CM Punk is the WWE Champion. You’d think that the wrestler holding the federation’s top prize is meant to be their best guy. Under said assumption, it would make sense for the reigning champion to put his belt on the line in the final match of each consecutive pay-per-view event. That has not been the case for Punk’s ongoing title reign. In fact, quite the opposite has held true. It wouldn’t be as bad if Punk and the current World Heavyweight Champion were taking turns closing shows, but sadly that has not been the case either.
During this WWE Championship run Punk has defeated wrestlers such as The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, Chris Jericho, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, Daniel Bryan, Kane, John Cena, Big Show, Ryback, and more. That’s quite the list of challengers. After an entire calendar year as WWE Champion, Punk’s title matches have closed a grand total of 4 pay-per-view events. That’s 33.3% of the year. Out of the 8 remaining shows we have seen other matches closing the shows. Some which make sense, while others leave one wondering why they went on last and the WWE Championship match did not. The Royal Rumble closing the show named after it makes sense. So does the dream match a year in the making of John Cena facing The Rock at Wrestlemania 28.
Then we have strange choices for closing matches. Why did Brock Lesnar VS Triple H go on last at Summerslam? How about John Cena VS Kane in an Ambulance Match going on last at Elimination Chamber? What about Big Show VS John Cena in a non-title match closing No Way Out? Finally, my personal least favorite…. Over The Limit 2012. CM Punk had a WWE Championship match against Daniel Bryan that had all the makings of a main event. Instead John Cena facing John Laurinaitis went on last. Why in the world would they have a match featuring a general manager go on last rather than the WWE Champion defending the federation’s top belt? That was by a landslide the lowest point in CM Punk’s current reign in my opinion. It made the belt as well as Punk not feel important. Punk having been WWE Champion for over 365 days would feel like a much bigger deal if he had been closing more shows. The world titles need to go on last, Ric Flair even said so himself.
-Dagger Dias, Forums Moderator
