Welcome to another edition of The Wrestling Post. This week we take a look at one of the WWE’s stars leaving the company at a time that the stock’s price is at an all-time high.
CM Punk leaves WWE
Big news in the WWE as one of its top stars, CM Punk, has left the company. Apparently, this is not a part of the script as Punk has been written out of the WWE for now. In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani Punk revealed that his contract with the WWE ended in July. Speculation grew about whether he’d re-up with the company or just walk away. Recent storylines were not going his way and he did not want to appear at Wrestlemania XXX unless he would be in one of the main events. This became one of the factors why Punk decided to leave.
Punk is a BJJ practitioner and left open the idea of competing in MMA. According to The Wrestling Observer, Bellator expressed interest in the 35 year old pro wrestler. When asked about Punk during the UFC 169 media scrum, White indicated that the two had talked…just not about fighting. White stated he was a “nice guy” and did not outright dismiss Punk from competing in the UFC. Of course, seen another way, one might infer that White was politely deferring comment on someone that is 35 years old, who he has no knowledge of his fighting ability and a guy he thinks is nice.
Payout Take: Realistically, if Bellator were interested in Punk it would only be as a publicity stunt perhaps on a PPV as there’s no way that Punk gets involved in any tournament held by Bellator. Brock Lesnar has a better possibility of fighting in the UFC that does Punk and the question about him at yesterday’s scrum was gratuitous albeit proper for the forum. What’s more likely is that Punk, like many wrestlers that have retired/stepped away in the past, comes back after a hiatus.
WWE Stock Continues to Soar
After reporting a 52 week high just a week ago, the WWE has surpassed last week’s stock price as it reached a high of $24.19 per share. The stock is up thanks in part to a television rights deal with BSkyB in the UK and Ireland according to Variety.
Payout Take: It’s a great time to be a holder of WWE stock as the stock price continues to rise. It will likely sustain if not surpass the current 52 week high as new will come down of its new rights deal in North America is announced in the coming weeks.
If Punk main evented WM, he would have more leverage for a stronger contract…
If Punk was forced to keep a low profile, it helps WWE in contract negotiations…
Vince McMahon pretty much controls how a wrestler does in a “contract year”….
I don’t think Vince is going to let fighter have a career year during a contract year like the NBA, NFL, MLB…
I think this played into Punk not getting the best storylines during his “contract year”…
I think this is still a work. To be honest I won’t believe it’s not a work until Wrestlemania comes and goes and Punk is still gone.
I think WWE is just getting better at working the media.
Funny you said that JKT. My wife was just asking about Punk disappearing and the whole contract thing the other day and mentioned media reports. That is exactly what I told her (that we won’t really know until WM comes and goes with no Punk appearance). I’m not really a CMP fan at all, but the whole story line is interesting and his popularity is undeniable. The only thing that makes me think maybe this really is a shoot is that WWE ignores the Punk chants as if they were not happening. (Similar to the VMK/TNA chants when the New Age Outlaws crashed a Raw show as a legitimate shoot.) Then again, maybe this is McMahon savvy and workmanship evolving and at their finest.