The world heavyweight championship was prestigious. As a fan of the World Wrestling Federation, the memory of the world title will forever be remembered. When I look at the title, I always remember a few stars in mind when holding it.

Triple H’s reign made the title feel necessary during the era when stars received beatings in fear of terror.

Edge’s motto of being an opportunist gained him wins for the title.

Before Batista was Drax in the world of Marvel, he was Smackdown’s top guy, holding the title when defeating Triple H WrestleMania 21.

The Deadman put fear in the eyes of those who dared to take the title away from Taker.

Even Michaels made the title feel special in just a short time.

Yet my personal favorite holding the title will forever be Kurt Angle since I always saw Kurt as the complete package in a wrestler.

Another favorite that I had in mind was CM Punk.

Yet that is the thing: looking back at the first reign Punk had, it felt bittersweet. Sweet because a wrestler with hype back in the day finally won his first championship on the leading brand. It’s bitter because the champion wasn’t seen as one.
As my knowledge of wrestling grew, I realized that the championship does not make the wrestler, but the saying goes the other way around. Triple H, not wanting to work Tuesdays and bringing the world heavyweight championship to Raw Triple H, was the “guy” going from being HBK’s right-hand man to being the conqueror of worlds in the roster. Moments were created for other wrestlers, gaining the hype when I witnessed the late Benoit win the championship and Randy winning the tournament of Benoit. Yet Benoit dropping the title to Randy was special – Randy was not ready to be the top guy just yet due to his arrogance, causing plans to fall on Batista. Then Batista became the guy. Edge was already the guy in ’06 after the feud that sparked controversy when looking at his feud with Matt Hardy. The feud had a positive and negative side, with Edge winning the WWE championship and Matt being lowkey. With back-and-forth battles, Cena came in for victory. Yet Edge saw an opportunity and won the world heavyweight championship. With the title in his hands, Edge was the guy. Why? Because he made that title feel special. Dropping the title to the Undertaker in WrestleMania 24.

See the cycle. All these certain stars have made this championship worth something. Generally, when winning a tournament, the purpose is to make the title mean something and make a name for yourself. Yet when I look at Punk as the world heavyweight champion, I’ve always believed that he wasn’t right to be champion. His reign felt like a last option resort. Punk cashing in on Edge after Batista 

attacked him was perfect at the moment, yet the more I look at the cash-in. The more I look at CM Punk’s championship attitude and the rest in the back, the more I wonder if they saw Punk as a champ? It feels like Punk was just in the way of two former champions, which made the title feel special. So, instead, Punk was a champion poorly booked in the middle of cards.

In simple terms, he was severely booked. Punk was great back then. Wrestler with a straight-edge lifestyle was great with the fans and was an overall hyped wrestler back then. But the problem was that it was 2008. It was a crazy year for the world of wrestling. You had top guys like Cena, of course. Triple H, Edge, Batista. Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Randy Orton. Even Jeff Hardy was the top star and was pushed to be the total guy, yet his demons cost him numerous chances. So, the WWE saw Punk as a last option when winning the world title when, in reality, the company did not want that. I watched Punk’s documentary about his reign to get more insight into it, and the footage sparked a lot of facts.

Punk being world champion wasn’t taken seriously, which gave Punk the bad news that he’d lose his championship by letting Randy Orton attack him backstage.

Making Michaels and Jericho’s match a world champion stimulation. Jericho won the title and held onto it until Cena beat him for it. In the blink of an eye, Punk wasn’t a champion anymore.

All the wrestlers had their moment because it did happen, yet Punk was pushed into the void.

Edge and Batista had a rivalry.

What Shawn and Jericho had was personal.

Randy and Triple H were WWE champions that year.

Cena became the world heavyweight champion that year.

Edge and Undertaker were world heavyweight champions that year.

Hell, Michaels failed to capture the title but emotionally feuded with legendary Ric Flair.

All those moments happened in a year, so those memorable moments overshadowed Punk’s success as a champion. That’s a problem the WWE has when putting championships on wrestlers. Of course, you as a performer have to have a way with the fans, and when you gain the opportunity to become champion, the fans have to see you like one. But when you lack booking and are not taken seriously, why make the star a champion? Punk won the belt again a year later, cashing in on Jeff Hardy after his win against Edge. Yet the same thing happened as well, with Punk only being champion because Hardy’s plans of being the top guy were crapped due to his demons taking over. This led to Taker winning the title against Punk, a one-sided match.

Punk did receive redemption, winning the WWE championship against John Cena and then winning the title again against Alberto Del Rio. This led to the best title reign he’s ever had, holding the belt for 434 days. But looking back at his old title reign. Punk just wasn’t seen to be the caliber star to hold down the company. Not because he just couldn’t. But because chance wasn’t given to him.

With him returning and Seth Rollins holding on to the belt, we can finally see the title gain momentum again if Punk wins it, and hopefully, it can be at WrestleMania.

“He wasn’t positioned as the guy.” – Triple H