CM Punk Died For Vince's Sins

Corbin Macklin

Credit: WWE.com

I want to start this by first saying it's pathetic that a little over a year and a couple of months is "the modern record" and then, saying that the modern record is a modern participation trophy. There is only one record world championship reign, much like there should only be one world champion in one promotion. That record belongs to Bruno Sammartino. Unlike most records, that one will never be broken. The way Vince has fed everyone and everything to Brock Lesnar always brings me back to 2013, when he should have given it all to CM Punk.

I do not mind the idea of part time wrestlers being the world champion, I do mind the idea of feeding the wrong people to those part timers. In 2013, WWE fed CM Punk to The Rock at the Royal Rumble, The Undertaker at WrestleMania, and Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. This is going to be the longest thing I've ever written because I'm going to fantasy book three years, 2013-2015. Let's begin with The Shield. The whole idea of The Shield originated in the mind of one Phillip Brooks, as he wanted to have some heaters help him retain his championship and, well, get heat. Instead of doing all that vague talk about injustice, I would have presented them as clearly in the corner of CM Punk. Then, to make this all work seamlessly, The Undertaker enters the Rumble as a surprise and wins it instead of Cena. Then you have Cena begging for a rematch against The Rock like he begged for a match with Taker this past Mania. At the Rumble, instead of doing the dumb finish they did where McMahon was threatening to strip Punk of the title and Rock said restart the match, have Punk go over with the assist from The Shield.

Cena can use Rock's failure to win the belt as part of his trash talking to incite him to accept his challenge so we get that twice in a lifetime match we didn't want. CM Punk and Paul Heyman can cut godlike promos about how CM Punk's title streak is more impressive than Undertaker's streak and Undertaker does his usual thing about souls and resting in peace. Have CM Punk do the disrespectful Paul Bearer mocking and the stuff with the urn and have The Shield stomp Undertaker out everytime he does anything to Punk. At Mania, CM Punk retains, with another assist from The Shield. After the match, they triple powerbomb him through the announce table. Pyro is going crazy after that as they celebrate with their fearless leader.

Fast forward to SummerSlam. Punk is still champion. I don't remember AND don't care who had the big gold belt, let's give that to Cena and his match with Bryan was for that. You can keep the storyline where The Authority is with Orton, just leave The Shield out because they're still with Punk. CM Punk vs Brock Lesnar is the main event. Paul Heyman left Punk to cut promos for Brock, without the turn at Money In The Bank. CM Punk retains because The Shield triple powerbombed Heyman through an announcers table and that distracted Brock enough for Punk to gain the advantage.

Fast forward to TLC when WWE unified the world championships. Instead of Orton vs Cena part 25625733 which no one wanted, it's CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan in a TLC match. Dave Meltzer gives it 5 stars because he was not yet enough of a mark to break the star rating system. Daniel Bryan wins, because at the point when CM Punk expects The Shield to help him, they triple power bomb him through a table and leave. Then they can start cutting promos about injustice and all that jazz. Then Punk feuds with them and beats Rollins and Ambrose but loses to Roman, because "Make Roman look strong".

Fast forward to Batista winning the Rumble as a heel, to go up against Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 30. I'd book The Shield against The Wyatt Family, and of course The Shield goes over. I'd have Evolution get back together at Mania. The whole group. Flair is there as a manager. HHH, Orton and Batista wreck shop on Bryan after the match and it puts him on the shelf for a while. On the Raw after Mania, Evolution is cutting promos about how they're the dominant faction in WWE and out comes The Shield like "nah."

I would have The Shield beat Evolution two PPVs in a row like they did, and instead of Rollins doing the heel turn, I would turn Roman Reigns. And you keep Evolution going. Ric Flair is the manager, Batista is champion, HHH and Orton are there and Roman is the future. Roman beats Rollins and Ambrose in matches with help from Evolution. Roman wins Money In The Bank with help from Evolution. Roman gets new gear and theme music. He wears suits like his new buddies and he's living his best life.

Fast forward to the Rumble. Brock Lesnar wins to set up a match I still want to see between he and Batista at Mania 31. At WrestleMania, Brock wins in a very physical match, but Evolution's music interrupts his celebration. Out comes Roman Reigns with the Money In The Bank, he beats Brock after two spears. On Raw the next night, both Batista and Brock want their rematch. Roman gives it to them and retains. Then you turn Roman babyface when Evolution turns on him like they did Orton back in the day. You can have him feud with Batista, Orton and HHH for the next year almost. The main event of the next WrestleMania? Roman Reigns vs the Royal Rumble winner: CM Punk.

I think this timeline is WAY better than what we got.