10 Matches That Made Chicago The Hottest Wrestling City In The World
5. The Shield Vs Evolution (Payback 2014)
Gifted the return of their hometown icon one year earlier, the Allstate Arena audience were bribed with the destruction of one of his greatest oppressors mere months after his acrimonious exit.
Having officially turned babyface themselves after fostering huge support, The Shield were the closest representatives for Punk the Chicago crowd could adopt for the night, especially with the injured Daniel Bryan cutting a forlorn figure earlier in the show.
It was fitting that Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns would complete the decisive destruction of 'The Game', Randy Orton and Dave Batista, having sprung to life as a triumvirate allegedly from the mind of Punk himself.
Though his version included Kassius Ohno instead of Reigns, the group were apparently a design of Punk during his fabled WWE Title run. He'd be long gone from the organisation when Evolution were wiped out one night before Seth Rollins would sever the group with his turn to the dark side.
The brutal No Holds Barred Elimination Match allowed the heels to take lots of offence on the battling starlets early on, but they were no match for the dynamic deconstruction of the fiercely united threesome.
'The Animal', 'The Viper' and 'The King of Kings' were individually downed in the final few minutes of the contest without The Shield suffering a single fall, much to the catharsis of the partisan crowd.