Recently, rumors have suggested that the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion, CM Punk, might be the frontrunner for WWE 2K26‘s cover. And honestly, that makes sense. While WWE’s booking over the past year or so has been incredibly suspect, Punk remains one of the more compelling and interesting characters in wrestling right now, so it’s completely understandable why WWE and 2K would want him on the cover of their latest video game. And should Punk make the cover, there will likely be a Showcase Mode that covers his WWE career.
Again, I can’t find any kind of complaint with this. Whether you love him or hate him, CM Punk has one of the most fascinating WWE careers in the company’s history. Not only was he the first “indie darling” to not only break through the company’s glass ceiling and become a tried and true top guy, but his tumultuous history with WWE — from his abrupt exit in 2014 to his shock return in 2023 — is storybook-caliber stuff.
However, some obstacles might make a CM Punk Showcase Mode in WWE 2K26 a bit difficult to pull off.
Punk’s Biggest WWE Moment Involves Several Controversial Figures
If you were to ask the average wrestling fan who knows anything about wrestling what CM Punk’s biggest career moment in WWE is, you might get a range of answers. His 2024 feud with Drew McIntyre was incredibly special, not only due to the great matches but also how well they blurred the lines between reality and fiction. Maybe some will tell you that his WrestleMania 29 match with Undertaker was his peak, which is also a fair take.
But a vast (and I mean vast) majority of people will tell you that Money in the Bank 2011 is Punk’s biggest feather in his WWE cap. And rightfully so.
In the match itself, an overwhelmingly partisan Chicago crowd was firmly behind hometown hero Punk as he challenged John Cena for the WWE Championship. The lead-up — including Punk’s now-legendary “Pipe Bomb” promo, which could warrant its own article — centered on his expiring WWE contract and the very real possibility that he might walk out of the company with its top title. Because of that tension, the match became bigger than Punk vs. Cena; it required the involvement of several key figures to sell the stakes. And unfortunately for WWE in 2026, many of those figures are now persona non grata, making this moment far more complicated to recreate in a modern Showcase.
For one, it involves former WWE boss and figurehead Vince McMahon. Throughout the years, McMahon was no stranger to controversy, to put it mildly. But eventually, the Chairman of the Board’s luck in the court of public opinion ran out as he was ousted from the company in 2022 (and again in 2024) following accusations of sex trafficking and sexual assault, among other misdeeds.
Also involved in the Money in the Bank climax was John Laurinaitis, who was included as a cohort in the accusations against McMahon. And then you have Alberto Del Rio, whose own history is marked by multiple disturbing accusations. It’s a trio WWE would very much prefer to keep away from its modern programming.
But the problem is this: without those figures, you lose the structure that made the moment so monumental. McMahon was the embodiment of the machine Punk was rebelling against. Laurinaitis played the role of the corporate lackey doing his bidding. And Del Rio — briefcase in hand — was the last-ditch effort to stop Punk from escaping with the championship.
Remove any of them, and the emotional weight of the moment collapses. Remove all of them, and you’re left with something unrecognizable. WWE in 2026 likely has no appetite to revisit three of the most controversial figures in its history, which makes recreating this moment in a Showcase Mode incredibly difficult, if not outright impossible.
A Feud Too Controversial For 2026
Another major chapter of Punk’s original WWE run that would be nearly impossible to recreate today is his feud with the iconic Jeff Hardy. In 2009, this rivalry was pivotal for Punk’s ascent as a top-tier heel. It showcased one of the most effective contrasts in modern WWE storytelling: Punk as the self-righteous, straight-edge antagonist, and Hardy as the beloved, reckless underdog whose real-life struggles made every promo feel uncomfortably authentic.
And therein lies the problem.
So much of that storyline was built around Jeff’s personal battles with addiction, which WWE leaned into heavily at the time. Punk weaponizes Jeff’s issues in ways that made for compelling, dramatic television. But in 2026, it reads much differently. WWE is far more careful about how it portrays substance issues, and Hardy’s more recent legal troubles only add another layer of sensitivity the company would prefer to avoid.
You can’t tell this story honestly without acknowledging the very real baggage that fueled it. And if you sanitize it, you strip away the stakes that made it work in the first place. For a Showcase Mode designed to celebrate Punk’s career, this is another moment WWE likely won’t — and realistically can’t — revisit.
Punk’s Exit In 2014
If you’re going to contextualize Punk’s monumental 2023 WWE return, you inevitably have to address what happened in 2014 that caused him to leave the company in the first place. While WWE and Punk have talked about their breakup quite a bit since his return, it’s been mostly attributed to burnout and creative differences. And yeah, those factors played a part, but the biggest component is something that WWE would probably not touch with a 10-foot pole.
Punk’s now-infamous interview on Colt Cabana’s podcast revealed that he was being pushed to wrestle while literally suffering from a misdiagnosed staph infection.
The fallout from Punk’s exit was ugly, public, and long-lasting. Here are some of the cliff notes:
- Punk was served his severance papers on his wedding day
- He openly criticized WWE’s medical staff
- WWE’s doctor sued him
- Punk won the lawsuit
- He stayed away from the company for nearly a decade
All of that context is not just important, but essential to understanding why his 2023 return was such a monumental moment. A Showcase mode thrives on clean narratives, and Punk’s exit was anything but. In fact, it was incredibly messy and litigious, and reflects poorly on WWE in ways they have zero motivation to highlight.
Granted, it’s entirely possible that WWE 2K26 could tell this story and acknowledge Punk’s issue with creative, WWE’s workload, and issues with the company’s top brass. But without the whole story, it may ring hollow.
