10 Classic Wrestling Rivalries With ONE THING MISSING

6. CM Punk Vs Eddie Kingston - A Rematch

Triple H Randy Orton
AEW

CM Punk and Eddie Kingston might have been and still be the best little bit of business in wrestling history.

Everybody's more prone to hyperbole than they used to be in this content super-service era, but assess all that got achieved and how it happened and the argument only gets as weighty as the original promo battle that kicked it all off.

That verbal joust was the perfect pissy pro wrestling promotion. With apologies for the alteration in particular there, because Kingston and Punk's exchanges were anything but flowery. After one backstage shoving contest and that epic in-ring spar, years of Kingston's resentment and Punk's piousness were about to be unleashed in the form of a bloody and unfussy Full Gear bout that never once veered from the real-feeling biliousness of the build.

Sporting his best ever gear and spoiling for the fight 'The Mad King' was only too happy to give him, Punk brought also the angriest version of himself back as a response to those that had seen a little too much of the nice side.

Perhaps a rematch at some point might have ruined the magic and tampered with the perfection. "More is always more" is the preserve of the promoter rather than the fanbase, but Punk and Kingston might yet again be the great rule-proving exceptions.

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