He leaves behind quite a history of relevance. Punk started with WWE in 2006, winning his first world championship just two years later. The star complained of inconsistent creative booking, but in truth, he always appeared as a mid card to upper card worker. He wrestled alongside DX on pay per view and headed his own faction the Straight Edge Society. CM Punk was a star, he just wasn't the magnitude of star he wanted to be. This led to 2011 when Punk leveraged himself to become the hottest act in wrestling. He was the best full time wrestler and talker in the business, Punk knew it, WWE knew it. Despite this the star was still having to play supporting act to the likes of Miz, so when his contract came up, Punk opted to leave. The rest is history, WWE committed to Punk as a main eventer and re-signed him, leading to Punk cutting the Pipe Bomb promo and having the match of the decade against John Cena at Money In The Bank 2011. What followed that was a 434 day WWE Championship reign (longest of the modern era) and 2013 bouts with The Rock, Undertaker and Brock Lesnar. CM Punk may complain of bad creative, but he actually enjoys a legacy as one of the most invested in acts of the last half decade.
