Who's better: Daniel Bryan or CM Punk?
- Thread starter TheOneAndOnlyGOAT
- Start date
As of right now, Punk is better. Bryan has only emerged whereas Punk had a sustained run at the top where he got to showcase his incredible talent.
Punk is definitely better on the mic. Since the Attitude Era I'd say Punk is in the top 3 or 4 when speaking. I reckon he is that good. It is effortless for him and that is a huge advantage he has over Bryan.
In the ring both are very good. Punk was dropping off towards the end of his last run but that is almost certainly down to injuries. Punk during his 434 day title run was phenomenal. He was getting great matches out of everyone he was facing and wasn't making as many errors.
Sure Bryan is popular and an awesome wrestler but Punk is simply better. Give Bryan a few more years and he may surpass Punk. One would imagine he will get better on the mic and put on some more classics in the ring.
Punk is definitely better on the mic. Since the Attitude Era I'd say Punk is in the top 3 or 4 when speaking. I reckon he is that good. It is effortless for him and that is a huge advantage he has over Bryan.
In the ring both are very good. Punk was dropping off towards the end of his last run but that is almost certainly down to injuries. Punk during his 434 day title run was phenomenal. He was getting great matches out of everyone he was facing and wasn't making as many errors.
Sure Bryan is popular and an awesome wrestler but Punk is simply better. Give Bryan a few more years and he may surpass Punk. One would imagine he will get better on the mic and put on some more classics in the ring.
ChickenCordonBleu
Dark Match Jobber
I'm reminded very much of Michaels/Hart and Austin/Rock because these two are like the very similar to those people in status. Both are very different from one another, but at the same time are quite similar to one another when you really think about it.
There is a lot of factors that could define 'better', so I'll have to at the very least cover all of them. In my opinion, I actually prefer Punk over Bryan, I'll state my reasons for this of course.
Starting out, we have to talk achievements, when it comes down to it, some people will say that they don't matter, and that they don't really define how much better a person is, but I kind of lean toward that being the case in some ways, but not in other ways, I know the Cena argument is going to come up, but Cena did carry those titles for a reason, reasons we might not like, but reasons nonetheless, and not once could I really look at Cena as a bad champion, he does make a good champion, the title reigns just towered up a little too high. It's hard not too look at these two and not think back to there work in the indies, because it was what defined them. I'll keep my focus though on certain ones, OVW, WWE, ROH and I'll focus on PWI and NOW as well.
CM Punk:
Daniel Bryan:
Right off the bat, people will look at the amount of World Championships that they held. Well, I don't consider the ECW by that point a World Championship. So taking that out, we'll work out the stats:
In terms of the length of longest reign:
And the average length of their reigns:
As we can see, Punk definitely leads in term of reigns and total days reigned, but Bryan's average reign length is 2 days over Punk's. However, this is taking into account Bryan's reign in ROH, if that wasn't counted Bryan would be particularly lower. If we were talking strictly WWE, then Punk is head and shoulders above Bryan here.
Taking into account all of the titles:
Taking into account the titles that they have both held and their reigns:
Gotta love how their combined reigns in days on two of the titles they have held are actually the exact same in combined length.
Now we come down to their accomplishments.
Both are Money in the Bank winners. But Punk has the advantage in being a 2-time winner of the event, not only that, but being the only person to win it twice.
Punk is a Triple Crown Champion something that Bryan has yet to achieve, but is still possible to achieve at some point in the future.
Both have become Superstar of the Year in the WWE.
Both have received Match of the Year and Feud of the Year from PWI.
In terms of popularity, both have recieved Most Popular Superstar of the Year. However, Punk has the advantage here with his versatility of being able to play both a heel and a face, receiving both Most Popular and Most Hated Superstar.
Both have received Wrestler of the Year, however Punk did so twice and back-to-back, no less.
When it comes down to the PWI Top 500, Punk has been in the Top 10 of ranking since 2009. And has also topped the list in 2012. Bryan has yet to reach that feat yet, though I have no doubt he'll be there for 2014, but in terms of consistency as far as the rankings go, Punk does have the advantage.
Now comes WON. As many can see, Bryan is well known for his technical ability and as such has been named Best Technical Wrestler and Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Year, numerous times, has even had a Match of the Year with Takeshi Morishima... however the most glaring thing here is despite Bryan's ability in the ring, he has yet to reach that 5-star status, like Punk, who has done so twice, once in ROH and again in the WWE.
Now looking at all of that, Punk definitely holds an advantage over Bryan. However Bryan still has time to add things to his resume, whereas with Punk, it's up in the air if anything else will happen with him in the WWE.
Now, my personal opinion on the subject, both from what is above and what I personally see.
Overness: This one is tricky, because one has a crowd chanting 'YES' while the other has the crowd chanting even though he isn't around, even the slightest reminder of the guy gets people chanting, much like they did when AJ was standing in the middle of the ring. There is no denying that Punk leaving left a mark and that mark still hasn't quite left. While many people think people should give up on this because Punk left and claim he walked out on his fans (personally I don't believe that, thanking fans for their support before he left definitely tells me otherwise), people still chant for him. In the same vein, Bryan has the 'YES!" chant, which is going as strong as ever, but Bryan is only in the beginning of his road as champion, so it's hard to judge until everything is said and done and Bryan, whether Bryan's support will continue or if it will die down, THIS IS NOT ME SAYING IT WILL. But only stating the possibility, which leaves my opinion on this undetermined. I think both guys could stake claim to this to be honest, they are both extremely popular, when they are around or they are gone.
Wrestling: Both guys definitely do have different styles to them, Bryan is definitely the more technical of the two, with a mixture of some high-flying in his arsenal. Punk is more of a high-flyer with a mixture of technical wrestling. In terms of what they do in the ring, Bryan is pure and simple a wrestler, he's admitted it and everyone knows it, he's not an entertainer and he knows that, but he doesn't need to be. Punk I would say is more of an entertainer in the ring, which is where I think Punk has an advantage overall over Bryan, Punk can tell a story in the ring and that is what gives him an advantage in terms of overall wrestling. I think that's the biggest reason Bryan has yet to achieve that 5-star status yet, and Punk has.
Mic: I give Bryan a lot of credit, the guy has a LOT of passion, you can see it, but his mic skills at this point are limited and to me were always really limited. He can talk, he can add in emotion, but there was always something about him that he lacked when he was talking on the mic. Bryan does have one advantage in being able to speak out to the general public and connect with the people a lot better than Punk can. Punk can connect to the masses, but only the hardcore fans, he can talk to the people who know what wrestling is about and appeal to them, Bryan has an advantage in speaking to the masses who both know what wrestling is, and who just found the show by channel surfing.
In terms of laying out a storyline or cutting a promo, I give Punk the advantage, he's gold on the mic when he needs to be, when Punk is holding the mic, there isn't a question of if Punk can hold his own against the person whose opposite of him at that moment, but there can be questions if the person on the other end can hold there own up against Punk. Bryan doesn't quite have that, and a lot of what I've seen concerning him, has involved someone else building him up i.e. HHH and Stephanie, Punk doesn't need that, he can stand toe-to-toe, say what needs to be said, he's there, he's the center of attention. But with Bryan, especially right now, his strength is definitely HHH and Stephine putting him down which is also putting him over at the same time.
Feuds: As of right now, Punk definitely has the clear-cut advantage, he's gone toe-to-toe again Jeff Hardy, John Cena, and Undertaker (to an extent) in memorable feuds, his feud with Hardy was definitely the moment when he was put on the map (and I don't think anyone could deny that Hardy did make Punk a star, I'm not ashamed to admit that), his feud with John Cena was the hottest thing of it's time, and each time the two of them ended up in the ring, you knew something special was going to happen, and the feud with Undertaker, which while I did think was a little harsh, the build up I felt was an entertaining what and was even for the short amount of build-up, I thought it was personally a great build to Undertaker vs. CM Punk.
Needless to say, at the moment, Punk I would put as the better of the two, Bryan does have time to build himself and reach there, and time will tell if he does and how far it goes, but as of right now. Advantage Punk.
There is a lot of factors that could define 'better', so I'll have to at the very least cover all of them. In my opinion, I actually prefer Punk over Bryan, I'll state my reasons for this of course.
Starting out, we have to talk achievements, when it comes down to it, some people will say that they don't matter, and that they don't really define how much better a person is, but I kind of lean toward that being the case in some ways, but not in other ways, I know the Cena argument is going to come up, but Cena did carry those titles for a reason, reasons we might not like, but reasons nonetheless, and not once could I really look at Cena as a bad champion, he does make a good champion, the title reigns just towered up a little too high. It's hard not too look at these two and not think back to there work in the indies, because it was what defined them. I'll keep my focus though on certain ones, OVW, WWE, ROH and I'll focus on PWI and NOW as well.
CM Punk:
Daniel Bryan:
Right off the bat, people will look at the amount of World Championships that they held. Well, I don't consider the ECW by that point a World Championship. So taking that out, we'll work out the stats:
In terms of the length of longest reign:
And the average length of their reigns:
As we can see, Punk definitely leads in term of reigns and total days reigned, but Bryan's average reign length is 2 days over Punk's. However, this is taking into account Bryan's reign in ROH, if that wasn't counted Bryan would be particularly lower. If we were talking strictly WWE, then Punk is head and shoulders above Bryan here.
Taking into account all of the titles:
Taking into account the titles that they have both held and their reigns:
Gotta love how their combined reigns in days on two of the titles they have held are actually the exact same in combined length.
Now we come down to their accomplishments.
Both are Money in the Bank winners. But Punk has the advantage in being a 2-time winner of the event, not only that, but being the only person to win it twice.
Punk is a Triple Crown Champion something that Bryan has yet to achieve, but is still possible to achieve at some point in the future.
Both have become Superstar of the Year in the WWE.
Both have received Match of the Year and Feud of the Year from PWI.
In terms of popularity, both have recieved Most Popular Superstar of the Year. However, Punk has the advantage here with his versatility of being able to play both a heel and a face, receiving both Most Popular and Most Hated Superstar.
Both have received Wrestler of the Year, however Punk did so twice and back-to-back, no less.
When it comes down to the PWI Top 500, Punk has been in the Top 10 of ranking since 2009. And has also topped the list in 2012. Bryan has yet to reach that feat yet, though I have no doubt he'll be there for 2014, but in terms of consistency as far as the rankings go, Punk does have the advantage.
Now comes WON. As many can see, Bryan is well known for his technical ability and as such has been named Best Technical Wrestler and Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Year, numerous times, has even had a Match of the Year with Takeshi Morishima... however the most glaring thing here is despite Bryan's ability in the ring, he has yet to reach that 5-star status, like Punk, who has done so twice, once in ROH and again in the WWE.
Now looking at all of that, Punk definitely holds an advantage over Bryan. However Bryan still has time to add things to his resume, whereas with Punk, it's up in the air if anything else will happen with him in the WWE.
Now, my personal opinion on the subject, both from what is above and what I personally see.
Overness: This one is tricky, because one has a crowd chanting 'YES' while the other has the crowd chanting even though he isn't around, even the slightest reminder of the guy gets people chanting, much like they did when AJ was standing in the middle of the ring. There is no denying that Punk leaving left a mark and that mark still hasn't quite left. While many people think people should give up on this because Punk left and claim he walked out on his fans (personally I don't believe that, thanking fans for their support before he left definitely tells me otherwise), people still chant for him. In the same vein, Bryan has the 'YES!" chant, which is going as strong as ever, but Bryan is only in the beginning of his road as champion, so it's hard to judge until everything is said and done and Bryan, whether Bryan's support will continue or if it will die down, THIS IS NOT ME SAYING IT WILL. But only stating the possibility, which leaves my opinion on this undetermined. I think both guys could stake claim to this to be honest, they are both extremely popular, when they are around or they are gone.
Wrestling: Both guys definitely do have different styles to them, Bryan is definitely the more technical of the two, with a mixture of some high-flying in his arsenal. Punk is more of a high-flyer with a mixture of technical wrestling. In terms of what they do in the ring, Bryan is pure and simple a wrestler, he's admitted it and everyone knows it, he's not an entertainer and he knows that, but he doesn't need to be. Punk I would say is more of an entertainer in the ring, which is where I think Punk has an advantage overall over Bryan, Punk can tell a story in the ring and that is what gives him an advantage in terms of overall wrestling. I think that's the biggest reason Bryan has yet to achieve that 5-star status yet, and Punk has.
Mic: I give Bryan a lot of credit, the guy has a LOT of passion, you can see it, but his mic skills at this point are limited and to me were always really limited. He can talk, he can add in emotion, but there was always something about him that he lacked when he was talking on the mic. Bryan does have one advantage in being able to speak out to the general public and connect with the people a lot better than Punk can. Punk can connect to the masses, but only the hardcore fans, he can talk to the people who know what wrestling is about and appeal to them, Bryan has an advantage in speaking to the masses who both know what wrestling is, and who just found the show by channel surfing.
In terms of laying out a storyline or cutting a promo, I give Punk the advantage, he's gold on the mic when he needs to be, when Punk is holding the mic, there isn't a question of if Punk can hold his own against the person whose opposite of him at that moment, but there can be questions if the person on the other end can hold there own up against Punk. Bryan doesn't quite have that, and a lot of what I've seen concerning him, has involved someone else building him up i.e. HHH and Stephanie, Punk doesn't need that, he can stand toe-to-toe, say what needs to be said, he's there, he's the center of attention. But with Bryan, especially right now, his strength is definitely HHH and Stephine putting him down which is also putting him over at the same time.
Feuds: As of right now, Punk definitely has the clear-cut advantage, he's gone toe-to-toe again Jeff Hardy, John Cena, and Undertaker (to an extent) in memorable feuds, his feud with Hardy was definitely the moment when he was put on the map (and I don't think anyone could deny that Hardy did make Punk a star, I'm not ashamed to admit that), his feud with John Cena was the hottest thing of it's time, and each time the two of them ended up in the ring, you knew something special was going to happen, and the feud with Undertaker, which while I did think was a little harsh, the build up I felt was an entertaining what and was even for the short amount of build-up, I thought it was personally a great build to Undertaker vs. CM Punk.
Needless to say, at the moment, Punk I would put as the better of the two, Bryan does have time to build himself and reach there, and time will tell if he does and how far it goes, but as of right now. Advantage Punk.
TheOneAndOnlyGOAT
Championship Contender
Fair enough but I still think DB is better.
He can have a good match with pretty much anyone.
And never in CM Punk's title reign was he treated as important as Bryan at Mania.
BestWrestlingOpinions
Getting Noticed By Management
Probably one of the hardest things to answer but I will say Cm Punk and here is why.
Punk got noticed as a top star in an era where it was pretty much impossible. WWE was heading down the drain, people were tuning out a lot, there wasn't much interest and buzz and out of nowhere, there comes one guy that is able to shift back attention to the WWE, create moments and get the crowds pumped up again.
On the mic, Punk is hands down better than Bryan. In ring, Bryan is hands down better, at least in the WWE. But Punk is really good in the ring too, and combine that with his character, charisma and mic skills, I'd have to say Punk is better.
Bryan gloomed on a way that was paved by Punk. Many people call me a Punk mark and sure I am. But I made a thread recently if this is true, and people seem to agree. Punk paved the way for guys like Bryan. I'm not sure is Bryan would be where he is if it wasn't for Punk, which says a lot about Punk's character and ability to draw and change stuff around.
Sure, Bryan is way hotter than Punk in 2011 and for good reasons. He puts on the match of the night most nights and just had an incredible storyline, that seems to continue. Punk is a bit different though. He puts more psychology in his matches than quality.
It all comes down to what you prefer. Some people don't like Punk's character and they are gonna trash all over him. Same for Bryan's in ring skill/appearance. But for me, Punk's character and natural charisma, proven by the fact that he paved the way for Bryan and other guys, along with his excellent in-ring skills, will have to give the edge on Punk for this one.
After all, Punk carried the WWE from its deah point in mid-2011 until WM29, after he left. Afterwards, sure, we had Bryan carry the WWE for a while, but we shouldn't forget that he is not alone. The Shield and the Wyatts are there too, to make an entertaining program. People might bash me for this, but Orton stepping it up to the main event scene was a new and entertaining thing, at least for me, and HHH, even though I think it wasn't his time, he didn't make bad TV.
So, all in all, Punk has the upper hand, because of character mostly. In any case though, if there had been no Punk, WWE would probably have problems right now and if Bryan wasn't here, WWE would probably also have problems.
Punk got noticed as a top star in an era where it was pretty much impossible. WWE was heading down the drain, people were tuning out a lot, there wasn't much interest and buzz and out of nowhere, there comes one guy that is able to shift back attention to the WWE, create moments and get the crowds pumped up again.
On the mic, Punk is hands down better than Bryan. In ring, Bryan is hands down better, at least in the WWE. But Punk is really good in the ring too, and combine that with his character, charisma and mic skills, I'd have to say Punk is better.
Bryan gloomed on a way that was paved by Punk. Many people call me a Punk mark and sure I am. But I made a thread recently if this is true, and people seem to agree. Punk paved the way for guys like Bryan. I'm not sure is Bryan would be where he is if it wasn't for Punk, which says a lot about Punk's character and ability to draw and change stuff around.
Sure, Bryan is way hotter than Punk in 2011 and for good reasons. He puts on the match of the night most nights and just had an incredible storyline, that seems to continue. Punk is a bit different though. He puts more psychology in his matches than quality.
It all comes down to what you prefer. Some people don't like Punk's character and they are gonna trash all over him. Same for Bryan's in ring skill/appearance. But for me, Punk's character and natural charisma, proven by the fact that he paved the way for Bryan and other guys, along with his excellent in-ring skills, will have to give the edge on Punk for this one.
After all, Punk carried the WWE from its deah point in mid-2011 until WM29, after he left. Afterwards, sure, we had Bryan carry the WWE for a while, but we shouldn't forget that he is not alone. The Shield and the Wyatts are there too, to make an entertaining program. People might bash me for this, but Orton stepping it up to the main event scene was a new and entertaining thing, at least for me, and HHH, even though I think it wasn't his time, he didn't make bad TV.
So, all in all, Punk has the upper hand, because of character mostly. In any case though, if there had been no Punk, WWE would probably have problems right now and if Bryan wasn't here, WWE would probably also have problems.
Yes, Bryan got the idea of a running high knee from CM Punk.
What moves a wrestler does in the end mean nothing to how skilled they are. It's about working the crowd, telling a story in the ring from the moves you do. Making people suspend their disbelief from what's going on in the ring. Sure, you can do a bunch of cool flips and kicks to get a pop, but a good wrestler can get just as loud of a pop from a well-placed armdrag.
I think Daniel Bryan's much more consistent in his match quality, but when CM Punk puts on a good match it's one to be remembered. CM Punk/Brock Lesnar has to be one of my favorite matches of the modern era, somehow despite his size he made Brock Lesnar look more vulnerable than Triple H or John Cena could in their matches with him. Absolutely love every match he's had with John Cena and (of course) Daniel Bryan too. He's also had his fair share of shit matches though, without a doubt.
I think CM Punk is better over all, if only for his mic skills. He's a one of a kind and one of the only true complete packages, it's just such a shame they didn't treat him as such.
TheOneAndOnlyGOAT
Championship Contender
A couple of weeks before he left, he beat the most dominant stable in WWE today in a 3 on 1 handicap match.
He was scheduled to face one of the all-time greats Triple H at WMXXX.
What do you want WWE to do? Line up all their wrestlers and bow down to the Holy Punk?
OYDK
King Of The Ring
This is very true. Punk seemed to want the Hulk Hogan treatment where he main evented every Mania and was booked as the true face that he felt he should be. I mean who else would have beat The Shield 3 on 1 and still found a way to complain. I get Punk is upset, but sometimes you shouldn't act like a baby when you don't get what you want.
