two different people said that he was “as good as gone” in july, and one said that they didn’t expect him to even last until july.
There were frustrations with creative and with money, even though he has made great money the last several years. This was not a spur of the moment thing as much as something that had been building. The way we were told was that he couldn’t take it any longer and told mcmahon that he was going home. Mcmahon had been tied up all day since they were rewriting the show, based on what happened the prior night at the royal rumble to figure out a way to keep the show under control and not have the audience hijack it again. Punk had been scheduled for an interview on the show to presumably build up a match with kane on the ppv, which would lead to his planned wrestlemania match with hhh.
Because mcmahon was so busy, punk didn’t see him until 7:30 p.m., when he told him he was leaving. The reason the kofi kingston vs. Alberto del rio match on raw went so long is because it came during the period laid out for punk’s interview and had to go a second segment to cover the time, so the key “money” segments would be in their correct time slots.
The working assumption internally has been for several weeks that punk was leaving in july and not going to sign a new deal. The belief was that he is not a spender, has saved his money and doesn’t have to work. It was a weird dynamic because he’s one of the few guys on the roster that the company and vince mcmahon knew believed he didn’t need them, and financially, really doesn’t. So they can’t deal with him from the same level as all the other guys who are scared to lose their jobs and spots.
Within the company, the reason was that he came to the realization that he would never be positioned higher than he was. His goal was to main event wrestlemania, as in be in the real main event. He felt that because he didn’t fit the mold of what they think the top star in the company should look like, he would never be the guy and the centerpiece.
It’s not known at press time what caused the situation to get to where it did and what was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Another person close to the situation who was aware it was coming, just didn’t know when, said it was a classic case of being burned out, and noted the dichotomy that he’s never had a job where he’s made anywhere close to the same amount of money, nor ever been as famous, and gotten more out of wrestling than this one. But, he has been miserable at the job for some time, and he was a guy who loved working in pro wrestling when he made nothing or very little. It was noted that he never had the personal connection with vince mcmahon that most of the big stars had, and always knew he was not their kind of guy, didn’t have the look they thought a star should have, and felt he got over in spite of how he was used and not because of how he was used. The feeling was that there was a communication issue and lingering unresolved issues that dated back some time, probably most of the last year, combined with frustration regarding creative going forward and of late.
Sheamus will be replacing punk at all the smackdown tapings where he was largely advertised as the main star. It is a brave new world and you can never rule out the possibility it’s a work, and you won’t know for sure unless mania comes and goes without a return. Daniel bryan will be advertised as the main star on smackdown going forward since john cena is not booked often on the tuesday tapings.
Kevin Kelly really summed it up nicely.
