8 WWE Superstars Who Could Have Surpassed John Cena As “The Guy”
2. CM Punk
The 'Summer of Punk' in 2011 is a classic case of "what could have been" if WWE had actually followed through with it.
The momentum CM Punk had coming out of his "pipebomb" promo that June was unreal, causing him to become wrestling's hottest commodity almost overnight. The night he captured the WWE Championship by beating John Cena at Money in the Bank should have been his crowning moment as "the guy" in the company, and although he returned to TV eight days later (despite initially promising to take more time off), the focus remained on Cena, regardless.
What really killed his chances of superseding Cena was Triple H defeating him for no real reason at the Night of Champions pay-per-view. Punk then went on to lose at Hell in a Cell and again at Vengeance, and by that point, he was just another guy on the roster.
His 434 day reign as WWE champion earned him his rightful place in the history books, but WWE refused to book him in pay-per-view main events over Cena. His t-shirts were reportedly selling better than Cena's at times, but that apparently wasn't enough to convince WWE that he could have realistically replaced him.