CM Punk had a great thing going in 2009 when he first formed The Straight Edge Society. Consisting of Punk, Luke Gallows, Joey Mercury and Serena, the group ran rampant on the SmackDown brand for close to a year and decimated everyone who stepped foot in their path. They were off to a strong start in their feud with Rey Mysterio, but quickly lost direction by the summer of 2010. After losing to Big Show in a 3-on-1 Handicap match at SummerSlam, Punk was determined to take on the former WWE champion alone at Night of Champions. Prior to the bout, Punk cut a promo in front of his hometown crowd of Chicago about how much he loved the city but hated its inhabitants. He garnered great heat from the audience, leading some to believe that he had some sort of chance of slaying the giant. After all, he was out to prove that he didn't need his own faction to help him win matches and a victory over Big Show would have re-established him as a credible threat. Instead, Punk was brutalized by The World's Largest Athlete in a four minute squash match. He scored hardly any offense over Show and was made to look completely inferior that night. It wasn't until his :pipebomb" promo the following June that fans would really start to take notice of The Voice of the Voiceless again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gpu5hpCmWM This contest also started an annual trend of non-title matches taking place at Night of Champions where the theme originally was that every match would feature a title being up for grabs.
Since 2008, Graham has been a diehard pro wrestling fan and, in 2010, he combined his passions for WWE and writing when he joined Bleacher Report. Equipped with a master's in journalism, Graham has contributed to WhatCulture, FanSided's Daily DDT, Sports Betting Dime, and GateHouse Media. Along the way, he has conducted interviews with wrestling superstars like Chris Jericho, Edge, Goldberg, Christian, Diamond Dallas Page, Jim Ross, Adam Cole, Tessa Blanchard, Ryback, and Nick Aldis among others.
