Was CM Punk's Suspension Legit?

The biggest news in professional wrestling came out late Monday night just after WWE's Monday Night Raw went off the air. After departing wrestler CM Punk ended the night by verbally assaulting nearly everyone in WWE, Vince McMahon announced that Punk was suspended indefinitely for detrimental behavior.

However, WWE.com reported that as of Tuesday, both sides agreed to let Punk fulfill all his televised obligations and have nether side disparage each other up to his departure.

Normally, the reports and articles I submit here regarding wrestling are completely kayfabe, kept within the fictional confines of what goes on during the wrestling shows. But this is something where I feel I have to speak my true opinion. So here goes.

This newest development further reinforces my belief: CM Punk wasn't really suspended. This is all part of the storyline involving his final match against John Cena at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view July 17 -- the same date that Punk's contract ends, and when he says he's leaving.

There is a term among wrestling fans called a "worked shoot"--something that happens that fans think was spontaneous and unscripted but was just planned to make in look that way. That's what I have to think this is.

Yes, CM Punk had been saying some scathing things on his Twitter account since announcing his departure. But part of me suspects WWE and its superstars are using the social media for the sake of their own storylines. Punk's last Twitter entry before Raw went on the air was "I'm in full What Are They Going to Do Fire Me mode."If that was a legitimate threat against his current employer, why would they allow Michael Cole to mention it on the air?

Everything about that rant just seemed too perfect. Punk literally covered every topic and said every single thing that most smarks wanted to hear. It just seems too good for Punk to personally know every single gripe the so-called "real wrestling fans" have and that he'd be allowed to say them all in the time he was given.

That's the next thing -- the length that the rant was allowed to go on. From Kevin Dunn to the road agents, WWE has a vast team working on its shows. If Punk was so bitter toward WWE, wouldn't someone have suspected something like this was likely to happen? Yet not only did they allow him a microphone at the end, they let him attack everyone from the fans who always supported support him (why would he attack the people who might actually follow him wherever he goes next?) to John Cena to Vince McMahon to Stephanie McMahon to John Lauranitis to Triple H. He was allowed to mention Ring of Honor and New Japan. And yet it was once he started to mention the WWE's anti-bullying campaign that they decided enough was enough?

And then there's the matter of how they cut him off. After letting the rant go on past the 11:05 ET mark that they normally end on, and instead of just fading out, they cut Punk's microphone first, cut to a wide shot of him looking around, then cut to the camera that he directly looked into while shouting and then abruptly cut the feed.

And then Punk's suspension was posted on the WWE's website within an hour of Raw going off the air. Vince makes the call and gets one of his Internet writers to get a story up in that short a time? Way too soon for my taste.

Say what you want about Vince McMahon, but he's got a pretty thick skin. I find it hard to believe that he would disrupt the main event of his next pay-per-view two weeks before its date just because a wrestler said something offensive. An injury? Of course. A wellness policy violation? Possibly. But not this.

Especially since I have a good idea how this final match could end. The Money in the Bank event involves two wrestlers winning contracts that they can use for a championship match at any time they want. Punk has won such a contract twice and used it for two of his three World Championship wins.

So it would be the ultimate irony to have Punk beat Cena for the WWE Championship and then lose it to one of the two men who won their opportunity earlier that night.

No way does Vince McMahon just kill something like that because of a few bad words.

Again, this is only speculation on my part. And many of my predictions involving wrestling usually fail.

But this looks like one of the most masterfully pulled off worked shoots in recent history.

To all the smarks who thought CM Punk really showed it to WWE, I'll steal a line from R Truth:

"You just got GOT!"