Rivalry Rewind #1: CM Punk vs. John Cena

Hello Boomers and welcome to the new series, Rivalry Rewind.  The series will aim to follow the biggest rivalries in the history of the WWE, and will run every Friday for the next ten weeks, so plenty to get excited about.  This week we look at the rivalry between 'The Best in the World' CM Punk and the 'Cenation Leader' John Cena, which lasted for almost 2 years.

In the Summer of 2011 John Cena was the reigning WWE Champion and was the premiere target of The Nexus, lead by no other than CM Punk.  Punk had recently seen of superstars such as Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio but wanted more, he wanted to defeat Cena and prove he was better than the man who had been ruling the roost for the past 6 years.  On 27th June 2011, CM Punk made his presence known when he interrupted John Cena's match with R-Truth, and cut the most popular promo in wrestling history, one which caught the attention on millions worldwide.  After much persistence Punk finally got the match he so desired, a WWE Title bout with John Cena at Money in the Bank.....in Chicago.  When CM Punk made his much anticipated hometown entrance he received thunderous applause, where as Cena was booed so viciously that an escape car was set in place for 'John Boy' if a quick exit was required.  After 33 minutes of action, Punk pinned Cena and won the WWE Title, only to exit through the crowd and leave the company belt in hand.

With the WWE Universe believing Punk to be gone, John Cena defeated Rey Mysterio on July 25th to win the new WWE Championship on Raw, only for Punk to return with a new theme song to an unsuspecting crowd.  The two would then meet at Summerslam in August in a Title vs. Title match, in which Punk would once again win, only for Alberto Del Rio to successfully cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase to close the show.

Punk and Cena would next meet one-on-one on Raw 1000, July 23rd 2012, for the WWE Title, which Punk regained from Del Rio 8 months earlier, when Cena cashed in his recently won the MITB briefcase.  This match would feature interference from the Big Show and The Rock and go to a DQ finish, with Punk turning heel in the process by taking out the Rock with a GTS.  This was the first time in which Punk would truly be booed during a WWE Title match.  After a triple threat match at Summerslam, also involving the Big Show, John Cena was not satisfied at ending his rivalry with Punk on another loss, and challenged the Best in the World to a match at Night of Champions in September.  This match would end in a draw with Punk keeping the Title and sending the crowd into an angry frenzy.  After Punk's 435 Title reign came to an end, John Cena would face off with Punk one last time, on an episode of Raw in March 2013, in which the Cenation leader finally got the victory, but it was too little to late.  Cena may have won the final battle but Punk won the war, and didn't the whole world know about it.

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