22 Greatest WWE Champion vs. Champion Matches Ever

When the WWE launched Main Event—its new weekly show—in October 2012, the powers that be were clearly looking to make a splash on the pioneering episode.

That splash turned out to be the biggest it could theoretically muster; a meeting between the two top champions in the company at the time. They were of course CM Punk and Sheamus, the WWE and World Heavyweight Champions respectively.

The timing of this match meant that this was slap-bang in the middle of Punk’s masterful heel run, in which he was incessantly demanding respect. Thus it was a good little piece of storytelling to see the Straightedge Superstar resort to the use of an exposed turnbuckle—not to mention a firm grip on the tights—to put away Sheamus for the count.

Proof that unclean finishes and effective booking can indeed go hand in hand.