15 pro wrestling bookings that went horribly wrong

5. CM Punk leaves WWE with WWE Championship, then returns a week later; 2011

These days, there’s no relationship between WWE and CM Punk, but when Punk was with the company toward the end of his run, he finally got his chance to shine — and boy, did he ever.

Punk left the company in early 2014 after frustrations with the brass, but in 2011, nobody in wrestling was hotter than him. Punk threatened to leave WWE when his contract was coming to an end and when he became the No. 1 contender to the WWE title, he threatened to take the title with him, too.

At the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Punk did just that. He defeated Cena in a legitimate five-star match in the main event at Allstate Arena, hopped in a cab and took the title back to his actual home in Chicago. It was perfect.

What followed afterward was completely stupid. Punk beating Cena again at SummerSlam made sense to become the undisputed champion. But then, Kevin Nash took out Punk and Alberto Del Rio cashed in the Money in the Bank briefcase he won when Punk won the title to take the gold.

Punk and Del Rio would have a fantastic match at Survivor Series where Punk won the gold back, but Punk winning the gold, then coming back after a week away on hiatus and then losing to Triple H in a match that had been building since SummerSlam was completely idiotic. The hottest star in the company losing to a guy that wasn’t a full-time performer anymore was pointless.

WWE had a golden chance (literally) to turn CM Punk into a massive superstar, even bigger than he already was. Despite his strongest efforts, Punk would gain some of the steam he had back down the line, but there was a lot about his “Best in the World” run that could’ve been much better.