How I Would Book… Wrestlemania 29 [Part 4] – CM Punk vs Undertaker

Alright, so here’s the very last installment in this particular How I Would Book. Firstly, make sure you check out the first three parts first before reading this last scenario as I do mention a few things related to those posts…

Part 1 – CM Punk vs The Rock vs John Cena

Part 2 – CM Punk vs Ryback

Part 3 – The Rock vs Ryback

Also do check out DenkOps “What If” video related to this particular scenario. He does a great job illustrating the storyline with WWE 2K15 and do check that out below.

In the last three parts, we’ve looked at a number of alternative main event matches for Wrestlemania 29. We’ve looked at scenarios like triple threat matches, CM Punk’s historic WWE title reign ending at the event and even Ryback walking out of the event. Now we’ve got to do ONE MORE scenario. And believe it or not, it’s actually an idea that the writers were toying with to end the show.

This is actually a match that ended up appearing on the show anyway, but it could have a totally different meaning if this idea were to have come to fruition. This match could have actually main-evented the show with the WWE Championship at stake. That’s right. CM Punk’s title reign as WWE title would continue to Wrestlemania, where he would put the title on the line against the legendary Wrestlemania streak of the Undertaker…

There’s actually NOT a lot to say about this particular main event. CM Punk would be riding high at I think 500 days or so as WWE Champion heading into Wrestlemania. He is clearly the top heel in the company on top of his game, having beaten the likes of John Cena, Chris Jericho and Daniel Bryan. And with this theory, he’ll obviously go over The Rock at the Royal Rumble which makes his title reign even more historic. Like I’ve mentioned before, The Rock’s loss at the Royal Rumble would be caused by John Cena leading into their rematch at the same event. The only difference is that CM Punk and Undertaker would be for the title and NOT Cena vs Rock II.

Undertaker on the other hand extended his Wrestlemania streak to 20-0 and may feel that he doesn’t have much else to prove. Then he sees Punk with his historic title reign and would seek to challenge. Eventually, we’ll get Undertaker putting up his undefeated streak against CM Punk’s WWE title. “Streak vs Title” has a nice ring to it don’t you think?

Undertaker challenging Punk for the title would happen in one of two ways:

Firstly, someone OTHER than Undertaker or John Cena would win the Royal Rumble match and challenge the World Heavyweight Champion, while CM Punk would retain his WWE title against The Rock. This would lead to CM Punk retaining the title to at Elimination Chamber but his celebrations would be cut short by the Deadman, who’d tombstone Punk and pose with his title. Undertaker or Punk would make the challenge for Mania and you have your match.

While this one would prevent Undertaker from working as much and keep him fresh for their Mania match, whoever were to end the WWE title reign of CM Punk SHOULD really be the one who wins the Royal Rumble. Having Taker just call Punk out on RAW doesn’t have the same effect. Which brings me to scenario number two…

Undertaker would return to win the Royal Rumble. While from a business-standpoint, announcing Undertaker’s participation beforehand would be the ideal solution. However, with The Rock already being the main attraction of the card, promoting Undertaker would seem rather pointless. Hype up The Rock challenging for the WWE title and keep Undertaker a surprise. Plus, it adds to the mystique of his character by having him shocking the WWE universe in this manner.

He’s the surprise #30 entrant or something and is part of the final three between himself, John Cena and Ryback. Ryback would eliminate Cena and Cena would look really down. He’s a lost a chance to potentially get his redemption back by beating The Rock after being eliminated Ryback. Cena goes to back knowing there’s only one way for him to get his redemption now. And of course, you know where that would lead to. Cena costs The Rock the title later on that night. But back to the Rumble, we’re down to Ryback and The Undertaker.

I personally think the fans would be popping for this. Feed Me More Chants, Let’s Go Taker. There’s a lot going for both these for this final two to be even more impactful. These two clobber each other and somehow, Taker eliminates Ryback. I think that makes Ryback stand out even more than he did in the real Royal Rumble match of 2013. He’s just eliminated John Cena and it took the Undertaker of all people to eliminate him. But the end-game of all of this is having Undertaker go over. Punk retains later on and we’ve got our main event already set. What happens next?

Now, it would be OK for Taker to be away from TV for a while. He shows up on RAW maybe and the first shots are fired between him or Punk. He chokeslams Punk or whatever, unsettling the champion. Punk is a little rocked by it, but he has to focus on the Elimination Chamber. Whether he’s in the Elimination Chamber or he’s in another match or whatever, Punk walks out the champion. At the end of the night, Taker comes back to try and attack Punk. However, Punk reverses and hits the GTS. Punk had Taker scouted and it makes Punk looks just as strong as he’s ready for anything Undertaker can throw at him.

And not a lot else needs to be said. There would already be a lot going with this feud as it is. CM Punk’s WWE title and Undertaker’s streak are both on the line. And to be honest, Paul Bearer’s real-life death gives WWE even more to work with. As much as I’d hate to bring real-life incidents into storylines, it’s just another thing to add that will give this main event match even more meaning. Now to the match…

I would ABSOLUTELY book Undertaker to win. For Undertaker it’s the good-feel Rocky Balboa like ending which sees the old-timer making one last comeback to win the WWE title from the seemingly unbeatable WWE Champion. However, there would obviously a bit of an issue with Undertaker winning the title. Undertaker’s not exactly in the best of conditions in this particular part of his career. Yeah he was able to do the matches with The Shield and Dean Ambrose later on in the month, but WWE now has a champion who’s unable to do a full-time schedule. Having Taker drop the belt back to Punk the next night on RAW would really take away from the Wrestlemania match in the first place if Punk is just going to win it back a day later.

WWE could do what they would end up doing with Brock Lesnar and have the WWE title not be defended until an event like Summerslam. But five PPVs or so with the title NOT being defended really wouldn’t be great for business. I would go with having Undertaker dropping the belt to somebody ELSE at Extreme Rules and Taker leave after that. Not to dispute Punk’s claim for a title shot, but what’s the point in him winning the title again a month later after the longest title reign in the modern era? Also, according to Punk, he’s really banged-up post Wrestlemania. So with Punk taking time off anyway, you’d have to think of someone else that could win the title.

I could go through an alternate scenario of if CM Punk WERE to break the streak, but I think I’m going to leave that for a future post and call it a day.

That’s it for this particular series. Again, not to knock the Rock vs Cena II main event completely, but it really lacks the Wrestlemania-feel ending like the rest of these scenarios do. Whether’s it’s one more title run for Undertaker, the emergence of Ryback as the newest face of the WWE or the end of CM Punk’s historic title reign, these four hopefully provided a number of main events that would have been talked about a lot more than Rock vs Cena II.

Do vote in the poll over what YOU think should have been the main event of Wrestlemania. And please comment or tweet @ArmbarExpress with your thoughts on this particular series!

NOTE: The (c) in the poll below indicates who the champion walking into the match is. E.g. CM Punk (c) vs Undertaker would have CM Punk entering as champion.