The WORST Wrestling Story Every Year (1989-2025)
2011 - The Summer Of Punk
CM Punk’s Pipebomb promo was even better than you remember it being. It must have been. The shocking, transgressive words were spoken with such conviction that you honestly felt WWE had to change.
In reality, no it didn’t. WWE was never going to fundamentally reshape itself because some internet darling told them to; they just wanted a name star to sign a new deal for a few more years and sell a pay-per-view. If they had to look the fool for the night in the process, so be it. They could always cool Punk off and put him in his place: the semi-main event where they felt he belonged.
And that they did.
Punk won at Money In The Bank 2011, but ended up dropping the WWE title to Alberto Del Rio at SummerSlam after making his sudden return. He couldn’t change WWE sitting on his couch in Chicago. He couldn’t change WWE in WWE, either.
In June, Punk was the Voice of the Voiceless - the anti-establishment renegade who knew the system was broken. By October, he was a scab, aligning with Triple H - the man who senselessly defeated him at Night of Champions in September - to cross the picket line. What an insane approach to character development. Punk was WWE through and through! He’d never leave Triple H hanging!
John Laurinaitis was installed as Punk’s nemesis, in order to maintain the illusion that he was a cool guy who mocked authority. And, while shoot office punchline Big Johnny deserved every bit of it, Punk’s verbal putdowns weren’t particularly cathartic. It was all a snarky and weightless consolation prize.
It felt like WWE enjoyed kicking the cat as much as Punk did, undermining the entire idea.