Whisper it, but CM Punk hadn't exactly been at his best in the months before he left WWE. That was partly his own fault but more so the fault of WWE creative. An autumn feud with Ryback and winter mini-feud with the Wyatt Family just never caught fire. Punk became just another part of the show. His August 2014 match against Brock Lesnar had been an epic, but just four months months later he was firmly in a career rut. Punk acknowledged this collapse in his standards. On the subject of a December Raw match against Seth Rollins, he commented on twitter that "it was garbage." Punk is a seriously proud guy. He wants to go out there and be the best, it would massively hurt his pride if he started stinking the ring up. Nobody wants to become a Hulk Hogan, a hero who sticks around long enough to become a joke. Punk's vow to never return could be down to his realisation that he was indeed past it. Why stick around to dilute the memories of the good years? He decided to take off with his critical dignity intact. The peak was that 2011 Cena feud, it was never going to get that good again, so he called it a day. Nothing WWE could offer him will ever match that peak, so he'll remain retired and content with what he did achieve.
