CM Punk, sold out?

I know for a fact that people who just read the title are going to think what the hell is this guy on but just hear me it.

For months and months, the majority of this board canvased for CM Punk to become the #1 guy that he so badly deserved to be. He was without a doubt the best guy in the business on the stick and he had proved that on many occasions. He had proved he could have main event feuds and at the same time have them made as candidates for 'Feud of the Year'.

We were finally given what we wanted when CM Punk was thrusted into the lime light, given space to do things that other guys on the roster could only dream of being allowed to do. He was hot as hell for weeks if not a couple of months after that infamous 'shoot' promo.

But I ask you guys this, has Punk sold out? I have felt this for several weeks but after watching this weeks RAW I was compelled to create a thread and hear others opinions on the subject.

So, this week on RAW we seen John Cena cut one of his stereotypical promos. He dropped names, he sounded like an infant and pandered to the crowd. The IWC were yawning in sync at this promo as it was something that had been done over and over. However, Mr Brooks then proceeded to cut a promo. He name dropped stars of the past, he pandered to the crowd and in many ways he was cutting a remarkably similar promo to Mr Cena yet it was lapped up like it was something never heard of before.

Why is it different for Punk to cut a promo like this, the supposed guy who is rebelling against the bad and trying to save us from the same rubbish each week? Where are those pipe bombs? You can't drop those if the ammunition is lame.

Where has the Punk we all once loved gone?

I think it's obvious that after Money in the Bank when CM Punk has signed presumably a pretty comfortable contract and a guarantee of a main event spot he has gotten less and less interesting. He will be being told what to do, more and more, these days.

I suppose you could call it selling out, but he's still more interesting than most as his delivery in promos is better than most, if not all, the roster and is the best in the ring.

I can see where you are going with this Steve, I really can, I do agree with has been said, But I can only feel that the hype that surrounded Punk well and truly left when he turned up on RAW 2 weeks later. He was only gone for a matter of 1 episode. They really should have done something similar to ROH regarding Kevin Steen, Now some of you may argue that Punk was needed in order to sell Summerslamm but he could have simply turned up the week before and attacked Cena & Vince and really give it that edge that it so badly needed after Money In The Bank. He should have then cut a promo saying the he will be at SummerSlam by gate crashing it, Almost like SCSA in the Attitude Era.

Yes, his promo shoot's the next few weeks really did make Wrestling relevant again but that was only because he was saying what he felt and not being told what to say. You know its wrestlers who cut promo's today who hardly get a reaction is because you can just feel that its come from the writers up stairs. The stars of yesterday just went with it and said what came to them, and it worked the fans listend to what they had to say.

For me its all down to creative & writers. They simply wont't allow the roster to have a personaility and the select few that do, come across well when they cut a decent promo. Its guys like Zack Ryder who deserve the praise to get further in the WWE(Based on Gimmicks, Not Ring Ability!) He went off and created a Buzz & a character for himself, It's a shame more don't follow suit or at least get the writers to earn their money by actually creating characters for the wrestlers

Has he sold out? Probably.... Has he leveraged himself into a better spot? Absolutely! The guy has got to look after number one regardless of how much the Internet fans believe he's 'the voice of the voiceless'

He lost alot of momentum when he returned to main event Summerslam this was obviously a booking decision to draw a buy rate for the 2nd biggest pay per view of the year.

If he carries on the exact same gimmick for the next 6 years where the only change in his character is his t-shirts then yes we can say Punk has sold out.

unfortunately we have something many fans didnt want to see, instead of a tweener we have a face and cm just isnt a face. i dont think punk has sold out. i blame wwe for his typical boring face character were watching now. and if you read posts back from before the summer and on the old 606 ive been blowing punks trumpet for a long time, but ive found myself less interested in him than i was a year ago. although im delighted he finally has been given the recognistion he deserves i also feel dissapointed yet again that wwe have turned him into a boring predictable cena style character

I don't think Punk has sold out, sure he has shifted to a face character and the laws of wrestling dictate he must be treated differently i.e. he has to occassionally win matches and unless he is facing a monster or someone receving special treatment, he must be presented as superior to a heel so there is a nessecity for the heel to be ,well, heelish in order to gain an advantage, he might not be as red hot as he was a few months ago but I feel thats more to do with WWE badly bungling the HHH/Nash/Ace angle which if he had been involved could have really made him as an anti-authoritartan rebel, instead he was pinned by HHH with no re-match, ducked by Nash and it's hard to rebel decisivly against the morally amgiuaity of Ace's current GM character. Punk's promo last night might have been a bit uninspired but in fairness everything about the situation is uninspired, sure he's WWE champion but he could have been part of something that was very unique and special, he's now feuding with two guys one who he has no real history with and another with whom the feud has ran it's course, I wouldn't put the blame on Punk though, his all round wrestling ability is better now than it ever has been IMO, he still has real attention grabbing delivery in his verbals and I'm sure when the time comes Punk will pull out another stunner, lets face it truly great promos that stick in the mind only come along every once in a while and Punk has given 3 in as many years (The Happy Birthday, Sermon on the Mat and the infamous Shoot Promo) why he would suddenly lose this ability just because he was playing face, which he has sucessfully played before in the past, is beyond me.

Punk is going through a period of great change at the moment and badly bungled/generally uninspired storylines have in my opinion made his job of establishing himself as a top face a lot harder than it should have been, I believe Punk has all the talent to be the No 1 face and is for me at this point is the best all round wrestler in the world, and to write him off as a Cena clone at this point in time is for me frankly ridiculous.

I should also clarify that I don't recognise the existance of a tweener character, from the moment Punk caught on after his shoot promo he was always heading for facedom and thats where he should be for me.

The real danger Punk has is not connecting with the mainstream audience, when he did that video of jonny ace at the slammys while all the iwc got it, you can bet about 90% of the mainstream didn't. The mainstream cheer for him because hes a face, do they understand what he talks about? No. The only real pipebomb he did was the shoot promo, which people compared to Austin 3:16, which it didn't hold a candle to, we only liked it because we've been fed so much rubbish for years.

And lets face it, Vince won't let a guy who is standing up for iwc be at the top of tree, he likes to pee all of them off, be in control, and to not give the iwc what they want.

By the end of 2012 Punk will be going 5 moves of doomish, you will all not want to believe it, but deep down you know its coming.

Selling out would have been extending his contract and staying in his position of MEJTTS (Main Event Jobber To The Stars) that he filled from after the Jeff Hardy feud.

Punk's way, way above that now.

Sure the way things have played out have been poor in comparison to what could have been, but Punk has kick started a few things. The Titles are all now more heavily associated with Workrate. Punk has helped push the idea that Cena does not have to be so heavily relied upon as the Main Event babyface, and in doing so Punk has leapfrogged Blandy Boreton which in my opinion can only be a good thing. He has a voice which he is using very well, he is shifting lots of merchandise and even crowds outside of the traditional Smart towns like Philadelphia, New York and Chicago have taken to him.

Punk didn't sell out, he simply played his hand beautifully.

I still think Punk is awesome, very entertaining

He said he wanted the WWE to be fun again

He must have looked to his right and saw New US champion Long Ice Z and looked to his left and saw New World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan while he was standing as the WWE Champion of the World and you'd excuse him for thinking that for him that was pretty fun

He'll feel justified and vindicated right now

CM Punk is still the best thing to come out of the wwe in 2011. If we diddnt have Punk god help us