10 WWE Matches Doomed From The Start

5. CM Punk Vs John Cena (SummerSlam 2011)

Undertaker Bray Wyatt
WWE

- CM Punk came back too soon.

- Triple H as guest referee was a needless addition.

- The very fact it was a generic pay-per-view main event normalised the entire angle.

Just three complaints that were completely valid before the SummerSlam 2011 topliner even commenced, but a trio of moans that would be emphatically drowned out by grumbles after the fact when a Kevin Nash run-in followed an excruciatingly cheap conclusion to the entire thing.

This match was the first point at which fans (and perhaps Punk himself) began to worry that the fix was well and truly in for this storyline and the upward trajectory of 'The Voice Of The Voiceless'. Everything that had made Punk such a megastar after the Pipe Bomb and Money In The Bank victory had been stripped away. He was just a wrestler (not a WrestleMania level "Superstar") by virtue of this place on the card and just an average one by virtue of his 50/50 match and build-up with a John Cena who was frankly a bit too chipper after very briefly selling the severity of Punk's original departure.

For reasons both cynical and stubborn, WWE took a surefire touchdown and - within two months - fumbled it.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett