In a lot of ways, though, he is still searching for the defining WrestleMania moment that fans will remember forever.
Even so, Punk has certainly turned in some high-quality performances on the big stage over the course of his career. From Money in the Bank ladder matches to singles matches low on the card to a WWE Championship encounter, Punk has run the gamut in terms of his 'Mania bouts. Knowing how important he has become to the company, I'm sure he'll add many more to the list in the coming years.
With WrestleMania 29 approaching, here are Punk's previous six 'Mania matches ranked from best to worst in terms of overall entertainment value. It wouldn't be a stretch to call CM Punk the king of the WrestleMania Money in the Bank ladder match, as he competed in three such bouts on the grandest stage of them all.
It was an exciting match—as all Money in the Bank ladder matches seem to be—and it ended with Punk securing the briefcase. In terms of entertainment, this match didn't quite measure up to the ladder matches that he competed in the previous two years.
There was some decent talent involved, but there weren't as many high-impact spots as usual due to the presence of plodding individuals like Kane, Henry and Finlay. If nothing else, Punk winning was a surprise since not many expected him to come out on top after winning the previous year.
This set Punk's heel turn in motion and ultimately launched him to a new level. The WrestleMania XXV Money in the Bank is certainly important in that regard, but the quality wasn't good enough to warrant a higher ranking. Punk, Christian, Kingston and Benjamin provided the majority of the match's best spots and kept things interesting for the most part; however, there wasn't a ton of star power in terms of main-event-level guys.
Punk has become one and Kane is a legendary figure, but when you compare it to some of the other Money in the Bank ladder matches, it doesn't pop. Punk was still fairly early in his WWE tenure at this point, and the WWE was trying to figure out the best way to use him. Ultimately, Punk got the Money in the Bank briefcase, so he took the ball and ran with it. There was a ton of athleticism in this match, which made it really entertaining to watch, and I also loved the interactions between Punk and Jericho throughout the contest.
Y2J was already a huge star by that point, but Punk was still trying to gain his footing. I'm not sure how many people predicted they would do battle for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania four years later, but that's exactly what happened. Punk even looked the part of rebel with his too-numerous-to-count tattoos and body piercings. Yet, he waxed way more philosophical than his exterior might have suggested and showed a diverse set of interests that included ghost hunting, G.
His in-ring repertoire was an assimilation of fighting styles, all of which were put on full display during his debut on WWE's relaunched ECW in Punk would become one of the most celebrated WWE Superstars of all time — and did so in spite of the events of , when he assailed Mr.
McMahon with his blunt opinions about the business and made a bold promise not to renew his contract with the company. Punk got a rematch at Elimination Chamber where if The Rock was disqualified or counted out, the championship would go him.
Punk ended up hitting Paul Heyman with the championship belt while the referee was knocked out and allowed for The Rock to capitalize and retain his championship. On March 11, Punk interrupted Undertaker while he was paying tribute to the late Paul Bearer , after a real-life death. This angered not only Undertaker but Kane as well. After the match, Kane and Undertaker both paid tribute to Paul Bearer. Punk then attacked Kane with the urn, Undertaker's urn, that Kane bought to the ring.
Punk ran off with the urn angering the Undertaker. The next week, Undertaker demanded that Punk return the urn. The next week, The Undertaker would come out to eviscerate Punk by talking about his historic title run and demand his urn back.
However, the druid music would play with druids emerging from the stage and Paul Heyman imitating Bearer, Punk would then reveal himself as a druid and attack the Undertaker. Punk then poured all the ashes all over taker and himself to end that episode of Raw.
He then suddenly dropped the microphone and left the arena, leaving the crowd and Paul Heyman wondering what had happened. On June 16, Punk returned to WWE Payback , Where he defeated Chris Jericho, and during the match, Punk showed signs of a face turn, high fiving fans several times and engulfing himself in their cheers.
Punk in turn claimed he trusted Heyman and allowed him to stay at ringside for his match against Darren Young , which Punk won and following the match he was attacked by Titus O'Neil and in turn Heyman summoned his newest client Curtis Axel to save Punk, much to his dismay. The following week, Punk was forced to team with Curtis and together, they defeated the Prime Time Players. At Money in the Bank , CM Punk nearly won the briefcase but he was attacked by Paul Heyman, whom struck Punk with a ladder several times, stopping Punk from winning the match.
Lesnar then came out and brawled with Punk, eventually getting the upper hand. Punk got revenge the next week by attacking Lesnar with a camera and a steel chair, after Heyman tried to change the scheduled match between Punk and himself to a handicap match involving Lesnar.
On the next Raw, Punk had the chance to again become a "Paul Heyman guy", but declined by attacking Axel. The next week, Punk defeated Axel before being assaulted by him and Heyman. Punk was then scheduled to face Axel and Heyman in a handicap elimination match at Night of Champions , later adding a No Disqualification to the stipulation. During the match, Punk tapped Axel out, leaving only Heyman left to deal with, but in the process of attacking Heyman, Ryback attacked Punk and placed Heyman on top of Punk for the pin.
At Battleground , Punk defeated Ryback after executing a low blow, while the referee was distracted by Heyman attempting to interfere in the match. On the October 14 episode of Raw, Punk defeated Axel in a Beat a Clock challenge match to determine the stipulation for his rematch with Ryback at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view.
He announced that his match would a be two-on-one handicap match in the Hell in a Cell , in which he would face Paul Heyman and Ryback. Punk faced Ryback again in a Street Fight match the following night on Raw, defeating Ryback by submission, thus ending their feud. At the Royal Rumble , Punk entered in at entrant 1. After having lasted until the final four, Kane, who was already eliminated earlier in the match by Punk, ran back to the ring and eliminated Punk from the outside.
Punk did not appear on the episode of Raw on the Monday after the Rumble. Despite being advertised for the SmackDown taping on Tuesday , he also did not appear in front of the live audience. By Wednesday, WWE. In an interview published in late May, Punk indicated that he had retired; he was questioned "How does it feel to be retired at 35? On the same day, Punk thanked his fans without mentioning WWE.
In late July, Punk claimed that he was "never ever" going to return to wrestling. In a detailed interview, Punk said that he was suspended for two months after walking out on the company in January, and was fired by WWE months later on his wedding day in June The manner of firing was the last straw for Punk, stating that he would never return to WWE and that following a legal settlement with WWE, there would be no further working relationship between them.
The settlement included Punk giving WWE permission to sell his remaining merchandise. Punk cited his health as the main reason he left WWE, describing that in his final months in the company, he had been working through an untreated and possibly fatal MRSA infection, broken ribs, injured knees, multiple concussions including one at the Royal Rumble, as well as having lost his appetite and ability to sleep well.
Punk felt that WWE was pressuring and rushing him to wrestle before he had fully recovered. Other sources of unhappiness Punk had with WWE were his failure to main event a WrestleMania deeming his entire career to be a failure as a result , being paid less than other top wrestlers for WrestleMania 29, being "creatively stifled" and feeling that there were no long-term plans for wrestlers other than John Cena, as well as receiving smaller paychecks and not getting answers as to how the WWE Network would effect wrestlers' salaries.
Lastly, Punk described having left with "zero passion" for wrestling, but described himself at the time of the interview to be the happiest in many years. Less than a week later, when Vince McMahon was interviewed on The Steve Austin Show via the WWE Network, he apologized to Punk for the manner of his termination, which he termed a "coincidence" while blaming a lack of communication within the organization.
McMahon said that he was open to working with Punk again. In a second Art of Wrestling podcast, Punk rejected McMahon's apology as insincere and a "publicity stunt" as McMahon did not contact him directly to apologize and could have apologized earlier.
At UFC on December 6, , Brooks announced that he had signed a multi-fight contract with Ultimate Fighting Championship and will fight as a professional mixed martial artist in the middleweight or welterweight division in This was confirmed on the UFC Twitter the same day.
Brooks, 36 at the time of signing, has no amateur wrestling background, but has a background in kempo and also trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Although he only has a white belt, he has been training for years and has refused to apply for higher belt levels, calling himself a "white belt for life", so it is unclear what belt-equivalent his skills are at.
Regarding Brooks' signing, UFC President Dana White mentioned that while he "can definitely sell some pay-per-views", that was not the sole motivation for it. I don't know. We'll see. White did not confirm a date for Brooks' UFC debut, but predicted it to be around six or seven months later. Brooks will likely debut against someone who, like himself, has completed very few fights.
According to Frank's manager, he has been considering fighting Brooks for over a year, stemming from fan interest for the idea while the two toured Wizard World conventions together. Punk has adopted his real-life following of the straight edge movement as his professional wrestling gimmick , but the gimmick uses different elements of Punk's personality and the beliefs of the straight edge movement depending on his alignment.
While portraying a crowd favorite, the gimmick tends to be that of Punk's normal personality, largely indifferent to others who drink alcohol, smoke tobacco, partake in recreational drug use or have promiscuous sexual behavior, but emphasizing the social discipline involved with abstinence. Conversely, his villainous personality tends to be that of one who is hardline or militant straight edge, exemplifying the elitist attitudes and superiority complexes—defined by Punk's common mantra during villainous-themed promos that, because he is straight edge, he is "better than you".
Punk performs the straight edge symbol of crossing his arms in an X formation while having the letter X written on the back of his hands, usually drawn on his wrist tape. A common question about Punk's gimmick, and one that comes up often with fans, is the meaning of the initialism CM.
Originally the CM represented the phrase "Chick Magnet", the name of the tag team he was in as a backyard wrestler. Punk, however, later changed CM into an orphan acronym, declaring that it has no meaning, though when asked since he has taken to making up meanings that fit the initials, going so far as to make up long stories to explain the origins that do not match the actual origin story at all.
CM Punk has become well known for the various tattoos that cover his body. No thanks Delete. Cancel Update. Login to reply. Cancel Reply. Contact Us. GDPR Compliance. Writer Awards. Tech Blog.
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