Why did WWE pair CM Punk with Paul Heyman now?

When Paul Heyman revealed himself to be the driver of the limo which was taking CM Punk out of the arena after he cost John Cena a match on Raw a couple weeks ago, most fans simply marked out and started fantasy booking. With Brock Lesnar gone, Heyman can focus solely on working with Punk, at least for now, and the possibilities for the stories they can tell are endless.

All of them would be entertaining, too.

What never seemed to come up was the question of how it is WWE came to make the decision to put the two together on TV. There are obvious reasons to do so, such as Punk referencing himself as "a Paul Heyman guy" in the infamous shoot promo in June 2011 that helped shoot him to superstardom, but why wait this long to finally make this move?

Dave Meltzer brings word via the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required):

The Paul Heyman/C.M. Punk idea just came up in recent weeks. They wanted something to put Punk over the top as the top heel and where he wouldn't end up getting cheered. At first the idea was Punk would pretend to be a face while being a heel and fans would see through it and boo him, and many did, but he was getting cheered more than they liked, which is where the program with Lawler came in.

In a sense, a heel struggling to get boos is the sign of a truly popular wrestler and it's a good problem to have. At the same time, why try to ensure he's unanimously getting booed by using Heyman to draw extra heat? It's frustrating when WWE worries more about the reaction from the crowd than it does telling a story that will entertain those very same people.

Then again, maybe I should be thankful for that attitude, seeing as it brought us to this point.

What are your thoughts on this, Cagesiders?