10 Times WWE Hurt Itself By Punishing Its Stars

3. CM Punk Cheeses Off Management

From June to September 2009, CM Punk was delivering some of the finest work of his career, in WWE or outside it. He'd proven himself as a fantastic, heat-seeking heel in a series with Jeff Hardy which - because Hardy was set against re-signing with WWE - he'd come out on top of.

Unfortunately, that beautiful dynamic was scuppered when he lost the World Heavyweight Title to The Undertaker in just ten minutes at Hell in a Cell inside the titular match. He wouldn't hold a proper title again for nearly two years, despite being the best heel on the roster, and one of the fastest rising stars in the company.

Why did WWE cut Punk off at the knees in 2009? Apparently, it was gently suggested to Punk by The Undertaker that, as World Heavyweight Champion, he should be dressing less casually while on the road. The argument has always gone that the champion should present himself as championship material outside of the ring at all times, as he's representing the product and the brand. CM Punk's counterargument to that - at the time, and as a matter of general principle - was that it made no sense for a character like his to inexplicably dress in smart attire when not on television.

From all reports, he made the not-unreasonable point that he was not a clotheshorse like Flair or The Rock, and that John Cena, a main event/champion character who could afford to wear smarter clothes outside the ring, chose to wear his usual jorts and merchandise instead.

In October 2009, CM Punk was twenty-one months away from delivering the promo that would change his career forever, and give him the stroke backstage to make comments like that. Word gets about quickly in the business (telegram, telephone, tell a wrestler), and management took his comments to mean that he felt that he was on Cena's level. Of course that's not really what he meant, but it didn't matter; Punk had to be taken down a peg or two, regardless of the effect it would have on his character's upward momentum and ability to make money for the company.