10 Times WWE Threw Their Champion Under The Bus

2. CM Punk's Undisputed WWE Championship (2011)

Remember how hot Punk was in 2011 after Money In The Bank? WWE had its new star. Sure, he disappeared for a while after beating Cena for the title in Chicago, with Cena (who else?) being crowned as a sort of interim champ in his absence, but after returning on RAW ahead of Summerslam, a series of promo battles on the mic with Triple H over the state of WWE meant that Punk still had great momentum. At Summerslam, Punk and Cena went at it once more to confirm the real WWE Champion, with Triple H as guest referee. Like in their previous bout at Money In The Bank, Punk looked like he belonged in the main event, escaping STFs and kicking out of Attitude Adjustments. But sadly, just like in Chicago, we got a finish that was anything but decisive, as Triple H counted the 1-2-3 in favour of Punk while Cena's foot was on the bottom rope. WWE's need to protect Cena was tedious, but not unexpected. And hey, at least the right guy was leaving Summerslam with the title. Those were the thoughts running through our heads until Kevin Nash appeared in the middle of the ring, hit Punk with the Jackknife Powerbomb, and escaped through the crowd. Moments later, Alberto Del Rio cashed in his Money In The Bank briefcase and was the new WWE Champion. Cue the CM Punk/Kevin Nash feud, which did absolutely nothing for Punk, other than lead to a singles match against Triple H that Punk lost, despite The Game being in the twilight of his career. Triple H then feuded with Nash over Big Daddy Cool texting himself instructions to attack Punk from Triple H's phone (huh?), which left Punk with nothing better to do than to go and reclaim his WWE title from Del Rio in a flat bout at Survivor Series that made us wonder what the point was of Nash costing him the strap in the first place.