#4. The Rock - won the WWE Championship before WrestleMania 29
![The Rock as the WWE Champion](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2021/02/6250f-16141517280307-800.jpg?w=190 190w, https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2021/02/6250f-16141517280307-800.jpg?w=720 720w, https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2021/02/6250f-16141517280307-800.jpg?w=640 640w, https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2021/02/6250f-16141517280307-800.jpg?w=1045 1045w, https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2021/02/6250f-16141517280307-800.jpg?w=1200 1200w, https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2021/02/6250f-16141517280307-800.jpg?w=1460 1460w, https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2021/02/6250f-16141517280307-800.jpg?w=1600 1600w, https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2021/02/6250f-16141517280307-800.jpg 1920w)
There are two sides to the argument that The Rock shouldn't have been the WWE Champion heading into WrestleMania 29. One side argues that it allowed WWE to have another blockbuster WrestleMania main event. The company comfortably secured more than a million pay-per-view buys. From a financial standpoint, it was the right decision.
But from a creative standpoint , which fans truly care about, CM Punk's 434-day WWE Championship reign shouldn't have ended at Royal Rumble 2013. Punk later revealed that he pitched the idea of having a Triple Threat Match as the WrestleMania 29 main event. This bout would have featured Punk defendng the title against The Rock and John Cena.
He even said that he wouldn't have minded if it was an Elimination match and he was the first to go. His true desire was to have a spot in the main event of WrestleMania.
Ultimately, The Rock's WWE title win after 10+ years was always going to happen. CM Punk's historic reign was just the unfortunate casualty of this homecoming story.