7 Huge Ways WWE Has Changed In The 7 Years Since CM Punk’s Pipe Bomb
1. "Nobody Can Touch Me."
It was with ernest conviction that CM Punk claimed to be the "Best In The World", but even as he sat cross-legged on the Las Vegas stage, there were others behind the curtain that had his number, and even more since WWE kicked open the doors to some of the best wrestling talents in the world.
Daniel Bryan outright proved it in their blistering encounters. John Cena - long before he returned to being his former self rather than just a shadow of it - was routinely the best opponent Punk had on the main roster; the one performer seemingly able to extract that intangible out of him that propelled him beyond his near-perfect norm.
Post-Punk, WWE found the cure for the fall of talent development at the front end of the decade - a new order bringing joy to divisions both male and female. Public image improved alongside it, as bad habits were shunted to the back of the bus or off it completely as the organisation tacitly began rebuilding from the ground up.
Vince McMahon may loathe millennials and long for more mouthy upstarts like CM Punk, but they'll never quibble or question in ways 'The Straight Edge Superstar' did. They are his pieces of clay to mould and most likely mangle, but are subsequently transformable into so much more than those that came before them.