10 Awesome Wrestling Matches That Had Harsh Consequences

CM Punk produced a slew of classic matches against the likes of John Cena, Brock Lesnar, and Daniel Bryan throughout his WWE career. His Night of Champions 2011 battle with Triple H doesn’t quite push into that bracket, and it definitely suffered for an overbooked, sports entertainment-y finish, but it was still an awesome clash between two expert competitors.

The problem, of course, was Triple H’s eventual victory. This outcome not only drove a stake through the heart of the hottest angle WWE had produced in years (the Summer of Punk), but it effectively sewed the seeds for Punk’s eventual departure. This was a burial of the highest order, and while Punk had lost a lot of heat after losing the WWE Championship to Alberto Del Rio at SummerSlam, this was the killing blow.

Triple H was one of Punk’s biggest targets in his post-release appearance on Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast. While Punk hasn’t always covered himself in glory since leaving WWE, it’s hard to argue with him in this instance. Losing to Triple H served no purpose other than to quell Punk’s momentum, and this match was the first domino to fall in the run-up to his 2014 release.

There’s no guarantee that Punk would still be with the company had this loss not occurred, but it isn’t outwith the realm of possibility. They could certainly use his popularity in their main event scene at the moment, that’s for sure.