10 Times WWE Broke Your Heart And Didn’t Even Care
2. Punked Out
Lame takes on how the Universal and WWE Championship are different titles will not be accepted here.
The company can have one, two or ten top titles if they wish - there is a clear distinction between the belts that are big and those that aren't, and semantics over split-brand prizes are a pointless pursuit. CM Punk's stewardship over the WWE Title between 2011 and 2013 was not.
'The Voice Of The Voiceless' had at long last ascended to the summit of WWE for real (despite monthly pay-per-view cuckolding by John Cena) after a clunky start to his post-Pipe Bomb tenure, and defended the honour and privilege of his position with the same verve Bret Hart had in the role he so desperately craved nearly two decades earlier.
Like 'The Hitman', Punk was screwed in the end too.
Brock Lesnar's empty theft of his 434-day longevity record was more dispiriting than half of 'The Beast's disappointing defences. It passed literally without mention beyond a tweet from from Paul Heyman because Lesnar was absolutely nowhere near the product when it happened. A representation of everything wrong with the reign, it only put fans in mind of what else others could be doing with such a plum spot.