel for selfish reasons; the crowd is instigating the heel turn. Punk's arguments are both valid and justified. In his mind, he capitalized on the brutality of the Ladder match at Extreme Rules just as others have used the MITB briefcase in the past. And then he allowed Hardy to do the work in the Triple Threat match on Raw before sneaking in and picking up the victory over Edge. Punk played within the rules of a Triple Threat; he didn't just abscond with the title.

WWE's willingness to flow with CM Punk's likely heel turn has become readily apparent this week. If the question was lingering at Extreme Rules and the week that followed, last night's Smackdown shed greater light on the company's probable intentions. What was strange about the opening segment featuring Jeff Hardy and CM Punk? The ending. For some almost arbitrary reason, they had Josh Matthews conclude the segment by asking the audience how they felt about each guy—he used the "give it up for…" line, which of course brought cheers and applause for Jeff Hardy and distinct booing for the guy who is now perceived as having committed title larceny.

The only reason WWE concluded the segment that way was to widen the rift between Hardy and Punk. They are planting subtle seeds of unhappiness and frustration into Punk's character, which could theoretically give him a nice excuse to explain his heel ways later. He could basically borrow Chris Jericho's notable excuses—namely that he didn't do anything wrong and the fans still turned against him. WWE is heading in the right direction here by giving the audience a myriad of opportunities to revile Punk. And even if the heel turn doesn't become completely official before The Bash, the crowd has clearly already chosen their guy. In the meantime, CM Punk is Smackdown's latent main event heel.



Comments? Suggestions? Thoughts on the storyline? Feel free to email me at newthtorch@hotmail.com

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