Punk faced off against two of the toughest talkers in the business and managed to silence them both with his impeccable verbal skills. Bear with my baseball analogy as we dive in.
Following his explosive pipebomb promo, the anticipation for the Money In The Bank event in Chicago was at an all-time high. Punk was set to go head-to-head with John Cena in a match loaded with high stakes. The storyline was simple yet electrifying: if Punk emerged victorious, he’d walk away from WWE with the championship title, and John Cena would lose his job.
In a desperate attempt to keep Punk onboard, Vince McMahon decided to personally step in, offering him a new contract during a live segment on Monday Night Raw, just days before the big event. True to form, Vince was haughty and full of himself, but Punk quickly reminded him of who really held the upper hand.
During the negotiations, Punk didn’t hold back. He laid it all out, even got Vince to agree to bring back WWE ice cream bars (a nostalgic demand we can all get behind!), and delivered this zinger: “Vince, I’ll kick you where it hurts, and you’ll grin at me, actually enjoy it, and show me some respect!”
As things heated up, Cena made his entrance and Punk’s patience snapped when Cena accused him of losing focus. Punk didn’t hesitate to dish out some hard truths about Cena’s status in the wrestling scene: the 10-time champion, who used to be the ultimate underdog, had somehow turned into his own worst nightmare. Cena, once like his beloved Red Sox, had become the sporting equivalent of the despised New York Yankees. See? Baseball makes its way back into the conversation.
Cena wasn’t thrilled with this comparison and retaliated with a punch, nudging Punk to retreat to the spot where he delivered his original iconic pipebomb weeks earlier. There, seated on the ramp, Punk threw down the gauntlet:
“I’m actually thankful you knocked me in the face, John… because it was like a wake-up call, reminding me exactly why I’m ready to leave. I’m over this entire scene. I’m over you. I’m just over it all.”
And with that, Punk laid out the stakes for Sunday’s showdown: bidding farewell to the WWE title, goodbye to John Cena, and his own goodbye from WWE.
BOOM. That’s how you sell a storyline and create an unmissable event, right in front of who Punk likened to the George Steinbrenner and Derek Jeter of WWE. More baseball references, of course! While this performance often gets overshadowed by the initial pipebomb, many would argue it’s equally impactful. And undeniably epic.
