3. Kevin Nash And Triple H
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g-i6mUisF8 After years of frustration, CM Punk successfully forced himself into the true main event picture on June 27, 2011 by airing his grievances in the now infamous "Pipe Bomb" promo. Punk earned himself some notoriety outside of wrestling media and setup a massive WWE Championship match with John Cena at Money in the Bank on July 17, 2011 in Punk's hometown of Chicago. As a credit to both competitors, the match was an instant classic with Punk winning the title and taking it out the door with him since, as far as the storyline was concerned, Punk's WWE contract had expired. In reality, Punk had already signed an extension to his legitimately expiring deal. Punk had a little bit of fun as the self-exiled champion, though, showing up unannounced at a WWE panel at San Diego Comic Con days after leaving the company. It was a white hot angle that could have gone on for a few months, but alas, WWE had a SummerSlam pay-per-view to sell in August. Punk returned to Raw on July 25, 2011 after just over a week off. Bringing Punk back prematurely was not the main issue, though. The angle was still working and Punk was more over with the crowd than he had ever been. Punk and Cena had another outstanding match at SummerSlam, which Punk won in controversial fashion. Cena's leg was on the bottom rope when special guest referee Triple H counted the pin. A rematch seemed likely until Kevin Nash came out of the crowd and power-bombed Punk. A defenseless Punk lost his WWE Championship seconds later when Alberto Del Rio cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase. A general principle in wrestling is that there's more money in the chase, so there was nothing inherently wrong with Punk being screwed out of the championship and trying to get it back. The problem came from Punk being removed from the title picture to feud with Kevin Nash while John Cena chased Del Rio for the title. The storyline was especially problematic since WWE was not willing to commit to Triple H being the heel authority figure who told his pal Nash to attack Punk in an effort to hold Punk back. It didn't take long to realize that Nash was a bit rusty, not so much in the ring, but on the mic. He could not keep up with Punk. When Nash was unable to wrestle at Night of Champions in September 2011, Triple H stepped in not because he was the heel who wanted to stop Punk, but because Punk made fun of Triple H's wife, Stephanie McMahon. The no disqualification match saw Triple H pickup the win after a ridiculous amount of interference from Nash, R-Truth, and The Miz. The angle for which WWE took Punk out of the championship chase ended right there. No rematch with Triple H ever happened and the conspiracy angle, which would have made sense for Punk's character at the time, was dropped. WWE rebounded by having Punk win the WWE Championship back from Alberto Del Rio at Survivor Series 2011, but one can't help but wonder what would have happened had WWE elected to sustain Punk's Summer momentum rather than temporarily stall it. Regardless, most of the 434 days that followed Survivor Series went very well for CM Punk.