David Dermer/Associated Press

CM Punk Posts WWE's WrestleMania 30 Booking Sheet Showing Triple H Match

Mike Chiari

CM Punk posted confirmation Friday of some long-rumored matches that were scheduled to take place at WrestleMania 30 nearly six years ago.

As seen in the following set of screenshots courtesy of Pro Wrestling Sheet's Ryan Satin, Punk found the official booking sheet for WrestleMania 30 while cleaning. The card WWE settled on and the one that was originally proposed were quite different:

Of the seven matches listed on the card Punk posted, only two of them came to fruition: The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar and John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt.

The other five—Punk vs. Triple H, Randy Orton vs. Batista, Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus, Big Show vs. Kane and Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose—were either altered slightly or changed completely.

Punk left WWE after the 2014 Royal Rumble, and during an interview on The Art of Wrestling with then-friend Colt Cabana several months later, Punk expressed frustration over the fact that he was supposed to face The Game.

With Punk gone, WWE called an audible by adhering to the fans' demands and putting Bryan in the title scene. Bryan faced Triple H in the WrestleMania 30 opener, with the winner going on to face both Orton and Batista for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event.

Bryan beat Triple H and then defeated both Orton and Batista to win the title and create one of the most memorable and beloved moments in WWE history.

While it is difficult to imagine Bryan facing Sheamus in an undercard bout rather than being placed in a marquee match, Punk confirmed something that Bryan first brought up five years ago.

Much of the focus is on what Punk and Bryan were scheduled to do at WrestleMania 30, but an under-the-radar change that may not have been for the better was calling off the proposed United States Championship match between Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose.

Leading up to WrestleMania 30, WWE was teasing tension between Reigns, Ambrose and Seth Rollins, and many were expecting the breakup of The Shield. Instead, they held a Shield Summit and went on to beat Kane and The New Age Outlaws in a squash match at WrestleMania 30.

Reigns vs. Ambrose would have been a far bigger and more memorable match, but doing that bout may have prevented the Shield vs. Evolution feud that followed and Rollins' shocking decision to destroy The Shield by hitting Reigns and Ambrose with a steel chair.

All these years later, Punk still hasn't returned to wrestling as an in-ring competitor, but he is now an analyst on FS1's WWE Backstage, and the booking sheet may provide him and the rest of the crew with a fun talking point the next time he appears on the show.

          

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Click to expand figure....
   

Read 0 Comments

Download the app for comments Get the B/R app to join the conversation

Install the App
×
Bleacher Report
(120K+)