10 Shocking Heel Turns That Rocked WWE

8. CM Punk Batters The Rock At Raw 1000

The applause CM Punk received upon winning the WWE Title at the 2011 Survivor Series was huge. Fans were more than ready to embrace Punk in the starring role, but it was becoming clear that WWE weren't too sure that he was better placed than the likes of The Rock and John Cena to headline. In July, 2012, Punk blasted The Rock on Raw. That episode was the 1,000th broadcast of Monday Night Raw, a night treated with great importance by WWE. There were some cheers when Punk nailed Rocky following his disqualification loss to John Cena (The Big Show had interfered in proceedings). The next week, the WWE Champion revealed that he felt he should be the focal point of WWE, not The Rock or Cena. This later led to a wonderful union with Paul Heyman for the freshly-turned Punk, one of the most satisfying portions of the man's career. Behind the scenes, the champion was reportedly legitimately seething about the idea of being shunted out of the main event picture in favour of Dwayne Johnson, so there was some realism to him turning on The Rock in a televised segment.