25 Most Iconic WWE Ring Entrances Ever
2. CM Punk (Money In The Bank 2011)
"Do I have everybody's attention now?" was the looping refrain used in the excellent video package recapping the era-defining promo and storyline that served as the lead-in to Money In The Bank 2011, and the rhetorical question got an answer when CM Punk walked the Allstate Arena aisle ahead of dethroning John Cena in the most captivating of all their largely excellent matches.
Replayed constantly and with good reason, the lingering shot of the rammed building loudly roaring their approval for their hometown hero ahead of the Killswitch Engage theme's sting is enough to put goosebumps on goosebumps, but Punk himself measures every step to take the atmosphere to an entire new level by the time he's hit the ring. Walking with a purpose and a deliberate pace, he gives the crowd just enough time to summer so that he can be seen to be powering them back to life as he ascends the turnbuckle.
This nicely mirrors what he was trying to do for his own career and WWE writ large, as well as how the story would go against the dynasty that was and is John Cena. Cheers - no matter how loud - weren't going to be enough alone to affect the changes Punk and his persona were trying to force through. But there was nobody better than the self-appointed 'Voice Of The Voiceless' to escalate those cheers, maximise those reactions, and turn an unforgettable emotional response into something realer than anybody could have predicted. "Hotbed" always understated Chicago as a market and the former Rosemont Horizon as a building. By the time CM Punk had hit the ring, it was actively insulting it.