Welcome to the inaugural edition of The O’Brien Report with me, Alan O Brien. Today on The O’Brien Report I will be looking back at the legendary 434-day WWE Championship reign of CM Punk
Few men in WWE History can say that they held the WWE Championship for more than a full calendar year in a single reign, in fact only eight men can hold that claim. One of those eight men is CM Punk, who held the WWE Championship for 434 days between Survivor Series 2011 and Royal Rumble 2013.
When CM Punk defeated Alberto Del Rio in Madison Square Garden at Survivor Series 2011, he was entering his 2nd WWE Championship reign, with his first reign coming earlier in the year when he defeated John Cena in their legendary Money in the Bank clash. Punk would lose the title to Del Rio at SummerSlam when Del Rio cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to defeat Punk, who had just defeated John Cena in a Money in the Bank rematch. Before Alberto Del Rio cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase, Kevin Nash made his return to WWE and attacked Punk, which handed Del Rio the opportunity to cash in on Punk.
The next few months would be a slight downfall for CM Punk, losing all three of his next PPV matches. The first of these being at Night of Champions 2011 against Triple H, the next at Hell in a Cell in a triple threat hell in a cell match against John Cena and Alberto Del Rio for the WWE Championship, which Del Rio won, and finally at Vengeance when Punk and Triple H were defeated by The Miz and R-Truth.
CM Punk’s next PPV match would be at Survivor Series 2011 in a match against Alberto Del Rio for the WWE Championship. Punk would win the match and the WWE Championship by making Del Rio submit to the Anaconda Vice, thus beginning his iconic WWE Title reign.
Punk would go onto hold the WWE Championship for the entirety of 2012, defeating the likes of Dolph Ziggler, Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, Big Show, John Cena and Ryback in numerous matches throughout 2012. When Punk defeated John Cena and Ryback in a triple threat match at Survivor Series 2012, he became the seventh man in WWE history to hold the WWE Championship for a year (this match is also notable for being the debut of The Shield).
Punk’s next opponent would be The Rock at the 2013 Royal Rumble. At the event, The Rock would defeat CM Punk to capture his eighth WWE Championship, ending CM Punk’s title reign at 434 days. Punk would go onto lose in a rematch against The Rock at Elimination Chamber and would then go onto start a feud with The Undertaker, who he lost to at WrestleMania 29.
In my opinion, CM Punk had a great WWE Championship reign, full of decent to great matches. However, I do not think CM Punk should have lost at the Royal Rumble to The Rock. The Rock would go on to defend the WWE Championship against John Cena in the Main Event of WrestleMania 29 in a rematch to their ‘Once in a Lifetime’ match from the year before. I do not think Punk’s title reign should have been ended in order to do John Cena vs The Rock again. Punk could have easily defeated The Rock in a screwy finish at the Royal Rumble to set up a rematch down the line (WrestleMania 29) and John Cena (who won the Royal Rumble in 2013) could have used his main event opportunity against CM Punk to set up a triple threat between Punk, Rock and Cena in the Main Event of WrestleMania 29.
Punk could have easily been placed into the match to make a triple threat. Punk would have had a history with both men by this point and the match would have made sense, with both Cena and Rock wanting to dethrone Punk while wanting to defeat each other as well. Punks end of the story would be trying to defend the WWE Championship at WrestleMania for the second year in a row while also trying to defeat one of his greatest rivals in Cena and the man trying to take his spotlight in The Rock.
If Punk lost the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 29 instead of Royal Rumble 2013, his title reign would have ended at 504 days instead of the already impressive 434 days. Days do not matter in the grand scheme of things but adding this slight length to Punk’s title reign would have added another talking point to his title reign. You could still have Cena defeat The Rock in the match to win the WWE Championship and get his win back if you really wanted to as well as it would also protect Punk and would give Cena his first challenger in Punk, who could say that Cena didn’t pin him to win the title.
In my opinion, adding CM Punk into the WrestleMania 29 Main Event could have changed WWE History, because one of Punk’s issues with WWE before walking out in January 2014 was not being able to Main Event a WrestleMania, by giving Punk this opportunity it’s a possibility that he may have never walked out, undoubtedly changing WWE as we know it now. CM Punk’s 434-day WWE Championship reign is undoubtedly historic and will probably not be topped, with the closest alternative (to the WWE Championship) being AJ Styles 371-day WWE Championship reign between 2017 and 2018.
In my opinion, ending CM Punk’s 434-day WWE Championship reign in order to do Cena vs Rock 2 for the WWE Championship was unnecessary. Rock vs Cena 2 did not need the WWE Championship. Adding a few more months to CM Punks title reign could have added a higher stake to Rock vs Cena 2 while also possibly changing CM Punk’s relationship with WWE. Of course, this is all fantasy booking and what-ifs but its fun to look back at a time period in WWE History like this and question “what if this happened instead of that?”.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article today, I have been Alan O Brien and you have been reading The O’Brien Report.
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