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Upon seeing the MANY MANY columns written on the exiting CM Punk from the WWE, we here at the FINAL COUNTDOWN branch of Mr. Tito Incorporated wanted to do something different. Instead of giving you yet another column as to why CM Punk may have left, the consequences of him leaving, etc... We're just going to flatout tell you why CM Punk leaving the WWE absolutely SUCKS for pro wrestling fans. Since CM Punk joined the RAW brand during late 2010, he's been many fans' favorite wrestler in the WWE. In a WWE Universe where the PG rating is pushed hard and John Cena is made to look like Superman, it was refreshing to see Punk as a throwback to the old Attitude Era. Punk was a bold talker and a great in-ring performer. He is the antithesis of John Cena and because of that, he was a great draw with adult fans thirsty for someone to root for. CM Punk's resume of great matches just got thicker between 2011 through 2013. While the matches against the Rock could have gone better (but Rock struggled with everybody upon their return), CM Punk gave the Undertaker, John Cena, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, Kane, and Brock Lesnar some of their best matches in their careers. I could easily argue that Punk's Money in the Bank 2011 match against Cena and his SummerSlam 2013 match against Brock Lesnar won the "Match of the Year" honors for those years with several other Punk matches owning spots in the top 5. Punk has given the WWE a second babyface draw even if WWE Management didn't accept it and tried their best to diminish it with unfavorable booking. But he could be gone now unless Vince McMahon begs to have him comeback before WWE Network starts and ahead of Wrestlemania 30. We'll see... Until then, enjoy today's FINAL COUNTDOWN which can be further enhanced by listening to this "awesome" cover of Europe's song. FINAL COUNTDOWN - TOP 10 REASONS WHY CM PUNK LEAVING THE WWE SUCKS! 10) The band Living Colour will lose out on music royalties. Before CM Punk utilized Living Colour's "Cult of Personality" song as his theme, the band had some difficulties between the time when that song was a hit until now. Break-ups, reunions, and just not another strong hit after hitting the music scene with amazement during the late 1980's. With Rap and Hip Hop gaining momentum, many kids watching Mtv were amazed to see an all African American band playing heavy metal music as they did. It was just not common for what Mtv aired at the time. "Cult of Personality" was an amazing song but it seemed to get lost in the fold since that was their only incredibly strong hit. 20 years later, CM Punk utilizes it as his theme song. Now, you hear that song everywhere and it has probably helped to pack houses for Living Colour anywhere they perform and I'm sure those iTunes royalties are pouring in. Now, with CM Punk gone, so goes the royalties... Easy money while it lasted... I'm surprised that other 1980's and 1990's bands don't try to tempt wrestlers or the WWE to use their music as themes. 9) Best talker is now gone from WWE. The guy who cuts the best promo in the WWE no longer exists... Not just the infamous pipebomb speech, but all of his promos were great... Once the WWE let Punk be less scripted for the last 3 years, he's had the freedom to separate his character from the rest of the roster. In particular, those promos against Paul Heyman were just sick... One of Punk's best traits is that much of his CM Punk character reflects how he might appear in real life. Thus, when he cuts a promo, you believe him... If you watch John Cena cut a promo and then see how he talks to his girlfriend Nikki Bella, it's a different guy. John Cena the character is much different than the real life guy. Punk has a lot more realism to his character and is easily the most legible speaker in the WWE. I wouldn't be surprised if CM Punk is added as a UFC commentator or something like that. Punk has value in his speaking voice and mind for the business. 8) No more cool CM Punk WWE merchandise. During the late 1990's, you could proudly wear the "nWo", "DX", or Steve Austin t-shirts to school or elsewhere and not be mocked. In fact, you were praised because those 3 entities were considered cool. Pro wrestling has lost its edge from turning into the PG product that you see today. John Cena is a very kid friendly wrestler and thus wearing his shirts at an older age could get you laughed at... But CM Punk's shirts, however, were cool... In particular, the white shirts with the fist in front of the flag and "best in the world" on the back. I've seen many people at malls and other sporting events proudly display those shirts. Punk was a legitimate draw with adults and caused many XL shirts to finally be bought from WWE Shopzone or maybe by parents attending Houseshows with their kids who want John Cena merchandise. 7) WWE will push Sheamus, Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, and Big E Langston extra hard in his absence. Already, the WWE has utilized Sheamus as Punk's replacement in matches for houseshows. Meanwhile, Roman Reigns did defeat CM Punk a few weeks ago... WWE has high hopes for Sheamus again while they see money in Reigns, Bray Wyatt, and Big E Langston as the next big superstars. As history shows with the WWE, they tend to push their developmental stars too quickly and to the World Titles when they aren't over yet. WWE will soon realize what a big draw that CM Punk truly was and will begin to push one or each of those guys hard as Punk's replacement. Some will suggest Daniel Bryan will get pushed harder without CM Punk but those 4 wrestlers are the ones that the WWE has longer term plans. Much larger wrestlers than Daniel Bryan that the WWE groomed themselves. 6) John Cena/Randy Orton lost their best opponent. Over the past few years, CM Punk was the one who pushed both Randy Orton and John Cena to their best career matches. In fact, CM Punk did it for both wrestlers during 2011. Punk is a fascinating wrestler in that he sells moves extremely well but he's aggressive enough in the ring to force his will any fellow wrestler. Punk does not take shit from anyone and his deep commitment to pro wrestling is undeniable. I think both Orton and Cena respect Punk because Punk goes out of his way to make both wrestlers look good and get many wrestling fans to speak highly of their matches. Both guys do not have many "Match of the Year" candidates except when they wrestle Punk. John Cena, in particular, seems to go out of his way to put over CM Punk in the ring as a legitimate equal. Their matches have been fantastic because of it. Now, both guys lost their best opponent to give them any shot at winning "Match of the Year". 5) No CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan feud for the WWE Title. This countdown is aware that they've feuded before. But Daniel Bryan is peaking as a WWE wrestler and is crazy popular now. The timing is right to have Bryan and Punk wrestle over the WWE title with both guys being over and in many "Match of the Year" candidates over the past few years. With Punk gone, any chance of at least one CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan match for the WWE Title diminishes. Eventually, the WWE will give into the Daniel Bryan chants and push him... Punk is a perfect opponent because unlike Batista or Orton, Punk would be willing to put Bryan over. 4) No Rematch with Brock Lesnar. 2013 actually had some solid WWE matches. However, there was one that stood out from them all and I'd argue was an all time great match. Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk at SummerSlam 2013 was an absolute battle. CM Punk took a huge beating from the very physical and former MMA fighter Brock Lesnar. At the same time, however, CM Punk was able to look credible against Lesnar with hard kicks and disallowed the match to look one-sided. The match had tons of heat thanks to CM Punk and Paul Heyman's feud. Mixing MMA and pro wrestling perfectly, Lesnar and Punk gave the WWE a blueprint on what pro wrestling should look like during 2013. With Punk gone, however, we're denied a rematch to one of the best of all time matches. Easily the best SummerSlam match and that's quite an accomplishment. 3) Who can WWE scapegoat now for bad ratings or lower buyrates? Why isn't CM Punk headlining Wrestlemania 30 and wrestling for the WWE Title? WWE officials could argue that CM Punk didn't draw significant numbers from Survivor Series 2011 through Royal Rumble 2013. Ratings were unchanged and buyrates struggled for non-Wrestlemania and non-Brock Lesnar Pay Per Views during 2012 with Punk as champion. Instead of blaming the WWE's high prices, piracy, and the weak economy, the WWE points fingers at guys not named Randy Orton or John Cena. But when CM Punk was WWE Champion, he may have Main Evented 5 of the Pay Per Views during his reign. How could he be blamed if he's not allowed to Main Event the company's top shows? That's in addition to being kept out of many RAW main events as WWE Champion, too. WWE forgets how strong Money in the Bank 2011 drew when CM Punk was booked as a serious challenger to John Cena. 2) TNA and Ring of Honor are too damaged to be "saved" by him. Rumor had it that TNA was up for sale but TNA officials have denied it repeatedly. Their houseshow circuit has been very underwhelming while they are struggling to find set locations for television tapings. The Pay Per View market hasn't been a success for TNA and ditto for bringing in many big names. While Hulk Hogan has helped virtually every company he's joined or rejoined, his TNA debut didn't work out. The booking under Hogan and Eric Bischoff did not draw in viewers and Bischoff found out the hardway how difficult running a company was without unlimited Time Warner money. TNA is sweating bullets to see if they can retain Cable TV rights with SpikeTV. Meanwhile, Ring of Honor has not grown significantly as expected when the Sinclair group purchased them. In fact, they may have become smaller... ROH has become a distant third... Maybe a returning CM Punk could draw interest but it's not known how much the company could spend on wrestlers surrounding Punk along with good television production. Options to go elsewhere in pro wrestling are limited for Punk. Leaving the WWE early before his contract expires could possibly enforce an extended no compete clause to prevent CM Punk to save them during 2014, let alone future years if either promotion exists. 1) No Triple H vs. CM Punk Match at Wrestlemania 30. I disagree with CM Punk and his assessment of his role at Wrestlemania 30, if and only if he was scheduled to defeat Triple H. If he was scheduled to lose to Triple H again, then I could agree... Triple H remains the most dominant wrestler on the WWE roster despite being part time. He'll let the Undertaker defeat him at Wrestlemania and Lesnar defeat him 2 out of 3 times, but each wrestler did not look strong versus Triple H. HHH commands a presence that informs fans that at any time, the Game could get out of that suit and defeat anybody on the roster. Because Triple H keeps his character strong and intimidating, it actually hurts the WWE product when Triple H shows up. BUT - If Triple H was willing to do business and LOSE to CM Punk at Wrestlemania 30, that victory was well worth it for Punk to stick around. In fact, that victory to CM Punk would be worth more to his character than winning the WWE Title. We've already seen Punk as WWE Champion... His bigger issue was never redeeming himself over Triple H and that dates back to 2011. Fans are still bitter about Triple H defeating CM Punk at Night of Champions 2011 and never getting a rematch. In fact, HHH and Punk tagged up on another Pay Per View later that year and lost to freakin' Miz and R-Truth with Punk taking the pin. WWE actually had a good storyline with Triple H/Stephanie quietly stabbing CM Punk in the back with the Shield attacks, New Age Outlaws turning on Punk, and now Corporate Kane. It's actually a great long term storyline with presumably a strong finish of CM Punk getting his revenge (finally) against Triple H at Wrestlemania 30. In my opinion, Punk had high hopes of the WWE changing booking plans through the night of the Royal Rumble on letting him win the Rumble and get a WWE Title shot. However, to his disappointment, the booking plans remained with Batista winning the Rumble and the WWE legitimately going with Batista vs. Randy Orton at Wrestlemania 30. Not only was Punk not in the Rumble but Daniel Bryan being denied was disappointing to Punk as well. Knowing that he was probably going to retire when his contract was up in July 2014, Punk decided to cut his losses now and give the WWE a middle finger by screwing them just before the WWE Network starts and Wrestlemania 30. CM Punk busted his ass during 2013 to put over the likes of the Rock twice, Kane, Undertaker, John Cena, and Brock Lesnar while only getting to defeat Chris Jericho as a decent name. He felt that a reward was in order for his hard work and yet he's seeing 2 close friends of Triple H in Batista, who was gone for over 3 years, and Randy Orton, who has had WWE Wellness Policy issues (yes, that's an issue for a Straight Edge guy) be in the Main Event. CM Punk's issue is with the guy he's scheduled to wrestle at Wrestlemania 30, Triple H. And I wouldn't doubt that Triple H has wavered on the booking at Wrestlemania 30. Punk might actually stick around and maybe sign a WWE extension if he was guaranteed to defeat Triple H at Wrestlemania 30. I'm willing to bet that the CM Punk vs. Triple H finish was still "up in the air" or else CM Punk might value the Wrestlemania 30 match and a WWE contract extension. WWE could have easily had CM Punk finally overcome Triple H in a match and then let him draw good money going after Batista and Randy Orton. Why not? Comments and debates are welcome on Twitter. Bring it on. @titowrestling SO JUST CHILL TILL THE NEXT EPISODE! MR. TITO COLUMN ARCHIVES on LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: @titowrestling
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