WWE: CM Punk Officially Listed As One Of John Cena’s Rivals, Hope Of Return Revived?

Who says the WWE is scrubbing CM Punk completely out of their history? The WWE website was recently updated with an article that listed John Cena’s top 10 rivals, and guess who just happens to be on that list?

In a related report by The Inquisitr, Dolph Ziggler spoke to CBS News on video, and at one point the reporters asks if Ziggler actually believes CM Punk when he said he would never return.

It’s rumored that WWE insider sources are allegedly claiming WWE management is discussing various topics with the former WWE champion. One option allegedly on the negotiating table includes CM Punk’s WWE return, although the major issue at hand is whether or not Phil Brooks will be paid those royalties he is due from the WWE using his image in products and video games like WWE 2K15. This dispute potentially has the ability to delay the video game since one of the main features is a rivalry between CM Punk and John Cena.

This rivalry also happen to be the topic of the new article that lists CM Punk as Cena’s rival.

“It takes a bold, bold man to call himself The Best in the World without any hint of showmanship to it. CM Punk was nothing if not bold. The self-appointed heir apparent to Cena as the face of professional wrestling, Punk’s agitation over being passed over festered into an earth-shattering ‘pipe bomb’ that took Cena, the McMahons, and the institution of sports-entertainment itself to task. He then promptly won Cena’s WWE Title and gallivanted off into retirement, but you probably don’t need Wikipedia to know The Straight Edge Superstar couldn’t stay away for long. He eventually came back to further challenge Cena’s dominance and beat him more often than not. These two were having classic matches for years after that initial clash. Perhaps the greatest disappointment in Punk’s untimely departure is knowing they definitely had a few more in them.”

There are two ways to interpret this. It’s possible the WWE staff writers were simply being nice in their description of CM Punk, and they even gave him a higher spot than Triple H, but the publishing date just happens to coincide with the discussions happening around the negotiating table. So perhaps it could be said the WWE management is hoping to stroke Punk’s ego a bit in an effort to get a better deal. Best case scenario is that this apparent about-face in attitude toward CM Punk shows Vince McMahon may be seriously wanting Punk back (anything to sell more of the WWE Network for $9.99, right?).

At the same time, just this past week all the CM Punk merchandise had a fire sale at the official WWE store. The prices were dropped to ludicrous levels, and all the inventory sold out, so that could be interpreted as an attempt to remove all objects related to the royalties battle from the equation. The past year also saw references to CM Punk being scrubbed from marketing materials, even including old SummerSlam 2013 posters. All of these actions indicate a hostile attitude toward any possibility of CM Punk’s WWE return.

The third possibility is that CM Punk just happened to be mentioned in the list and it doesn’t mean anything. The WWE is definitely trying to build up John Cena due to his upcoming Brock Lesnar match, and this may be just one of these attempts.

What do you think this John Cena article could mean for the WWE and CM Punk?