10 Shining Lights In WWE’s Darkest Hours
6. CM Punk (2009)
A wonderful and creative heel for the first time since joining WWE's main roster via ECW in 2006, CM Punk's revived 'Straight Edge' villain found perfect foil in the form of a soon-to-depart Jeff Hardy well known for his extracurricular preferences when they collided over the World Title in 2009.
Short of furnishing mid-carders for The Undertaker to squash with worrying consistency, SmackDown had retreated to mediocrity that year in the wake of a 2009 Draft seemingly designed to reset the board completely in Monday Night Raw's favour. Punk was one of the few genuine stars to make the switch to Tuesdays in a trade that saw then-WWE Championship head in the opposite direction.
Punk's Money In The Bank cash-in on a shattered Hardy kicked the feud off, but Jeff winning the belt back with relative ease a month later lit the real fuse between them. Patronising, precious and petty, Punk was superb in his portrayal as a vile and jealous former favourite incensed with Hardy's longstanding popularity. Winning the feud but never the argument, Punk's refreshed heel momentum was Tombstoned in an infuriating burial just months later, but for fleeting moments it looked like he'd taken up permanent residence in the main event club two years before he actually did.