CM Punk has been one of the most influential wrestlers of the current decade. His (in)famous 2011 "pipe bomb" promo blended kayfabe and reality in a way that had not been seen in years. His look was far from the WWE preferred, yet he still found a way to break into the main event scene. Punk crossed over into the world of pop culture, eclipsing professional wrestling, making him the type of superstar that's very hard to find and hold onto in today's entertainment world. These are just some examples of why Punk should be held in higher regard than he is within the company, but the issues surrounding his 2014 departure, and more so Punk's actions after it, have pitted these two sides against each other in a very real feud that is unlikely to be settled for years. The bottom line is that WWE didn't know what they had with Punk until it was too late. In 2011, the company had a last-minute chance to change things and salvage their relationship with the real-life Phil Brooks, but they dropped the ball. Far from completely innocent in terms of how his time in WWE was handled, Punk is not even mentioned on WWE television today. Many of his contributions to the company are ones that WWE would rather not have, but he still did plenty of good for the company that they should have appreciated him more than they did.