10 Times WWE Gave Us Something Awesome (...And Immediately RUINED It)

2. The Summer Of CM Punk

Vince McMahon CM Punk Rey Mysterio
WWE.com

Time for a little history lesson.

CM Punk's “Pipebomb Promo” was great. His WWE Title win over John Cena at Money In The Bank 2011? Wonderful. Then, the way Punk blew a kiss at an irate Vince McMahon before walking out on WWE was amazing. It really didn't take WWE long to ruin things from there.

Instead of talking about Punk's departure with the belt and the impact it'd have on company business, McMahon announced a mini-tournament to crown a new champ. Rey Mysterio won that, then the strap ended up on Cena in time for a rematch with Punk at SummerSlam. Again, things got worse despite their in-ring brilliance.

Alberto Del Rio cashed in his MITB briefcase to win the title from Punk in August, and Kevin Nash got involved to help CM spin off into a rivalry with Triple H. People remember the "Summer Of Punk" fondly, but it was a nightmare saga of poor decisions in retrospect.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.