Look in his eyes, what do you see? A cult of a very divisive personality. And a bunch of great rivalries we can make a list about. These are the 10 greatest rivals of CM Punk's career.
00:00 - Start
01:00 - Honourable Mention
01:25 - 10
02:21 - 9
03:19 - 8
04:10 - 7
05:05 - 6
06:10 - 5
07:06 - 4
08:17 - 3
09:14 - 2
10:30 - 1
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00:00 - Start
01:00 - Honourable Mention
01:25 - 10
02:21 - 9
03:19 - 8
04:10 - 7
05:05 - 6
06:10 - 5
07:06 - 4
08:17 - 3
09:14 - 2
10:30 - 1
SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/
Buy wrestling merchandise here: https://www.wrestleshop.com/
Read more Feature content here on WrestleTalk.com: https://wrestletalk.com/features/
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SportsTranscript
00:00 "Look in his eyes, what do you see?
00:03 The cult of a particularly divisive personality."
00:06 As we all await Company Man Punk's AEW return and the inevitable media firestorm that will
00:11 be sure to come with it (too late) we figured now would be the perfect time to reflect on
00:16 the best matches and stories that CM Punk has ever been part of and the dancing partners
00:21 that did the waltz with him.
00:23 Punk is a different breed for today's day and age, an honest to god draw, an absolute
00:27 lightning rod and one of the most captivating performers in the wrestling business as a
00:32 babyface, a heel, or anything in between.
00:35 Punk has made his fair share of enemies inside the ring and out and thankfully the former
00:38 has helped make for some of the best stories in wrestling this century.
00:41 I'm Tempest Haling from PartsFunKnown and these are the 10 Greatest Rivals of CM Punk's
00:46 Career.
00:47 But before we get on with our list make sure of course that you like this video, subscribe
00:50 and enable notifications to always on so you never miss a fun list just like it and make
00:53 sure you check out all of the other entries we've had in the Greatest Rivals sub-series
00:58 of lists here on PartsFunKnown.
01:00 Honorable Mention Triple H and Vince McMahon
01:03 On one hand you could make the argument that Trips and Vinnie Mack could be the top two
01:06 spots on this list, but on the other hand, outside of Money in the Bank 2011 Punk's
01:11 intensely personal rivalries with Vince and his doofus son-in-law, kayfabe and otherwise,
01:16 didn't lead to the uptick in business that either should have.
01:18 The summer of Punk circa 2011 was about half of what it should have been and Punk and his
01:23 momentum suffered for it.
01:25 Colt Cabana
01:26 And now for something more cheerful and pardon me if I leave my sarcasm setting on for this
01:31 one.
01:32 Now in contrast to the last entry, while it is impossible to deny that Choco Mountain
01:35 Punk's public rivalry with Colt Cabana is what comes to mind when people think of their
01:39 names in the same sentence, that should absolutely not erase the work the two did together early
01:44 in their careers.
01:45 During the dark days of late 90's early 2000's indie wrestling, before there was
01:48 ever a ring of honor for young wrestlers to grow and make their name, they had to do so
01:52 by wrestling night after night after night, having great matches and cutting great promos.
01:57 Punk and Cabana were always tied to one another until they desperately needed to sever that
02:01 cord but their matches were an attraction of Midwest wrestling while they were coming
02:05 up in the industry.
02:06 They formed the Second City Saints when they got to ROH and remained linked until the very
02:10 end with Punk wrestling Cabana in his last match in the company.
02:13 They trained together, they made the towns together, they cried together.
02:17 It would just be nice if they could have, you know, stayed friends.
02:21 Number 9.
02:22 Rey Mysterio When central midfielder Punk finally got a
02:24 chance to turn heel in the summer of 2009, it was extremely successful.
02:28 So successful in fact, that WWE neglected to write another storyline for him for the
02:32 rest of the year.
02:33 As Punk was never one to take such treatment lying down, he went home and wrote himself
02:37 14 weeks of TV and that was the creation of the Straight Edge Society.
02:42 Definitely the best gimmick work that Punk did in WWE, the best rival he had during that
02:46 time was Rey Mysterio.
02:48 Certainly wasn't Big Show.
02:50 Punk and Mysterio always clicked in the ring, having very fun matches in 2010 at WrestleMania
02:54 26, Extreme Rules and Over The Limit and again at Capital Punishment in 2011.
02:59 Punk even threw Rey's daughter a birthday party.
03:01 I mean really, he crashed Rey's daughter's birthday party, but that's pretty close I
03:05 reckon.
03:06 Look at tiny Aaliyah and still taller than Rey, Dominik.
03:09 This was heel WWE Punk at his absolute best, sinisterly singing happy birthday to a 9-year-old
03:15 girl as she ran away crying.
03:17 God, maybe I'm the bastard.
03:19 8.
03:20 Chris Hero Just as Chocolate Mousse, Punk traveled the
03:22 Midwest wrestling Colt Cabana.
03:24 A few years later, he did the exact same thing with Chris Hero in 2002.
03:29 This match was a defining rivalry in Ian Rotten's IWA Mid-South, a promotion primarily built
03:34 on thumbtacks, light tubes and questionable business practices.
03:37 But when Punk and Hero hit the mat, they made it about wrestling.
03:41 Great wrestling.
03:42 Student of the game style wrestling.
03:44 Some people just have chemistry together and it is a shame that Punk and Hero never got
03:47 to wrestle on a bigger stage besides one tag match on NXT.
03:51 But between their 90-plus minute 2 out of 3 falls match, several hour-long time limit
03:56 draws and their 55-minute tables and ladders match, a match so out of control they literally
04:01 tried to tear the building they were wrestling in down, there is a solid chance Punk and
04:05 Hero have spent more time wrestling each other than Roman Reigns has spent defending the
04:08 Universal title.
04:10 7.
04:11 Daniel Bryan WWE fans who have started watching wrestling
04:13 in the last 10 years may not know the struggle of loving the style of wrestling that has
04:17 been popularized in WWE by the likes of Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn,
04:22 etc. and only having a pair of wrestlers who wrestle that style at the highest level.
04:26 This is why in 2012 it was so exciting to see Calendar Man Punk and Daniel Bryan paired
04:31 together for a lengthy rivalry.
04:33 Hopefully a rivalry we haven't seen the last of.
04:36 Should this rivalry have involved AJ Lee proposing to CM Punk in the ring or AJ Lee mounting
04:41 Kane who is to say?
04:43 But the quality of work between these two could make any strange narrative choices second
04:47ary.
04:48 They had a number of great matches together but the cream of the crop was certainly their
04:51 match at Over The Limit, a match that perfectly exemplifies the style they were so good at
04:55 and the style that WWE was not yet accustomed to.
04:58 A true technical battle mixed with WWE main event showmanship and the crowd ate it up
05:03 and asked for seconds.
05:05 6.
05:06 Eddie Kingston If you've been watching this greatest rival
05:09 series of lists, you might know that not very often will you see short, one and done rivalries
05:13 featured over longer, overarching narratives.
05:16 Well there is an exception to every rule and in this case it is the AEW rivalry between
05:20 Connor McDavid Punk and Eddie Kingston.
05:23 They get into a backstage argument, they have one promo to sell a match and then they wrestle
05:27 8 days later.
05:28 Sounds pretty standard but what a promo and what a match.
05:32 The rawness of Kingston's words, the fact that effectively Punk was now in the Cena
05:37 position and Eddie in the Punk position from a decade earlier with Punk now judging Eddie
05:42 the same way Cena had judged him.
05:44 All building to one of the most anticipated matches of Full Gear 2021.
05:49 You can really break down every aspect of this fantastic piece of business.
05:53 From Eddie's empty stare during his entrance to Punk's determined march to the ring,
05:57 Eddie's cheap shot before the bell, the sheer "f*ck you" attitude that felt just real
06:02 enough to not be uncomfortable.
06:04 This remains among a lot of people's favorite AEW programs and it was all achieved in less
06:08 than a month.
06:10 5.
06:11 Raven - The uninitiated may think that Ring of Honor was just the home of work rate graps
06:15 and Cornette's mental collapse, but the early days of ROH were also run on some of
06:20 the best storylines and rivalries of the day, including but not limited to this rivalry
06:25 between Charles Martinet Punk and Raven.
06:28 This is a rivalry that was still being heavily referenced on AEW two decades later because
06:32 that is just how influential it has been.
06:35 Punk was fueled by his resentment of Raven for having been given superstardom and lost
06:39 it because of pills and booze.
06:41 The matches they had were incredibly heated, ultra-violent, and extremely personal, with
06:46 Punk and Raven battling in a clockwork house of fun match and a dog-calling match that
06:51 served as an inspiration for Punk's best AEW rivalry, which we may or may not hear
06:55 about later.
06:56 This was the first rivalry of Punk's career to have the amount of substance that fans
06:59 would come to expect out of the straight edge, Chicago-made Punk in the years and promotions
07:04 to come, just like…
07:05 4.
07:06 Jeff Hardy - Higher ups in WWE didn't think that Cold Macaroni Punk could be a heel during
07:11 his early years with the company, proving once and for all that not a single person
07:14 in management watched a moment of his work prior to signing him, but I digress.
07:18 The first chance he had to prove them wrong, he put on the best rivalry of his WWE career
07:23 to that point with Jeff Hardy.
07:25 For the first time, Punk was finally able to sink his teeth into a storyline and what
07:29 did his teeth find but finally, some delicious f***ing food.
07:34 Punk cashed in Money in the Bank on Jeff Hardy to thunderous boos, one year after he cashed
07:38 in on Edge to rapturous applause.
07:41 This change in response was the catalyst for Punk's heel turn, as he said he did nothing
07:45 different but now the fans were choosing someone else over him.
07:48 And not just someone else, but someone who lives a toxic lifestyle while he was pristine
07:53 and straight edge.
07:55 The matches were all great, especially their TLC match at Summerslam 2009, but the real
07:59 essence of this rivalry of the year winner were the promos.
08:03 Punk's "Just Say No" promo, his promo at Night of Champions, Punk's masterclass
08:07 of heel work impersonating Hardy after banishing him from WWE, this was the work that finally
08:12 catapulted Punk into WWE's main event scene.
08:15 I guess he could be a heel, huh guys?
08:17 Number 3, Samoa Joe When people talk about the greatest trilogies
08:21 in wrestling history, there are a number of rivalries that have to come to mind.
08:24 Flair's Steamboat, FTR Brisco's, Rock Austin, Styles Cena, but one that absolutely must
08:30 be among them is Christian McCaffrey Punk and Samoa Joe.
08:34 After his highly personal rivalry with Raven in 2003, Punk had earned top contender status
08:39 for the ROH World Championship in 2004.
08:42 Their trilogy of ROH title matches were the crown jewel in Joe's legendary title reign,
08:47 and yet another beacon drawing eyes onto Ring of Honor at the time.
08:51 It is a bold claim, but I feel comfortable saying that Samoa Joe is CM Punk's greatest
08:55 in-ring rival.
08:56 Two 60 minute draws, the second of which was an honest to god 5 star classic and maybe
09:01 the best match of Punk's career, and the final match where Joe finally defeated Punk
09:05 to retain his title.
09:07 Three magical matches sewn together with incredible chemistry.
09:10 Although I guess that would make them three scientific matches.
09:14 Number 2, John Cena While the summer of Punk circa 2011 ended
09:18 up being about 50% of what it should have been, no one will ever be able to minimize
09:22 the sheer awesomeness that was the Money in the Bank 2011 pay per view cycle.
09:27 When Chuck Mosley Punk sat down on the entrance ramp to air his grievances with John Cena
09:31 and the rest of WWE, he brought a lot of people back to a previously stale WWE product, and
09:37 the response to the now legendary pipe bomb created probably the greatest environment
09:41 for a non-Big 4 WWE pay per view at Money in the Bank.
09:45 I re-watched this match recently, and it is a proper 5 star match and one of the best
09:50 in WWE history comfortably.
09:52 CM Punk, the anti-authority rebel taking on the walking embodiment of WWE was a perfect
09:58 dynamic, whether it be during the summer of 2011 or following Punk's 2012 heel turn,
10:03 with their September 2012 promo in Montreal recapturing the same authenticity that had
10:08 fueled their rivalry the year before.
10:10 Their night of champions draw is severely underrated as another great match between
10:14 them and their final match, you know, the one with the pile driver, perfectly capped
10:18 off their feud with Cena finally getting his win over Punk in the last time they would
10:22 ever come face to face.
10:24 One of the greatest rivalries in WWE since the turn of the century, but for Punk, there
10:28 was one, ah f*** it, you already know what it is.
10:30 Number 1, MJF.
10:32 How do you even sum up the rivalry between Captain Marvel Punk and MJF in a couple hundred
10:37 words?
10:38 The first storyline Punk had in AEW that was longer than a few weeks, this was what everyone
10:42 was hoping for when Punk returned to wrestling after 7 years.
10:45 Yes, the promos were incredible, yes, the matches were incredible, but what this list
10:50 is really about is what the rivalry did for both guys.
10:53 This rivalry was what made MJF a fully formed character, stripping away the layers upon
10:58 layers of heel schtick that had been built up on top of a traumatized young man.
11:03 This was MJF's villain origin story, and the first time we had seen him be more than
11:07 the insult slinging silver tongue devil he had been during the first 3 years of AEW.
11:12 For Punk, this rivalry was a chance for him to confront the consequences of his actions,
11:17 and lord knows it is difficult to write that about CM Punk but work with me here.
11:20 This was a rivalry that delved deeper and deeper into these characters as it went on.
11:25 Where as it started as two of the best talkers in the business throwing excellent barbs at
11:29 one another, it became a story about two damaged individuals coming to grips with where their
11:33 choices had left them, Punk trying to do better, and MJF accepting his role as the villain.
11:39 I believe this to be on the short list of the best wrestling storylines ever told, and
11:43 the best piece of business CM Punk has ever been part of.
11:47 To be continued?
11:48 Question mark?
11:49 And that's our list!
11:50 Make sure of course that you like this video, subscribe, and enable notifications to always
11:53 on so you never miss a fun list just like it, and make sure you check out some of the
11:56 other greatest rivals lists here on PartsFunKnown as well.
11:58 Here's a clip from one above.
12:00 Not every Triple H rivalry was a banger, but when Triple H was on his game, he was able
12:05 to create some of the most memorable moments, matches, and rivalries in WWE history.
12:11 And the latter of which is what we will be talking about today.