 The final match was for the WWE Championship between Champion John Cena and CM Punk . WWE Chairman Vince McMahon had threatened to have Cena fired if Punk won . During the match , two separate signature Attitude Adjustment moves by Cena failed to score the victory . More than 30 minutes into the match , Punk performed his Go to Sleep maneuver , hitting Cena 's ribs and causing Cena to fall out of the ring . As Punk rolled Cena back into the ring , McMahon and John Laurinaitis emerged from backstage and distracted Punk , resulting in Cena placing Punk in the STF submission hold . Punk did not submit , but McMahon signaled the referee to award Cena the match and sent Laurinaitis to ring the bell . This was reminiscent of the Montreal Screwjob in 1997 , where a conspiracy orchestrated by McMahon led to Bret Hart losing his WWF Championship to Shawn Michaels by submission despite Hart never submitting . 
