The Only Straight Edge World Heavyweight Champion

WWE is blurring the lines between admirable and despicable by portraying CM Punk, the Straight-Edge Superstar, as a heel.

To be fair to him, Punk really does the whole preachy character quite well. I've become irritated by him when at first he was one of my favorites. Well, alright, I still think he's good, but he keeps on saying the same things over and over! Will someone please write him some new material? At least use different words even when stating the same idea.

What concerns me is this: Punk's clean lifestyle is the perfect thing to advocate now that they are making the shows "more PG". However, because they pitted him against Jeff who, as much as I love him, is indeed a not-so-good role model outside of the ring but possesses a charisma that Punk obviously lacks, kids would predictably take Jeff's side and view Punk as a villain along with his exemplary lifestyle. He (Punk) would now be classified as a killjoy along with their parents who are probably reprimanding them for watching such violence, even if we all know it's staged.

I love WWE and I don't want them to one day be shunned and protested against by concerned parents. I also do not want them ignoring their social responsibility by shining a negative light on someone who brings forth something worth emulating especially by kids. I grew up watching WWE but back then, the storylines didn't incorporate the wrestler's personal lives so I didn't know if one of them was a drug abuser or what. It's more dangerous now because children might not see the difference between the character/persona and the real person of these athletes.

Jeff is a tremendous wrestler and should be looked up to as such. I admire him for being able to kick the habit for over a year and I hope he could keep it up longer. It's just that his personal life gets broadcasted all over the Internet and even on TV and these news almost always put him in a bad light. His recent arrest, for example. If these things were kept from impressionable people, then I wouldn't care whatever he does because he would only be seen by the kids as a wonderful artist and a talented performer. I believe that these are the characteristics that he embodies the most and I'm a fan of his because of this.

As for Punk, he deserves better marketing. True, Smackdown needs main eventers so they are building him up. But I think this strategy is actually breaking him down. Okay, so he followed through with his promise of recapturing the title, which is supposed to add to his credibility. But he does not (yet) have that certain quality that the best heels, e.g. Edge and Jericho and Orton, have. So far I don't think this villainy is working for him. I don't know. Maybe I'm mistaken. I mean, making him look like the bad guy means making staying sober and clean attributes of a bad guy. So what exactly is WWE contributing to society?