It’s not news to say CM Punk and WWE are at odds. Each side has contributed a litany of transgressions against the other, with both Punk and WWE swearing that the other side is at fault. Egos have been cracked, feelings have been hurt, and attorneys have been called. It’s a mess. But, wrestlers with worse histories have made their prodigal return to WWE soil.
CM Punk’s name has been oddly relevant of late. Perhaps it’s because seemingly every ex-wrestler has his own podcast and they know the quickest route to listener’s hearts is to have an opinion on CM Punk.
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Even further, the actual institution, WWE, has apparently loosened its stance on Punk’s potential return. Maybe The Rock calling him from RAW’s ring wasn’t so spontaneous, after all.
I refuse to believe that both sides are so stubborn that this can’t happen – there’s simply too much money to be made. So what’s it going to take? Maybe a promise to headline WrestleMania? A near death experience in the UFC Octagon? Or maybe a naked photo album of Nikki Bella?
None of these will do it.
Seth Rollins has to steal CM Punk’s finisher, the GTS.
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Finishing maneuvers are profoundly personal in wrestling, or at least the good ones are. How many times have you seen someone ironically or routinely use Undertaker’s Tombstone or Stone Cold’s Stunner? Unless you’re Eugene of the Ruthless Aggression Era, it happens sparingly. It’s good as a one off, sure, but to permanently add it to one’s arsenal? Tsk, tsk.
Oddly enough, both Punk and Rollins are guilty of stealing another wrestler’s finisher. For Punk he ripped the GTS from NXT’s Hideo Itami way back when. And Rollins, well he’s more of the serial thief as he has stolen not one but two finishers.
The first, we’re all familiar with. As soon as Seth cranked out his first Pedigree, there was an unspoken understanding amidst the WWE Universe: sooner than later he will fight Triple H. Rollins rode that “borrowed” finisher all the way to a coveted WrestleMania match with his maker, HHH. What most fans aren’t aware of is that Rollins’ current finisher, the swinging knee to the face thing, is also not his. That belongs to Kenny Omega of New Japan Wrestler. Is it still stealing if it happens on another continent? Yes, Seth. It is.
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If it were 1000 BC, it would widely be held that stealing another man’s finishing move would be the quickest way to be cursed by the gods. And Who’s to say that Rollins and Punk aren’t at least a little bewitched? After using Itami’s finisher to climb to the top of WWE, Punk now finds himself estranged from the Elysian Fields of WWE and forced to compete in the octagon, a place that is so clearly not his home.
Rollins too may be dealing with a curse of his own. Having lost consecutive matches to Bray Wyatt should be enough to drive this home but we’ll go one step further: Seth Rollins is lost. Once upon a time, Seth Rollins original finisher, the Curb Stomp, was the best maneuver WWE had seen in decades. However deeming it too violent, WWE stripped him of it. Ever since, Rollins has been the baby bird with no nest. The man with no eyes walking in the desert. He is incomplete. He’s so desperate to find his finisher that he’s resorted to stealing. And on top of it all, he’s doing this as a babyface. Rollins trying to play a wholesome character is just as difficult as Punk trying to win a UFC match.
So here we have our cursed gladiators, both guilty of theft, both sworn off by the gods of wrestling. Yet, we can offer them each a path of redemption. When CM Punk sees Seth Rollins start using his finisher, something will ignite. How dare he, Punk might say as he reads his tweets. By taking CM Punk’s finisher it would look like WWE sent Rollins on a mission to cast a cloud over the legacy of CM Punk.
Rollins in 2015 was the future of WWE. Multiple knee injuries, some questionable booking, and an unnatural switch of character has him floundering on WWE’s midcard. For Punk, he’s going to get tired of all fo those ass-whippings. He may kiss the ground when he see’s Rollins hit the GTS on Youtube clip from a RAW dark match.
Punk’s comeback wouldn’t need much of a story, but giving him the incentive to rightfully take back his finisher from Rollins would be a great way to bring him back home to WWE. For Rollins’ sake, he gets to re-enter WWE’s main event after a 2 year absence.
