CM Punk is still CM Punk. Seriously, he owns the name. The wrestler born Phil Brooks is seemingly out of bed with WWE for real at this point. As his contract was reportedly allowed to expire on July 17, CM Punk is no longer listed on the active roster on the WWE website. It all seems official, which of course leads all the crazy conspiracy theorist fans to believe that they are right all along and the whole thing was a huge Kaufmanesque work and he'll be back any day now. Whispers and rumors of lawsuits being issued for Punk's supposedly breaching his contract as well as taking umbrage with his recent public statement that he would "never, ever" return to the company are probably crap, and they are fodder for the "he will return" cult of personality whether true or false. It's that kind of logic-circle meta-analysis that makes this story so intriguing. Even colleagues like Guardians of the Galaxy's Dave Batista is sure he'll return at some point.
First of all, the whole lawsuit thing just sounds like utter crap. If they wanted him to honor his contract, they had the option of extending it. Why risk bad blood and an unsure outcome (not to mention a lot of money) on litigation? At any rate, there is no evidence to support the rumor (via Bleacher Report):
"While nothing is official at this point, there is at least some talk going around the company regarding a possible lawsuit against Punk for breach of contract.
"There aren't a lot of specific details regarding this story as of right now, however it is known that there are many people very high up in WWE who are less than pleased with how everything went down with Punk."
At the AP Music Awards this week, Punk got all dressed up and made his first high-profile public appearance in months and addressed his newfound freedom the only way he knows how. Punk's statements were vague, sarcastic and hardly inflammatory. Then people gleaned from his statements what they wished. Stories have ways of sometimes telling themselves. Check out the video:
Dave Batista, as well as many wrestling insiders, are sure that Brooks will eventually make his way back, either to some indie promotion or to WWE itself (via MTV):
"I think eventually he'll come back. I think he belongs there. I think the fans really love him and miss him. I think he loves it and misses it just as much. I'm really not sure why he left.
"He'll be back, I would think that he would be back. I think it would be kind of crazy if he didn't go back."
Welcome to wrestling in 2014. No one knows what's a work and what's a shoot; they think it might be a worked shoot- or it could be a shoot that turned into a work. When Shakespeare said "all the world's a stage", do you think he was referring to pro wrestling?
What do you think?
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