CM Punk is out of WrestleMania after getting a serious injury in the Royal Rumble
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That's it. The dream is over. After his hell freezing over return at Survivor Series, it was clear that CM Punk wanted one thing from his final WWE run – to main event WrestleMania.
So he pitched up to the Royal Rumble as one of the hot favourites with the plum spot of number 27, but after a great entrance and strong start, things went from bad to worse.
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He eliminated Drew McIntyre (more on him later), and reached the final two, but was eliminated at the last by Cody Rhodes, who became the first man since 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin in 1998 to score back-to-back Rumble wins and will get his own chance to finish his story at WrestleMania XL.
Eagle-eyed fans noticed that something wasn't quite right with Punk towards the end of that one-on-one, and despite Punk officially eying up a second bite of the apple at Elimination Chamber, on Monday Night Raw yesterday it was confirmed.
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CM Punk is injured (again). He'll be missing WrestleMania. There will be no main event for the Second City Saint... not at WrestleMania 40 anyway.
You can watch the full, heartbreaking segment below.
Punk came out with his right arm in a sling, still taking time to sign autographs and touch hands, with a rueful grin on his face.
He made it to the ring and made it official. After congratulating Cody Rhodes ("He's earned it, he's busted his ass. I hope he goes to WrestleMania in Philadelphia and he finishes his story."), he told the sorry truth.
"I've never believed in luck," he said, "but I feel a little bit unlucky. In the course of the Rumble, I tore my right tricep.
"And as much as I tried and I asked, maybe I can just tape it. Maybe I can make it to Elimination Chamber and I can try to win that and I can get my main event at WrestleMania. But it's just not in the cards."
He accepted that when it comes to his dream he's had ever since he was a "little kid", "maybe it's just not gonna happen".
But he also implored the fans not to feel sorry for him, comparing his plight to a friend of his with cancer, who remains positive throughout.
He spoke about his disastrous UFC career ("not great"), and said he was going to just keep going.
"I just happen to entertain you, And for some reason, you people love me," Punk said.
"And I promise I'm gonna keep doing it until the wheels fall off. This is a bump in the road. It is adversity, and I have overcome adversity countless times in the past."
"There's always next year..." he said, as he was interrupted by Drew McIntyre.
After seemingly being sympathetic at first, the Scot revealed that not only did he pray for Punk's injury, but he's glad that it happened.
He said after cursing himself for losing in the Rumble he "slept like a baby" on learning of Punk's injury, and vowed to live CM Punk's dream for a second time by getting a world title shot and main eventing another WrestleMania.
Punk responded: "My heart hurts more than my triceps does. I'm gonna go rehab it. And when I come back, I will main event WrestleMania.
"But the first checklist is you. I'm coming right for you."
There were the inevitable fisticuffs, with Mac getting the upper hand over the one-armed Punk and dole out some more damage to that tricep, before Sami Zayn hit the scene.
Catch up on Raw, Smackdown, NXT and all the big WWE action via theWWE Network or discovery+ Premium including TNT Sports.
Will CM Punk ever fight again in WWE? Let us know your thoughts at @digitalspywwe.
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