7 Times WWE Buried Their Champions
5. CM Punk

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.