This past Monday night (Jan. 27, 2014), just hours before the Royal Rumble fallout edition of Raw was set to go live on USA, CM Punk met with Vince McMahon and informed the top man in WWE he was going home. Then he did just that, forcing the creative team to rewrite the show at the last minute.
It also meant nixing plans for a big match between Punk and Triple H at WrestleMania 30.
"Big" is the operative word here, as Punk reportedly felt unhappy at the idea of that creative direction. That's led to an interesting situation within the company, as McMahon reportedly wants to bring Punk back but Triple H may not be feeling the same.
Here's Dave Meltzer from the latest Wrestling Observer Radio:
"One thing I do know is he wasn't happy about facing Triple H at WrestleMania. I don't know enough of the situation, because I can't really understand his frustrations because I'm not him. I'm sure that he has his reasons. ... Vince does want Punk back but at the same time, Triple H has mixed feelings. But what's happened here is he's not really going to voice those feelings. The impression I have is he doesn't want (Punk) back but he can't say because by saying it it's kind of like, well, he could be accused of saying it because in a sense Punk, you could say, disrespected him. ... I don't think (Triple H) is going to speak up. I've heard he's going to let Vince handle this because he doesn't want to be perceived as the guy who took that and made that into a personal issue."
If true, and this is pro wrestling so it's always hard to tell, it actually makes sense on both sides. When CM Punk was at his hottest during the so-called "Summer of Punk" when he dropped his pipe bomb on Raw in June and won the WWE championship at Money in the Bank in July, Triple H was inserted into the program. Punk quickly lost the title thanks to interference from Kevin Nash, of all people, and did a job for "The Game" at Night of Champions in September, cooling him off considerably.
So there's reason for Punk to want to stay away from working with "The Cerebral Assassin".
That being said, he's still Triple H, one of the biggest names in the industry over the past 15 years, and he's still high up in the company. Working with him guarantees plenty of TV time, a spot high up on the match card, and a fattened wallet. Eschewing this and possibly ending your career on a low note just to avoid a match with him can definitely be taken as a sign of disrespect.
Business is business, though, and all three sides here have set aside past issues to make nice money together. That could very well happen again.
But it certainly sounds like Triple H won't be happy about it if it does.