10 major missteps that changed WWE forever

#6 Bringing back CM Punk after 2 weeks

Money In The Bank 2011

When CM Punk delivered his pipebomb promo on a June 2011 episode of Monday Night RAW, fans took notice. Although they were captivated by the build to his upcoming Money In The Bank main event against WWE Champion John Cena, few expected Punk to actually leave with the title. After all, Punk's WWE contract was legitimately expiring, the news of which had become public and he wasn't expected to re-sign.

So when Punk did leave Chicago's All-State Arena as WWE Champion and seemingly went off into his post-WWE career, audiences — and the media — were captivated like never before.

Unfortunately, WWE's short-sighted strategy in which they prioritized the SummerSlam 2011 buyrate over long-term creative planning lead to Punk returning to the company a mere two weeks later. This killed the white-hot momentum that the angle had and went a long way towards Punk's eventual walk-out that came in early 2014.