One WWE Match You MUST Watch From Every Year 1984-2024
13. 2011 - John Cena Vs CM Punk, Money In The Bank
The culmination of a contract dispute storyline that tweaked conventional WWE narrative structure and embedded the very real parting concerns of a jaded workhorse, Money In The Bank 2011 threatened to make a megastar in the build and - thank goodness - achieved the goal in the execution.
In CM Punk, a disillusioned audience had found their avatar, and nowhere in the entire world was this to be as evident than in Punk's hometown of Chicago. There, he'd vowed to take his final bow for the market leader, and with it the WWE Championship from John Cena.
Was 'The Voice Of The Voiceless' ever on the level of the company's biggest stars? Objectively no, but the reaction to his entrance was comparable to any of the loudest pops for Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, The Rock or any other performers that can argue for that spot on in the company's Mount Rushmore. As well he knew when it came to inter-match crowd manipulation. Every single struggle in the contest was felt through the raw, uncompromising emotion of the capacity crowd. His post-victory escape from the building with the title belt after an explosive three-count drew the sort of euphoric mania any wrestling promoter would bottle if they could.
For years after his 2014 exit and before his 2023 return, "CM Punk" chants were sometimes used in protest of a WWE product that wasn't to a vocal contingent's tastes. If anything, they were all individual echoes of this quite incredible night.