323 days. That’s how many days it’s taken me to see no future for CM Punk after he drops the WWE Championship.

I cannot quite pinpoint it, but last night was the final knife in the coffin of CM Punk’s main event status once he drops his title. It might be the fact that WWE has desperately tried to get Punk booed, or it might be that his current rivalry with John Cena has grown stale because of Cena’s lack of input – and with nothing but Ryback’s mega push to cover for Cena’s potential absence at Hell in a Cell. Either way, I’m looking past Hell in a Cell and the repetitive nature of this month, and hoping the build to Survivor Series sees CM Punk still as champion and a brand new number one contender on his tail.

Desperation

It came across pretty clearly in the intro to this blog (sorry for the lack of entry last week by the way, it’s a long and personal story), but I’ll say it again. This past month has been a string of non-progressive Cena promos and desperate attempts to make Punk look weak and cowardly.

I’m pretty much used to Cena’s boring promos and how little he actually says in them, so I won’t comment in any way other than stating that I’m sick of hearing him spend ten minutes begging Punk for a title match every week.

Punk is the surprise.

Over the last year I’ve become, like so many others, used to CM Punk blowing everyone away in the ring on the microphone. But ever since WWE has turned him heel Punk seems to lack that cutting edge. That’s not to say he isn’t still one of the more unique and best promo guys in the business, but he isn’t at the same level he was a month ago. He too has become predictable.

Whilst WWE has done everything in its power to turn the fans on Punk (the backchop Punk delivered to an unsuspecting fan last night might help lol), and done so to some effect, it seems to be heavily reliant on Punk dropping the traits that got him his 323 day title reign in the first place. He has become a cowardly champion (in the same vain as Triple H during the McMahon-Helmsley era) who demands the respect of WWE legends. We all know Punk is a more capable heel than this, and had WWE not tried to force the issue he could become a truly memorable champion because of a gradual heel turn.

I honestly believe that Punk’s year in the spotlight will be remembered for his time as a crowd favourite rather than the desperate turn he has taken in the name of respect. He already had many fans’ respect for his in-ring performances and epic promos before Cena came back into the picture, making this heel turn a pointless occurrence.

I titled this section ‘Desperation’, but it was with John Cena in mind. Since WrestleMania, Cena has been floating around from feud to feud, not doing anything of real importance. This Punk heel turn is a desperate attempt to make Cena relevant again, and it just makes me loathe Cena because Punk was golden until he was made to feud with Cena again (he’s beaten Cena before for the title, so he has nothing left to prove to him). Punk’s downturn in match quality and persona over the last month is down to Cena’s inability (or lack of desire) to improve his own character.

I just hope that Cena is ruled out of Hell in a Cell so we get a unique match in Ryback versus Punk.

In other news…

Ryback def. Primo & Epico – The only notable thing here was the huge reaction Ryback got throughout the match.

Brodus Clay vs. R-Truth ended in a no contest – I’m not sure why this even happened.

Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara def. The Prime Time Players – WWE’s tag team division is improving in leaps and bounds, and I enjoyed this match. I would rather the result was reversed though.

Sheamus def. Wade Barrett via DQ – I actually miss the ADR/Sheamus feud given that Big Show has walked into a title match and it will no doubt be terrible. The only plus was that I would like to see Sheamus and Barrett face off for the World Heavyweight Championship in the near future.

United States Champion Antonio Cesara def. Tyson Kidd – I’m really starting to like Cesaro, but the man’s a fool for ditching Aksana.

WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No def. Alberto Del Rio & Dolph Ziggler – Another good match, and the Daniel Bryan & Kane show is still entertaining.

The Miz starred on ‘Larry King Now’ – Just, why?

The Rhodes Scholars def. Santino Marella & Zack Ryder – It was a predictable result, but I like the Rhodes Scholars so I enjoyed this.

Divas Champion Eve def. Kaitlin – Hopefully Kaitlin will not be involved with the Divas title again anytime soon.

CM Punk vs. Mr. McMahon ended in a no contest – It was actually a match worthy of hype, and it was a more even bout than a thought it would be. As much as a negative as I’ve seen this month in WWE, this was a good close to Raw and I’m glad I watched it.

As much as I’m frustrated at the lack of progressive action on Raw this month, I actually enjoyed a lot of last night’s action.

The matches are consistently good lately, and with the tag team division making leaps and bounds it just adds to that claim. In all honesty, I didn’t have any real problems with the way tonight played out. I just have a problem with how WWE is handling the Punk/Cena/Ryback situation.

Until WWE is prepared to have Cena step out of the spotlight for a prolonged period of time, nobody will be a guaranteed main event. I just hope I’m wrong about Punk’s post-reign longevity.

Thanks for reading. I’d love to read your views on Twitter (@SpringerAJ, #YYYTRR).