10 Hometown Heroes That Were Embarrassed By WWE
9. CM Punk In Chicago
Few WWE superstars have benefitted more from hometown favouritism than CM Punk. Most wrestlers leave with egg on their face, but Punk’s epic triumph at Money In The Bank 2011 sent the Chicago crowd into raptures. It was one of the most iconic moments in modern WWE history, and as Punk sat on the barricade and blew kisses to Vince McMahon, he ascended to icon status.
That night was the biggest win of career, but Punk hasn’t always been successful in Chicago. WWE have slapped him in the face there a couple of times, and the first came in 2009. Punk was wrestling Umaga at Judgment Day, and after winning that year’s Money In The Bank, all signs pointed towards him overcoming the Samoan Bulldozer, who received and extremely negative crowd reaction. Instead, Punk was pinned cleanly, and his surge to the top hit a speedbump.
It happened again in December 2011, just a few months removed from Punk’s epic MITB triumph. Competing in a gauntlet match, Punk scored a victory over Jack Swagger, but fell to Dolph Ziggler moments later. The match featured heavy interference from Vickie Guerrero and John Laurinaitis, but a loss is a loss, and the crowd despised it.
Few wrestlers are as synonymous with their hometown as CM Punk, but that didn’t stop WWE from jobbing him out in Illinois from time to time.