5 Reasons Not To Believe In CM Punk's Cleveland Curse

5. He Was Saved From A Lousy Debut

Punk's WWE TV debut came on the July 4, 2006 episode of ECW on SciFi. The star's depiction was almost completely unchanged from the one he had on the independent scene, which was very true to his real-life persona - he hyped up how he was straight-edge, and said that his only addiction was competition. Punk soon became a very popular babyface.

Unbeknownst to many, though, Punk almost made his WWE debut much earlier. On July 25, 2005, Punk (then the reigning Ring of Honor World Champion), wrestled a Sunday Night Heat match against independent worker Vik Dalishus, wrestling as Rob Begley. Punk was accompanied by Mickie James, who had not yet debuted on WWE TV and was given the name Vicki Adams.

Punk beat Begley, but after the match, he was reportedly told by agents that they hated his pairing with James - they simply thought the two had no chemistry. The match was never aired, and James went back to OVW, while Punk continued to wrestle for ROH until he dropped the title and reported to OVW himself.

What may have seemed like a setback was a blessing in disguise. Even the greatest wrestlers have trouble recovering from a bad first impression, and keeping Punk under wraps until creative had a better role for him ended up meaning he made a major splash with his debut.