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Today (Jan 26) marks four years to the day when CM Punk made his final appearance in a WWE/wrestling ring. Royal Rumble 2014 saw Punk getting eliminated from the marquee 30 men match by Corporate Kane and proceeded to walk out of the company due to being 'creatively stifled'.
A failed UFC debut later, Punk is nowhere close to making a return to the squared circle, claiming that he has 'zero passion for wrestling'. This has, however, not stopped wishful fans from hoping that Punk would make an eventual return to the WWE - with the especially optimistic fans clamouring for a return at this year's Royal Rumble.
Even if we never see the GTS being delivered again by Punk again, he has left a huge mark on the world of pro wrestling - not just the WWE. This list takes a look at five great CM Punk matches outside the WWE that casual fans might not have seen.
#1 CM Punk vs Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio - IWA Mid South
While CM Punk was making his way up the pro-wrestling ladder in the early 2000s, one future WWE Hall of Famer was apparently in freefall. Eddie Guerrero had been sent to rehab due to a painkiller addiction and would later be released by the WWE for a DWI charge.
Their paths crossed on the independent scene - namely in IWA Mid South Wrestling. Punk was the IWA Mid South Heavyweight Champion in early 2002 and he found himself standing across the ring from Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio.
Mysterio had been out of a job when WCW was purchased by the WWE and had initially decided to wrestle for the Mexico based CMLL. He would soon come back to the States and one of his first bookings was in IWA Mid South.
Punk would recount later how the Three-way match for the title against two of the greatest wrestlers in the world at the time helped him improve as a performer. The match itself was a classic with Guerrero coming out on top with the Five Star Frogsplash.
Punk would regain the title from Guerrero one day later. Both Guerrero and Mysterio would sign with the WWE before the end of the year whereas Punk would spend a few more years honing his craft in the likes of ROH before signing a WWE developmental deal in 2005.
#2 CM Punk vs Chris Hero - IWA Mid South
Staying in IWA Mid South for the second entry on the list - CM Punk vs Chris Hero was a big deal in the Indies in 2002-03. Matches with the future Kassius Ohno led to Punk being hired by ROH where the original 'Summer of Punk' would later take place.
Punk and Hero were real life friends and would wrestle together in Chikara as well as PWG but their first rivalry would begin at IWA Mid South.
Punk vs Hero had multiple 5-star matches - Many 60-minute time limit draws, a 55 minute TLC match and a remarkable 93 minute 2 out of 3 falls match for the IWA Mid South Heavyweight Championship.
Hero would come out on top in that final match and win the title with a submission deciding the last fall.
This would be just one of the 35 odd titles that Hero would win during his career as the unofficial 'King of the Indies' which sadly has not resulted in a single title in the WWE or NXT - at least for now.
#3 CM Punk vs Samoa Joe - ROH
Dave Meltzer is the most respected pro-wrestling journalist of all time and for a match to be awarded a 5-star rating by Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter, is supposed to be a huge deal. There hadn't been a single 5-star rated match in the US after the Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels Hell in a Cell match in 1997.
That all changed in 2005. CM Punk had made his way to Ring of Honour where Samoa Joe was the top dog. In the midst of a record-breaking 645-day reign as ROH Champion, Joe narrowly escaped defeat at the hands of Punk in a 60 minute time limit match the first time they met.
The buzz generated from that match was so great that ROH created a show named Joe vs Punk II with their rematch headlining the card. The rematch surpassed the first match with the duo once again wrestling to a time-limit draw with Joe seconds away from pinning Punk following a top rope muscle buster.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter called it 'the best match to ever take place on American soil'.
#4 CM Punk vs Austin Aries - ROH
By April 2005, CM Punk had had multiple tryout matches with the WWE. Matches broadcast on Sunday Night Heat would include a tag team loss against the team of Maven and Simon Dean as well as a singles loss at the hands of Val Venis.
ROH fans knew that it would only be a matter of time before Punk was on his way out of their promotion. When a title match was set up between the ROH Champion Austin Aries and Punk, the fans obviously expected that it would be Punk's farewell from the company.
How wrong they were!
Punk would beat Aries to win the ROH title for the first time, following which he grabbed the microphone to address the crowd. In a completely unexpected twist, the face Punk turned heel and berated the ROH crowd, ushering in the original 'Summer of Punk'.
Punk continued to antagonize the fans, even signing his WWE deal on the ROH belt. Punk would eventually lose the title to James Gibson in a four-way match. His final match in the company would be against longtime friend Colt Cabana - following which the crowd and Punk would thank each other for the memories.
#5 Punk, Anderson, Daniels and Acid vs Hidaka, Kasai, Hoshikawa and Takaiwa - Pro wrestling Zero1
Not a classic like the other matches in this list - but still relevant for a CM Punk fan due to the fact that it was part of Punk's only foray into Japanese wrestling.
Japanese promotion Pro wrestling Zero1 had a working relationship with various American independent promotions and Punk wrestled a few matches with Pro wrestling Zero1 wrestlers - mostly in the States. His only trip to Japan saw him wrestle in the iconic Korakuen Hall in the Tokyo Dome in an eight-person tag match.
Punk would team up with former ECW star C.W Anderson, Josh Daniels and Vansack Acid against Ikuto Hidaka, Jun Kesai, Naohiro Hoshikawa and Tatsuhito Takaiwa.
The match ended when Takaiwa delivered a dual powerbomb and Death Valley Bomb combination to poor Vansack Acid.
