WWE News: With A Win Over Sting, Seth Rollins Becomes The Biggest Threat To CM Punk’s Record WWE Title Reign
Chaos reigns in WWE. Seth Rollins, who has held the WWE World Heavyweight Championship since a shocking Money In the Bank cash-in at this year’s WrestleMania, has a long way to go before he can turn his current run into a record-breaking accomplishment. In fact, he faces an epic challenge to his reign when Rollins collides with veteran grappler Sting at WWE Night of Champions on September 20. As recently reported by Joe Burgett of Inquisitr, there are some compelling reasons to believe that the time is right for The Vigilante Sting to win his first WWE title. But Greg DeMarco of 411 Mania notes that if Rollins can emerge from that match still in possession of the gold, he’ll have a good shot at ultimately surpassing CM Punk in the record books.
DeMarco notes that CM Punk’s 434-day run with the WWE’s top championship is presently the seventh longest reign, ranking just below the likes of Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan, and Pedro Morales as the elite of WWE. Seth Rollins is way down the line with the 26th longest reign, but by the time he steps into the ring with Sting, he will move up a few slots. And if he keeps the belt heading into the Royal Rumble, he will be closing in on Punk’s spot.
Despite the historic nature of CM Punk’s title win at WWE Money In The Bank in 2011 and his subsequent 14 months as the company’s top talent, the athlete burned bridges when he left the company abruptly and publicly blasted WWE officials and staff by name in a tell-all interview with Colt Cabana.
Indeed, it’s certainly not a stretch to buy into the notion that WWE wants to take CM Punk down a few pegs. It has been widely speculated that Nikki Bella’s current run as WWE Divas champion will soon eclipse AJ Lee’s record as the longest-reigning holder of that particular title. This move is largely seen by many fans as WWE indirectly striking out as Punk is AJ Lee’s husband. DeMarco’s analysis is tied to that speculation, suggesting that CM Punk’s record would be the next logical target for WWE. Seth Rollins features prominently in that scenario.
“Why would the WWE stop at having Nikki Bella outlast AJ Lee’s historic title reign to spite CM Punk when they can have Seth Rollins outlast CM Punk’s historic title reign to spite CM Punk?”
Provided DeMarco’s analysis is on the money — and he has crunched the numbers to show the method behind his madness — Seth Rollins would break Punk’s record on June 6, 2016. But don’t look for Punk to lose sleep over the possibility that he might be taken down a few pegs by WWE. CM Punk has indicated on a number of occasions that he will never return to WWE and that he has wrestled his last match. Moreover, by June of next year, he will likely have his first UFC bout in the books and if things go his way, Punk will have a new and promising career in the works.
As for Seth Rollins, WWE seems comfortable enough with the young wrestler as their current standard bearer to put him in main events with top talents like John Cena and Brock Lesnar, so it’s not out of the question that he could break a few records while he holds the gold.
[Images via WWE]
