How CM Punk Wrestled With The Flu To Put On A WWE Raw Classic With John Cena
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There is little denying just how good of a professional wrestler CM Punk is. Climbing the ranks to become one of the most over WWE wrestlers of the 2010s with a selection of great matches was impressive enough, but after taking seven years away from the business, he returned in 2021 just as good as he was back then, and at times even better. One example of his huge talents is just how well he managed to perform when things weren’t going his way, for instance when he had the flu during a Monday Night Raw episode in which he and John Cena produced one of the best matches in the red brand’s entire history.
CM Punk Had A Lot Of Creative Frustrations Going Into His Match With John Cena
Going into 2013, CM Punk was on a record-breaking reign as WWE Champion, though this came to an end at the Royal Rumble PPV as he dropped the belt to part-time attraction, The Rock. This was met with a mixed reception, as it seemed to predictably set up an unwanted WrestleMania rematch between The Rock and John Cena. For someone like Punk, who had been carrying the title picture and having great matches over the previous year, this felt like a big slap in the face to the “Best in the World”.
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Punk’s frustrations with decisions like this bled into what would eventually cause him to walk out of WWE the following year, with his snub from the main event of WrestleMania being something that was a massive shame. It must be noted though, that despite The Rock and John Cena closing out WrestleMania, Punk believed himself to have the true main event of the evening against The Undertaker, explaining on Barstool’s My Mom’s Basement podcast, “I was a f*cking man possessed, and I somehow simultaneously didn’t give a f*ck and cared way too much at the same time. And I went out there and I absolutely destroyed it. And they couldn’t follow me, no matter what they said. People still to this day will be like, ‘Oh you never main evented WrestleMania.’ And I say yes I did.” (h/t Cageside Seats)
As evidenced by this explanation, Punk’s attitude to his booking didn’t stop him from putting in the best performances he possibly could, whether that be out of spite, pride, or professionalism. Punk had every reason to be annoyed heading into WrestleMania season, especially since he was booked once again to lose against John Cena. However, he didn’t let this get in the way of his performance, nor did he allow a bout of flu to affect it either.
CM Punk And John Cena Had One Of WWE Raw’s Best Ever Matches
On the February 25th episode of Raw in 2013, Cena and Punk went head-to-head in a number one contenders match to take on The Rock at WrestleMania. It was a predictable encounter for sure, but the pair managed to add a lot of doubt by putting on one hell of a match, which offered a candidate for the match of the year.
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Punk and Cena went back and forth for nearly half an hour, trading big moves and displaying the unteachable chemistry that they had together. Punk would even pull out the banned piledriver, which added even more to this match, making it feel like one with high stakes. In the end, Cena won, but the unfavorable result didn’t distract from this classic. The match was even more impressive when finding out that Punk was ill during it.
CM Punk Wrestled A Classic With The Flu
Jim Ross revealed on his blog shortly after the match took place that Punk had been taken ill prior to the match, and had to battle through the flu in order to put on the match with Cena, explaining, “Punk was working with the flu and hampered by jet lag from a long flight to Dallas from Istanbul on the last day of a grueling, three day international tour.” (h/t Cageside Seats)
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When looking at the matches that Punk had during this week on cagematch.net, the schedule he had would have taken a toll anyway, even without the flu. Within one week, Punk traveled from the US to Qatar to Turkey and then back to the US, all whilst sick and taking bumps on most nights. The schedule of a WWE superstar is one of the most demanding in the entire industry, and everyone must be commended on what they put their bodies through. Punk didn’t allow this or his creative angst to get in the way though, as he produced one of, if not arguably his best ever in-ring performance in WWE.
