#4 Ryback Gets A Turn at the WWE Championship
In 2012, WWE rebooted Skip Sheffield, then best known as the muscle of The Nexus, as Ryback—a superhuman face who mowed over the competition with the efficiency of a guy like Goldberg. The Big Guy got over on his winning streak and smash mouth style. When John Cena got hurt, WWE even went so far as to fast-track him into challenging for the WWE Championship against CM Punk.
In Punk hadn’t been in the mix at all, WWE would have needed to elevate someone else. Sure, guys like John Cena and Randy Orton may have gotten even more time with the title, and Alberto Del Rio may have gotten extra chances. Ryback is on the shortlist, though, of guys who never got the title but did get over enough to reasonably win it. Without Punk around, he may well have gotten that opportunity, on at least a trial basis.