10 Wrestling Matches To Entice New Fans
4. John Cena Vs. CM Punk - Money In The Bank 2011
Like him or loathe him, CM Punk's ability to appeal to an entirely different world of potential wrestling fans is sorely missed. There was something about Punk, an intangible allure that can't be manufactured, something that triggered notions of interest in even the most dismissive of non-fans. Maybe it was the charisma, maybe the cadence, maybe the tattoos, who knows. The whole 'intangible' part of that makes it difficult to place, but it was definitely there.
Which makes it all the more ironic that Punk's shining night on the pro wrestling stage came against his antithesis, the poster boy of everything Punk stood against. John Cena is corporate WWE, the cleancut white-meat babyface, a military man who shakes every hand and does what the office asks. The disaffected masses should, by rights, despise Cena. Many did.
The rebellious anti-hero and the poster boy often do battle in fiction, but the feud between Punk and Cena was an example of pro wrestling doing this better than most. That they had great chemistry in the ring only added to the electricity. The famous match between the two at 2011's Money in the Bank remains an all-time great match, but it is the story and its weaving in and out of the match that will appeal to new fans.