Top 50 Greatest Wrestling Heels of all time

17. CM Punk

CM Punk is a man for whom fans love to cheer, but he is also one of the greatest heels of all time. Punk would be the first man to admit he’s kind of a jerk, and he used that brilliantly in his on-screen character.

Punk’s first major heel turn at the WWE level occurred in 2009 when he cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on fan favorite Jeff Hardy at Extreme Rules to become World Heavyweight Champion. This blossomed into a feud that blended reality and story line, as Punk is straight edge in real life, while Hardy had numerous issues with drugs.

This eventually led to Punk’s formation of the Straight Edge Society, a stable that included his friend Luke Gallows and Serena, both of whom shaved their heads. The atheist Punk grew out his hair and grew a beard to resemble the popular depiction of Jesus. He tried to convert others to his straight edge lifestyle and considered himself better than the heathens in the crowd. He would give sermons during matches, even during the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber matches.

Punk was such an effective heel during this time that an elderly female fan actually yelled at him to tell him that he would burn for his sins, as he revealed on his Best in the World documentary.

Punk was a heel when he delivered his famous pipe bomb promo in 2011, but fans liked him so much that he turned face. This ended on the 1,000th episode of Raw, when he attacked The Rock. He subsequently demanded that everyone show him the respect he felt he had not been receiving.

His last heel tactic came in the buildup to his match with the Undertaker at WrestleMania 29. Taker’s mentor and friend, Paul Bearer (real name William Moody) had passed away. On screen, Punk desecrated Bearer’s memory by mocking his voice, kicking around the urn that (in story line) contained his ashes and dumping said ashes all over his body.

Later, Punk walked out of WWE and currently he has been reportedly signed with AEW and set to debut on AEW Rampage on August 20th, 2021.