Did that match live up to the hype or what? On the night of, it was a genuinely unpredictable match that did a great job of adding layer after layer of drama. Paul Heyman's involvement was well-timed and placed. Punk's blood thirsty attitude toward gaining retribution blinded him from the legitimate opportunities that he had to defeat Brock, making him look like just as much of a star - if not more - than he looked in defeats at the hands of Undertaker and The Rock earlier that year. Hindsight is 20/20, but you wonder what Punk might have done had he eventually gotten a win over one of those all-time big stars with their "name value." There should be no questioning that CM Punk was a star. 2013 gave us confirmation that he would be a major player in the WWE until his body gave out or his attitude soured. If he had stayed the course, he would have finished his career as one of the top 15 WWE stars of the WrestleMania Era and eventually main-evented a WrestleMania. He became the current generation's Shawn Michaels - he never ceased to deliver in big match scenarios. With him as a top star, fans were blessed to receive multiple classic matches per year that will be talked about fifteen years down the line in the same breath that they do for the matches of HBK, Bret Hart, Eddie Guerrero, and others. Anyhow, Brock and Punk delivered a Match of the Year candidate and one of the best Summerslam matches of all-time. The Best vs. The Beast was excellent.
"The Doc" Chad Matthews has written wrestling columns for over a decade. A physician by trade, Matthews began writing about wrestling as a hobby, but it became a passion. After 30 years as a wrestling fan, "The Doc" gives an unmatched analytical perspective on pro wrestling in the modern era. He is a long-time columnist for Lordsofpain.net and hosts a weekly podcast on the LOP Radio Network called "The Doc Says." His first book - The WrestleMania Era: The Book of Sports Entertainment - ranks the Top 90 wrestlers from 1983 to present day, was originally published in December 2013, and is now in its third edition.
Matthews lives in North Carolina with his wife, two kids, and two dogs.
