10 Times WWE Totally Blew It With CM Punk
5. ...And John Laurinaitis Ushers In The Winter Of Discontent
In an attempt to stomp on the already-dying embers of CM Punk's blaze of glory, WWE brought in John Laurinaitis - a man whose flair for ending WWE careers is matched only by his ability to dampen a crowd's enthusiasm with his tedious, charisma-free presence.
After Triple H pinned Punk at Night of Champions, Punk was segued into a storyline against Laurinaitis. There was history to draw on - Punk name-dropped WWE's Head of Talent Relations in his famous rant against the company, citing the former Johnny Ace as an example of the "glad-handing, nonsensical d*****bag yes men" whose only real talent was telling Vince McMahon what he wanted to hear. (The more things change...)
Say what you like about Triple H, but at least he had the stature and reputation to be a credible nemesis for CM Punk. Laurinaitis was a total unknown to most modern wrestling fans, and those that had heard of him remembered him as one half of the excruciatingly lame Dynamic Dudes. Great heroes need great villains, and Punk vs. Laurinaitis was like watching Spider-Man fight the Condiment King. For three months.
Fortunately, the feud did lead to Punk's record-breaking WWE championship reign, which went swimmingly until Punk crossed paths with a certain Hollywood star...