8 Stars Who Walked Out On WWE WrestleMania
2. CM Punk (WrestleMania XXX)
In 2014, CM Punk walked out on WrestleMania some three months before it happened, his own disillusioned exit inadvertently benefiting another of his under-utilised and under-appreciated colleagues.
The Best in the World's mounting frustrations with the company finally reached their climax at that year's Royal Rumble, an event which saw eventual winner Batista booed out the building. It was a mass reflection of a number of Punk's own misgivings. A day later, he no-showed Raw, telling Vince McMahon and Triple H that he was "going home". Punk was promptly suspended (on "sabbatical") for two months.
If he was, it was ideological. In addition to alleged medical malpractice which had seen him work with a potentially lethal staph infection, Punk cited a proposed WrestleMania XXX match with Triple H as another of the dromedary-destroying straws. The resentment of his momentum-halting defeat to The Game at Night of Champions 2011 clung on, and despite McMahon's insistence, this clearly wasn't the 'Mania main event he felt he deserved - especially since that was going to Randy Orton opposite the returned Batista.
Rather than let Hunter have the last laugh, Punk took the decision to retire at 35 before resurfacing in AEW.
Daniel Bryan's 'magical' story would never have happened had Punk not did it his way.