#2 – CM Punk
If you add up his three runs as World Heavyweight Champion, and his two runs as WWE Champion, CM Punk was a reigning, defending world’s champion for over a quarter of the entire PG Era (~28.4%). Outside of his training in the ECW promotion, Punk’s entire main roster career took place during the PG Era. In fact, if you concede that it began in 2008 with the PG branding, and ended somewhere in late 2013, or early 2014 with an influx of new talent and a new company direction, the entire Era truly rose and fell based on Punk’s employment with the WWE.
Outside of our #1 pick, there was nobody more loved and/or hated by the WWE Universe than CM Punk for the past six years. Two Money in the Bank cash-ins, a run as tag team champion, Intercontinental Champion, ECW Champion, his crowd-sourced natural rise to popularity not unlike Daniel Bryan… Let’s not forget the Straight Edge Society, rivalries with Rey Mysterio, Big Show and Randy Orton. I suppose we can forget the New Nexus, but then you start getting into his real time in the main event of Monday Night Raw.
Punk’s feud with John Cena will go down as one of the best ever. Their match at Money in the Bank was the single greatest WWE wrestling match of the PG Era, or the era prior. They are polar opposites – one a brightly colored, merchandise-covered company man, and the other a grungy, black-hoodie-wearing anti-establishment figure. It was Superman and Voldemort. A weird comparison, but Punk certainly is not Lex Luther, and to call him The Joker implies that Cena is Batman, which he is not. Maybe it was Batman vs. Superman? I don’t know…
Either way, CM Punk reigns as the #2 pick on our list. I bet you can’t guess who’s next…
