The Summer of Punk is a strange one; it must certainly also be regarded as one of the best summer angles in WWE history, so groundbreaking was its beginning. CM Punk aired his real-life grievances in one of the greatest worked-shoot promos ever, threatened to win the WWE Championship and walk out of the company...and then did! The storyline drew mainstream attention to the promotion in a way not seen since the Attitude Era, while Punk was hailed as a hero by swathes of the WWE's audience, disgruntled fans tired of seeing the same few stars hold onto their positions at the top of the card. The booking team should have taken the storyline and ran with it all the way to WrestleMania, but it was dead in the water before the end of the summer and it bled into a lacklustre autumn of Punk. The first mistake was bringing Punk back too early. He returned after a week to challenge Cena, retained the title at SummerSlam...and was immediately jumped by Kevin Nash of all people. Nash's attack allowed Alberto Del Rio to successfully cash in his Money In The Bank contract, leaving Punk without his title and severely damaging his momentum. He lost his next PPV match to Triple H at Night of Champions, and went on to feud with John Laurinaitis of all people. What could have been...
