Trips/Taker was always the plan. We just allowed ourselves to get carried away with what could have been in Trips/Punk. Now they have well and truly missed the boat. Having said that though, Trips/Taker was fucking phenomenal and I'm not too sure I would trade it for Trips/Punk at this stage after seeing how it all turned out tbh. In order for the latter to work, HHH had to turn heel. They clearly weren't/aren't ready for him to turn heel yet and it would have had quite the impact on WWE as a whole. There's no point in turning him heel and then he's gone half the time. It would be wasted and long term, I actually think it would have been the wrong move. The whole situation is just unfortunate. Punk deserved better than Nash but they very obviously didn't know what the fuck to do with him after MITB. Like I said, it's just unfortunate how it all turned out but on the bright side, Punk is in a position many thought he would never be in. I guess that's really all that matters in the end.