10 HUGE Tests Wrestlers Failed
6. CM Punk Doesn't Change WWE
CM Punk tasked himself with an ambitious test in 2011: he wanted nothing less than to change WWE.
He will forever be revered for simply trying - which says rather a lot about how much change is needed to this day - but he failed. He was always going to fail. He said as much in the Pipebomb promo; he was just another cog in a machine too powerful not to fail upwards in perpetuity. In so many respects, it was the most influential and prescient promo of the 21st century.
Punk changed his own fortunes, but not to a level that satisfied his ambitions. He reigned with the WWE Championship - underneath John Cena more often than not - for some amorphous "modern era" record. He cut his own promos. Some were great. Some were long. He worked several excellent, high-profile matches, proving his worth in particular in a phenomenally-worked match opposite Brock Lesnar in 2013. But he wasn't even permitted to headline WrestleMania, much less change WWE.
Punk wanted pro wrestling.
WWE was just fine pumping out its sports entertainment at minimal effort with, sad as it may read, little motivation to do anything more ambitious.