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CM Punk may be established as a top star in WWE right now, but things were not very easy for him during his early beginnings in the promotion. He was just another mid card, and he was mostly working on mid card Matches and competing for mid card titles like the WWE Intercontinental Championship. It is believed that the motion always had big plans for him.
Things started to change for CM Punk after he won the Money in the Bank ladder match in 2008, and he cashed it in on Edge in an episode of RAW to win the World Heavyweight Championship. In 2009, he won the Money in the Bank Ladder match again, becoming the first and only wrestler in the history of WWE to win to Money in the Bank ladder matches.
CM Punk looks back at his rivalry with Jeff Hardy
From his second Money in the Bank cash in, things started to change for him, and he became a concrete main eventer in WWE. He went on to cash it in at the Extreme Rules event of 2009 on Jeff Hardy, who just defeated Edge in a Ladder match to win his first world title. This cash in started an amazing rivalry between the two, and it also marked the slow progress of the heel turn of CM Punk.
CM Punk and Jeff Hardy had an epic rivalry in 2009
At the Night of Champions event, Punk dropped the Championship back to Jeff Hardy only to win it back from him again on the main event of SummerSlam in a TLC match. Punk ultimately became one of the biggest heels of WWE by the time. Recently Punk remembered this rivalry with Jeff Hardy and discussed the importance of it while speaking on a recent episode of “WWE Break It Down.” he said;
“This is a big moment for me. Sold out the Staples Center, and for that time in my career that was a bit of a feather in my cap. Me versus Jeff. Jeff being a superstar in a position above me, helped elevate me.
The rivalry was for the World Heavyweight Championship
“And I got to talk, which was obviously my bread and butter, but if nobody knows, nobody knows. So this was my real first exercise in being able to show people that I can captivate and draw you in emotionally with just my words, and this I think kinda leveled me up a little bit.”
“[laughs] My confidence level, at any point in my career, it was always way too high, 100%. You couldn’t — in the best, most respectful way possible, you couldn’t tell me s*. I was given the chip and I ran with it, and I did some of the best work at that point of my career.” said the present WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
