For years, Mr. Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect ruled the WWE kingdom. He was perpetually in the title picture, either holding the world championship or chasing it. He never, ever lost cleanly. He was the Thanos of sports entertainment: inevitable.
Then, there was Punk. A former indie wrestler, he had quietly built a formidable resume with multiple title wins and a series of show-stealing feuds (his rivalry with Jeff Hardy fed families). By mid-2011, his WWE contract was coming to an end, making it the perfect time to air out his grievances with the company. And he did. Loudly.
On a June episode of Raw, the Second City Saint casually dropped the best promo of the 21st Century. Punk’s pipebomb blurred the lines between truth and fiction with surgical precision.
He seamlessly played the role of disgruntled employee, claiming he wasn’t afforded the opportunities he deserved. Relatable. Punk hated the idea that John Cena was considered the best when, really, he was the best wrestler in the world. No arguments there.
It felt like Punk was speaking for the WWE Universe, fed up with the status quo. He vowed to defeat Cena for the WWE Championship in his hometown of Chicago at Money in the Bank and ride off into the sunset.
The Voice of the Voiceless would make good on his promise, and then some. He beat Cena at MITB to win the title, left, returned with a new theme song, and knocked off Cena again at SummerSlam, all while injecting a heavy dose of meta-realism into a stale product and becoming the greatest anti-hero since Steve Austin.
Punk was the undisputed star of the summer, but his impact was made possible by the sovereignty of Cena, who, as it turns out, was “evitable” after all.
