Story wise, the HBK/HHH three year arc showed how brutal that match has to be to even stand a chance of beating Taker at WM.
So that’s how it’s booked; Punks side of the story goes something like this:

Not only will he hold nothing back, he won’t have to deal with his best friend with a conscience getting in his way. What HHH couldn’t and ultimately wouldn’t do last year, Punk WILL do this year.

Taker’s side of the story? He acknowledges the elephant in the room- his age. He talks about how Shawn and Hunter had both had the long history of brutal, high profile battles that he had, so in a way they were all on even ground during their matches. He talks about how Punk is younger and really in the prime of his career, but Taker says that he is the lone unstoppable force in the grand history of Wrestlemania- and tells Punk that alone should scare the hell out of him.

Thing is, Taker says, each year that match takes a little more out of him because each challenger knows he has to outdo the last one in a big way. So yes, he’s getting older. Yes, Punk is in his prime and exceedingly dangerous. So guess what? Taker knows he’s got to take it up a notch himself, and Punk should be terrified of that. He has to prepare harder than he did for Shawn and Hunter and Edge and Orton and Baustista and all of the other greats he’s beaten over the years at Mania. He has to do more damage to Punk than he did for all of those guys, and that’s what he’ll do.

So Punk does it. He goes all out, everything and the kitchen sink. Falls count anywhere in a Hardcore match, perhaps. He beats Taker so unbelievably bad we wonder how Taker’s even alive… but Taker gives just a little more than he gets and wins.

The next night, he shows up on Raw, says whatever he’s got to say, and Punk comes out, pissed off and out for revenge. He sneaks up and destroys Taker with a crowbar or whatever, just really decimates him. The following week they announce that Taker is injured so bad he won’t be able to compete for at least 6 months and there is no choice but to strip him of the title.

Problem solved.

Then you spend a month or so building up the tension between all the self-proclaimed #1 contenders, and things get so chaotic that they just say to hell with it: This years KOTR is a tournament for the WWE Title.

Make sure Dolph wins the WH belt before then, have him enter the tournament with that belt, and WIN the belt. Have him hold BOTH belts until SS, while feuding with separate people for each title until he drops one at SS but keeps the other.