10 Wrestlers Who Were Only World Champion Because Of The Brand Split
2. CM Punk
Like so many on this list, we all know how good CM Punk was (and how sad it is to say that in the past tense).
The thing with CM Punk is that he was never supposed to make it. The decision makers within the WWE didn't see anything in him, and even when he somehow managed to reach near Steve Austin levels of popularity, the WWE was still resistant to fully give him the ball to run with.
If it wasn't for the brand split then it's highly unlikely that Punk would've won Money in the Bank once, let alone twice. In fact, one of those wins was supposed to be Jeff Hardy's before Jeff got suspended. When Punk did win his first World Championship, he surprisingly had the belt taken away from him thanks to a pre-match attack.
CM Punk is one of the very best talents in recent memory to grace a WWE ring, but his rise to the top just simply was not supposed to happen.
The mind boggles at how far Punk would've made it up the card if the WWE didn't have two brands and two World Championships. Worryingly, you could argue that this unique and amazing talent may never have made it past the mid-card.