>he must feel some kind of way about dropping
>the belt to Rock cleanly in his second match in 7 years(?).
>Would love to know what his genuine reaction was when he was
>told.

To follow along with my theory, this was just Punk's way to get a feud with Rock the way HE wanted to feud with the Rock. And I think he really succeeded.

Now, this doesn't change the fact that he still may (and probably still does) hold grudges against Rock and WWE for not pushing rising stars in Mania. But it's not like Punk got nothing from the feud. Remember, he now gets Heyman on TV every week, his buddies are in the main event scene, and he just got a huge title reign. And now his heat is still so high that he can (hopefully) start a great build with Undertaker.

There's talk that this is going to be Taker's last year (makes sense, esp since he's not getting any younger and he just had his first child with McCool). People have talked about Taker vs Ziggler but there's no real connection between the two (plus Jericho's back). Punk's elevation to the main event scene is unquestioned, so Taker facing him wouldn't be a stretch whatsoever (and Punk would receive SERIOUS heat if he ended The Streak). Trips vs Taker III would garner zero interest, and (if rumors are supposed to be true) if he did have a match, it'd be with Brock.

At this point, I don't think Punk needs the belt to be effective. He's more than proven himself, and retiring Taker would just be the next logical step. (A Title vs Streak match doesn't make sense to me just because we know Taker isn't ever coming back full time. I realize that the same can be said about Rock, but at least we know that Cena vs Rock II was already booked for WM this year, whether or not we like it).