Quality Storytelling for CM Punk, Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre Sets WWE Apart

At the 2024 edition of Money in the Bank on Saturday night, the CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre saga ensnared Seth Rollins and officially joined the ranks of the Bloodline and Judgment Day as masterful storytelling.

Impressively, it continues to do so without an official match for either feud.

At Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Punk returned from a presumed medical sidelining after suffering a beatdown at the hands of McIntyre on weekly programming and interfered in the World Heavyweight Championship match.

It wasn’t just any regular old interference, though. McIntyre just so happened to be cashing in the Money in the Bank contract he won in the ladder match that opened the show while champion Damian Priest and Rollins were on their last legs.

Long story short, Priest wound up retaining with Rollins out and Punk getting major revenge by beating down McIntyre.

The whole ordeal was a layered stroke of storytelling genius that fans don’t usually see outside of The Bloodline and The Judgment Day. And this time, it’s not just as simple as making the Punk-McIntyre feud all the more personal.

No, this time it helped WWE weave around the annual problem that is the Money in the Bank briefcase.

The item hasn’t often been used to boost up-and-coming Superstars. More often than not, it has been a hindrance (even Priest looked bad often over the last year for not cashing-in on an injured Rollins) that the company clearly had issues booking around, especially with the emphasis on long-form storytelling around lengthy title reigns.

So just like that, the briefcase goes poof on the same night it’s earned, enriches the beef between two of the top Superstars and guarantees the silly green thing won’t hinder Priest’s title or awkwardly lurk in the background of the Cody Rhodes-Bloodline stuff.

Then there’s the Rollins factor. Even the most casual of fans understand that there has, at least in the past, been some real beef between him and Punk.

To highlight a few big points, Rollins’ public bashing of Punk even when The Best in the World wasn’t in WWE said quite a bit, as did his blurred-lines anger when Punk returned to the company at Survivor Series last November.

Saturday brought another rendition of the latter, with Punk officially in Rollins’ sights for the first time in a feud sense after losing his chance at the title because of the interference. Like his animated reaction at Survivor Series, it was only commentator Corey Graves getting between the two.

Meaning, this isn’t just angling toward Punk-McIntyre. Now, it’s very clear Rollins will get a shot at his nemesis, too. And one has to think it will eventually loop in that title around Priest’s waist, giving fans perhaps the best main event scene around the non-Roman Reigns or Rhodes title to date.

All of this isn’t meant to undersell the impact on the McIntyre angle, though. In fact, this felt unexpected because WWE had already gone to such great lengths to build up the personal feud.

We’re hardly just removed from Punk costing McIntyre a title win in front of a home Scottish crowd, so the fact that he’s now taking away his cash-in attempt is, well, borderline psychopathic in its levels of hatred (and entertaining as it gets for fans).

And just to reiterate, this has all unfolded between these two while Punk hasn’t been medically cleared. One could argue it’s the best-ever modern feud to not even feature a match. One really couldn’t blame fans for feeling like it’s the outright best story and feud going in pro wrestling as a whole right now.

This measured storytelling, on paper, could mean a bloody payoff between Punk and McIntyre that headlines SummerSlam outright. Then, Punk and Rollins blaze a personal, line-blurring path to WrestleMania 41 that might just include a championship—and a main event both guys never got this year.

Overall, Saturday night was another story beat for the crowning achievement of the Triple H era. Progressing not one, but two feuds at once while eliminating an annual problem in a jaw-dropping way is a chef’s kiss moment for those at the controls.

And it’s the fans who will keep winning courtesy of moments like these, with Punk-McIntyre and Punk-Rollins boasting all-timer potential if the character and story elements keep progressing like this.