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Since January 2014, what wrestling fans the world over have been asking is will CM Punk return to the business one day?
Speculation is rife in 2019 with rumors swirling of a potential WWE return. However, the question of whether Punk will ever make a comeback to pro-wrestling remains unanswered.
What can be declared with certainty, moreover is that the reason fans have such a fondness for Punk, a half-decade after he left wrestling, is the brilliant performances he is remembered for.
Punk became the hottest star in wrestling during the "Summer of Punk" in 2011 after he cut a worked shoot promo that set the wrestling world alight on the June 27, 2011 episode of Raw.
In said promo, Punk directed his ire at John Cena, stating: "I hate… this idea… that you’re the best… because you’re not. I’m the best. I’m the best in the world. There’s one thing you’re better at than I am, and that’s kissing Vince McMahon’s ass. You’re as good at kissing Vince’s ass as Hulk Hogan was. I don’t know if you’re as good as Dwayne though… he’s a pretty good ass-kisser… always was and still is."
Punk shifted gears and turned his wrath to WWE management: "Vince McMahon’s gonna make money despite himself… he’s a millionaire who should be a billionaire… you know why he’s not a billionaire? It’s because he surrounds himself with glad-handing nonsensical ******* yes-men like John Laurinaitis, who’s gonna tell him everything he wants to hear… and I’d like to think that maybe this company will be better after Vince McMahon is dead, but the fact is it’s gonna get taken over by his idiotic daughter and his doofus son-in-law and the rest of his stupid family."
Punk's words had such an effect on the wrestling business because it was nothing short of extraordinary to hear a WWE contracted performer laying into WWE management and their golden boy, John Cena. A star was born. Punk, who had labored at times since his WWE debut in 2006 to be truly accepted as a top guy, suddenly had the keys to the kingdom.
Later that year, Punk would kick off a 434-day reign as WWE Champion; the longest in the modern era since Hulk Hogan's 1,474-day title run between 1984 and 1988.
This slideshow charts the WWE Championship's journey from WrestleMania XXVI in March 2010 through to Alberto Del Rio's first title run in the summer of 2011.
Previous parts in my series can be found here:
Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13, part 14 and part 15.
John Cena (March 28, 2010 - June 20, 2010)
John Cena regained the WWE Championship from Batista at WrestleMania XXVI. He would go on to successfully defend the strap against "The Animal" in stipulation encounters at Extreme Rules and Over The Limit.
Cena outlasted Batista in a Last Man Standing Match at Extreme Rules when he cunningly tied the Guardians of the Galaxy star's legs around the ring post with duct tape following an STF. Incapacitated and unable to break the tape, Batista fell to defeat to Cena, unable to answer the ten count.
Batista earned a re-match versus Cena by defeating Randy Orton and Sheamus in a triple threat encounter on Raw and challenged the champion to an I Quit Match at Over The Limit. Cena performed the AA on Batista on top of a car which forced "The Animal" to quit. Post-match Cena was attacked by Sheamus to set up their title bout at Fatal 4 Way in June.
Two further participants, Edge and Randy Orton were added to the bout owing to the Fatal 4 Way rules of the event.
Cena lost the strap in the Fatal 4 Way bout to the Irishman.
However, Cena fatigue as a draw and the lack of interest in the Fatal 4 Way gimmick saw the event pull a paltry 143,000 buys, one of the lowest in company history at that point.
Sheamus (June 20, 2010 - September 19, 2010)
Anyone who thought Sheamus's reign as WWE Champion was a one hit wonder back in late 2009 and early 2010 were proven wrong in June 2010, when the Irishman became a two-time champion and reigned throughout the summer.
He ended John Cena's title reign once again to lift the gold and subsequently defended the strap in a Steel Cage Match at Money in the Bank 2010, the following month by escaping the steel structure.
At SummerSlam, Sheamus was pitted against the white-hot Randy Orton in a singles bout. Orton won by DQ after Sheamus fought with the referee after he had brought a steel chair into the match.
However, Sheamus could not hold off the challenge of Orton off for much longer. RKO was the hottest he had ever been as a face and WWE capitalized on his momentum by booking him to win the strap in a Six Pack Elimination encounter in which Orton last pinned Sheamus to win the belt.
Sheamus's second title run was over, but this reign had cemented his spot as a permanent headliner in WWE.
Randy Orton (September 19, 2010 - November 22, 2010)
No one was hotter during the summer and fall of 2010 than the "Viper" Randy Orton. RKO had already reigned as WWE Champion five times by the time the Night of Champions pay per view in September 2010 rolled around.
A sixth title had seemed tantalizingly out of reach during the summer months. Despite his dominance, Orton had failed to capture the gold at Fatal 4 Way and SummerSlam.
However, he finally wrested the gold from WWE Champion, Sheamus in the Six Pack Elimination Match; dismissing Chris Jericho, Wade Barrett and finally the champion, in a bout which also featured Edge and John Cena.
Orton surpassed Cena in terms of popularity and merchandise sales and his unstoppable momentum continued unabated as he fought off the challenges of Sheamus and Wade Barrett before dropping the belt in an impromptu Money in the Bank challenge from The Miz.
Orton would fail to recapture the gold from Miz in rematches in December and January and, in fact, would not hold the WWE title again until August of 2013, when he himself used the Money in the Bank contract to great effect.
The Miz (November 22, 2010 - May 1, 2011)
Many forget today, but The Miz was the fastest rising superstar in WWE back in 2010. After reigns as Tag Team Champion between 2007 and 2009, Miz turned his attentions to the United States Championship, which he won from Kofi Kingston on the October 5, 2009 episode of Raw.
On July 18, 2010, Miz won the Money in the Bank Ladder Match to earn a World title match of his choice.
On November 22, 2010, Miz finally cashed in the contract in an unforgettable Raw moment, by attacking Randy Orton after the champion's successful title defence versus Wade Barrett.
Miz interestingly aligned himself with lead WWE commentator Michael Cole, who turned heel and praised Miz's dastardly deeds at every opportunity.
Miz retained the gold against Orton in rematches at TLC and the 2011 Royal Rumble before he entered into a conflict with Raw's veteran color commentator, WWE Hall of Famer Jerry "The King" Lawler.
Lawler came within a whisker of winning the WWE Championship for the first time at the age of 61 at Elimination Chamber on February 20, 2011, but was eventually overcome by Miz, who now had a date with John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania XXVII. With help from The Rock, who had returned to WWE after a seven year absence and was at odds with Cena, Miz retained the gold and left WrestleMania as WWE Champion.
Miz could not hold Cena off for long though and the leader of the Cenation finally terminated The Miz's reign at Extreme Rules on May 1, 2011.
John Cena (May 1, 2011 - July 17, 2011)
John Cena won a joint record eighth WWE Championship (tying him with Triple H) at Extreme Rules on May 1, 2011 when he defeated The Miz and John Morrison in a Triple Threat Cage Match.
Cena had been denied the gold at WrestleMania thanks to a Rock Bottom from The Rock but had no such distractions at Extreme Rules.
Following his title win, Cena defended the strap versus The Miz in an "I Quit Match" which was actually a Handicap Match as Miz and his buddy Alex Riley took advantage of the No DQ rules to batter Cena at will. However, the champion managed to make a comeback and flattened his foes to retain the gold.
Cena surprisingly was next programmed into a title feud with mid-carder R-Truth who had (hilariously) lost his marbles by all accounts and began targeting the champion. Cena won, but his next challenger was a far stiffer test.
The champion got owned by CM Punk on the microphone, following Punk's infamous "Pipebomb" on the June 27, 2011 Raw. He was then defeated by Punk in a super heated battle at Money in the Bank on July 17.
The numbers for Cena's title bouts at Extreme Rules, Over The Limit, Capitol Punishment and Money in the Bank were all woeful, pulling 209,000, 140,000, 170,000 and 195,000 buys respectively, signalling the downturn in Cena's role as a headline drawing card.
CM Punk (July 17, 2011 - August 14, 2011)
CM Punk's five year WWE deal came up for renewal in the summer of 2011 and he was in no rush to sign it. In fact he had made it known publicly that he was likely to depart WWE when his contract expired as he had become increasingly unhappy with the way he had been booked during his tenure.
Despite reigning as ECW Champion and World Heavyweight Champion on three occasions, he had never been embraced as top guy by the promotion. In fact at Unforgiven 2008, he lost his World title without even participating in the title match after Randy Orton punted him in the head backstage. No superstar babyface like Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold Steve Austin would have failed to turn up for a title defense no matter how incapacitated they were. That Chris Jericho, who had been decimated by Shawn Michaels earlier in the card was the one who left that event World Heavyweight Champion added to the humiliation for Punk.
However, in a moment of booking ingenuity, with Punk set to leave WWE, the company elected to make his impending departure part of the storyline, with his WWE Championship bout with John Cena supposedly taking place on the final night of his contract.
Cue a storyline wherein WWE owner Vince McMahon frantically tried to re-sign Punk to a fresh deal only to be denied.
In one of the greatest WWE Championship matches in history, Punk pinned Cena to become the new champion. McMahon sent out Money in the Bank briefcase holder Alberto Del Rio in a last ditch attempt to steal the belt from Punk. "The Straight Edge Superstar" smashed the Mexican in the head with a well timed kick and subsequently exited the arena with the gold as McMahon chased after him in despair.
Punk left WWE with the belt, only to make a surprising return eight days later to confront Cena again, immediately after Cena had defeated Rey Mysterio to win the replacement WWE Championship on the July 25, 2011 Raw.
At SummerSlam, Punk successfully unified the WWE titles, only to be assaulted post-match by Kevin Nash. Del Rio, then cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to end Punk's reign after just four weeks.
Rey Mysterio (July 25, 2011 - July 25, 2011)
Rey Mysterio had reigned as World Heavyweight champion twice before, in 2006 and 2010. Both reigns were considered disappointments. His 2006 title run was marred by it's close association to the recently deceased Eddie Guerrero. His 2010 run did not have the negative connotations of his first but was very short, lasting all but a month before he was crushed by Kane.
Although Mysterio had been World Champion, he had never won the WWE Championship.
He earned his shot at the WWE title by reaching the final of the title tournament to crown a new WWE Champion after CM Punk had seemingly left the company following the Money in the Bank 2011 pay per view.
On the July 25, 2011 Raw, Mysterio defeated The Miz to win the WWE Championship. As per a pre-match stipulation, Mysterio had to defend the belt later the same night versus former champion John Cena.
In a memorable main event, Cena defeated Mysterio in a hugely entertaining big man versus little man encounter. Mysterio's title run was over the same night he had won the belt. However, at least his title winning and losing bouts were well worth the effort.
John Cena (July 25, 2011 - August 14, 2011)
John Cena was not separated from the WWE Championship for long after he had been defeated by CM Punk in the phenomenal headliner of the 2011 Money in the Bank pay per view.
Just eight days in fact. When Punk disappeared with the WWE Championship, Vince McMahon declared the belt vacant and hosted a tournament to crown a new champion that commenced on the July 18, 2011 Raw.
A shot at the new champion was offered to Cena, who took advantage of the opportunity to wrest the belt away from Rey Mysterio, who had overcome The Miz to win the title earlier in the night. It was the first time anyone had won nine WWE Championships, however commentary neglected to mention that fact as this bout was contested specifically to play host to the post-match angle.
Immediately after his victory, Cena was confronted by the opening chimes of "Cult of Personality" by the legendary Living Colour. Initially confused, Cena soon cottoned on, when Punk walked down the aisle with his WWE Championship belt.
As both men raised the titles, Punk was the one who heard cheers.
A title bout between both champions was booked for SummerSlam, wherein Punk defeated Cena to unify the belts.
Cena would soon receive another crack at the gold however.
Alberto Del Rio (August 14, 2011 - September 18, 2011)
Alberto Del Rio had won the Money in the Bank Ladder Match on July 17, 2011 and had attempted to cash in his contract that same night on CM Punk following Punk's title victory over John Cena in the headline bout of the Money in the Bank pay per view.
He had failed. A swift kick to the temple had ended his hopes.
However, four weeks later at SummerSlam, Del Rio's luck would change. After Punk was laid out by Kevin Nash, Del Rio swooped in and pinned Punk to become WWE Champion for the first time.
After Punk segued into a feud with Nash and his buddy, Triple H, former champion John Cena stepped in to challenge Del Rio at Night of Champions on September 18, 2011. In his first pay per view title defence, Del Rio was defeated by Cena.
His reign had lasted less than five weeks. However, Del Rio's time in the WWE Championship picture was not over and he would challenge for the belt again a few weeks later inside Hell in a Cell.
Del Rio's luck would change in that bout, too.
Stick around, because Part 17 will be here before you know it! Thanks for reading.
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