10. CM Punk Should've Eliminated Batista At The 2014 Royal Rumble
Let's be honest here. Even if anyone knew how awesome Dave Batista's acting performance was going to be in Guardians of the Galaxy, there's still absolutely no reason why he needed to win the Royal Rumble and main event Wrestlemania in a three-way dance with Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton. Instead, what could've been a more intriguing storyline (that would've played well in the media) is if Punk had eliminated Batista, then dropped a "pipe bomb" on him the next night on Raw, and challenged him to a match at Wrestlemania. Punk using the actual logic of "why should this guy just get to come back and main event Wrestlemania" would be intriguing. Also, possibly getting an in-ring promo with Vince McMahon, Paul Heyman and CM Punk with Vince recreating his role from the Attitude Era (with Heyman as a pompous legal advocate for WWE claiming that Punk potentially put WWE "in breach of contract" by eliminating Batista) would've been fun. A storyline allowing Punk to play "babyface Steve Austin" is something that WWE could've banked on in 2014, and in everything from assisting Dean Ambrose to filling a spot on the card that would've involved that ill-fated feud Chris Jericho had with Bray Wyatt, setting Punk up for a major main-event run could've been accomplished with Batista's elimination.
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.
