10 Biggest WWE Creative Mistakes Of The Decade

8. The Summer Of Punk

Batista Roman Reigns Jinder Mahal
WWE.com

WWE's malaise, arguably, can be traced directly to the events of 2011.

CM Punk, in his incendiary Pipebomb rant, articulated perfectly the issues with WWE's system and the way in which it prohibited organic growth and change. WWE allowed him to cut it because they had a pay-per-view to sell, but in execution, Punk sold fans on a new vision for pro wrestling that the system would not accommodate. He opened Pandora's box, and in doing so, the insights and complaints flew out of it. They have hovered over the product ever since.

Punk escaped with the WWE Heavyweight Championship in a legendary match, but there was an ominous undertone to the euphoria: Punk did not win clean. Nothing about this was clean; WWE muddied everything after just eight days, with Punk's rushed return, and a clumsy, weightless interim title. Punk was faced, through preposterous contrivances, with new antagonists - Alberto Del Rio, Triple H, Kevin Nash, the Miz and R-Truth - en route to his coronation at Survivor Series.

But the brainless, week-to-week plotting - WWE's biggest creative mistake of the decade, in truth - completely undermined itself. Punk, the iconoclast, became a scab as part of a shelved walk-out storyline.

He palled around with Triple H, man. The doofus!

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!