CM Punk vs. The Undertaker: An Underappreciated WrestleMania Classic
As I write this, we are in the midst of what is truly the ‘new normal’ of a week-long plus WrestleMania event that goes from one Monday all the way through to the following Tuesday night. This year the proceedings feature the go-home edition of RAW, both the 2020 and 2021 Hall of Fame ceremonies, a special two-night edition of NXT TakeOver, a special WrestleMania SmackDown, two nights of WrestleMania itself, the fabled RAW after WrestleMania, and finally the first Tuesday night edition of NXT. That’s not even mentioning all the other wrestling events including NXT UK, AEW, IMPACT, Ring of Honor, and many others. It’s become an endurance test for wrestling fans so what better time to look back at WrestleMania’s past and relive one of the most underrated and underappreciated classics from the 36-year history of the event, in this case, the WrestleMania 29 bout between The Undertaker and CM Punk.
Background
At the beginning of 2013, CM Punk was in the midst of his record-breaking 434-day reign as WWE Champion. As Vince McMahon was apparently dead set on having the big WrestleMania rematch between John Cena and The Rock be for the WWE Championship, The Rock would go on to defeat Punk for the title at the Royal Rumble, albeit in clumsy booking fashion that saw Punk retain the title, only for The Rock to be allowed to have the match restarted and ending the reign with the People’s Elbow. Punk would receive a rematch at Elimination Chamber for the title and the opportunity to finally main event the Show of Shows, but would again fall short. In one final effort to realize his dream of main eventing WrestleMania, CM Punk would challenge that year’s Royal Rumble winner, John Cena, in a match to determine the number one contendership for The Rock’s WWE Championship. Another absolute classic between the two would ensue in what Punk would later call his favorite match in WWE, but again Punk would fall just short. In an interesting twist, the longstanding rumor has been that both Rock and Cena wanted Punk to be a part of the match in a Triple Threat but Vince McMahon himself was adamantly against the idea. As a consolation prize, Punk was given a match that many consider being as important as the main event, some years even more so. He would battle The Undertaker, who was coming off of four straight years of show-stealing matches with Shawn Michaels and Triple H. The vaunted undefeated streak had been built up to 20-0 and now the longest reigning World Champion of the modern era was looking to end it.
The March 4th edition of Monday Night RAW would see a fatal four-way match to determine who would challenge The Dead Man at WrestleMania, featuring Sheamus, Big Show, CM Punk, and Randy Orton. Punk would be victorious, allowing for a month-long build to WrestleMania on April 7th. The day following RAW, however, William Moody, better known to fans as Paul Bearer, would tragically pass away from a heart attack. By all accounts one of the most beloved figures in the history of the industry, a decision was made to incorporate his death into the storyline as a tribute to a man who would have wanted it that way.
The following week as The Undertaker paid tribute to the memory of his fallen friend in the middle of the ring, CM Punk would interrupt the ceremony, cementing his status as a full-blown heel in this feud. As an agitated Undertaker stood in the ring, Punk would extend his heartfelt apologies…for The Undertaker’s loss at WrestleMania. Later that night, Kane would defeat Punk but Punk would get the last laugh when he stole the mythical urn and smashed it into the back of Kane’s head before hightailing it when Taker made his way to the ring. Over the following weeks, Punk with Paul Heyman by his side would continually mock the memory of Bearer. This would all come to a head on the go-home show of RAW before WrestleMania when Paul Heyman would appear dressed as Paul Bearer with the urn and a group of druids. The Undertaker would begin to attack the druids only to be jumped by Punk who was disguised. He would attack Taker with the urn before finally pouring out the ashes inside all over the Dead Man. Simply put, there was no match at WrestleMania 29 with a better build.
On a 2015 edition of Chael Sonnen’s You’re Welcome podcast, while discussing the Streak and how it had ended the year prior at that point, Heyman revealed he originally tried to have CM Punk be the one to defeat The Undertaker at WrestleMania.
“No, I’m a total heel in this situation. I actually, I actually pitched it for Punk when it was Punk versus Undertaker at MetLife Stadium. Because I thought it was the only thing that was gonna keep Punk from eventually leaving WWE. Because even before that match he was itching to get out and I figured ‘Hey, listen, if they give you this, you get this victory you need to stay awhile to let them capitalize on it ya know?’ But that idea didn’t come to fruition and then of course the stars were just aligned for it to be Brock.”
On a personal note, as a die-hard Undertaker fan who held the Streak as the last semblance inside of me of that child who fell in love with professional wrestling, there were only two times that I felt it made sense to end the Streak. Those of course are Randy Orton at WrestleMania 21 before the Streak had truly become the juggernaut it had and then the WrestleMania 29 match with CM Punk. In fact, while watching the match, it was the only time I truly felt okay with the ending of the Streak as the idea of what Punk and Heyman could do with the momentum sparked a ridiculous number of ideas. Alas, we all know it was not meant to be and as Heyman said, the stars aligned for Brock to end the Streak. Whether or not that was a good idea is an argument for another day. Following the emotional and intensely personal build, it was now up to Punk and Taker to live up to the hype.
The Match
Played to the ring by rock legends Living Colour playing “Cult of Personality” CM Punk and Paul Heyman made their way to the ring before a reported crowd of 80,676 people in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium (despite Vince McMahon’s insistence that they were in New York.) As The Undertaker made one of his more interesting entrances, appearing to rise out of Hell itself as the hands of the Creatures of the Night tried to pull him back, Punk would stand in the ring and then at ringside, playing with the urn as he continued his torment of the Undertaker. The two would put on a match that would later receive 4 ½ stars from Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer, making it the highest-rated match on the card, despite being third from the top in the card’s placement. The two put on a rollercoaster ride of a match where it truly did feel like the Streak was in jeopardy on more than one occasion. One particularly brutal spot to take in is when Punk attempts an elbow drop from the top rope to Taker on the Spanish announce table, coming just short with the table not breaking, taking much of the impact on his mid-section.
The match would come to an end following a spot where Punk bashed the urn into Undertaker’s head to reverse an attempt at the Last Ride powerbomb. The crowd actually seemed split between Taker and Punk as a series of reversals to both the Go 2 Sleep and the Tombstone finally resulted in a second Tombstone for the final victory in the Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak before it would be broken the following year by another charge of Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar.
An oft-forgotten classic in The Undertaker’s Streak simply because it would follow the much more publicized series of matches with Shawn Michaels and Triple H, sandwiched between those and the end of the Streak at WrestleMania 30. Perhaps not forgotten, but certainly under-appreciated, CM Punk vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania 29 is truly the last great match for The Undertaker at WrestleMania.
