WWE Are Now Backed Into A Corner

World Wrestling Entertainment is now backed into a corner.

And it's a wired corner at that.

I am of course referring to the decision made this past Monday night when it was announced that CM Punk will defend his WWE championship against Ryback at Hell in a Cell in a few weeks.

John Cena - the original choice - had elbow surgery a number of weeks ago. The plan was for him to return to the ring after a short layoff. However, it is evident that his rehabilitation is going slower than expected and the call was made to go with the undefeated Ryback for the cage match.

On paper, a Ryback versus CM Punk match for the WWE title looks intriguing. It also looks concerning for the long-term.

Punk is supposed to wrestle The Rock in the WWE title match at the Royal Rumble in January. He has had a long reign as champion and his title loss should - or rather has - got to be to The Rock as the domino effect should end up with John Cena challenging The Rock at WrestleMania XXIX.

The Ryback thing is interesting. He is undefeated and he seems to be getting a bit of a following. Him losing to Punk at Hell in a Cell will do a level of damage.

There are two obvious options that WWE could do. Both will be bad moves.

Firstly, they could let Punk retain the championship and kill what ever build they have had with Ryback.

Secondly, they could have Ryback win the title. This would be a short-term solution that would ruin the long-term plans. Sure, they could eventually have Ryback lose the title back to Punk so he can go on and do his match with The Rock but it would be the same result as option one - they would kill the thing they currently have in Ryback.

The rules of the Hell in a Cell match make this one of the toughest decisions the company has made in quite some time. A loss for either man will ruin their plans unless they come up with something that will protect both of them.

In the back of my mind, I am thinking Brock Lesnar could be used to help Punk so they can segue into a Ryback versus Lesnar match but that would be derailing the plan that seems to be for Lesnar to wrestle Triple H in the future.

I am looking forward to see how they get out of this one.

I'll tell you what, I'd hate to be the one making that call.