WWE: CM Punk's Pipebomb – two years on

Exactly 2 years ago, the professional wrestling fans were sick and tired of the same shtick going on in the WWE. Although the previous Summer delivered one of the biggest groundbreaking moments in the WWE, with the debut of Nexus, the all too familiar ‘feed them to Cena’ ideology resulted in the group being torn apart, and although a new version of Nexus started, it was no – where near as impactful as the original one. The fans understood that Cena would once again trample the new members of the faction, and would once again sit on top of the WWE as the franchise player, and the thought of no new names opposing Cena made the fans wonder how boring the rest of the Summer would be. With Cena now being the WWE Champion once again, the fans were expecting yet another long, boring run by him, until Steve Austin guest hosted RAW.

Steve Austin set up a three way to crown the number 1 contender for the WWE title, for a match against John Cena at the Money in the Bank PPV, which was supposed to take place at Chicago, the home town of one CM Punk. Punk defeated the other two to become the number 1 contender, and this was when things got interesting. Punk then revealed that his contract was set to expire, and left a cryptic message on his twitter account, and what followed changed the course of WWE, something that wasn’t done in the WWE for more than half a decade. CM Punk got on the mic and delivered a ‘worked shoot’, something that set the wrestling world on fire, on 27^th June 2011, on RAW which aired from Las Vegas.

What followed was one of the craziest periods in the WWE. At the Money in the Bank PPV, CM Punk defeated John Cena to win the WWE title, as a frantic Vince McMahon looked on, and tried everything he could to stop Punk, as Punk escaped through the elated Chicago crowd. The media and the professional wrestling industry was set on fire with this audacious storyline, and with Punk toying around with the WWE championship, for the first time in years, the fans were once again interested in the product.

After the 2000s, it was the first time after nearly a decade that the product was fresh and interesting, and people wanted to see where it would lead to. Although Punk’s momentum was quickly halted by a loss to Triple H and storyline with Kevin Nash, the direction of WWE quickly changed, as by the end of the year, you not only had CM Punk as the WWE champion, but also Daniel Bryan as the World Heavyweight champion. Zack Ryder was the United States champion and Beth Phoenix as the WWE Divas champion, all of whom were/are adored by the wrestling fans. For the first time in years, WWE was finally listening to the WWE audience.

Two years from then, CM Punk is the biggest name in the organization, and has been involved in most of the major feuds on the show. He held the WWE title for a record 434 days, something which hadn’t been done in over 25 years. Punk went on to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania 29, and came close to defeating the Deadman at the grandest stage.

With Punk admitting that he shouldn’t have even been in the WWE in the first place, him reaching to the top was unthinkable at one point. Punk, years ago, said that the management didn’t want him to come to the main roster, and wanted to release him from the contract after signing him up from Ring of Honor in ’05. With so many obstacles in his way, Punk defied the odds and became the top guy in the biggest organization in the world.

Would Punk have made the same impact in the WWE if it wasn’t for the ‘Pipebomb’ promo 2 years ago? There is not a single chance that would have happened. Everyone knows how talented Punk is. The WWE management was impressed with his commentary when he got injured, and were under the impression that he was the best commentator they had at that point.

Punk had shown time and again how good he was on the mic, with him having great segments as the ‘Straight Edge Savior’ and with the SES faction. But with Punk not being the ‘WWE type’ of a guy, there was little chance that he would have become what he has if it wasn’t for that one promo, during which he aired the dirty laundry against the WWE management and big names, such as Dwayne Johnson, Hulk Hogan and John Cena himself.

Two years down the line, a lot has changed, and Punk has since become one of the most entertaining superstars on the show. With Money in the Bank PPV coming up, Punk is involved in yet another great storyline, this time against his mentor Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar. We can only wait and see how things pan out, but we can be assured of yet another entertaining Summer from the Second City Saint.