The June 27th 2011 edition of Monday Night Raw was supposed to be business as usual for WWE. John Cena would go out and cut a long promo about “never giving up,” pander to all the 9 year olds in the arena, then wrestle a repetitive match where he’d hit his “5 moves of Doom” and call it a night. What nobody knew, was that by the end of the show, the PG era’s days would be numbered and the “voiceless” would finally get a voice. After a forgettable match between him and R-Truth, John Cena laid in the ring, selling the effects of being driven through a table. Then, CM Punk, who was the new #1 contender to Cena’s WWE Championship grabbed the mic to say a few words. Punk had already announced earlier in the night that he was leaving WWE when his contract expired after the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, but that turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg. What followed is one of the most important promos in wrestling history. Whether it was a “shoot” or not, Punk proceeded to run down WWE on every single level. From John Cena, to executive John Laurinaitis, all the way to the McMahon family. He criticized WWE for not pushing him harder. He name dropped ROH, his friend Colt Cabana, and New Japan Pro Wrestling. He called Hulk Hogan and The Rock (or Dwayne as he referred to him) “ass kissers,” proclaimed himself as “The Best in the World,” and so much more epic stuff. However, the truly awesome and controversial part was when he said that he’d like to think WWE would be better after Vince McMahon‘s death, but that sadly his “idiotic” daughter (Stephanie McMahon) and “doofus” son-in-law (Triple H) would take it over. Punk’s mic would be cut off when he started to criticize WWE‘s anti-bullying campaign, but by that point he had already become a hero to millions of wrestling fans across the world.
