CM Punk being buried?

Scott,

If Daniel Bryan fans really believe their guy has been buried recently, what are we to make of CM Punk's booking over the past year?

Punk started off 2013 losing his title to The Rock, then losing the rematch. He then lost to Undertaker at WrestleMania, dropped down the card for a one-off with Jericho, lost to Brock at SummerSlam, took three months to win a feud with a manager (including a PPV loss to Curtis Axel and getting pinned by Heyman), and closed out 2013 being put in lopsided feuds with the Wyatts and The Shield. Now going into the 2014 Rumble, Punk is feuding with non-wrestler Kane, 44-year-old Road Dogg and 50-year-old Billy Gunn.

Punk was in the main event of three PPVs in the last year (Rumble, Chamber, MITB), while Bryan main-evented four PPVs (MITB, SummerSlam, NOC, HIAC). Punk hasn't been in the WWE/WHC title picture since February 2013. And in the second half of the year, Punk was clearly below Bryan on the card.

So if Bryan's 2013-14 booking is being called a burial (though it's really not a burial), what are we supposed to call what's happening to Punk? And why aren't the same fans who are crying for Bryan also complaining about Punk?

Punk's already a made guy and he's had all his big moments, so I don't think people are as concerned.  People LIKE Punk, but Bryan is the zeitgeist guy at the moment and I think there's a real fear among fans (even if they don't know how to express it exactly) that if the trigger isn't pulled soon then they're going to lose something big.