Does the WWE need CM Punk?

CM Punk

Then. Now. Forever. That is the opening graphic a fan will see at the start of any WWE broadcast, but with former WWE superstar, CM Punk, heading to UFC in 2015, Can WWE trudge along with business as usual?The easy answer is yes. Even Punk said during his epic pipebome in 2010, that he was only a spoke on the wheel, and that The company would still make money despite itself. Of course Punk going to UFC is a bit of a blow to The WWE, but its not like things have gone completley downhill since Punks departure from the company in January.

Ratings Are The SameAccording to Wrestlezone.com, The Monday Night Raw Ratings may have taken a small drop after Punk's departure in January of this year, but the ratings did manage to skyrocket up to near 4.8 when Daniel Bryan won The WWE World Heavyweight title at WrestleMania.The ratings did plummit by 16% from April to May, but many experts speculate that the drop was due to WrestleMania season ending. Despite the 16% drop off during the month of April, Raw still managed to pull in about the same numbers they did in 2013 at that time.After Raw's ratings loss in April, they began to build steadily back up to 4.3 by July of this year. The increase may be due to Rollins turning on his Shield teammates during the Summer and then winning the breifcase at Money In The Bank. Raw had slightly higer ratings at this point then last year as well.The biggest surpise of the ratings graph, is that the ratings for August in 2013 and 2014 were almost identical to each other. That means, that their was really no diffrence in viewership during Punk and Brock Lesnar's feud in 2013, and John Cena and Brock Lensar's feud in 2014.The ratings continued to rival each other over the next three months, while 2013 gained a slight lead by the end of October, with both years above the 3.6 rating mark. The most promising sign of the data is that, despite Punks departure , Raw's overall rating increased from 42.16 to 42.22 million so far this year.For more information on these statistics, click here.

New Talent being pushed

Ratings may be about the same as last year, but the superstars now taking the upper slots in the company are not. In 2014 alone, we have seen the rise of Roman Reigns, Erick Rowan, Ryback, Seth Rollins Dolph Ziggler, Rusev and Luke Harper.Instead of having pay per views constantly being headlined by the same top stars, we have seen a wonderful variety of talent take the top billings this year. We saw Daniel Bryan versus Batista versus Randy Orton at WrestleMania 31, we got Dean Ambrose versus Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell and we get Seth Rollins versus John Cena this Sunday at TLC.We have alot of first time champions this year too, with Jimmy and Jey Uso winning The Tag team titles earlier this year, Luke Harper, who captured The intercontinental Title from Dolph Ziggler and even Rusev, who beat Sheamus for The United States Title last month.Were not only seeing new headliners and new champions, but many deserving superstars recieving second chances as well. We have Damien Mizdow, who has been a fan favorite since becoming Miz's stunt double, Tyson Kidd, who recently returned from a stint in NXT, and even Kofi Kingston, Big E. Langston and Xavier woods, who have been repackaged as The New Day Faction.This isnt to say that Punk was holding other superstars back, but is meant to show that despite Punk's departure, WWE will continue to create new fan favorites and luanch them into superstardom.

WWE Will Learn From Mistakes

WWE may be worried about lowered pay per view buy rates, less then steller numbers for their WWE Network and their continously stumbling stock, but at the end of the day, WWE has of course made a few mistake in their journey to grow bigger then ever, but these mistakes are nothing that the entertainment giant cant come back from, with or without Punk. Whether Punk fans like it or not, one superstar does not make a company.For those who say that WWE is now doomed to fail and that wrestling is dead. Look at The Monday Night Wars between Ted Turner and Vince McMahon in The 90's . McMahon's flagship show, Monday Night Raw, was beat in the ratings for 84 straight weeks by WCW Nitro, putting him on the verge of losing his company, but instead the billionaire changed bussiness tactics and eventually bought WCW out altogether and won The Monday night war!???