What killed Punk's momentum in 2011?

[hellod245]

I am still mad how wwe handeled Punk post summerslam 2011 and completly made him yet another medicore wwe superstar other that new pop culture icon what he was aiming at. I was just watching some Punk's old promos from 2011 and man! that guy was over after that shoot promo until that year's summerslam. Now I dont know what went behind the scenes, all that politics but after Punk came back looks like wwe machine did not get behind him completely. They took him where they anted to take him not where CM Punk wanted to go to. He came back and feuded with Cena again and they had a match at Summerslam and even during that time he was getting way much more support and cheers from crowd than Cena. Then he lost the tittle to Del Rio because of Kevin Nash and they had an excellent face off next night on raw. Now after that night Punk's charactor and his momentum went right downward. I dont know if it was because of Kevin Nash , because of triple H or all those incomplete story-lines. In my view following were the reasons that made fans support him less or careless about him:

1.Kevin Nash - Now nothing against Kevin Nash but half of the new generation did not even know him. Putting him against top babyface(specially Punk) at that time was just absurd. That totally made younger and newer fans careless about the feud.

2. triple H mentioning Punk called and asked for his job - HHH said in a promo that Punk called and asked his job back and he gave his job back. They made it look like wwe just did a favor to Punk and it totally made Punk look like a liar who a few weeks ago said that he does not care about the job and was leaving on his own terms.

3. All text message storyline- All that storyline where Punk kept screaming that hhh and Nash are together and they screwed him over for the tittle but in the end it was revealed that hhh had nothing to do with that. Whole storyline made punk look like a moron who kept complaining without any facts. Thus giving fans another reason not to believe in Punk.

4. Vince Mcmahon gone from TV- The very next night after MITB 2011 HHH basically fired Vince that took him off TV. I mean a guy walked out of the company with your top tittle and you took your chairman off TV??? Punk made mcmahon look like and idiot and instead of building up on that and having Mcmahon bash and insult Punk every week while he was gone (which would gain more support from crowd for Punk coz of typical boss-employee storyline) they took him off TV and put hhh in charge with whom Punk had nothing to do .

how would I book it :
I would have kept Punk off TV atleast untill summerslam and have Cena vs Mysterio at summerslam. A week before Summerslam I would have Punk invade wwe production truck with a cameraman and say he is the real champion and no one is credible until they beat him and he would say he will end summerslam his way. Have cena win at Summerslam and have Punk jump from crowd and attack Cena lay him down with GTS. That would prompt Del Rio to come out and cash in and win the tittle. then I would have Del Rio win in a rematch against Cena at next PPV and destroy Cena with help of other heels on Raw. That would force Punk to come back next PPV in a match against Del Rio because he thinks this is all happening because he attacked Cena and gave Del Rio chance to cash in at the first place . This way we will have Punk going against a top heel when he comes back instead of fighting an old man(Nash) and a babyface CE(HHH). Fighting against top heel (who BTW just beat the hell out of Cena) would make him look a saviour to all hardcore and casual fans and would have increased his popularity waay much more than what it was or I say what it is.

So what are your reasons and examples on what killed Punk's momentum in fan's eyes back in 2011 and how would you have booked his comeback after MITB??

 

[Aidennsman]

i think punks consistency got disturbed when he fought with randy orton many times and faced heavy defeats as after leaving nexus and after the big loss with orton he also faced many loss from nash,cena

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

Nothing. CM Punk has always been overrated and cutting a "worked-shoot promo" isn't momentum, anybody can do that. CM Punk fanboys are dumb.

 

[Antichrist]

CM Punk lost momentum when Cena faced Laurinitus instead of Punk, and when he lost the title to ADR but fought HHH instead of getting the PPV rematch against ADR, he did main event vs HHH, but it made no sense.

 

[Loveless]

Everything that happened after Punk retained at Summerslam, through to when his current reign begun, was a complete and monumental fuckup of booking and destroyed the huge momentum he had. Kevin Nash, losing to HHH, the title merry-go-round, all did nothing but damage to everyone involved.

 

[braveh]

I have been very critical of Punk as a face. He couldn't handle the role despite being a wrestler for god knows how long.

1. Best in the world. Horrible catchphrase and gimmick. Punk has complained that it was creative that wanted to focus on the best in the world thing but was there anything more compelling to his personality?

2. Go 2 sleep. If not the worst finisher it's definitely up there

3. Bad physique. Not only is he small with a belly, but he had a weird hairdo and rings under his eyes. The end result is that he doesnt' look intimidating.

edit:

4. Lack of great wrestling matches. Since MITB 11 he has only been in two matches that would consider great/awesome, TLC 2011 and the match against Jericho I think it was Elimination chamber. Bryan/Punk matches have not lived up to the hype. Punk has not performed.

 

[Just Do It]

Nothing killed his momentum, it's just been bruised in the past. He is doing fine now, he is one of the top 3 hottest tings in the industry - so whatever happened in the past can't have been that bad.

 

[RJJ]

Easy answer, Triple H. He did it before and I'm pretty damn sure he'll do it again. That's his specialty, he kill people's careers.If you ask me, I don't think he got any business working with Punk at that point, but not only he did a program with him, he went over. That's BS, to say the least.

 

[braveh]

Easy answer, Triple H. He did it before and I'm pretty damn sure he'll do it again. That's his specialty, he kill people's careers.If you ask me, I don't think he got any business working with Punk at that point, but not only he did a program with him, he went over. That's BS, to say the least.

I agree but I think maybe they were looking at the numbers from Summerslam when they decided to run with that angle.

Had Summerslam been a booming success I can guarantee you that they would not let HHH treat Punk like that

 

[The_Main_Event]

I've always thought him coming back way too quick killed some of his momentum because I always had the feeling that some people would be thinking "Hey didn't this guy say he was leaving WWE and going to Japan/ROH etc" While obviously it was all one huge storyline the realism of it from I feel his announcement that his contract was coming to an end up until MITB it was perfect.

His momentum was further killed by HHH, and the following random/pointless PPV matches (Vengeance being an example)

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

I agree with a lot of the above posts because they are indeed correct - the HHH storyline sucked the heel out of Punk when one minute he was mocking HHH then the next teaming with him.

Kevin Nash is the most overpaid wrestler in the History of the sport. He even beats Ultimate Warrior because at least Warrior drew.

And even a man as talented as Punk is not going to do much with John Cena.

 

[theBec2101]

I think there were a few things. Not just because of other wrestler. One of the reason is he ran out pipe bombs to say. I mean that’s what was interesting. He doesn’t do anything that sticks out. Best in the world he should have a whole list of wrestle mania moments. He doesn’t make other people look good as well as he should. And what is really going to kill him off is if they put him and the Rock together and try to go Promo for Promo.
You can’t say HHH is the reason. He had his best promos at that point. That’s how you get people over, HHH can talk. Now look he needs Hayman because he ran out of shit to say and no one is there to help him look better.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As usual, I think people are confusing what they mean by Punk's momentum being "killed" with WWE not booking some thingshow they beleive theys hould've been booked.

While I do agree that WWE did some things that I believe should've been done differently, how exactly was Punk's momentum killed? Even though Punk wasn't hyped or promoted as much as John Cena and even though he did take a backseat to Triple H's scenario with Kevin Nash, the fans continued to remain firmly behind Punk. From the moment Punk made his "shoot promo" up through right this very moment, CM Punk has CONSTANTLY had the attention and interest of fans. His popularity and/or overall interest among fans is second to none on the WWE roster. The fact that Punk has been able to still shine despite not being pushed as hard or hyped as much as John Cena only goes to show that Punk's a star.

As I said, just because WWE hasn't done everything that you feel they should do with Punk doesn't mean that his momentum was "killed". He's still the WWE Champion and currently has the third longest run of the past 17 years, the company is still behind him, he continues to generate fan interest. Something that results in the killing of a wrestlers momentum would include being injured or the company losing faith in him. You want an example of a wrestler's momentum being killed, look at Jack Swagger's WHC run. Booking a champion to where he looks like a complete clown is a momentum killer. Having him constantly lose matches without scoring decisive wins over his opponents is a momentum killer. Having the #1 contender, or contenders, for the championship treat him and regard him as not being a threat is a momentum killer. But, the WWE not doing every single little thing with Punk that you believe they should have, and Punk still shining in spite of it, doesn't qualify as a momentum killer. You can't please everybody, after all, and wrestling companies in general don't cater towards armchair bookers whose opinions tend to change like the weather.

 

[sdelfin]

There are quite a few factors involved. I'm going to go with bringing Punk back too quickly after Money in the Bank to start with. With WWE being a publicly traded company, it seems Vince can't help himself when it comes to pulling the trigger on storylines. I also think they overexposed Punk. They had him cutting way too many promos that were way too long. Back in the day, the main guys didn't have to be on TV every single week. Now, it's not uncommon for top guys to cut a promo during one part of a show, and then have a match at a different point. Easy way to kill a crowd pop for a big star is to have him appear in front of the live crowd multiple times. Then, Del Rio was already severely damaged as a character by Survivor Series, much like he still is now. And finally, they portrayed Punk and the WWE title as below Cena pretty early on.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

The idiot fans wouldn't let him be the incredibly entertaining heel he was supposed to be. Everyone wanted to jump on the "shoot" bandwagon. Punk could have had tremendous feuds with WWE's best faces but the stupid smarky fans wanted to embrace Punk as their own when there was no opportunity for him to continue being the guy who "shoots" every week and walks out every other week. Punk was put in a hopeless situation thanks to the fans who so are so desperately pathetic that they've been ruining their own product for the last 10 years with their entitlement and desire for control.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

It wasn't one point or another, it was the culmination of terrible, terrible inconsistency that screwed over Punk in 2011. And all credit to him, he tried making some of that shit look as good as he possible was able.

CM Punk's the WWE Champion, but he's leaving the company.
John Cena's the Champion. But CM Punk's still the Champion.
CM Punk's the Undisputed Champion, but instead Alberto del Rio is going to cash in and become Champion.
There's text messages, walk-outs and unsafe working conditions. VInce is back. No he's not. Triple H is back. Nobody likes him anymore.
Triple H and CM Punk are battling to kill each other off.
Triple H and CM Punk are tag team partners trying to save the company.
Punk is facing Kevin Nash. Punk isn't facing Kevin Nash.
Rock and Cena are more important than anything ever.
But not really because Punk is Champion again.
But kind of really because it's the Road to WrestleMania, and Rock is back.
Ziggler is #1 contender. No he's not, Miz and ADR are. But Ziggler is again at the Rumble. But he's not anymore cuz he lost.
Jericho is doing some crazy shit over there, wonder what it means.
Turns out it doesn't mean anything, it sucks, and he's facing Punk.
Punk wins.
PUnk wins again. This time with gimmicks.
CM Punk is the Best in the World again.
John Cena is still in all the main events.
Brock Lesnar's an ass kicker.

^^It's this A.D.D. bullshit that we had to put up with in the past year. And it made just about as much sense as that line-up too. Some of it was good. Most of the matches were excellent; none of them were bad. But there was zero continuity, nothing made sense, the whole Raw product had no real focus for a large percentage of 2011, and I was just sick of pro wrestling at that point because of it.

If I had to pick one thing that killed Punk's momentum in 2011 though, it would hands down be Alberto del Rio winning the belt at SummerSlam. Great moment, terrible fallout. I still liked ADR then, and I wanted to see great things from him. Unfortunately, he was a terrible match for Punk as he was way too over-scripted, and Punk continually called him out on it. Punk ruined ADR's credibility by just being damn good at his job, and in doing so the whole feud tanked. It also didn't help that Cena was Champion again for a New York minute somewhere in all that mix.

 

[Radio GaGa]

The Rushed Storylines. He, Cena and ADR should play hot potato with the championship until Wrestlemania if they were trying to do that story right: And Punk would go on to face Trips at WM. They had to choose between so many storylines and instead of focusing on one they went with all of them...

 

[BigRedPunk]

I don't believe his momentum was ever fully killed, but something that hurt it was his loss to Triple H at a PPV. It didn't make any sense besides the explanation of HHH's ego.

 

[Uncle Sam]

My support isn't as fragile as that of other Punk fans. As soon as Punk was a babyface, winning matches and being put in less-than-stellar storylines, I saw the rats scurrying from the ship en masse. "Just another John Cena," "skinny fatass," etc. etc. People whose thighs could have been used as a slip 'n' slide on the night that won the WWE Championship turned on him like a rabid dog which had just smelled sausages.

This isn't to say that I like Punk just because. I think Punk is a good wrestler with a lot of charisma - one bad storyline or misstep isn't enough to have me yelling hatred from the rooftops as if he'd just fucked my wife. And my sister. And my mother. And my father. I just don't think CM Punk has been bad since Money in the Bank 2011. His matches with Jericho, Del Rio, Bryan and Triple H have been great. I don't really - but I do really - feel the need to mention his incredible chemistry with John Cena - whether alone or in a triple threat, they never fail to deliver the absolute best when in a ring with each other.

When I point out where I think they went wrong with Punk, it's not from a place of hatred; I don't think Punk failed. But here's a bullet-pointed list anyway!

• No-selling the loss of the WWE Championship. John Cena has been defeated, the WWE Championship is gone, the entire status quo has been up-ended... Oh well! Shit happens, I guess. Here, Rey, have this new title. Not a problem. Actually, wait, John, you might as well have it back. Oh, here's the absentee champion anyway. You've not been gone long, Punk.
  
  Do the fans have the patience for a champion to disappear, do some interesting stuff outside of WWE television, and the come back? Maybe not. But to build up the loss of the WWE Championship as this world-altering event and then, the very next night, go, "Oh well - we just made a new belt" is ridiculous. It's like if Big Show punched Evan Bourne square in the face and Evan just got straight up and dusted himself off.
  
• Kevin Nash. Because it didn't go anywhere and I don't really know where they were going with it to begin with.

And that's about the extent of my problem with where things have gone.

 

[justinept]

Those saying that "anyone" can do a worked "shoot" promo and get over needs to go watch old WCW shows, and then tell me that anyone can do it. If that's the case then the entire WCW locker room would've been over since all they ever did was worked shoots. The reason Punk's worked was because there's a huge sect of wrestling fans that believe what Punk said ... and had been saying it for years.

So where'd they go wrong....

Triple H and Punk both stayed faces.

Think about this for a minute. Punk got over by criticizing management's direction of the company. He got over by criticizing the McMahon family. Less than 60 days later, he stood in the middle of the ring and was friends with the COO of the company, a McMahon family member. Does anyone else see how this completely contradicted everything that got him over?

One of the two NEEDED to be a heel and the other a face. They could NOT be best friends all of a sudden, teaming together to take out the new threat "Miz and R-Truth." Bottom line - You can't get over as an anti-authoritarian figure and then become friends with the authority.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

It wasn't one point or another, it was the culmination of terrible, terrible inconsistency that screwed over Punk in 2011. And all credit to him, he tried making some of that shit look as good as he possible was able.

CM Punk's the WWE Champion, but he's leaving the company.
John Cena's the Champion. But CM Punk's still the Champion.
CM Punk's the Undisputed Champion, but instead Alberto del Rio is going to cash in and become Champion.
There's text messages, walk-outs and unsafe working conditions. VInce is back. No he's not. Triple H is back. Nobody likes him anymore.
Triple H and CM Punk are battling to kill each other off.
Triple H and CM Punk are tag team partners trying to save the company.
Punk is facing Kevin Nash. Punk isn't facing Kevin Nash.
Rock and Cena are more important than anything ever.
But not really because Punk is Champion again.
But kind of really because it's the Road to WrestleMania, and Rock is back.
Ziggler is #1 contender. No he's not, Miz and ADR are. But Ziggler is again at the Rumble. But he's not anymore cuz he lost.
Jericho is doing some crazy shit over there, wonder what it means.
Turns out it doesn't mean anything, it sucks, and he's facing Punk.
Punk wins.
PUnk wins again. This time with gimmicks.
CM Punk is the Best in the World again.
John Cena is still in all the main events.
Brock Lesnar's an ass kicker.

^^It's this A.D.D. bullshit that we had to put up with in the past year. And it made just about as much sense as that line-up too. Some of it was good. Most of the matches were excellent; none of them were bad. But there was zero continuity, nothing made sense, the whole Raw product had no real focus for a large percentage of 2011, and I was just sick of pro wrestling at that point because of it.

If I had to pick one thing that killed Punk's momentum in 2011 though, it would hands down be Alberto del Rio winning the belt at SummerSlam. Great moment, terrible fallout. I still liked ADR then, and I wanted to see great things from him. Unfortunately, he was a terrible match for Punk as he was way too over-scripted, and Punk continually called him out on it. Punk ruined ADR's credibility by just being damn good at his job, and in doing so the whole feud tanked. It also didn't help that Cena was Champion again for a New York minute somewhere in all that mix.

Nailed it.

WWE had a great thing going with the Cena/Punk feud coming out of MITB, and they absolutely blew it. The problem is still this rapid-fire PPV approach which causes the storylines to get compressed and the result is the garbage that HGR described above.

With some planning, SummerSlam's main event should've showcased the finals or even the entire tournament for the WWE championship, with a return at the end by Punk. This could've built up to Survivor Series, making that more of a marquee event.

As it turns out, they threw ADR into the mix, and in the end, they couldn't make him a bankable star. The whole thing was for nothing.

 

[hellod245]

I have been very critical of Punk as a face. He couldn't handle the role despite being a wrestler for god knows how long.

1. Best in the world. Horrible catchphrase and gimmick. Punk has complained that it was creative that wanted to focus on the best in the world thing but was there anything more compelling to his personality?

2. Go 2 sleep. If not the worst finisher it's definitely up there

3. Bad physique. Not only is he small with a belly, but he had a weird hairdo and rings under his eyes. The end result is that he doesnt' look intimidating.

edit:

4. Lack of great wrestling matches. Since MITB 11 he has only been in two matches that would consider great/awesome, TLC 2011 and the match against Jericho I think it was Elimination chamber. Bryan/Punk matches have not lived up to the hype. Punk has not performed.

Best In The World is a gimmick that he used. It is sure not the excellent one but Punk used that gimmick very well. It just dont work for a babyface. Now as a heel he is doing awesome with that gimmick.

Go 2 sleep is a good finisher. A knee to someone's face is always devastating even more when that person is falling downward. This is definitely one of the best finisher today in wwe.

His physique is ok. I am not saying its the best physique or he is in a good shape. He is not your typical wwe superstar and thats what stands him out. Its not about your physique its about connecting woth people having charisma that make people buy tickets to see you. Punk definitely have that charisma and personality to connect with common public.

He is over rated in the ring??? Have you been watching wwe at all?? He has been putting best matches on almost every PPV despite not being in main events. His match with Jericho at WM was very good technical display. WWE did a horrible job to put that match right after Hell In A Cell. Why not have a divas match n between and let people calm down a bit and then it would have been a different story. It was an amazing match go back and watch it again. His matche with Jericho at Extreme Rules was perfect again. Brutal and solid. His matches against Daniel Bryan were excellent go back and watch their match at Over The Limit it totally lived up to the hype and they delivered a five star match barring the finish. IMO this match is the match of the year so far in whole business.

 

[Ryberg]

What killed Punk's momentum in 2011, the WWE writers and HHH in a nutshell! They had PR in the wrestling world (non-negative) which hadn't been seen since the Hogan turn/NWO of WCW. But because HHH couldn't deal with the fact he was WRONG about Punk he had to crush him to build his ego. Punk survived that but then the writers finished the job HHH didn't BECAUSE I am sure it came from the top (AKA VKM) to slow down his momentum as Cena is our guy and his bigger than Cena.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

What killed Punk's momentum in 2011?

Nothing because he is arguably No.2 in the company at the eyes of WWE right now. You could't say that before a year and a half.

It has bein argued before and it would be argued later, if he could be as big draw as Cena he would be no1 and had all the momentum he can, but he is strong no2. So WWE focused on their no1 draw(Cena) while Punk has stayed little behind. Perhaps in the future and with more focus on him and better storyline he would even be no1. He has good chances to happen right now with all storylining in the absence of Cena and talks of him going on agaist the Rock at RR or Wrestlemania. And that is very good thing for him.

 

[#heel420]

When Kevin Nash hopped the guard rail and jacknifed CM Punk, that killed the Summer of Punk in my eyes. It wasn't needed at all. Triple H sticking his nose in the story line didn't make anything better. Then Punk went on to feud with Del Rio who's mic skills aren't even close to Punk's. Then they rarely put him in main events. Somebody tell me how the hell Kane Vs. John Cena is more important than the WWE Championship match.