RE: The Punk finish
From Meltzer on the post-JD WOR:
Figured when Punk did that clean of a job he'd be coming out later, either to challenge for a title or just do a run-in to cost someone a match. Punk did have a lot of heat prior to a recent interview, even though he was mostly smart politically in the answers he gave; one possible misstep was the comment that Evan Bourne was better than DiBiase or Rhodes. However, an answer that almost certainly did him no favors was when he was asked if he ever thought that he and Samoa Joe would be both be world champions and he said yes. From day one Punk when was brought up to the roster, Dave was always told that Punk has so much heat but when the reasons were explained, Dave felt they were always 'trivial and stupid'. However, for whatever reason, and Dave speculates on several, Punk just has heat. Dave reckons a primary reason is that Punk is seen has being too confident in himself, but then he points out that every wrestler who is really good as great confidence in themselves, which is part of what makes them really good. Dave does say it might be justified because he hears from people knocking Punk who are not petty and usually get along with everyone.
Dave thinks that, ultimately, Punk lost because they were in Chicago and Punk was super over and the mindset was that Punk was more over than he should be. Also comments that it's almost a rule of thumb to beat people in their hometowns. Dave then brings up an interesting point. Punk was the Grand Marshal of the Thanksgiving Day Parade in Chicago last year, and it's a mainstream deal. WWE is a company that is desperate for mainstream publicity of any kind, and when Chicago did that for Punk, WWE would have been smart to protect the guy and not beat him in his hometown as he could have a been a big hometown hero who could get mainstream publicity for them.
