How you would have booked......

I bough the ROH Summer of Punk DVD a couple of years back, really fantastic.

Because I'm bored and want to fantasy book a little bit, my version of the Summer of Punk:

Punk wins and he's gone. He does exactly what he said he'd do. He has this belt hostage and for a reason that could've made up (legal issues, board of directors don't want two belts especially with one on a guy that won't shut up for them) they can't crown a new champion. Punk is sent by the WWE over into indies (ROH, the WWN network, overseas to NJPW, any indies they deem fit) and he doesn't even have to wrestle. He can simply cut promos, but if they so choose they could have someone Eddie Edwards or Davey Richards or even guys like Daniels or Generico in ROH work up to a match with him. The NJPW route could lead to the Tanahashi/Punk dream match, or a match with Suzuki. Heck, in Evolve you could have Gargano/Punk even. But like I said, he can even just cut promos and defend the title maybe once or twice.

Meanwhile, on WWE, Triple H makes lemons out of lemonade and decides that if we can't have our WWE Title, then the World Heavyweight Championship, a championship he took pride in holding, will become elevated to a whole new level. He announces the title vacant, but gives Christian a bye into the semis, and makes this an eight person tournament. Doesn't really matter who else is in, I'd have Cena overcome the odds and win the vacant belt. From there things continue on as regularly as possible without a major belt. The biggest thing is that this Punk watch makes WWE.com huge. They are the one stop shop for everything Punk. The thing is, they can just make up sightings too. They seem to be the most in the know people, because they are. Everywhere Punk goes, they're there too. Punk going over to NJPW? You leak the news that there was an "anonymous source" that saw Punk get on a plane to Japan. Punk heading to New York? Footage of him holding the belt filling his car with gas. Hell, to add incentive, HHH still wants that belt so he tells Del Rio that his MITB is null and void unless the cash-in is on Punk. Boom, instant web hits as there's a camera crew following Del Rio around.

So it's September. Quick frame of reference, Death Before Dishonor is on the 17th, Night of Champions is on the 18th, G1 Climax Day 11 is the 19th, but that one isn't important. Over maybe a two week span, Punk can appear on two ROH Wrestling programs, cut some hype for champion vs. champion, Davey accepts. It's almost too perfect as NOC was in Buffalo while DBD was in NYC. Punk and Davey fight to a 45 minute time limit draw, with Punk having the anaconda vice locked as time expires. This makes both guys look fantastic, and shows Punk would've won most likely if there was just a little more time. Enter Del Rio sprinting with a WWE official by his side. ROH announcers make it clear that this is legal. Del Rio goes to cash in, the bell rings, Punk hits a suicide dive before he can step in the ring and gets out of dodge. Official ruling is a no contest, but it's made clear that this is unprecedented for a MITB holder to have a match that ends in a no contest. WWE.com immediately after makes an announcement that HHH will address this at Night of Champions. His announcement is that your show opener and now Del Rio and Daniel Bryan will have a match where the winner can challenge either belt. Del Rio will beat Bryan, sorry D-Bry, and Cena beats Christian and Orton in a triple threat match.

Now we enter into October and there's still no sign of Punk on any WWE programming. Mention is made of what happened at Death Before Dishonor, but that's all. Punk now is able to build to a NJPW title defense, since Punk should be able to win at least once, we'll say it's against MVP. A high enough name in Japan where it's believable (he had just lost the IWGP Intercontinental Championship), yet it won't hurt a major star, plus it'll get some name recognition in the States. The format begins to stray and the rest of the month of October is filled with several random indy promos, just like before the ROH storyline with Davey. Finally, Vengeance arrives, Cena defends his World Heavyweight Title over Christian, Cena is celebrating. But before we fade to black to end the show, the TV viewers at home get static. Just like the intro to Punk's Cult of Personality. This happens again after Raw. It's EXTREMELY important that while he's not on WWE TV, Punk is still in the forefront of every viewer's mind. Plugs for the website, references to him in Cena's promos, HHH's promos, commentary during Del Rio's matches, this is massive. And even more so for November.

In November, Punk falls off the face of the earth. Punk sightings are proven to be false. No more independent dates, nothing in ROH, nothing in New Japan, Punk is gone. The static continues before going off the air. Del Rio finally gives up his obsession with Punk (which in itself could be a side story) and two weeks before Survivor Series Del Rio cashes in on Cena to set up Cena's return match at Survivor Series. This is mostly a device to give Cena a match for Survivor Series and to get MITB off of Del Rio. As Punk sightings stop on WWE.com, the speculation just gets more intense. Survivor Series has arrived, Cena wins (LOL) and now the lights drop. The jumbotron illuminates and the static plays once more and two words play over the PA, "I'm back." and Cult of Personality kicks in, out walks Punk.

From there, Punk wins clean at TLC to unify the world titles into one. Truly anyone can win the Royal Rumble and the build for Wrestlemania against a white-hot Punk would begin. It's a way to have a truly groundbreaking storyline and in the end draw huge attention to your show. I don't even know if this is good, but it was fun to write this.