10 Wrestlers Who Narrowly Missed A WWE WrestleMania Main Event

Much like Kurt Angle before him, CM Punk is another name who was unfortunate enough to miss out on closing WrestleMania on more than one occasion. For Punk, though, it was the battles he lost backstage that saw his moment in the ‘Mania spotlight elude him.

At WrestleMania XXVII, he was overlooked as an opponent for John Cena, with the Miz instead featuring in the WWE Championship match (despite Punk appearing to be the top heel and ideal foil to the babyface Cena). Then, at the next year's WrestleMania XXVIII, while he did feature in the WWE Championship bout, his showdown with Chris Jericho did not close out the show (that honour went to the match between the Rock and Cena, though given their star-power, you could argue that was understandable).

But even the following year, at WrestleMania 29, the snubbing continued. Having been WWE Champion for 434 days, Punk was promptly kicked to the curb when the Rock announced his WWE title aspirations. Rock beat Punk at the Rumble for the belt and once again took a spot in the WrestleMania main event for himself.

Punk would instead go on to face Undertaker instead, which is arguably just as big—if not bigger—than a WWE title match at ‘Mania. But either way, it left him without that career-defining, show-closing match at the biggest show of the year, which ultimately proved to be a major factor behind his departure in 2014.