At a seeming disadvantage given the Triple Threat rules, WWE Champion CM Punk successfully defended his title against John Cena and Big Show in a colossal Triple Threat Match. Three men entered, three men collided and three men fought. When the dust was settled and all was said and done, CM Punk — on the 274th day of his reign — was still standing tall as the WWE Champion, defeating John Cena and Big Show in a Triple Threat Match at The 25th Anniversary of SummerSlam.
For weeks, the embattled champion had been insisting that WWE had not been affording him due respect as its standard-bearer. He made a particular point of telling Raw General Manager AJ Lee that a Triple Threat Title Match — a contest where Punk would not even have to be pinned to lose his championship — was an extension of that mindset. And when Cena refused to shake Punk’s hand earlier in the week on Raw, The Second City Saint seemed to be in a particularly foul mood heading into WWE’s summer classic.
He was also in a particularly confident one, insisting that he would retain no matter who was in the ring with him. The Voice of the Voiceless proved to be a man of his word, although he had to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat to accomplish the task.
