5 Reasons Not To Believe In CM Punk's Cleveland Curse
3. He Got A Dose Of Motivation From Lousy Booking
CM Punk's first World Heavyweight Championship run came in 2008, but it was clear from the way that the company booked him that they weren't really behind him as a top star. Despite being a babyface, he was frequently undermined and made to look inferior to his opponents.
The nadir of Punk's title reign came when it ended. He was set to defend the World Heavyweight Championship in a "Championship Scramble" match in Cleveland at Unforgiven 2008, but Randy Orton attacked him backstage and laid him out with a punt. That took him out of the match and made room for Chris Jericho, who won the title.
There's no sugar-coating the decision to have Punk not even be present for his title loss - it flat-out sucked for him. Still, there's no doubt that the same star who has always been motivated by naysayers took the hit as a chance to work even harder. Sure enough, by next year, Punk was World Heavyweight Champion again - and this time, he was a headliner.