10 WWE Matches John Cena Should Have Lost
3. Vs. CM Punk (Raw, February 25, 2013)
Sometimes, a bad booking decision isn’t about putting someone over, but about the path the combatants will go down after the match is done. Such is the case here.
Cena has put over CM Punk many times, and it wasn’t like Punk was in dire need of a victory here. He was only a month removed from his 434-day WWE title reign, and was on course to take on The Undertaker at WrestleMania 29. This, however, was a match the fans needed The Straight-Edge Saviour to win. Desperately.
The stipulation was that whomever won the encounter would face The Rock for his WWE Championship at ‘Mania 29. Cena staked his claim as that year’s Royal Rumble winner, while Punk wanted another rematch for his title after being unsuccessful in regaining it at Elimination Chamber. After another match-of-the-year candidate from the two rivals, Cena emerged victorious after a standing hurricanrana and an AA. Which meant we had to deal with…
…TWICE IN A LIFETIME. ROCK/CENA 2!
WWE could’ve prevented the integrity of one of their biggest encounters (and marketing ploys) from being annihilated by having CM Punk win one way or the other. A clean win would’ve meant a one-on-one match, while a dirty win could’ve been spun into one of the most appetising triple threats in ‘Mania history. Either possibility would’ve been miles better than the gutting realization that we, as fans, had been lied to for an entire year about Rock/Cena being “Once in a Lifetime”.