21 Years Of WWE SmackDown Mistakes

11. 2009 - Punk Is Dead

Daniel Bryan
WWE

SmackDown in 2009 was excellent for the most part, and not only because Raw's tragic weekly flirtation with Guest Hosts routinely rendered the show utterly wretched. Much of the blue brand's success centred around CM Punk's spectacular heel turn at the expense of Jeff Hardy, but the manner in which he fell from grace following Hell In A Cell loss to The Undertaker was almost as disgraceful as his post-Pipe Bomb burial two years later.

'The Straight Edge Superstar' was pummelled into political submission by the system after allegedly disrespecting 'The Deadman', taking him out of pay-per-view main events and onto pre-shows to perform jobbing duties for R-Truth within three months of the aforementioned title defeat.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 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. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, 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