CM Punk did not have a good start in WWE. Fresh from stints in TNA, Japan and, most famously, Ring of Honor Punk was given a scathing review of his work by Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Arn Anderson during a match taped for Sunday Night Heat in the summer of 2005. After coming to the conclusion that Punk 'didn't know how to work', he was shipped to OVW for further training. While in OVW he became close friends with booker Paul Heyman, who knew Punk's work from ROH. That was another thing working against Punk: he was now a 'Paul Heyman guy' in a company where the main decision makers hated the man. Punk got a decent push on the rebranded ECW in 2006, was demoted in early 2007 and pushed again later in the year. After capturing the ECW crown, Punk set his sights on the World Heavyweight Championship, which he won June 30th, 2008. His run with the belt was not an overwhelming success. Neither was his second run in 2009, cut short after he was deemed to have a bad attitude. Punk finally had a good, proper run as Champion from June 2011 to January 2013, the longest of the modern era. By this point, Punk was already established as a top guy. From a 'skinny fata**' who used to wrestle in school gyms in his basketball shorts, to one of the top guys in WWE, Punk definitely overachieved against considerable odds. Although he remarked that he considered his WWE tenure a 'failure' because he didn't headline WrestleMania, he should be proud of the great things he accomplished in wrestling.
