Was CM Punk's Heel Turn In 2012 Actually Bad?

WrestleMania 27 was an agonizing experience and surely one for the history books, undoubtedly in the category of one of the worst WrestleMania events of all time. Even the inclusion of the Rock did nothing to bolster the abysmal show and unfortunately, the aftermath was even worse.

On the RAW after WrestleMania, Rock and Cena agreed to a match at the next WrestleMania and at the very next PPV, Extreme Rules, the leader of Cenation reclaimed the WWE title from the Miz.

He then went on to defeat R-Truth and declared that he would hold onto the title until WrestleMania 28 as the showdown between him and Rock definitely needed all the help it could get.

RELATED: How WWE Got The Best Summer Of Punk (& How Ring Of Honor Did)

Fans were already dreading the worst but then CM Punk, who had announced that his contract was due to expire at Money in the Bank, sat on the ramp and unleashed a pipebomb of epic proportions.

The Summer Of Punk Ended As Soon As It Began

Suddenly, WWE was entertaining and Punk carried the feud on his back and Cena did his part by dropping the title to Punk at Money in the Bank 2011. The storyline and the match itself was the true breakthrough for CM Punk who had finally grasped the brass ring and was now a star, alongside John Cena. The summer of Punk had begun yet again.

The Summer of Punk redux lasted for a grand total of two months and as soon as Kevin Nash got involved, the entire angle went click. Triple H then feuded with Kevin Nash. Awesome Truth got involved and somehow started with a feud with the duo of Rock and Cena because why not.

CM Punk was left alone and while he suffered the onslaught of horrendous booking decisions, the voice of the voiceless would go on to capture the WWE title from Alberto Del Rio at Survivor Series 2011.

CM Punk would embark on a historic title reign as he held onto the belt for 434 days, the sixth-longest reign in the history of the company and he did well for himself, often putting up the best matches on the events while Cena wrestled in the headlining acts but that was not too bad. Punk was doing his own thing and he was seen as the second biggest face in the company behind Cena.

Then, Punk turned heel in the 1000th episode of RAW and everything he had built up in the past year came crashing down. The self-proclaimed voice of the voiceless and the second biggest babyface in the company was now just another sacrificial lamb. Why? Vince McMahon said he would owe him one, that’s why.

After knocking out Jerry Lawler for cheap heat, Punk whined and complained and ducked his upcoming challengers instead of taking them on as he used to do before. He was just another generic heel looking to hold onto the belt by any means necessary and he constantly rambled on and on about being overshadowed and disrespected by the likes of Cena and Rock. The brutal highlight of this heel turn occurred on the RAW 10/09/2012 and served as a final nail in the coffin.

Cena was alongside Bret Hart at Montreal, trying to get a cheap pop from the crowd due to association with a legend like Hart but Punk took exception to Hart calling him a phony and came out with the intent to clear his good name.

For the next 10 minutes, Cena tore into Punk viciously, deeming him and his title reign irrelevant, and also called him a phony, as Punk had done to him earlier. Surprisingly, Punk, who had bested Cena each time on the microphone, had no answer and instead resorted to making fun of Cena for speaking the "language of the locals". Yes, this was CM Punk, who at one point was the best talker in the business.

RELATED: 5 Reasons Why CM Punk Is A Better Heel (& 5 Why He’s A Better Babyface)

Regardless, CM Punk managed to retain his title against Cena and Ryback, enlisting the help of the Shield and Brad Maddox and this all served as a warm-up to Rock coming back and ending the terror of CM Punk.

Punk Was Sacrificed To Make Cena Vs. Rock Bigger

On the July 1, 2013 episode of RAW, Punk claimed that his persona of a rebel hell-bent on starting a revolution was a mere façade so that people would cheer for him. Having said that, Punk went on a bizarre rant about how he did not need the people to cheer for him and that he had squashed them under his oppressive boot, rambling on and on about the fans not being able to win.

This was the last straw and everything CM Punk had preached about in the year prior was stripped away, and by the man himself. Predictably, Punk would go on to lose the title to Rock at the Royal Rumble as 'Twice in a Lifetime' definitely needed a title on the line.

The last thing Punk had attached to his character was his superiority over Cena, but even that dissolved when his rival beat him clean on an episode of RAW with the title shot against the Rock hanging on the line. This was after Cena had won the Royal Rumble.

The Summer of Punk had a number of blunders, but his subsequent heel was a massive mistake with no redeeming takeaways whatsoever