WrestleMania Rewind : Randy Orton vs CM Punk at WrestleMania XXVII

The granddaddy of them all, WrestleMania is just about a month away. The anticipation for the extravaganza is sky high among the WWE Universe. And since the pay-per-view is richer than Richie rich when it comes to history, we have decided to take a look back at some of the best WrestleMania matches with this latest series.Let us now recall a classic WWE match that took place on April 3, 2011 at Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia at WrestleMania 27 between ‘The Viper’ Randy Orton and ‘Mr. Straight Edge’ CM Punk. This is a match between two evenly matched WWE Superstars in terms of their prowess and mental agility. This match is also the career defining moment for Randy and Punk.Let us look at how this story unfolded.

#1 The Build-Up

This entire story started at Unforgiven, 2008. CM Punk was the World Heavyweight champion then. He was involved in a title match that night. Orton punt kicked Punk backstage and this made Punk unable to compete in his title match. So, this led to a forfeit and eventually Punk lost the title.

In 2011 at the Royal Rumble PPV, Orton was involved in a WWE championship title match against The Miz. Punk became the leader of the new Nexus and they all showed up during the match. The members of the Nexus blindsided the referee and meanwhile Punk delivered a vicious GTS and cost Orton the title.

This made Orton irate and Punk told him that it was Orton who started all this. There was a tussle brewing between these two superstars and the anonymous RAW GM announced a match between these two at WM 27. Orton was put into matches with the members of the new Nexus each week. If Orton lost to a member, that member will join Punk ringside at WM 27.

Orton successfully defeated all the members and left no one in Punk’s corner at the WM match. Before WrestleMania, Punk hit Orton's right leg with a wrench after Punk used Orton's wife as bait to lure Orton to the parking lot.

#2 The Match

This was a 20 minute physical encounter. Punk started the attack targeting the injured leg of Orton repeatedly. Randy was reeling in pain and created separation by delivering a vicious clothesline to Punk. There was some action at ring side with Punk attacking Orton’s leg with the steel steps and mauling and mocking him.

Punk climbed the ropes to deliver a high elbow drop but Orton countered that with a superplex from the top rope. Punk came back strongly by ripping the bandage off Orton’s leg and tried a few submission holds on the leg. Punk locked the anaconda vise and tried to get Orton to tap out. But a resilient Orton rolled on his body and caught the ropes and broke the hold.

Orton delivered a DDT to Punk and attempted to punt kick him. Punk escaped the punt and kicked Orton and attempted a high elbow drop again. Orton delivered an RKO out of nowhere in mid-air and covered Punk for a 3 count. The referee counted 1...2...3... and Orton emerged victorious.

#3 The Fallout

Punk becomes the WWE Champion defeating John Cena and quits the company. He returns and becomes a Paul Heyman guy. He had a record 434 day WWE Championship reign, the highest in the modern era. He became the self-proclaimed ‘Best in the World’. Other famous encounters of Punk after this match were- ‘The Best’ vs ‘The Beast’, a brawl between Punk and Lesnar at Summer Slam 2013. Punk also faced The Undertaker at Wrestle Mania and lost to him. Taker went 21-0. He quit the company after the 2014 Royal Rumble PPV. There was no official news regarding Punk’s return to WWE.

Orton on the other hand became the self-proclaimed face of the company and won the first ever WWE World Heavyweight Championship at TLC 2013 against John Cena. He was involved in matches against Daniel Bryan and ‘The Shield’. He was also a part of reunion of the ‘Evolution’. He lost his WWE WHC title to Bryan at WM 30. He was a member of ‘The Authority’ and has currently made a comeback at Fast Lane PPV and is expected to face Seth Rollins at WM 31.