10 Times The Past Buried WWE's Future
WWE's stars of tomorrow hindered by its stars of the past.
There's always room for nostalgia in WWE. The warm glow of past glories is celebrated on almost every broadcast, as fans everywhere are reminded of the landmark moments that helped mould WWE into the wrestling behemoth that it is today. The unfortunate downside to this train of thought, though, is that sometimes the past comes back to stomp WWE's current crop of stars with all of the force of Godzilla's size 98 foot.
This particular problem ran rampant under Vince McMahon's stewardship. Nobody was safe from WWE's geriatric past, as the sight of decrepit old bastards beating wrestlers in their prime would happen with infuriating regularity. Fans were routinely trained to expect their current group of superstars to be brutalized by Vinnie Mac's legends of the past, both in small TV segments and occasionally in the biggest matches of the year.
These moments where nostalgia went off the deep end would include the company's biggest championships changing hands, and even the Royal Rumble wasn't safe from the heroes of WWE's past burying the company's present and future stars. The following are some of the most extreme cases of WWE's past ruining WWE's future.
10. The Rock Defeats CM Punk At Royal Rumble 2013
CM Punk's 434-day run with the WWE Championship was heralded as one of the greatest triumphs of the 2010s. During an era when it felt as though booking decisions were intentionally made to make fans apoplectic, Punk enjoying arguably this period's greatest championship reign felt so good because it felt like an exception to this rule.
Taking that on board, it's no surprise that CM Punk's reign came to an end in the most infuriating way possible. The Rock returned and declared himself number one contender for Punk's championship at the 2013 Royal Rumble because he'd beaten John Cena at the previous year's WrestleMania. The legend with a part-time schedule then defeated the new era's greatest superstar for the title at the Rumble, despite being cooked like a Sunday dinner roast chicken by Punk's "your arms are too short to box with God" promo in the build to the event itself.
Because that wasn't quite enough to annoy fans who'd seen CM Punk discarded like a snotty tissue, The Rock then beat him again at the following month's Elimination Chamber. The message was clear: your indie darling has just been crushed by the Tooth Fairy, and there's nothing you can do about it. This was compounded by Punk being beaten by more part-timers in quick succession, losing to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 29 and Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2013.