10 INSANE Risks WWE Took With Their Biggest Stars
5. CM Punk
Not that they would bother anymore, but when WWE tells the story of CM Punk' career-altering 2011, the order typically goes as follows:
- CM Punk sits on a stage in Las Vegas and has a big old moan. Calls the microphone a "pipe bomb" in his hands.
- Defeats John Cena at Money In The Bank for the WWE Championship, the rascal.
- Big star forever after that and what's he always f*cking moaning for?
This of course wilfully neglects a truly abysmal summer full of so many plotholes and potholes that it by rights should have killed all the incredible and incendiary momentum he'd built up over June and July, but this was one of the first cases of the company failing to kill a push they didn't really like with corporate dark arts. Namely, beating him like a drum.
Punk retained his belt in screwy fashion at SummerSlam (but celebrated anyway), before being battered by Kevin Nash and beaten by Alberto Del Rio. Then he lost a number one contender's match to Cena on Raw. He lost to Triple H at Night Of Champions before teaming with 'The Game' to lose to The Miz & R-Truth at Vengeance. Sandwiched between those setbacks was a loss in a triple threat with Del Rio and Cena inside Hell In A Cell.
Only at November's Survivor Series - and still somehow beloved by the crowd - did he get back on track, regaining his stolen WWE Championship so he could get on with the job he'd clearly earned months earlier.