It's no secret that CM Punk had to fight against the prejudices of not only top WWE stars but also members of management, too. That Punk became the star that he did is rather astonishing, when you think of the number of people who were trying to prevent it from happening. A match that Punk worked for Sunday Night Heat in the summer of 2005 was notoriously ripped to shreds by Michael Hayes, Arn Anderson, Triple H and Shawn Michaels. The Straight Edge Superstar was quickly shipped to OVW where he was a favourite of Paul Heyman. After debuting on ECW in August 2006, Punk was given a long winning streak. That winning streak came to an abrupt end on the January 9th episode of ECW, when he was pinned by Hardcore Holly. Punk was told by road agent Anderson that 'after 14 years of being on WWE television, Holly is the bigger star'. The word was that Punk was getting an ego and needed to be put in his place. The original plan for the match was for Holly to score a fluke win but that changed during an agents meeting before the show. The whole room turned on Punk, the consensus being that he was a fluke who hadn't properly paid his dues. This was, of course, completely counterproductive. Holly was a solid worker, but he was almost 44-years-old at the time and Punk was very over as a babyface. It momentarily killed Punk's momentum. Worse still, it was reported that people backstage were 'getting off' on Holly chopping Punk. This is sadly what used to happen in WWE when you were a 'Paul Heyman guy'. Punk did ask a road agent if he was 'in the doghouse' later in the year and was assured he was not. That employ then went behind his back and twisted the conversation to make it seem like Punk was complaining about doing a job.
