CM Punk's body has been banged up for years now, what with the rigors of his profession being what they are, but as of late he seems to be breaking down more and more. Late last year, he went through knee surgery to clean up some cartilage that forced him to miss the TLC pay-per-view (PPV) event in December but he returned from that injury just fine, or at least he seemed to. Hell, he worked hurt on that very injury for quite some time.
Now, it appears he may be working hurt again.
According to an on-scene report at PWInsider.com in Indianapolis at last night's (March 11, 2013) episode of Monday Night Raw, referees were using the dreaded "X" sign during Punk's main event match with Kane:
It should be mentioned that about half way through the Punk/Kane match, Chioda threw the "X" sign to the trainer while checking on Punk, as he laid in the floor. The trainer ran over, out of camera view, and spoke to Punk. This happened about 3 times during the rest of the match, with Chioda subtly giving the "X" sign to the trainer at ringside each time. Before Punk stole the urn, he spent quite a bit of time with Chioda and the trainer directly in front of the announcer's table. It appears he was working with a legitimate injury.
If Punk is indeed injured, it doesn't mean it's anything major. Indeed, it seems unlikely he would risk missing out on the big WrestleMania payday he'll received for working his planned match with Undertaker, which, by itself, is reason enough to ignore an injury even if it isn't relatively minor.
It's not every day you get to go up against the streak and all that.
The bigger thing to look for is the fact that now both Punk and 'Taker are banged up heading into their match. After what "The Deadman" has been able to do with Shawn Michaels and Triple H in years past, there's a lot to live up to. It will be most interesting to see if anything comes of this.
We'll keep you updated either way.