CM Punk Is Injured

You didn't have to wait too long to see if anyone major would suffer an injury this December. CM Punk had knee surgery yesterday. This has been reported by the WWE themselves, so you can believe it more than if it was just dirtsheet reports. The WWE has even changed the TLC card. Instead of CM Punk defending the title against Ryback, Ryback will join Daniel Bryan and Kane to face The Shield.

Of all the top stars to be put in this kind of situation, it had to be CM Punk, the guy who has held the WWE Championship for well over a year, was already booked in a title defense for a PPV just a few weeks away, and looked like he would just roll right into the Royal Rumble to face The Rock. It does look like Punk will get to hold onto the title. No word on whether he would be forced to relinquish it. Only the match change has been announced. This kind of situation obviously called for changes to booking. Compare that to the inconsistency the WWE showed for just last month's PPV. No such excuse there.

But you still have to wonder, is the WWE handling this correctly? No WWE title match at TLC, after they had started to develop one? Cena vs. Ziggler now looks like a PPV main-event match. In a situation like this, where a title match is set and the Champion cannot compete, can you just cancel the whole title defense? The WWE can make up any kayfabe excuse for this, but I think there were still ways to work around this. I remember when there was a series of matches to crown a new U.S. Champion between Booker T and Chris Benoit. When Booker T got injured, Randy Orton substituted for him. Why couldn't the WWE just have Punk and Heyman come up with a substitute? Yes, that might involve switching up some other plans, bringing in Brock Lesnar, or some other attempt to bring in a credible opponent for Ryback. I think it would have been worth it. The current situation is cheap. If the shoe was on the other foot, if it was the challenger getting injured, I cannot imagine the WWE not finding a new one and letting the WWE Championship still be defended. They obviously don't want to vacate the title just like that, but they are putting themselves in a tough spot for TLC. That's what happens when major stars get injured.