10 Great Matches When Wrestlers Stopped Giving A Damn

by John Bills

1. John Cena Vs. CM Punk - WWE RAW 25/02/13

John Cena CM Punk
WWE.com

The greatest WWE RAW match of the last decade? That’s another question for another time, but the 25 February 2013, Monday night bout between John Cena and CM Punk still holds up today. Arguably the best match of either man’s WWE career, the two battled for the right to face The Rock in the main event of WrestleMania 29, but there was more to it than that. For Cena, a fifth 'Mania main event beckoned (and a second straight headliner against Rocky). For Punk? The culmination of a life’s work. Vindication.

The match was an absolute banger, an instant classic that would stand up in any era against any roster. It is most famous for a piledriver spot that drew a fantastic reaction out of the Dallas crowd, but there was a lot more to this than a banned move getting a rare outing. This 26-minute thriller was the last ever singles match between the two; what a way to go out.

And it all took place with Punk at his most apathetic. His record-breaking WWE Championship reign had been mistreated from start to finish and was over, and a WrestleMania main event that was rightfully his was slipping away. Punk was suffering from an illness and wasn’t particularly interested in it all, only for the reactions of the Dallas crowd to pull him out of this particular stupor, creating a modern classic in the process.

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Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.