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WWE Champion CM Punk recently underwent knee surgery to repair a cartilage tear that was causing his knee to lock up. Although he probably could have worked on the injury through WrestleMania season, after a consultation with Dr. James Andrews, the decision was made to operate and get him cleared within a couple weeks.
As it turns out, he'll be out a bit longer than some expected.
That's because he's been removed from the upcoming WWE holiday house show run that comes after Christmas, according to advertisements that have come out. He was scheduled to work with Ryback but new ads have John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler as the featured match.
This is significant because, as the Wrestling Observer points out, the holiday house show run after Christmas is traditionally the biggest week of the year.
It looks like WWE is playing it safe with Punk in the hopes he'll be 100-percent by the time his big money match against The Rock at Royal Rumble on Jan. 27, 2013, rolls around.