The WORST Moment From EVERY WWE SummerSlam
15. WWE Fumbles The ‘Summer Of Punk’ (2011)
CM Punk winning the WWE Title from John Cena at Money In The Bank 2011 then kissing goodbye to the company whilst champion was one of the most compelling plot points ever. Somehow, the promotion bungled it completely by crowning Cena as an interim champ then bringing Punk back in time for SummerSlam and a 'Winner Takes All' collision.
Triple H was installed as the special guest referee, but that wasn't the biggest problem. No, the biggest issue was that Punk looked silly for even agreeing to any of this when he'd won the title fair and square at MITB. Then, there was a nonsense screwy finish before Kevin Nash (of all people!) ran in and Alberto Del Rio cashed in his Money In The Bank briefcase to end the night as champ.
Urgh.
Look, booking a lot of drama can be fun, but all of this veered too far in the opposite direction of a story that had wrestling fans by the balls. People were invested when Punk blew that kiss at Vince towards the end of MITB, and they eagerly waited to see where the tale would turn next.
If the answer had been: 'It'll move away from the 'Summer Of Punk' angle you're clearly enjoying', then there might've been a riot. Nash's subsequent phone confusion with Hunter and Del Rio's own title reign proved to be useless sub-plots hanging off Punk's majesty. What a stupid way to handle one of your best storylines in living memory.
Punk must've been steaming mad, but at least they corrected things by putting the title on him a few months later.