Several people within the company were worried about not protecting Ryback enough but one of Ryback’s biggest supporters, Vince McMahon, was in favor of Punk keeping the title as we noted. The Seth Rollins/Dean Ambrose/Roman Reigns main roster call-ups was a way to “protect” Ryback. More on this later today.
As of last week, the plan was to do a Survivor Series rematch (Ryback vs. Cena vs. Punk) at WWE’s TLC pay-per-view. Of course, plans can and always do change.
No matter what happens, The Rock is expected to win the title and go into WrestleMania 29 as WWE Champion. Obviously, he’d lose it there or at RAW the following night as he’ll be leaving again.