In August 2011, CM Punk returned to WWE after having engaged in the "Summer of Punk" storyline that involved him leaving from Chicago's Money In The Bank Pay-Per-View with the WWE Championship and without a WWE contract. Punk and "interim" champion John Cena fought to determine one "true" WWE Champion and after Punk won, he received a jack knife powerbomb from Kevin Nash, allowing Money in the Bank briefcase holder Alberto del Rio to cash in said briefcase and win the WWE Championship. In a promo the following evening on Raw, Nash claimed that Triple H told him to "stick the winner" of the WWE Championship match. Of course, Punk uncorked one of the finest promos of his career on Nash, which led to Nash challenging Punk to a match, a match where Nash was replaced by Triple H at 2011's WWE Night of Champions. The fact that the CM Punk/Kevin Nash feud ended with Triple H biting the bullet himself and faces Kevin Nash in a "Sledgehammers and Ladders" match at TLC 2011 says everything. Punk making Nash look old and irrelevant in a storyline (that was utterly nonsensical) was ultimately a waste of CM Punk's time and energy, and didn't need to occur.
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.
