7 Huge Ways WWE Has Changed In The 7 Years Since CM Punk’s Pipe Bomb
6. "Maybe I'll Go Defend It In New Japan Pro Wrestling. Maybe I'll Go Back To Ring Of Honor"
One of the biggest gasps drawn from the Las Vegas crowd the night CM Punk weaved through his various sore spots came from what most still believed an ultimate no-no on the live microphone - mentioning the competition.
It had been an edict sent down from Vince McMahon before half the audience were even born - his wrestling was the wrestling, until it wasn't even that anymore. He was persistently at pains to remind people that his "Sports Entertainment" wasn't remotely interested in what other "rasslin" companies were up to, yet refused to even acknowledge their existence within the body of his own show.
The insecurities were still high in 2011, though Punk's pushing of one of the hottest buttons would eventually yield changes. Though he never got the opportunity to take a break via Ring Of Honor or New Japan as he may have hoped, Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio are just two of the talents that have divided their time between WWE and outside organisations. It's an ever-changing era of talent-friendly flexibility and pleasant surprises for fans of multiple organisations. 'The Straight Edge Superstar' was ahead of the curve, even if his employers were typically too far behind it.