WWE's 5 Biggest Stories of 2011, No. 3: CM Punk "Leaves" with WWE Championship

Big Nasty will be counting down the five biggest stories of 2011 as we prepare to ring in yet another new year in the world of professional wrestling. Five stories transcended the pro wrestling industry in 2011 for better or for worse, and as a result, this comprehensive discussion is being constructed in their honor.

No. 3: CM Punk's Shoot Promo Leads to Temporary Departure

One placid Monday night in June, the challenger for the WWE Championship and one of the WWE's biggest stars was set to legitimately leave the company—but not before tearing the worldwide leader in sports entertainment a new one big enough for Paul Wight to dismount through. 

CM Punk's real-life frustrations of taking a big, fat corporate paycheck from the man for over half of a decade all built up to one memorable shoot promo that blurred the lines of reality and kayfabe similar to the promos and angles once considered commonplace during the famed Attitude Era. 

Reports of the former world champion's impending departure were beginning to circle dirtsheets like buzzards over a Buffalo with terminal cancer, and Punk's what-are-they-gonna-do-fire-me antics gave both jaded and casual onlookers every reason to believe his days of being an independent contractor for the WWE were numbered. 

CM Punk pulled no punches as he took took aim at key WWE figures, including Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson, John Laurinaitis, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon and Vince McMahon himself. 

Members of the WWE's endlessly petty blacklist such as Paul Heyman, third-tier promotion Ring of Honor and Colt Cabana all received shoutouts to further the notion that this promo was indeed a full-fledged shoot.

The line-burring ending to the now infamous promo came when CM Punk's microphone was shut off just as he was preparing to tell a "personal story" about WWE's venerable chairman. 

Punk's promo sent proverbial shockwaves through both the pro wrestling and national media landscape. Outside of the obligatory WrestleMania hype, nothing had captivated such a wide reaching reaction quite like Punk's seemingly off-the-cuff tirade about his current employer. 

National sports radio show hosts such as ESPN's Colin Cowherd and Jim Rome, who remained somewhat in the dark as to the extent of reality of CM Punk's June 27 shoot promo, took notice of the quasi-shoot promo as the wrestling outsiders fawned at Punk's brazen attempt to take on corporate professional wrestling.

The anti-establishment rant turned CM Punk into a sympathetic babyface almost overnight, as the otherwise prevalent babyface John Cena once again found himself pigeonholed into the role of a corporate disciple more than a fearless hero as the two got set to do battle at July's Money in the Bank pay-per-view event.  

With the Punk-Cena angle building up to a showdown in Chicago—Punk's hometown and noted anti-Cena safehouse—there was basically no other way to go with this feud than to position Punk as the lovable rebel fighting the good fight on his way out of the WWE. 

As good as the buildup was—which contained pre-match hype that featured yet another a wildly entertaining contract signing segment featuring Vince McMahon, Cena and Punk—the match itself was even better. 

In what was undoubtedly the most effective storyline of the year from start to match end, CM Punk's terrorist-like threats to leave the WWE with their prized championship came to fruition, as he defeated John Cena in an emotional back-and-forth match that is sure to earn match of the year honors from many esteemed pro wrestling publications and panelists.  

As aesthetically pleasing as the angle was to many critic's eyes, however, the angle centered around CM Punk was not as wild of a success as the aforementioned transcendent media attention would have otherwise suggested. 

With RAW's focus centered around CM Punk leading up to Punk-Cena at the Money in the Bank, ratings patterns were alarmingly low considering the initial buzz created by the angle.

Subsequent weeks of television and pay-per-view slowly undid CM Punk's promo as nothing more than an elaborate and shrewdly worked promo disguised as a shoot. The previously absent corporate figures who CM Punk name-dropped would all go on to either surface or resurface on WWE TV following Punk's so-called shoot. 

Since Punk's promo, Triple H temporarily assumed an on-air role as Chief Operating Officer of the WWE, only to be usurped by the painfully unwatchable John Laurinaitis, Stephanie McMahon made a series of cameos and Vince McMahon has been relieved of his duties only to reappear once ratings begun sinking into red-alert panic levels. 

Oh, and CM Punk would eventually re-sign with the WWE after one week off TV following an emotional victory over Cena that was thought by many to be his last match in the WWE for a while.

Suffice to say, what was once seen as an innovative and fresh angle sparked by a bold promo was watered down into another hurried and impatient venture by the WWE, the likes of which were dominated by WWE officials' shortsighted reaction to weekly ratings. 

In fact, it can be argued that CM Punk's promo, once a lock for promo of the year, helped conspire to make the WWE TV product worse given the litany of corporate figures—all of whom mercilessly hog the valuable TV time—who are now TV regulars as a result of being mentioned by a WWE Superstar who may have been much more corporate than his endless stream of tattoo sleeves may have initially suggested. 

Top Five of 2011

5. Matt Hardy's Career Descent

4. Rise of Ryder

3. CM Punk "Leaves" with the WWE Championship

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