10 Wrestling Storylines That Don't Get Enough Love

10. Better Than You, Better Than What Came After

CM Punk is best remembered for his post-Pipebomb career, as well as that legendary promo itself. That was the moment he truly forged his legend - but his false dawn was equally brilliant. Perhaps even more so, as an hermetic masterclass of a self-contained rivalry that did not dissolve into a full-on, mystifying sh*t-show.

Punk quietly loathed Hardy for succeeding where h hade failed in spite of his "alternative" lifestyle. Hardy received chance after chance following mistake after mistake. Punk posed no risk whatsoever to the company's Wellness Policy, but was blockaded constantly in his ascension to the main event. Hardy's popularity continued to rise. Punk received jeers in 2009 after capturing a second successive Money In The Bank Ladder Match win.

This simmering loathing manifested as a furious heel turn, following which Punk exhumed his ROH holier than thou schtick to dress down Hardy and his supporters in a series of searing promos dripping with originality, intensity, and conviction. The classic hero versus villain psychology fleshed out by two idiosyncratic performers antithetical in attitude, this was arguably the most coherent tale WWE ever told. Logical and palpably real, Hardy Vs. Punk delivered in the ring (their TLC war at SummerSlam was a triumph of realism in a contrived context), made a true star out of its antagonist, and concluded neatly where even the consensus best programmes fizzled out.

It was flawless.