Thanks to Nick Paglino for the following:

CM Punk.

According to a prominent member of the WWE staff, Cena is a big fan of Punk’s, and thought WWE could have gotten a lot more out of Punk during his run with Randy Orton.

With Punk reportedly in a contract dispute with WWE (his contract expires at the end of the Summer, and he has not elected to sign a new agreement), Cena went to WWE Chairman Vince McMahon with a similar pitch to how Cena worked Chris Jericho’s final program when Jericho first took a leave of absence from WWE.

While WWE hopes Punk will eventually stay with the company, it looks like his exit will come at the hands of John Cena should he decide to leave.

Of course, with Punk being in a feud with “The Champ,” WWE has the option to offer Punk a title run in order to sweeten the offer for him to stay.

“This is going to be interesting to watch,” another key WWE insider told us this evening, “Punk is very smart, and Cena understands WWE politics better than anyone other than HHH and Undertaker. A feud between the two of them may be the smartest thing WWE can do to get Punk to stay!”

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