Paul Heyman Returns

During a really good falls count anywhere match on Raw, CM Punk, reappeared after walking out of his hometown earlier in the night and assisted Alberto Del Rio to get the win. As his opponent for Night Of Champions, John Cena was on the concrete, Punk returned to the same car that he used to exit the building earlier in the show. As the car was leaving, former ECW owner and Smackdown writer, Paul Heyman was revealed as the driver of the car. There appears to be an alliance between the champion and Heyman, which can only translate into some very interesting WWE TV over the next few weeks.

When CM Punk created main stream buzz for the WWE nearly a year and a half ago, he became an antihero that wasn't the traditional baby face and his promos had people tuning in each week because of their content. The WWE decided to down play much of the buzz Punk created when Triple H pinned him less than a month later. Punk has since won the WWE title and has had one of the most memorable title runs in recent history, partially because he's actually being given a decent run instead of dropping the title in a few months. However, from a character prospective, it became stale, as the once rebellious CM Punk was trying to stop AJ from jumping through a table. That's why Punk hitting The Rock with the GTS at Raw 1000 was almost necessary for the evolution of his character. Although, it hasn't been quite a heel turn because the crowd still cheers Punk, probably because they agree that the WWE title should be in the main event, which hasn't been the case for most of Punk's title run. That being said, the WWE has tried to get heat for Punk and while most complained that the cage match with Jerry Lawler was terrible, it was an attempt to get Punk heat. Usually attacking a Hall of Fame wrestler can work, but despite that and refusing to wrestle in his hometown, Punk is still cheered, which actually creates a more intriguing storyline. The bottom line is Punk is one of the reasons to tune into Raw, which has been lackluster since expanding to three hours a month and a half ago.

So what does Heyman add to this equation? As he showed during the Brock Lesnar storyline, Heyman still does better promos than most of the roster, despite not appearing on WWE TV for years. Heyman adds a completely new dimension to the storyline and can provide a reason to tune into Raw on a weekly basis. More directly, the Heyman reveal actually gives people a reason to watch a complete episode of Raw because it was a complete surprise and not the generic finishes that you usually see on Raw. One of the reasons the Attitude era was so successful was because you never knew what could happen and while wrestling has evolved, the element of surprise can still be used to create interesting TV. Heyman adds a sizzle to the product and the Punk/Heyman storyline could provide some memorable moments. It will be extremely interesting to see the direction of the storyline and if it improves the ratings.