According to F4WOnline.com, WWE’s higher-ups are keeping very quiet on CM Punk’s contract status.
Though he is not advertised for any shows past Monday’s RAW, sources have not ruled out that Punk could be returning to regular action very soon after Sunday’s WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view. All that is clear internally is that most expect he will be back in action by early 2012 at the latest.
As far as the finish, WWE has been going through several options for the outcome. Most were under the impression WWE would not have Punk “leave” WWE for any extended period of time with the belt, although there was similarly a belief that a squeaky-clean John Cena victory was not the way to go.
Certainly, the idea of having the Money in the Bank winner “save” Vince McMahon’s championship has been thrown around, but some are opposed to blowing the Money in the Bank stipulation the same night as the pay-per-view. That hesitation would especially apply to one idea that has gone around Internet circles, which calls for Punk to win the belt and then defeat the “first” Money in the Bank winner before Vince McMahon successfully commands the second winner to go out and claim the title. Of course, if WWE were to allow McMahon, in storyline, to send the other brand’s MITB winner out to cash in against Punk, then it could simply have McMahon send any heel out for the same purpose.
The house show version of the Cena-Punk match played out like a big show main-event, with both wrestlers kicking out of the other’s finishers before the culmination. Cena has been working hard to promote this as the “biggest PPV of the year,” and it is clear WWE is putting more effort into the booking of this show than the average “B” pay-per-view event.
Headline Planet will provide live coverage of Money in the Bank Sunday evening.