CM Punk's WWE contract up this month; so what's next?

There hasn't been much news on the CM Punk front of late but that was always going to change come this month. That's because, according to the man himself in the latest interview he gave on the subject, his WWE contract comes up in July.

Well, here we are on July 6, as of this writing, and we could be getting word any day now on what decision WWE will come to on the matter.

There is a decision to made here, too. Although his contract is coming up and he's already come right out stated he's retired from the industry, WWE could choose to renew his deal, something the Wrestling Observer noted not long ago when discussing the status of Rey Mysterio's contract.

A reminder:

Since a lot of people have asked about this related to Mysterio and last week's issue, all standard WWE contracts are written with the clause that the company can extend the contract based on the wrestlers not performing for an extended period of time due to an injury. So WWE doing the automatic renewal of his expiring contract is something specifically mentioned in his deal and in all standard deals. I haven't heard of it being used for anyone else. They could do that with Punk in July should they choose. The advantage is that they could keep him from working for anyone else. The disadvantage is if they did renew him, they'd have to pay him his downside, which right now, they wouldn't be paying him since he's refusing to work.

As of now, Punk is still listed on the WWE.com roster page:

Amid rampant budget cutting, that has included releasing several wrestlers who weren't used all that often, can WWE justify paying Punk his downside guarantee, a sizable number, just to ensure he doesn't appear for any other pro wrestling promotion?

Stay tuned. Word will undoubtedly be coming any day now.