10 Times WWE Dropped The Ball On CM Punk

5. His Record-Breaking WWE Championship Reign

CM Punk Triple H
WWE.com

It doesn’t make any sense, does it? WWE put its most prestigious championship around the waist of CM Punk and left it there for 434 days, the longest in the WrestleMania era. If that isn’t giving him the ball and the freedom to run with it, what is?

We all know that isn’t the truth. CM Punk was WWE Champion from November 2011 until January 2013, but almost all of his feuds were relegated to secondary main event status at best. Punk held the title with distinction and honour, defending it in some barn-burning encounters against Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler and others, but he still had to watch the main events go to John Cena, Big Show, Brock Lesnar, Triple H and John Laurinaitis, of all people. The only time Punk himself featured in the main event came when Cena or Ryback stood opposite him.

Despite this neglect, CM Punk still managed to fashion himself a niche with casual fans, bringing a new group of people into the wrestling world. What could have happened in WWE had gone all-in on the Second City Saint? Could the current creative malaise have been avoided? Speculation is a dangerous beast, but Punk was never given the chance to act as the face of the company, despite holding its most prestigious title.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.