Hit, Miss, or Fix: The CM Punk Storyline

[Wolf Hurricane]

Long, obnoxious opener goes here. Can't really think of a good lead-in, so I'll just get straight to it:

Quite simply, what are your thoughts on the CM Punk storyline; good, bad, or indifferent? Also (particularly if bad or indifferent) how would you have booked it? Finally, what you were expecting the storyline to accomplish, be it a shift in booking, a new star (or stars) being created, Punk as the new #1, or simply Punk as a major player.

[kyromax]

Ruined by the Miz/Truth and the walk out story line. Hottest thing in wrestling, and Triple H ended up being the face when all was said and done.

[rnrk supports BLM]

It did a decent job of establishing a credible replacement for Edge, and I really can't see how the angle could've lead to anything more than that.

Punk's where he ought to be on the card, at least for now.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

They could have added more chaos on the shows to make everyone's dissatisfaction with HHH have more weight (Miz and R-Truth alone don't seem enough to spook someone like Beth Phoenix), but it's been good for me so far and it's still got my interest.

I wasn't necessarily looking for a booking shift, so I'm just happy that they've got a new top-tier star to play with. I'm pretty sure that Punk's ROH-dropping, running away with the WWE title and whatnot was more to mark a turning point for him first and foremost rather than WWE.

[thegame415]

It started out amazing. I'm disappointed with the way it has turned, but anything can change.

[Ryback on a Pole!]

Rushed

They really should have gone further with Punk's walk out. At least had him out of the WWE until the next PPV.

Likewise the wrestlers walkout was rushed too. I'd have kinda liked to have seen Triple H struggling to put a show together with a handful of main event wrestlers, rookies brought up from FCW to fill the gap, temporary appearances from ex-WWE guys to fill up space and of course, people changing sides to go with Triple H for whatever purpose.

Lauranitis becoming temporary GM wouldn't have been so bad if there was a bit more a build up to it.

[nomeansno]

My thoughts: The inital shock of Punk's promo led to the MITB title switch and a grass roots buzz about the product again. That was the storyline's first and subsequently strongest peak. They got Punk's name out there as a "new voice" in WWE but the interest came from outlets in the media that always had a fringe interest in pro wrestling (the various ESPN platforms) or from new media sources (podcasts, twitter and mainstream sports blogs). The WWE feels that they are above the "niche" sports fan and should have more appeal to fans of all types of entertainment. E News didn't ask for Punk, they only still want Cena. WWE management sees Punk right now as a guy who got a great reaction from our fan base and those on the fringe and that's well and good, actually a bit better response than Randall Keith Orton gets, but if it's still not Cena level then it has to be cooled for now and rebuilt after the new year. It seems to me that the writers wrote a ton of possible storylines around the inital Punk angle and since Punk's back under the bubble they farmed those stories out to guys like The Miz and Truth, and even Triple H. We as fans of the product, who tune in for Punk, don't want others playing the role that he inspired. So we hate it and look to blame someone. The walk out would have been huge if it were lead by a rebel Punk over Triple H but creative didn't get the right spark of interest from the initial Punk angle so substitutes and a lot of rushing is what we get.
I still have faith that the Punk experiment will be a success it will just take until Wrestlemania for it to playout.