Everyone was disappointed with the shotgun push of Summer of Punk ("he should have stayed away longer!") right? So Punk does his obligatory face run while Cena vs Rock severely underwhelmed in both the build up and the resolution. Now, here's where the theory begins:

- During his face run Punk goes to Vince and asks him (based on his success with Summer of Punk) to give him a chance to feud with Rock, saying that he could do better with Rock than Cena. This time as a SLOW burn, something planned out several months in advance.

- Vince agrees, Rock agrees, so during that PPV (I forget which) Punk turns heel... by GTS'ing The Rock. And thus begins Heel Punk.

Taking a step back to Vince's agreement to give Punk the feud he wants, Vince stipulates one thing: Rock (or Cena) must have the title so the two can revisit last year's booking for this year's Wrestlemania: Rock vs Cena II for the WWE Title. Punk agrees, so he gets to orchestrate HIS OWN 4-5 month build for the eventual feud with the Rock.

So during Heel Punk, he:

- Reintroduces Paul Heyman
- Legitimizes his reign by beating Cena several times and defends successfully against Ryback. This leads to his "400 days as WWE Champion" gimmick.
- The feud with Ryback introduces The Shield, who are 3 indie guys being thrown directly into the main event scene

Then when Rock steps into the picture with Punk he got called out for being trite and overplayed... but instead of having a juvenile insulting match, he elevates his game and gives us an amazing (albeit short) feud.

(If you did not see Rock vs Punk on Smackdown this week, this is an AMAZING promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUB8zT5ldSo)

So tonight was the culmination of that feud that also releases Rock to turn to Cena. Punk can now side with The Shield and Maddox, or he can build a program with Taker for Mania.

This is why I *knew* Punk was gonna drop the belt to Rock tonight (that dark arena shit was pretty corny)... I would have accepted a technicality, but I much preferred them restarting the match. And Rock superselling his OWN (not even a) finishing move?!?!!!? Fucking great. Only Punk could get the best out of the Rock in front of a mic AND in the ring.

So, yeah... It's a theory that will never be verifiable, but I am *convinced* that this is what happened. So whatever the case may be... bravo Punk.