10 Awesome Ways Wrestlers Got Back At Critics

8. John Cena's 2011

Edge Lita
WWE.com

WWE may have been falling apart during the badly-botched 'Summer Of Punk' in 2011, but John Cena's steady hand remained stuck to the wheel amidst atrocious mismanagement of the 'Voice Of The Voiceless' and man primed to take his place.

Far from just a warm body in Money In The Bank's white hot atmosphere, Cena proved himself as CM Punk's career opponent during their summer series, working diligently against laboured criticisms of his work that still remained after a transcendent 2007 turnaround. While Punk flailed and flapped in and putrid and politically-motivated programme with Triple H and Kevin Nash, 'Big Match John' carried the load in all sorts of mad sh*t without remotely trying to remove Punk from his new catbird seat.

Working three straight pay-per-views with the relentless boring Alberto Del Rio (including one in a ring destroyed by the prior battle between Mark Henry and The Big Show, Cena shored up the clunky WWE Title situation until the 'Straight Edge Superstar' pulled himself out of the mere in time to finally kick off a proper title run at the Survivor Series.

He had another one of these years still in him, too...

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett