One WWE Match You MUST Watch From Every Year 1984-2024
11. 2013 - CM Punk Vs John Cena, Monday Night Raw, February 25
Despite the laundry list of massive matches and iconic opponents John Cena had during his career, you'd have an easier argument suggesting CM Punk was his best career opponent than daring to think the same could be said the other way around.
But on the evidence of this match as well as their Money In The Bank classic, might it be true? And while making bold statements, has enough time passed to say without doubt that this match is the best one they ever had? Superior to Money In The Bank and the terrific run of contests they had during Punk's 2012 heel run? There are too many questions posed there, when this match itself provides the singular answer - Yes to everything.
Punk was always the indie-feeling wrestler that suited the WWE mold, even if he wanted so desperately to reshape and resize it slightly to fit something closer to his own ethos. And by 2013, he'd tried everything in his power to do just that. The WrestleMania 29 die had been cast and Rock/Cena II had been on the board before Rock/Cena I even started, but the same fire burned inside Phil Brooks as the one that lit the fuse of the pipe bomb two years earlier.
In one last swing for the fences, Punk played his part in an auadaciously fabulous match where Cena's Number One Contendership was on the line just over a month away from the 'Show Of Shows'. There was to be no Triple Threat, no last minute change of heart, and crucially no main event for CM Punk. But ahead of stealing the show with The Undertaker anyway, he stole a Monday Night Raw making the world think there might be.