4. WWE Championship (2011): John Cena (c) vs. CM Punk (c); Punk (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio
After CM Punk defied the odds and walked out of Money in the Bank (and temporarily, WWE) with the WWE Championship in 2011, HHH went about the business of crowning a new champ. After all, you cant have your world title be vacant for months, that would be ludicr oh wait, they did that in 2013? And again this year? Nevermind. Anyway, once John Cena toppled tournament winner Rey Mysterio, Punk returned and set the stage for a showdown at SummerSlam, champion versus champion. The question here was whether Punks victory was a one-shot deal, or if he truly was ascending to the top to stay. A victory over Cena would mean that CM Punk had finally arrived. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frPkhgnepLg Punk would capture that win after the usual high-quality affair between him and Cena. Seconds later, however, Kevin Nash would powerbomb Punk, leaving him helpless and susceptible to an Alberto Del Rio MITB cash-in. While this would take the title away from Punk temporarily hed regain it three months later and hold it for more than 14 months the Second City Savior was now a made man. A crappy feud with HHH and Nash would only delay the inevitable. That fleeting title reign had sent the message: CM Punk was one of the big dogs now.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
