While the Pittsburgh crowd rallied for Daniel Bryan at the 2014 Royal Rumble, they were unaware that they were also watching the last match of a longtime superstar who would quit the following day. CM Punk, beat up from injuries and frustrated with the direction of the company and their lack of foresight, wrestled his final match in Pittsburgh and left the promotion the day after. When news broke of Punk's departure, many thought he would return sooner rather than later and some believed that it was all a work. Punk, however, was completely done. As detailed on Colt Cabana's podcast, Punk described a combination of frustrations as the reason for his departure: Misdiagnosed injuries, a terrible creative direction, and (in Punk's mind) a pointless match with the Undertaker at WrestleMania XXIX were all cited as reasons Punk left. Punk was the most frustrated by a WWE doctor telling him he had a "fatty deposit" on his back when it was actually MRSA, a potentially life-threatening infection. WWE also refused to admit that Punk had a concussion, even with the dangers of head injuries being extremely well-known. Punk finally had enough and went home following the Royal Rumble and ditching his planned feud with Kane. By his own account, Punk has never been happier and has absolutely zero plans to ever wrestle again. To drive this point home even further, just last week Punk signed a deal to fight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2015. This absolutely stunned the wrestling world and almost guaranteed that more than a few wrestling fans will be tuning in for CM Punk's (otherwise know as Phil Brooks) first fight.
