Paul Heyman Saw A Case For CM Punk Ending The Undertaker's Streak

The Undertaker's undefeated WrestleMania streak will go down as one of the most historic runs in pro wrestling history. With each passing year over the course of two decades, fans wondered, "Is this the one?" During a recent interview with Rick Rubin of "Tetragrammaton," Paul Heyman discussed the possibility of CM Punk ending the streak in 2013.

"It had to be the right guy," Heyman said. "When we were going with Punk vs. Undertaker, Paul Bearer had just passed away and we had done the way out of the box and way over the line story on television that we had laid out The Undertaker and then we poured out the ashes of Paul Bearer out of Undertaker's urn onto Undertaker, which was just the heaviest thing we could think of doing."

He continued, "I was like, 'Okay, if there's a guy that could be anointed as a top-tier star. If there's someone that could become equal to Cena at this point in time... a clear 1 to 1A, that if we give Punk this victory, we've established someone for the next 20 years as a star.' And I thought the case could be made for that."

Heyman explained that Punk believed that as well, however Vince McMahon, and possibly even Undertaker himself, did not believe that the man Phil Brooks was the right guy to be the one. As it turned out, Brock Lesnar ended up being "the one" in 21-1 the following year at WrestleMania 30. Heyman noted that he knew Lesnar had to be the guy when it was pitched despite McMahon not initially thinking that way.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Tetragrammaton" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.