5 Biggest non-title victories in CM Punk's WWE career

#3. CM Punk conquers Chris Jericho at Payback 2013

Off the back of a devastating loss to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 29, CM Punk decided to go on a hiatus from WWE. His heated rivalry with The Deadman concluded with The Phenom taking his beloved urn back from Punk.

CM Punk's absence prompted Chris Jericho to host an edition of The Highlight Reel with Punk's manager Paul Heyman. Jericho questioned Punk's absence from WWE, which once again led to a conversation regarding who the "Best in the World" was between the two.

To put the argument to rest, Jericho issued a challenge to CM Punk for a match at Payback, which Heyman accepted on behalf of his client. Over the next few weeks, Heyman continued to take action on behalf of Punk. He would also sign the contract for Punk and agreed to the match against Y2J.

Shortly afterward, on an episode of SmackDown, another one of Heyman's clients, Curtis Axel, defeated Jericho following interference from Heyman. Heyman distracted Jericho by playing CM Punk's music and continued the mind games.

Eventually, CM Punk made his return as a babyface at the WWE Payback 2013 pay-per-view, for his first face run in a while. The former WWE Champion secured a huge victory over Jericho upon his return after hitting the GTS twice on his opponent.

About the author

Soumik Datta is a professional wrestling journalist who has been following the business for more than a decade.

In 2017, Soumik joined the Sportskeeda Wrestling team and is best known for his work with the WWE team. He has previously contributed to the Sportskeeda AEW, MMA, and the football team where he specifically covered the Major League Soccer.

In 2024, Soumik crossed 50 million reads for Sportskeeda WWE. While working under Sportskeeda MMA, he interviewed prominent UFC fighters, including Justin Gaethje, Sean O'Malley, and Cory Sandhagen, among others. He is also being followed by John Cena on X (formerly Twitter).

Apart from his love for professional wrestling, Soumik also watches Football and has been a lifelong follower of Liverpool FC and Mohun Bagan. He has also been following the Indian Super League and remains the only content creator to have traveled across India to watch 7 ISL Matches in 7 Days, a video which currently sits at 26K views on his YouTube channel. His channel currently amasses over 120K views.

As aforementioned, Soumik also likes to make content for his YouTube channel and travel to various places either with family, friends, or solo, or go on road trips.

(Go SUBSCRIBE to his channel while you're at it): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfkg4VnUC7sLNc5jEzVYgOQ

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @Thesoumikdatta9

Follow his Sportskeeda profile for wrestling news and content and subscribe to his YouTube channel.

Know More

Edited by James Sullivan