10 Best Royal Rumble WWE Title Matches

6. The Rock vs CM Punk - WWE Championship (2013)

This match felt huge. CM Punk had turned heel by attacking The Rock in July of 2013 at the 1000th episode of Raw. He had done that as champion and had held the title ever since. Shortly after, Punk aligned himself with Paul Heyman, a match made in professional wrestling heaven. After some great promo work in the weeks leading up to the match, particularly from Punk ("your arms are too short to box with God") the match was set. This certainly had the "big match feel", and the excitement as the two men squared off at the bell was evident. Should the match have headlined Wrestlemania 29 instead? Yes, it probably should have. CM Punk turning on The Rock, and by proxy "the people" only to have the same man, "The People's Champion" end his illustrious title reign by virtue of a "People's Elbow" was great, old school wrestling storytelling. John Cena could have faced The Undertaker and lost, continuing his story of losing big matches until beating The Rock at Extreme Rules. Or whatever Pay-Per-View Rock fancied working. He still does only a few matches, nothing changes. Instead, despite CM Punk ending his title reign against the perfect opponent in perfect circumstances, his fans still feel hard done by. But, it's very easy to ignore all of the backstage nonsense and just appreciate the match as it is €“ a fitting conclusion to one of the most memorable WWE Championship reigns of all time. Both men bring all they have to the match. Rocky, understandably ring-rusty, is able to keep up with Punk for most of the match. In fact, the only botch comes from the announce table, ever willing to try and steal the spotlight. The slightly over-booked ending (The Shield interfere and Punk wins; Vince comes out to strip Punk of the title; Rock, on behalf of "the people," insists the match is restarted; Rock wins) detracts from the match slightly, but it's understandable that you would want to have the impact of a cheated heel victory without the consequences of one. Still, it's one of the best Royal Rumble title matches ever. Even though it probably should be on a list of great Wrestlemania matches instead.