10 Wrestling Matches Neither Wrestler Could Afford To Lose

10. CM Punk vs. Ryback (WWE Hell In A Cell 2012)

Ryback CM Punk
WWE.com

"Feed Me Punk", said one little boy's sign before Hell In A Cell 2012's main event. Backstage, the writers were probably wishing someone could've fed them other ideas so they didn't have to put CM Punk and Ryback inside the cage at all.

Talk about backing things into a corner.

The problem here was that Punk was in the middle of a record-setting WWE Title reign and there were no calls from the audience to take the belt off him. Problem number two was that unstoppable squash monster Ryback had been booked as Goldberg 2.0 since being repackaged, and he couldn't afford a defeat either.

Punk won, moved on to feud with The Rock (stay tuned) and barely gave Ryback a second thought. Meanwhile, big Ry's previously-impenetrable armour had been damaged and he soldiered on, albeit without the dangerous aura he'd had before. After this defeat he lost all potential in being the megastar he could have been.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.