CM Punk's injury could open the door to The Rock vs. Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania
CM Punk is expected to undergo surgery for the torn tricep he suffered during the Royal Rumble. His most likely storyline heading into Wrestlemania would have been a match against Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship. The arc had been set from the moment Punk returned to WWE.
However, following a promo from Punk on Monday's episode of "Raw," Rollins confronted Cody Rhodes. He attempted to convince Rhodes that his title was "the people's title." He used Cody's father, Dusty, as a way to pull on the heartstrings.
That segment of "Raw" was important.
Assuming Rhodes accepts the proposal, Rollins gets a huge match at Wrestlemania. However, it also opens up the opportunity to find a new opponent for Roman Reigns. That's where The Rock comes in.
Since "The Great One" made an appearance on "Raw Day 1," there has been speculation of a potential match between him and Reigns.
Wrestlemania is the most likely event to host such a hotly anticipated contest. Changing the direction of Rhodes' story while also allowing him to continue his climb toward being a champion clears the path for The Rock to have his big comeback.
"The idea of going up against Roman Reigns and creating, if we were to do something like that, quite possibly and I mean this respectfully of all the WrestleManias before," The Rock said during a recent appearance on Fox News. h/t to Fightful for the transcription. "...With all the success and build up of all the WrestleManias in the past, if we were to do something like that, we could possibly put on the biggest WrestleMania of all-time. Short answer and long answer is we're figuring it out."
We're living in a world where Rhodes can have his title match and Reigns can face one of the biggest wrestling stars of all time.
Considering the potential upside for WWE, it's illogical to believe they wouldn't be exploring this opportunity. If it happens, we could witness one of the greatest wrestling events in history from a talent perspective.
WWE has been on a tear over the last 12 months. Their roster is the most talented it's been in years. The storylines are connecting with the fans. And their social media activities are drawing in new viewers.
If they can put together a monster Wrestlemania card, they will head into their $5 billion Netflix deal on their strongest footing since the attitude era.
More must-reads: