CM Punk vs John Cena
WWE Money in the Bank — July 17, 2011 · Allstate Arena, Chicago, IL
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The Story
CM Punk won the WWE Championship in his hometown of Chicago and, with his contract expiring, left the company holding the title. It was the payoff to the "pipebomb" summer that had reinvigorated WWE, and it delivered on a level almost no modern main event has matched.
The context made it electric. Punk had shredded the fourth wall on live TV, threatening to walk out with the belt when his deal ran out. So when he stepped into the Allstate Arena against company standard-bearer John Cena, nobody in the building — or watching at home — was certain how it would end. The belt, and Punk's entire future, felt genuinely up for grabs.
The rabid crowd turned every exchange into an event, and the two answered with pitch-perfect near-falls that pushed the tension to breaking point. Punk's win, followed by his escape through the crowd with the championship, remains the defining moment of his WWE run and one of the most beloved matches of the 2010s.