spotlight: cm punk

this is going to be an ongoing theme on my blog. every now and than i will pick a wrestler and go over my opinions of their careers and current angles they are involved in. i figured i would start with the guy i find most compelling on wwe television right now, cm punk. cm punk is currently involved in a feud with jeff hardy over the world title. the promos and in ring work he has done transforming from a face to a heel have been amazing. i have been a huge fan of his especially when he is a heel.


i 1st became aware of cm punk in mlw with his feud with raven. raven being another of my all time favorite wrestlers drew me in, but watching i became a fan of punk's as well. after this i watched him on some ring of honor dvd's and on the tna pay per views. everything he was doing was amazing and he seemed to be a big star in the making. he quickly raised to the top of the card in roh and had some of the best matches in the promotions history. his 3 match series with samoa joe was on par with the ricky steamboat ric flair feud in 1989 in wcw. his title run was epic, the whole i am going to leave with the belt angle was amazing. eventually the inevitable happened and he was signed to a wwe contract. he spent a year in wwe's developmental territory ovw.

after a year of wrestling in ovw punk was called up for the relaunch of ecw. starting in ecw he had an impressive 6 month undefeated streak. he had some good feuds there with the new breed, hardcore holly, and mike knox notably. he was pushed into the main event and a feud with johnny nitro/morrison. the 2 had some good matches with punk coming up just a little short until ultimately winning the ecw title. punk eventually dropped the belt to chavo guerrero.

cm punk won the money in the bank match at wrestlemania xxiv. this set up him being drafted to raw. a week after moving to raw punk cashed in his money in the bank briefcase after batista beat down edge to win the world heavyweight title. his reign was short however. he was then placed in a tag team with kofi kingston. the 2 won the tag team titles together but it was obvious that neither guy would be in that role for long. punks next big push was winning a tournament to become the #1 contender for the intercontinental title. he went on to take the belt from william reagal. eventually he dropped the belt to jbl. next up for punk was becoming the 1st two time money in the bank winner at wrestlemania xxv.

the yearly wwe draft happened and punk was moved to smack down. going to smackdown a new side of punk started to develop. after being a face for 3 years punk started the transition to being a heel. he again cashed in money in the bank after jeff hardy won a grueling match with edge. the fans started to boo punk who let them know it was the nature of the beast he was in the right for cashing in at the opportune time. he would continue to cite the differences between his straight edge lifestyle and the lifestyle that jeff hardy leads. for the 1st time i started to believe that the wwe would allow punk to reach his full potential. he lost the belt back to hardy at night of the champions. just this past friday he came out and raised jeff hardy's hand after jeff beat john morrison as a sign of respect, only to turn on him and beat him down thus completing the transformation to a heel.

the future is wide open for cm punk and i don't see anything stopping him from being a future wwe hall of famer. he has amazing charisma and ring psychology. cm punk is the future of the wwe and i truly hope that vince mcmahon can see this.