It was a no brainer to say Cena is Punk's best rival because without Cena none of the stuff that Punk did in the summer of 2011 aka the "Summer of Punk" would have mattered as much. If CM Punk sat on the top of the ramp to deliver that "shoot" promo against WWE and somebody other than Cena was in the ring then maybe it wouldn't have felt as special as it was. When Punk challenged for the WWE Title at Money in the Bank when we thought his contract was legitimately expiring it meant a whole lot more because Cena was his opponent. That's the value of Cena. He's on a level that nobody else is. The Punk/Cena match at Money in the Bank 2011 in Chicago is basically wrestling perfection. It's hard to find crowds that want to see one guy win so bad in his hometown and in a situation like that. Every time it looked like Cena was going to win, the fans absolutely hated it. Punk kept on fighting, though. When he eventually won and left with the WWE Title it was one of the greatest cliffhangers in wresting history. A lot of things went right that night. Good luck capturing that kind of magic again. They had plenty of other great matches too. The match on Raw from February 2013 was fantastic. It was one of the best matches in Raw history that was simply a pure wresting match between these two men that had awesome chemistry. They had other matches on TV as well as at SummerSlam 2011 that is also underrated just because it had to follow Money in the Bank that summer. If we don't see another Punk vs. Cena match again that would be a shame, but at least we have plenty of great memories we can look back on fondly because they really did have one of the best rivalries ever.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
