From: Lopen | #335
In 2011, CM Punk was on his way-- CM Punk in 2011 if anything plays to my point and proves that compelling storylines will build guys up very effectively because the dude's reactions after just a couple of months of a storyline people really liked put him among the top dogs of the company. You can say Punk's skills did it too, but Punk's always had skills, never was able to get a reaction close to that. But they pulled the plug prematurely so he got stuck where he is now rather than becoming a mega star.
And my point is that those compelling storylines meant very little as far as truly turning Punk into a draw. The part that built him up was that his opponent was John Cena. If Randy Orton or Rey Mysterio was the figurehead face of WWE he was raging against, and the storyline was otherwise entirely the same, the whole thing falls apart. It's built off of Cena's drawing power, and Punk became a bigger star than ever before because he beat John Cena and because the company finally started treating him like a main-eventer (off and on). They used John Cena to create a star in CM Punk. The great storyline expedited the process, sure, I'll grant you that, but even mediocre storytelling could have accomplished the same goal as long as they booked Punk that strongly in the end still.
SD 2009 was not compelling programming. It had a lot of good matches in a vacuum, but storylines? Nah.
Don't recall the big sell of Raw 2004 or SD 2002 offhand which is probably enough for me to say that they're not as compelling as you think they are.
SD 2009 = Rey vs. Jericho, Punk's heel turn/feud with Hardy, Ziggler's rise, Morrison's struggle against the glass ceiling...that wasn't compelling programming? That was the best product they've had creatively since 2002, and still is, Summer of Punk be damned.
Raw 2004 = Benoit's run + the majority of the Evolution arc. Lots of great matches with plenty of solid storytelling. Not a lot of twists and turns but it all felt very well connected and the timing of the plot points flowed smoothly.
SD 2002 = The SmackDown Six. Come on now!
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Thank you, Eddie Guerrero.
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