10 Wrestlers Who Suffered For Being Too Good
5. CM Punk
CM Punk would go on to have one of the very best runs of the modern era, with the multiple-time World Champion at one point being the undoubted hottest star in the pro wrestling business.
The Second City Saint wasn't always afforded the chance to truly shine, though, and his early days in WWE saw Punk's levels of popularity go against him.
According to former WWE writer (and current MLW boss) Court Bauer, a WWE tryout match for Punk saw Shawn Michaels and Triple H ridicule Punk's performance to Vince McMahon and Johnny Ace. Even when Punk was signed with WWE and assigned to the ECW brand, Hunter and Shawn reportedly took umbrage with the huge reaction Punk received as part of Team DX at the 2006 Survivor Series PPV.
You have to remember, this was a CM Punk who was already an established in-ring talent who was viewed as one of the best talkers in the game. Despite how good he was, many WWE higher-ups looked down on the Straight-Edge Superstar and thought he was the furthest thing imaginable from a top WWE star.
When he entered the WWE door, CM Punk was already great. Punk knew it, fellow superstars knew it, and even certain WWE officials knew it - with Paul Heyman famously championing the Chicago native. From the account of Bauer and several others, however, it was Punk's clear in-ring quality and ability to connect with a crowd that led to some sh*t-talking the former ROH Champion - to the point where he spent the first three years of his WWE career in OVW and the relaunched ECW.