10 Times WWE Dropped The Ball On CM Punk

10. A Five-Year Sabbatical Ends On WWE Backstage

This one can’t be dropped entirely on WWE’s door, but not even the most hardened of Vince McMahon acolytes could honestly say that this was how they wanted CM Punk to return. On a talk show that approximately nobody bothers to watch? Engaging in pointless conversations with Renee Young, Booker T and the rest?

Sure, whatever.

Even if Punk’s role on WWE Backstage is mediated through Fox, WWE didn’t need to agree to it all. Punk’s influence on Backstage ratings has been negligible at best (and inherently pointless), and wasting his return to the product on such an ignored and invisible format has done nothing more than extinguish one of the last hopes in pro wrestling.

Of course, the whole idea may have been for WWE to show that it can drop the ball on CM Punk even before receiving the thing. If that was the case, then this company has outdone itself once again.