10 Times WWE Totally Fooled The IWC
6. The Ultimate Worked Shoot
CM Punk's infamous 'pipebomb' blew the wrestling world apart in 2011.
The Summer Of Punk got off to a blistering start, as the former Straight Edge Society leader took to the stage, sat cross-legged, and delivered one of the fiercest polemics in company history. He didn't so much pull back the curtain as tear it from its railing, then set it ablaze, as he torched John Cena, WWE's corporate hierarchy, and the way he'd been booked over the past few years in one fell swoop.
It was an astonishing moment, given the state of WWE's increasingly safe, sanitised product, and it made Punk a massive cult hero. Wrestling felt fresh again thanks to him, and in finally giving voice to the audience's biggest criticisms of the company, Punk became their avatar.
So convincing was Punk's pipebomb that huge swathes of the fanbase were convinced he'd gone off-script, even those who'd consider themselves among WWE's "smartest" fans. The reality is that while the bulk of Punk's rant came from the heart, he wouldn't have been able to do it without the company's say so. It was a worked shoot, not a true shoot, but we were all convinced it was legit at the time.