10 Most Elaborate Works In Wrestling History
3. The Summer Of Punk
No, not that one. Instead, it's Ring of Honor's Summer of Punk that gets some time in the sun here.
As for the WWE Summer of Punk, that wasn't necessarily part of some elaborate work, for it's a shoot that CM Punk was an out-of-contract free agent when he walked into the Allstate Arena for Money in the Bank 2011. It was only on the day of the PPV that he agreed a new deal with WWE, which then led to him toppling John Cena for the WWE Title later that night.
Years prior, though, the Second City Saint pulled off the original, masterful Summer of Punk as he looked to depart ROH.
With the internet being, well, the internet, it was reported in June 2005 that CM Punk had signed with WWE. As the Straight-Edge Superstar got set to challenge for Austin Aries' ROH World Championship at Death by Dishonor III later that month, this situation soon became a love-in for Punk. At that PPV, several video packages were played, highlighting the Chicago native's greatest ROH moments, and the ROH fans serenaded their idol with chants of "Please don't go!" before and during his expected 'lose on the way out' main event against Aries.
Instead, Punk and ROH swerved us all, with him actually defeating A Double to become the new ROH Champion - then cut his iconic "I'm a snake" promo, turn heel, and promise to take the ROH Title to WWE with him.
It was brilliant, it was genuinely shocking, and it absolutely caught wrestling fans totally off-guard. While Punk had indeed signed with WWE, he'd managed to strike a deal with Vince McMahon's organisation that allowed him to finish off the rest of his ROH dates - and thus he'd remain with ROH for a further two months, eventually dropping the ROH World Title to James Gibson.