OK. The fact that CM Punk never defeated The Rock is unfortunate. Though he was at the time the WWE Champion, Punk was used by WWE as a warm-up heel for The Rock before wrestling John Cena, ostensibly making Punk little more than Jake "The Snake" Roberts warming up a big name heel before wrestling Hulk Hogan in the 1980s. No disrespect to the WWE Hall of Famer, but CM Punk was the longest-reigning WWE Champion of the modern era, and slotting him as a solid number two player behind John Cena seems a bit absurd. Being champion for sixteen months means that you're something of a draw and a presence. Maybe Punk pinning The Rock (but The Shield attacking "The People's Champ" before the match to weaken him) would have been an easier way to book the match while at the same time maintaining a significant amount of CM Punk's credibility. The fact that CM Punk lost twice to The Rock and once to John Cena and still maintained enough interest in himself to make him a top-notch opponent for The Undertaker is impressive. If Punk had a victory over John Cena too, he'd have been much more impressive in the role of challenging The Undertaker's streak, too.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
