The rivalry between CM Punk and Kevin Nash never came to fruition in 2011 yet birthed another one of the greatest rivalries ever.
The year 2011 was an eventful year for CM Punk as he had finally made a breakthrough as the main event talent. Punk’s career took off after he cut oh-so-controversial promos on the mic. Fans developed a liking for Punk because of the veracity of his character. The infamous “pipebombs” segments are to this day remembered as one of Punk’s best works in pro wrestling.
It was SummerSlam on 2011, CM Punk was scheduled to defend his WWE Championship against John Cena. After successfully emerging as the victor, Punk was ambushed by WWE legend Kevin Nash who came in from the crowd and delivered a Jackknife Powerbomb to Punk. Shortly after, Alberto Del Rio who was Mr. Money in the Bank at the time capitalized on the opportunity and cashed in his contract.
Del Rio walked out that night as the new WWE Champion. This led to a feud between Punk and the “Big daddy Cool” Kevin Nash. Nash had made his return to WWE after almost a decade. Fans witnessed one of the most compelling storylines involving Punk, Nash, and Triple H. On an episode of Monday Night Raw, the Straight-Edge crusader demanded a match between him and Nash at the PPV event of Night of Champions.
The match was made official by the then COO of the company, Triple H. Week after week, the trio engaged in contentious storylines in the ring building up the hype for the upcoming match at Night of Champions. WWE even advertised Punk verse Nash and the stage was set. However, Nash was abruptly taken out of the picture and replaced by Triple H.
Why was the match between Punk and Nash nixed?
One of the most anticipated matches between the WWE legend Diesel and Punk at the Night of Champions 2011 never came to fruition due to Nash’s real-life health problem. Nash explained his disappearance on PWTorch.com.
According to Nash, he was medically unclear to wrestle because of a drug he was taking for preventative health care.
He stated, “I never went into it and WWE never went into it because of the privacy issue. What happened was, because of the wellness program…”
Due to Nash’s health condition, Triple H injected himself into the match and faced Punk in a No Disqualification match. The match went back and forth and was full of surprise interferences from R Truth and The Miz. Despite having delivered each other’s finishers multiple times, both men kicked out at two every time. Surprisingly, Nash returned once again from the crowd and attacked both Punk and The Game.
However, Nash’s interference made no sense as later Triple H beat Punk by hitting the final pedigree and picking up the victory. Although Punk and Nash never got the chance to settle their rivalry, it paved the way for yet another great rivalry between HHH and CM Punk.
