6. His Departure Affected The WrestleMania 30 Card
Going into WrestleMania 30, CM Punk was engaged in a ruthless rivalry with Triple H and The Authority. He had already gone through his henchmen The Shield and The New Age Outlaws. Now, it was his time to battle Triple H. However, his untimely departure after the Royal Rumble threw those plans, as well as the rest of the scheduled WrestleMania 30 card, into disarray. This was in addition to Batista's face turn being as well-received as officials initially hoped. Both factors forced WWE to think on their feet and changed the entire complexion of their biggest show of the year. Without a match at WrestleMania, Triple H instead resumed his rivalry with Daniel Bryan, the same Superstar he screwed out of the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. There was also no way Randy Orton vs. Batista was going to go on without a hitch. WWE turned Batista heel shortly after Elimination Chamber. They also added the stipulation to the Bryan vs. HHH match that the winner would be added to the championship main event. Sure, it meant Bryan would have to pull double duty if he were to win (and he did), but it would work out for the better. The card benefited in a big way from the changes made to it stemming from Punk's departure. This proved Punk's absence from the show wasn't as bad as everyone expected it to be.