When CM Punk broke the news that he did, in fact, suffer a torn triceps injury during the 2024 Royal Rumble that will require surgery, sending him on the shelf for the next four to six months, depending on the recovery time, it left a massive hole at the top of the presumed WrestleMania 40 card.

Long expected to be Seth Rollins' opponent at the “Showcase of the Immortals,” Punk's spot will now have to be filled by… somebody else, a task made all the more challenging considering the “Visionary” is also injured, Gunther may or may not be allowed to leave the country due to his visa, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson remains non-commital about working a match with Roman Reigns on the grandest stage of them all.

And yet, in the opinion of two-time WWE Hall of Famer and current NXT commentator Booker T, this presents an opportunity, not a hindrance, for creative, as Paul “Triple H” Levesque and company now have a chance to create a new star to fill a spot an established veteran was expected to hold.

“I'm not looking for anything like that myself. Right now, just coming off the Rumble, you look at the talent pool, you got a plethora of talent right now,” Booker T said via Fightful. “There's so many guys on the roster that can step into that spot and become something and make themselves. To be able to make stars, you gotta put them in a position to become stars. I just think we got an opportunity here, we got a huge opportunity, especially with Punk going down, even though Punk, that's a great match. Either one of those guys, if Seth wins, it's great. If Punk wins, it's great. But Punk is already a made man, and Seth is already a made man. I'm looking to make somebody.”

You know, Booker really does have a point here; unlike in, say, the NFL, where a backup may be a considerable talent downgrade when compared to a starter, WWE really doesn't have that problem, as the matches are *spoiler alert* scripted and the promotion can push pretty much whomever they'd like. Give Punk's spot to, say, LA Knight, and who knows, maybe the “Megastar” could be earning the sort of chants the “Best in the World” build a decades-spanning legacy off of over the next few months?

Booker T believes CM Punk did his job in the Royal Rumble.

Speaking of CM Punk, Booker T, and the Royal Rumble, the former King of the Ring also spent some time on his Hall of Fame podcast reviewing his actual efforts at Tropicana Field, which was actually the “Second City Saint's” first match back in WWE since his return at Survivor Series and his first match period since earning the win over Samoa Joe at AEW All In at Wembley Stadium.

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Though Punk wasn't able to secure the win and punch his ticket to WrestleMania 40, Booker still celebrated his efforts in the bout, as he felt he did his job perfectly.

“You know what? I've got to give Punk his due; he did his job. He turned heel. He made the crowd do their job. He knew that at the end of the match, it had to be at its peak- the highest decibel level. That's the mark of someone who knows what they're doing,” noted the WWE Hall of Famer,” Booker T said via Sportskeeda.

“A lot of the guys don't understand that. A lot of guys really don't understand that little bit of nuance that you just talked about. A lot of people may not have even seen it, literally because you're not looking for something like that. But something that I noticed immediately and then went, ‘Wow, good job!'

“Listen, man, he did his job. That was a moment. A lot of guys would have missed that moment right there, thinking that it would have made them look a certain way. Exactly (worrying about putting other guys over too much). I give him a lot of credit for that.”

As crazy as it may sound for Punk fans who assumed his elevation to the main event of WrestleMania was a borderline guarantee, he really did do his job in the match, as he effectively turned heel on Cody Rhodes after his best stuff wasn't good enough to secure the win, and was punished for it by being tossed over the top rope as a result. Still, if he worked the final segment of the match with a torn triceps, maybe that's why he didn't look particularly sharp in the ring. Give him the next six months to get his body right, and who knows, maybe Punk will surprise people – and Drew McIntyre if he remains employed by WWE – at SummerSlam.