6: The Pipebomb
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The June 27, 2011 episode of Raw will always be remembered for one thing and one thing only, CM Punk’s pipebomb.
The main event of the night was a tables match between John Cena and R-Truth. Near the end of the match, as John Cena was about to give Truth an AA through the table, Punk ran down the ramp and knocked over the table. As Cena and Punk brawled, R-Truth took advantage and speared Cena through a table.
After the match, Punk grabbed a mic from ringside and walked back up the ramp where he sat down and delivered one of the best promos in the history of the WWE. His promo hit really close to home and highlighted many issues with the WWE that fans had been complaining about for a long time.
He began by addressing the fallen John Cena saying that he didn’t hate or like Cena, but he just hated the idea that John Cena always had to be the best and that Cena was as good as Hogan at “kissing a**”. His rant continued with shots fired at The Rock, Vince McMahon, his “Idiotic daughter” Stephanie and his “doofus son-in-law” Triple H while he also namedropped NJPW and Ring of Honor which was a strict no-no on WWE programming while also breaking Vince’s beloved fourth wall and giving a shout out to Colt Cabana.
Punk only stopped his rant when his mic was cut.
That day CM Punk became the voice of every WWE fan disgruntled by Vince McMahon’s decisions. Punk’s promo made mainstream news and his feud with Cena heading into Money In The Bank was one of the hottest of this decade. However, what we remember more than the match is the promo on Raw itself. The promo was just so real and uncharacteristic of WWE’s watered down PG Era programming that it left an indelible mark on the minds of fans.
