CM Punk = Modern day Stone Cold Steve Austin

At the moment, there is no hotter property in the wrestling world than the straightedge superstar. After cutting his shoot styled promo on Raw, he instantly set the world on fire, and had many fans wondering where things would go from there.

'Shooting' on Vince McMahon and his family, the WWE fans, and John Cena and his image as the face of the WWE, Punk vented his anger and frustration on nearly everything before having his microphone abruptly cut off.
 
What the amazing thing about this whole story, and the superstar himself, is the fallout from it all and the fact that he is being labelled as the person who will change the face of the WWE, and usher in a new era. Much like Stone Cold Steve Austin, helping bring in the notorious attitude era. Interestingly, both these men carry the rebel spirit and have both been compared as being the catalyst to a revolution so to speak. Punk, incidentally, wore a Stone Cold t-shirt whilst cutting his promo, adding further to the comparisons. Rumours of the two facing off in a dream matchup at Wrestlemania 28 have also been widely speculated, as the two possess similar characteristics, and also a clash of personality. Stone Cold being the beer drinking, take no nonsense rebel versus Punk's anti-drinking, straight talking, straightedge lifestyle.

With the current PG audience the WWE targets, Punk caters more to the grown up fans. The internet fans. The smarks who have a habit of cheering for the bad guys, booing John Cena and a handful of babyface superstars, cheer veterans, and have respect for the old school, classic 'wrestler'.

Falling into most of the categories we old school wrestling fans admire, Punk represents the potential new look of the WWE, whilst his base of fans are from an older generation. Fans who watched wrestling during the 'Attitude' era and other promotions during that time period. Much like Stone Cold, he has the ability to become the face of the company and a new rough-edged, rebel spirited look.


It remains to be seen whether or not this angle has the legs to go all the way, and how much change the company is willing to allow.