Ranking Every WWE Title Match At WrestleMania Worst To Best

19. WrestleMania XXVIII - CM Punk Vs. Chris Jericho

CM Punk Chris Jericho
WWE.com

After over a year away from WWE, Chris Jericho made his return to the company in January 2012 and soon had his sights on the WWE Championship held by CM Punk.

Having become the #1 contender for the Second City Saint's prize, Jericho tried to get into the Chicago native's head by bringing up how Punk's father was an alcoholic, how his sister was a drug addict, and that the Straight-Edge Superstar himself would end up embracing these vices once Jericho beat him at WrestleMania XXVIII.

It never truly felt that Punk was in any jeopardy of losing the WWE Title here, but what we got were two of the best of their generation putting on a very solid match with the right result at the end of it. Once the match got going, it really got going and culminated in a nice tap-out victory for Punk via his Anaconda Vice.

One thing that somewhat hindered the start of this bout, was Johnny Ace imposing a late stipulation that Punk would lose the WWE Championship if he got disqualified. Thus, the opening part of the contest was a little too slow at times, with Jericho looking at ways to frustrate his opponent into getting DQ'd.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.