CM Punk Back To Being A Heel?

There was some talk that the big summer angle would start at the end of Raw's 1,000th episode. What happens at the end of the show? John Cena became the first person to not be able to win a World title off the briefcase. Big Show screwed him. There was something more interesting than that. CM Punk did not try to save Cena from Big Show. When The Rock came out to save Cena, moreover, Punk attacked The Rock. Heel turn?

John Cena failing to cash in for the title is obviously not a big storyline. So what if the centerpiece has this blemish on his record? As long as the WWE continues to push him hard, he remains the centerpiece.

The Rock announced that he would go for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble. I don't consider that a summer storyline. It is big, but not really an angle for the summer. It is more similar to the build Rock vs. Cena at Wrestlemania had, only in less time.

Big Show throwing his weight around? No big summer angle there.

That leaves CM Punk turning heel. That is big. He is the WWE Champion. Outside of John Cena, Punk is the top guy on Raw. However, I really hope the WWE does not think turning him is a big summer angle in the same style as Nexus or the "pipe bomb" last year. John Cena turning heel would be a bigger deal. CM Punk turning will lead to some elaborate storyline, but they need to do a lot more than that to sell this as a huge story. Having CM Punk say that he was bitter about being overshadowed by John Cena all these months and jealous of The Rock would be such a mediocre way of turning him. I'm sure he will pull it off amazingly to please the fans in his promos, but in terms of the actual storyline, it would be weak.

Raw had a 3.84 this week. Amazing. When I saw that the show averaged over 6 million viewers, I was expecting around a 4.0, but 3.84 is the best number they have seen since last year. This was Raw's first regular 3-hour show. Those 3-hour specials they would do here and there in the past have usually been hit or miss. That extra hour sometimes drags ratings down, but the hype for the specials sometimes leads to better ratings, as well. And hype is definitely what did it for them this time. They hyped a title match. They hyped that legends would be on the show. The Rock, the man who helped raise ratings to a 3.9 last year with his return, was going to be there. People knew that. Problem is, how will the WWE do without all that hype? The Rock will not be there every week. The WWE title will not be defended every week. They will have to go back to featuring the likes of Jinder Mahal without The Undertaker to make an appearance. Ratings will drop. Until then, this week got the job done.