10 "Perfect" Wrestling Feuds That Went Horribly Wrong
4. CM Punk Vs. The Undertaker
This started brilliantly. The big show-closing angle at a Big 4 PPV framed it, immediately, as a massive deal.
Punk was operating at such an incredible level, once he was given the ball at SummerSlam 2009, that he found a compelling reason to loathe 'Taker and made sense of the strange dynamic. Grounded reality-based wrestler versus cartoonish parlour magician only worked because they were both major stars. From a character perspective, not so much - until Punk made it work.
Punk scoffed at 'Taker's "powers" and remonstrated with him for reducing a generation of fans to a stupefied, childlike state. He said that when he tapped him at Breaking Point, the spell would be broken and, faced with the reality they couldn't handle, they'd pop pills and booze to escape. Punk proved that he could make his incredible, sanctimonious heel character work against any opponent in any context.
WWE then took the ball off him because he didn't fancy wearing a suit, and they killed the programme dead with a one-two punch of Montreal finish and the most one-sided cage annihilation since SummerSlam 2001.
That boy got too big for his boots, and failed to correctly play an utterly asinine game rigged by arrogant morons who relinquished a monopoly.
The second go-round was amazing, but by then, Punk had already lost the will to play.