7 Times WWE Buried Their Champions

5. CM Punk

Randy Orton SummerSlam World Heavyweight Champion
WWE.com

CM Punk was awarded a run with the Big Gold Belt after winning WrestleMania XXIV's Money In The Bank ladder match. He cashed in on heel Edge on the June 30, 2008 edition of Monday Night RAW. He was barely portrayed as a babyface, never mind a champion. His run somehow degenerated from there.

A draw with Batista followed, at The Great American Bash. Kane's run-in spared Batista the embarrassment of losing to Punk. Punk did enjoy a clean win over JBL at SummerSlam, but the match went just 11:52, was positioned in the midcard, and his opponent was by that point bereft of any credibility. It was a decent enough, watch-once match - hardly the stuff from which legacies are forged.

Ironically, it was Randy Orton's Legacy faction which buried Punk the deepest. Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, Jr. and the phantom that is Manu punted him out of his Championship Scramble defence at September's Unforgiven. More egregiously still, his replacement, Chris Jericho, had been practically concussed by Shawn Michaels barrage of elbows just one hour prior after a brutal, 26:53 Unsanctioned war.

Punk was granted the opportunity for revenge, but didn't get any measure of it. He only defeated Orton via disqualification. This followed an unsuccessful challenge to Jericho's title in a Steel Cage match.

By October, Punk had to be content with beating Manu on the house show circuit.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!