Hey Scott,
Love your work, yadda yadda. I was just thinking that since WWE is going all out with Punk as the new top heel, why not borrow an angle that's passes the Seven Year Rule three times over? Punk is a huge Randy Savage fan, and with him using the elbow in tribute, why not have him crush some babyfaces throat and you can do the whole WM 3 build-up. There could be loads of dramatic irony in it too, before the throat crushing, have the face cut promos about Punk betraying everything he talked about in the initial Pipe Bomb promo and then Punk can literally silence his opposition. Completing Punk's full metamorphosis from rebel underdog face to dominant tyrant heel. A reverse hero's journey if you will.
I've been saying forever that someone should have done the throat-crushing storyline with the Rock, since that's what his whole gig is based on. And having Punk take away his voice, leading up to Rock finally cutting a promo on Punk after he wins the title at Rumble, would be perfect, wouldn't it? It would make sense for Punk to silence people who he feels are disrespecting him, especially someone like Rock who NEVER shows respect to people.