As many are aware, WWE champion CM Punk was scheduled to accompany his friend and UFC fighter, Chael Sonnen, to the Octagon on January 28.
The upcoming event—the UFC on FOX 2 special—will emanate from Chicago, the hometown of Punk.
Given the location, Punk’s presence at the show was to simply show support and rally the crowd behind Sonnen before his bout with Mark Munoz.
In fact, Punk had already gotten approval from the WWE to make the appearance and everyone, especially him, was under the impression it was going to happen.
However, all it took was one man to curtail Punk’s plans to show up at the UFC broadcast—and one is more than enough if your name is Vince McMahon.
According to F4WOnline, McMahon’s refusal to allow CM Punk to attend the show, let alone show his face on FOX TV, came out of the blue:
Dave Meltzer writes about the situation in detail:
It is extremely unlikely that C.M. Punk will be walking Chael Sonnen to the octagon on the 1/28 show in Chicago. Punk, in fact, has been told that he shouldn’t even be at the show. Front Row Brian, a noted poster on message boards including ours, who broke all aspects of this story from the beginning, first noted yesterday that Punk was told by Vince McMahon that he couldn’t walk Sonnen to the ring and that he didn’t want him at the show. Punk also confirmed to Ariel Helwani yesterday that he would not be allowed to walk Sonnen to the ring.
We contacted two people very close to the situation, one who noted that officially nothing was 100% but that they would be surprised if it happened. The other noted that Punk got the official word yesterday after pretty much being told on Monday and described it as Vince just being in one of his moods. Punk and Sonnen had become friends, which makes sense given that Punk is a pro wrestler who overachieved from a marketing standpoint including by learning from MMA, and Sonnen is an MMA fighter who overachieved from a marketing standpoint from learning from pro wrestling. Sonnen had asked Punk to accompany him since it was in Chicago and Punk and Sonnen both got it cleared. But when it became a news story, WWE had a change of heart.
Being a consummate businessman, it is perplexing that McMahon would suddenly forbid Punk from escorting Sonnen to the Octagon.
Logically, there are only good things that would result from the current WWE champion hobnobbing with one of the UFC’s top stars.
The most invaluable benefit is the exposure—from both UFC die-hards and the casual mainstream audience—Punk would garner.
And more than just being highlighted on a hyped, nationally-televised event is the legitimacy the “Straight Edge” superstar would reap via his association with a “real” combatant in Sonnen.
In addition, any fears that Punk—and by extension, the WWE—would be undermined by the UFC announcers are unfounded. If such were the case, UFC president Dana White wouldn’t have allowed Brock Lesnar to partner with the WWE regarding the video game WWE ’12. In reality, White didn’t have to share his top draw with the WWE, but he did.
Consequently, the only possible reason for McMahon’s decision is that he does not want any member of his roster to transcend the WWE brand.
For example, after having to endure Steve Austin’s retirement, The Rock’s Hollywood dreams and Lesnar’s abrupt exit, McMahon may be paranoid about relying on his talent—and their whims—to carry the company.
Instead, by reinforcing the WWE global brand as a singular entity, superstars become relatively interchangeable in an organization wherein the whole exceeds the sum of its parts.
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