Punk VS Bryan.... For US title?

[keith hall]

OK...kill me if this has been made before. but i just got through watching the CM Punk Best In The World DVD and i was kinda intriged by what punk said WWE had originnaly planned for WM 27. the punk vs orton match wasnt their first idea...they wanted to have punk vs bryan for the us title instead...

what would WWE look like today if Punk had fought bryan instead of orton...

would he still had been the leader of the nex nexus....
who would have if he didnt
would he have still got to deliver the pipe bomb?(remember he may have created magic with bryan and not been pissed)
who would've feuded with orton?
would punk vs bryan be the dark match like sheamus vs bryan was?
where would he be now?


well what do you think?

 

[scottyshowman82]

At the least they would have a kick ass Wrestlemania match. I think that at that point in both of their careers they did still had a lot to prove and on a bad night between the two they could still tear down the house. I'm sure it would have been a match to remember much like their future encounters.

I think even if they faced each other Punk would have dropped the Pipebomb, it seemed like it was a long time coming and is still an excellent moment that has yet to be topped since it happened. I'm sure Punk and Bryan will meet again somewhere down the line.

 

[tom9422]

He still would have led the New Nexus, that was already in place at the time and wouldn't have changed.

He still would have delivered the pipe bomb later because his standing in the company wouldn't have changed and he still would have been pissed off. In fact, the Orton match was higher profile than a Bryan match would have been at the time. The only thing that could have stopped the pipe bomb from happening is if CM Punk happened to get the main event push instead of Miz and main evented Wrestlemania 27 like he wanted to.

I don't know whether he would have been in the dark match or who would have faced Orton but its irrelevant anyway.

Without the pipe bomb, he wouldn't be as great as he is now. I think he still would have become the bonafide main eventer he is today but promo is one for the WWE history books.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Eh, it'll go down in the annals of history as just one of the innumerable ideas that were passed on that, given hindsight, could have been interesting. At the time, I don't think a ton of people in WWE had too much faith in Punk or Bryan as potential big time players. At the time, Bryan was kind of a generic babyface while Punk was still every bit as skilled & charismatic as he's always been. I don't think that a match between them would have been bumped to a dark match because, regardless of what WWE management's perception of them was at the time in terms of stardom, they knew that Punk & Bryan were two of the best in-ring wrestlers in pro wrestling period. WWE management knew how skilled Bryan was in the ring, which is a big reason as to why he was signed, so I would think that they'd be aware they could deliver a show stealing performance.

Seeing Punk vs. Bryan in a post WM feud last summer over the WWE Championship was a great treat. I don't think anybody really expected Bryan to win the title, but everyone knew that the feud would result in some killer matches and it was another opportunity for Bryan to prove himself. Someone high up in WWE must have really taken a shine to Daniel Bryan and had faith in him, otherwise he wouldn't have been given the kind of opportunities he's had in the past 1.5-2 years. If you look at the reaction he gets on Raw & SD! each week, especially over the course of THN's feud with The Shield and Bryan's displays of aggression & passion, it's becoming more & more obvious that Bryan is a long term, moneymaking star for WWE.

I'm not sure a match between them for the US title would have ultimately set their career paths in a different direction. I think it would have upped their stock in the eyes of the WWE brass, which is certainly something that can only be helpful to one's career. Looking at Punk & Bryan now, as a whole, it looks as though WWE made the right call. Punk is a big league main eventer with the longest World Championship run in WWE in more than a quarter century. He's one of the most over wrestlers on the roster who can deliver moneymaking feuds in which fans constantly invest their interest. Daniel Bryan's career has done a complete 180 since this time in 2011. He spent the first half of 2012 as either WHC or trying to become WWE Champion before being paired with Kane in a highly entertaining tag team that most people simply didn't expect to see. Not only did he & Kane win the tag titles for a run of 245 days, they actually made the titles mean something again and made the tag team picture more interesting for fans than it's been in years. As I alluded to earlier, the response Bryan constantly gets from fans is just more proof that he's not a temporary fad or flash in the pan. Otherwise, he would have fizzled out a long time ago just like Zack Ryder did. If Bryan doesn't wind up in a World Championship feud sometime in the next 6 months, then WWE, in my opinion, will have missed out on a good money program.

 

[the_vipers_enigma]

A potential match between them could have stolen the show if given enough time, no matter if it was for the US title or not. I don't think that it could have had any effects at Punks career because let's be honest the summer of Punk would have had happened no matter who Punk faced at mania. As for Bryan maybe he would have gotten his push sooner.

 

[justinsayne]

I assume what happened with the Bryan/Sheamus US title match would've happened to Bryan/Punk if they went that route. The match got pushed down to the pre-show, & turned into a lumberjack match, which would eventually get thrown out & then turned int a impromptu battle royal. I imagine this would've pissed Punk off, & who knows, with his contract being up a few months later, he may have refused to re-sign & just went home & called it a career (in WWE at least).

 

[InstantAttitude]

In all honesty. It probably would've ended up like Sheamus/Bryan at WM 27. That would've made Punk go berserk. For Orton who knows who he would've faced. Maybe Sheamus or something.

 

[MWRedskins]

i dont think much would've changed. he would've eventually got the WWE title match and the only thing that wouldnt have happened is an Orton match in which Punk lost anyway. if it was Bryan and Punk, it could've been one that stole the show as both can put on a classic wrestling match.

 

[LSN80]

Would he still had been the leader of the New Nexus....

It depends. Would it have been a personal feud, or would it have been two wrestling technicians going at it? If you recall, Orton took on and took out each member of the New Nexus leading up to WrestleMania 27. Would Bryan have done the same thing? I doubt it.

If the plan was to go with Punk vs. Bryan, I'm guessing it would have been about the wrestling, with less storyline. At the time, Bryan hadn't developed a "character", so it would likely have been about the Title.

Who would have if he didn't?

My guess is that they would have stuck with Wade Barrett. I think creative dropped the ball by having Cena end the original group so quickly. Barrett had truly found a groove as a top heel, and he was pushed aside so that Punk could have a mini-feud with Cena then a larger one with Orton.

But had Punk not come along, I'm guessing they would have stuck with Barrett.

Would he have still got to deliver the pipe bomb?(remember he may have created magic with bryan and not been pissed)

Absolutely. The 'Pipe Bomb' Punk delivered was part of the show. WWE did everything within their power to convince us it was not, but this was a scripted promo. And if Punk was pissed at the time, how do you think he would have felt, even creating magic, chasing the US Title after being a 3 time World Champion?

Not very happy, I imagine.

Who would've feuded with Orton?

Well, who was left? Perhaps Sheamus, I suppose, since Bryan and Sheamus were paired together. Orton wasn't a big time player on Raw anymore, and neither was Sheamus after his first two WWE Title reigns. Its not hard to imagine, as Sheamus had been in a huge feud with HHH the previous year, so it's not as if he couldn't handle one with Orton.

would punk vs bryan be the dark match like sheamus vs bryan was?

Heck no. You think Punk was mad about his position in the company in the midst of his feud with Orton? Imagine how he would have felt if he was bumped off the card? Besides, Punk was still a big-time name, and even if he wasn't considered main-event status yet, he was still a big-time player. He did commentary while injured, which not many wrestlers can say.

Even if Bryan wasn't at that level yet to create a great feud with Bryan, Punk would have brought him there. And there's no way that match would have been bumped from the card. Punk was a bigger commodity at the time then Sheamus, period.

Where would he be now?

Exactly where he is right now.