10 Times Wrestlers Told You They Were FINISHED

2. CM Punk (2013)

CM Punk
WWE.com

It'll be a long time before the novelty of CM Punk's 2023 WWE return wears off, but for a pained reminder of how it could all go if the company ends up normalising the magic, take a look at his December 2013 run to see a man on the edge.

As he infamously recounted in the Art Of Wrestling incineration of his final years with the company, he was required to "keep Roman strong" while beating The Shield, was suffering as a character from the stuttering conclusion to his feuds with Paul Heyman and The Wyatt Family, and appeared to be the latest babyface about to eat an awful lot of Authority beatdowns before facing Triple H at WrestleMania.

Promos found him trying to explain away Daniel Bryan's abrupt defection to Bray Wyatt's cult, barely keeping kayfabe and begging fans to keep cheering for him nonetheless. A memorable car crash Monday Night Raw Championship Celebration segment found him laughing and the obnoxious refusal of the McMahons to acknowledge the star on the rise rather than the tired ones in the ring.

Darkly amusing (at points) in hindsight, this was the real and bleak deconstruction of the man behind the mythology in real time.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett