Now that Phil “CM Punk” Brooks is a UFC hopeful who mostly makes news for yelling at people about hockey, writing comic books and feuding with one of the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, it’s easy to forget the good times in WWE.
Four years ago today, on July 17, 2011, CM Punk walked into his hometown of Chicago, defeated John Cena and walked out of the arena — and the promotion — as WWE Champion. The main-event of Money in the Bank 2011 followed Punk’s initial, temporarily game-changing “pipebomb” promo as one of the pillars of the SUMMER OF PUNK, a reappropriation of an equally great Ring of Honor storyline in which Punk built himself up as the voice of change, won the company’s biggest prize and walked out the door. It was brilliant, and had folks like Jim Rome openly discussing whether or not pro wrestling was “real” on their sports talk shows.
The followup wasn’t as great — it mostly involved Punk getting beaten up by Kevin Nash and losing to Triple H — but watching Punk’s entrance and exit can still give you goosebumps.
(Today is also the four-year anniversary of Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov defeating The Nexus, if you want to know how much times have changed.)
