5 Superstars WWE tried to erase from the history books
With social media allowing WWE fans to be more connected than ever before, it does not take long for theories to spread about certain Superstars being erased from the company’s history books.
For example, after Roman Reigns pulled out of WrestleMania 36, WWE edited the former Shield member out of a WrestleMania 31 clip that aired on RAW.
While this prompted speculation that he was somehow being punished, Sportskeeda’s Tom Colohue clarified that there was never an issue between WWE and Reigns, and he was only left out of the video because WWE did not want people asking questions about where he is.
That example shows that not every theory about WWE trying to rewrite history is true, but did you know that plenty of Superstars really have been erased from WWE’s history books – sometimes forever, sometimes only for a few years – and their name has not been spoken of again?
In this article, let’s take a look at five Superstars that WWE tried to erase from the history books.
#5 WWE tried to erase CM Punk
CM Punk walked out on WWE in January 2014 following a heated discussion with Triple H and Vince McMahon about his injury problems and concerns that he had about the direction of his character. Since that day, WWE has subtly attempted to erase Punk from the company’s history books on multiple occasions.
One of the first examples of this came in April 2014 when eagle-eyed fans spotted during a WWE Network documentary about The Ultimate Warrior that a sticker had been placed over Punk’s face on a Royal Rumble poster.
In March 2017, WWE risked the wrath of CM Punk’s fans again when a poll on the company’s official website listed The Undertaker’s WrestleMania appearances and the opponent he faced at each event. However, next to WrestleMania 29, Punk’s name was mysteriously absent.
One month later, Brock Lesnar defeated Goldberg at WrestleMania 33 to win the WWE Universal Championship for the first time in his career. This kick-started a 504-day reign for “The Beast”, which meant CM Punk’s modern-era record of 434 days as a WWE World Champion had been broken.
Fast forward to November 2018 and WWE decided to crown a new “Best in the World” at Crown Jewel, with the winner of the WWE World Cup being given the nickname that was used by Punk during his wrestling career.
After Shane McMahon won the trophy and went on to be known as “The Best in the World”, Punk said on the Sauce & Shram podcast that the nickname is likely a dig at him.
"I think he's been calling himself ‘The Best in the World’. And this is the funny thing about the company, is I could say, 'Yeah, that's a little shot at me.' And you know, it probably is, but they'd deny it until the cows come home."
In February 2020, another example of Punk being erased from history emerged after an episode of RAW when WWE’s announcers left his name off the list of people who were going to appear on that week’s WWE Backstage. Punk wrote in a since-deleted tweet that it was “petty” of them to not say his name.