Who is Better Period. CM Punk or AJ Styles

[thetruemike]

When this question comes to mind you think of already two different enigmas in the wrestling business today. There wrestling names both have 2 letters to start their name. Here's some background for the debate

CM Punk

-He has won 26 Championship titles associated with 9 different Promotions
-His straight edge gimmick is what he follows in real life
-He pulled off one of the most hyped and talked about heel turns before he left ROH.
-He is well built for matches that go longer than 30 mins and can take some of the most brutal spots for spot monkeys.
-Love him or Hate this guys envokes a direct emotions whether through his wrestling, promos, or his well being
-His promos in general are head over heels great not just including WWE
-Straight Edge
-Current World Heavyweight Champion

AJ Styles

-He has won 36 Championship titles associated with 14 different Promotions.
-He doesnt have a gimmick that is recognized
-TNA Original and Poster Boy, Been with TNA since Day 1
-He too is well built for matches longer than 30 mins and he can put over other wrestlers well
-Spot monkey at times
-He gets over on talent alone no matter how many times he does the same move.
-The Phenomenal
-Current TNA World Heavyweight Champion


So with the check at a few background fact and opinions, the question is who is better overall. Who's got the complete total package. I figure these are the major categories for a huge wrestlers success.
-Merchandise
-Talent
-Promos
-Pop or Heat

With all those categories lets go to the judges score cards, I see it as the following

Cm vs Aj- Merchandise: 8-10 (42 to 67 items on their sites)
Cm vs Aj- Talent: 10-10 (In their fields)
Cm vs Aj- Promos: 10-8 (CM does better Mic)
Cm vs Aj- Pop or Heat: 10-10 (Everybody Hates Punk, Everyone loves Styles, they achieve their goals

It's a Draw in my opinion so what is yours? Whose better period

 

[colalella2891]

Wow. I actually never thought about something like this before. Personally, I know about CM Punk a lot more, but Styles is still a sick contender. And they both did a shit load of stuff in their combined careers. I think i'll agree with you man and call it a draw, even though Punk's WWE heel career has just begun. Depending on how he goes as a heel, that may change for me.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

CM Punk I think is better. AJ has a slight edge in his ring work (very slight I might ad cuz Punk is great in the ring as well), but his gimmick and Mic work is leaps and bounds above AJ Styles. I love AJ to death but CM Punk is probably the best guy in WWE right now (outside of Jericho) and he builds great heat. AJ gets a solid pop and has a big fanbase, but people at this point completely loathe CM Punk, they can't stand the guy and he is doing a great job making the fans hate him week in and out. I am a big fan of both guys but I gotta give CM Punk the edge.

 

[hArdyPUNKmArk]

Good question, I think I'm going to go with CM Punk here though.

CM Punk is the current World Heavyweight Champion on the biggest wrestling promotion in the world. He's gotten himself tremendous heat in the past couple of months and has proved he will be a big superstar for an extensive career with the WWE. His promo's are better than AJ, his heel character is something new and imaginative. His ring work has been outstanding and he is obviously making the guys backstage respect and admire what he is doing, hence the continued push.

AJ, while a great talent for TNA just doesn't match up to what CM Punk has acheived in the WWE. Punk is a triple crown champion and a 3 time World Heavyweight Champion plus an ECW reign. Punk has been that much better than AJ in a bigger company.

Punk FTW here. AJ's good, but not Punk good.

 

[The Gribbler]

Punk all the way, he lays waste to AJ in the promo side of things and although they are different I actually prefer watching CM Punk in the ring, in addition to this CM Punk would sell more merch, I don't care how many more items AJ has for sale you cannot tell me that anyone in TNA sells more merch than a main eventer in the E'.

So CM Punk, don't get me wrong I love AJ but CM Punk wins this for me.

 

[DownwardSpiral]

CM Punk, easily. While AJ Styles is an AMAZING ring worker, he's the metaphorical big fish in a small pond in TNA. His mic work is below par, and being just a great wrestler isn't enough. Whereas CM Punk is the total package. He can wrestler any style. He's adapted well to the WWE style, and is arguably the most over heel in WWE right now. Gotta give this nod to Punk.

 

[Razor]

CM Punk. Punk is the champion of a show for the fucking WWE. He is the World Heavyweight Champion in a international company that makes profits in the millions upon millions upon millions. He is the top heel on Smackdown, he isn't completely shit in the ring, and he can cut a promo.

AJ Styles...I'm not going to argue against him because I don't watch TNA. However, he's the champion in TNA? How does that even begin to compare to the champion on any WWE program? I'd give you ECW, but Smackdown? Fuck. CM Punk reaches double the audience on a bad day that TNA and AJ Styles reaches on a good day. I'm not even counting PPV buys, which are often, what? 10 times higher?

CM Punk. Not even close.

 

[Milkyway!]

CM Punk.

While I know this is a thread based purely upon perception, and what entertains you. But I have to disagree entirely with you Razor. AJ Styles is more entertaining.

Punk is the champion of a show for the fucking WWE. He is the World Heavyweight Champion in a international company that makes profits in the millions upon millions upon millions.

Ahh, so we're being eltist now? Just because CM Punk is the champion of a show in the WWE, it automatically makes him better than AJ Styles? Thats silly, by your standards. President Bush (Jr) is better than say Winston Churchill, becuase Churchill was prime minister of the UK, whereas Bush was the president of the United States during a time in which the United States was the mega power of the world.

He is the top heel on Smackdown, he isn't completely shit in the ring, and he can cut a promo.

AJ Styles is becoming the face of TNA, and slowly but surely TNA is seemingly learning from its mistakes, and coming into its own. AJ Styles is one of the most electrifying men inside the ring, and he can cut a damn good promo, while ALWAYS getting the point across as well.

AJ Styles...I'm not going to argue against him because I don't watch TNA.

If you don't watch TNA, should you really be posting here? I mean really?

However, he's the champion in TNA?

Whats your point? Elitist bastard

How does that even begin to compare to the champion on any WWE program?

Well, seeing as how SmackDown is dropping in ratings slowly but surely, and TNA is growing slowly but surely, I'd say they compare in that the WWE is slowly losing their SmackDown audience, as TNA is slowly building theres.

CM Punk reaches double the audience on a bad day that TNA and AJ Styles reaches on a good day.

Double on a bad SmackDown week, as compared to a good TNA week? Really? TNA is grabing 1.3's on a good day. SmackDown has been grabbing steady 1.9's for about a month now. Thats not double.

I'm not even counting PPV buys, which are often, what? 10 times higher?

Simply because people watch all three brands on each and every Pay Per View. Which is every member of the WWE universe, not just the SmackDown, thus the Pay Per View buys are obviously going to be hight.

CM Punk. Not even close.

Incorrect. AJ Styles. By about 10 yards.

 

[xJAYxJAYx]

cm punk. why, because he works for the biggest wrestling company in the world not to mention he has the most important tittle in wrestling history

If going by this logic, than Great Khali would be better than AJ Styles. So, I hate to say it, but this logic doesn't make any sense at all. Just because one works for WWE hardly makes them the best in the world.

Now with that said, deciding who is better between CM Punk and AJ Styles is extremely hard for me.

On one hand we have CM Punk, who has great ring work, but has been watered down ever since signing with Vince and company. His mic work is amazing. It's right up there with Chris Jericho. His overall look is different compared to what you're use to seeing from a professional wrestler, which I believe actually works to his advantage and helps him stand out. He is also the World Heavyweight Champion. Which to me is one of the most prestigious championships in the world today, but unfortunately the WWE only recognizes the history from september 2002 to current.

On the other hand, we have AJ Styles, who I believe is pound for pound the best wrestler in the world today when it comes to in ring work. His mic work, while not horrible, isn't the worst. He is believable on the mic but has room for improvement for sure. Although not the biggest wrestler in the world today, he looks like he is suppose to be a wrestler. Don't forget that he is the first and only grand slam champion in TNA and the current TNA Champion.

So to be honest, I would say it is a draw for me too. AJ Styles ring work makes up for his not so great mic skills. And CM Punks outstanding mic work makes up for his watered down move set that is forced by the E.

 

[CMCoke42381]

Punk!

AJ is the man in the ring but he cant deliver a good promo for his life. And not to sound cliche but yes he is a bit of a spot monkey, not full blown though. Punk will go down as 1 of the greatest gimmicks and heels in the history of Pro Wrestling when it's all said and done IMO. Both can chain wrestle and go scientific I might be inclined to give AJ a very slight edge on those, but as far as working a crowd and on the mic Punk FAR succeeds AJ IMO. They had a couple really good matches in ROH "bastard AJ never jobbed to Punk lol" AJ wont go as far as he is now, I think he's tapped his potential but Punk still hasn't "you'll see that if they ever do Punk/HBK"

 

[Mrs. Randy Orton]

Wow, tough choice....Both are amazing athletes but I'd have to give the edge to Punk right now because he's fucking amazing with this heel turn.

 

[Slyfox696]

This isn't even a fair question. AJ Styles is SO much better than CM Punk it's not even funny. I explain why in my posts.

CM Punk I think is better. AJ has a slight edge in his ring work (very slight I might ad cuz Punk is great in the ring as well), but his gimmick and Mic work is leaps and bounds above AJ Styles.

Say what? EVERYTHING is wrong with this.

First of all, AJ doesn't have a "slight" edge in ring work, he has an ENORMOUS edge. Punk is barely half the worker AJ is. AJ is so fucking good, he turned heel and could actually get the TNA morons to boo him. THAT'S how good AJ's in-ring work. He understands the difference between face work and heel work.

CM Punk couldn't get good reactions AS A FACE with his ring work. Think about that. He couldn't make people care about him, even when they were supposed to cheer him. All I heard for years is how Cena sucked because people booed him...but at least people cared. CM Punk couldn't even get that as a face.

In terms of ring work, AJ blows Punk out of the water.


As far as "character" and "mic work"? Did you never see AJ Styles promo work as a heel? The man was fucking hilarious, AND hilarious to the point that he could get himself over as a heel. Now THAT'S incredibly hard to do, to provide comic relief on a show and STILL have people boo you.

In terms of character and mic work, Styles blows Punk out of the water again.

but CM Punk is probably the best guy in WWE right now (outside of Jericho)

And Cena, Triple H, Batista, HBK, Undertaker, Edge, Orton, etc.

cm punk. why, because he works for the biggest wrestling company in the world

This is completely irrelevant. Funaki works for the biggest wrestling company in the world too.

not to mention he has the most important tittle in wrestling history

This carries importance. But, he's NOT carrying the most important title in wrestling history, now is he? Hell, he's not even carrying the most important title in the WWE, John Cena is.

CM Punk ISN'T the top guy in his company, he's not even in the Top 5 (Cena, Taker, Triple H, Orton, Edge, Undertaker). AJ Styles is THE top guy in TNA, and has been for over 5 years now.

His promo's are better than AJ

No, they're not. Am I the only one who has actually seen an AJ Styles promo?

AJ, while a great talent for TNA just doesn't match up to what CM Punk has acheived in the WWE. Punk is a triple crown champion and a 3 time World Heavyweight Champion plus an ECW reign. Punk has been that much better than AJ in a bigger company.

AJ is a TWO time Triple Crown Winner, and now a Grand Slam Winner, a multi-time Heavyweight Champion, a multi-time Tag Champion, multi-time X-Division champion, the face of the X-Division, and the face of TNA overall.

CM Punk isn't even in the Top 5 of the WWE.

His mic work is below par

Really? How so? He was in one of the best segments I've ever seen in ANY wrestling company (his potential retirement and Sting talking him out of it), as well as a GOD as a comedic heel. He gets his point across, does so believably and competently, and people always pay attention.

He may not be the Rock, but how is that below par?

He can wrestler any style.

Since when? Hell, when has he wrestled any style other than the same style?

He's adapted well to the WWE style

If by "well", you mean he's completely average in the ring, then I would agree.

Punk all the way, he lays waste to AJ in the promo side of things

No, he doesn't. But, I guess since he's a heel, and the IWC loves heels, then he must be better.

That's complete garbage. Punk doesn't lay waste on the promo side of things, hell, he isn't even as good.

in addition to this CM Punk would sell more merch, I don't care how many more items AJ has for sale you cannot tell me that anyone in TNA sells more merch than a main eventer in the E'.

But the BIGGER question is who are top sellers for their company. I bet CM Punk barely reaches the Top 10 in merchandise sales for the WWE. And I'd bet that AJ is in the Top 3.

Now with that said, deciding who is better between CM Punk and AJ Styles is extremely hard for me.

It shouldn't be...Punk is mediocre and Styles is great.

So to be honest, I would say it is a draw for me too. AJ Styles ring work makes up for his not so great mic skills.

What are these "not so great mic skills" that people keep talking about? Am I the only one who actually watches TNA promos?

Punk!

AJ is the man in the ring but he cant deliver a good promo for his life.

Except every week on Impact.

And not to sound cliche but yes he is a bit of a spot monkey, not full blown though.

How is he a spot monkey? I bet you don't even have the first clue as to what a spot monkey really is.

Punk will go down as 1 of the greatest gimmicks and heels in the history of Pro Wrestling when it's all said and done IMO.

Wait...AJ is a spot monkey, but Punk will go down as one of the greatest ever? Oh my god! I haven't laughed that hard in a while. You want to talk about spot monkeys, let's talk about Punk's ring work. Now THAT'S spotty wrestling.

I think he's tapped his potential but Punk still hasn't

This might be true. However, we're talking about right now, not in the future.



It amazes me how little some of you know wrestling. AJ is a spot monkey, but Punk isn't? AJ can't work the mic? Do you people actually watch wrestling? It's pathetic how dumb some of your opinions are.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

The only thing Punk is better at than Styles is being mediocre.

1. Everybody is lauding Punk's promos as some of the greatest ever. It finally took him three years to cut good promos. AJ was doing it long before Punk and has been doing it better. His heel promos as Prince AJ were great and his work with Rhyno was great as well. I don't take anything the TNA fans say with a grain of salt but it takes a hell of a lot to get them to boo you and that's what he did. Punk wasn't good as a face plain and simple. The only thing I see hampering Styles is his country accent but he still beats Punk in terms of mic skills.

2. In terms of matches, Styles blows Punk out of the water. Punk has only had one great match against Hardy at Summerslam and that was one of Hardy's specialties. I would take AJ's match at Turning Point 2005 or his Unbreakable Triple Threat Match over any match Punk has had in the WWE. Styles knew how to differentiate his face ring work from his heel ring work, something Punk hasn't done. RVD couldn't do it, Morrison couldn't do it, and Punk is falling into that same category. He hasn't entertained me in the ring one bit and Styles does that on a weekly basis.

3. Styles is a much better worker than Punk. Who has Punk helped make better in the ring in the WWE? Nobody. Let's talk about Samoa Joe. How many good matches has Joe had since moving from the X-Division? Not that many unless you can count his matches with Angle which weren't that great in my opinion. Joe was one of the best when he was in the X-Division because he had Daniels and Styles selling for him. His best matches in TNA were with Styles and without them he wouldn't have been taken seriously as a main-eventer.

4. The most bullshit argument you can come up with is that Punk is better simply because he's in a bigger company. Santino is in a bigger company than Kurt Angle so I guess he's better than Angle? Styles is the face of TNA and he has been since the day he got there. You ask most wrestling fans who is the face of TNA and they will say Styles. You ask who is the face of WWE and they may list 10 wrestlers before they even get to Punk.

Styles has Punk beat in every facet of the game. He can work several different styles just like Punk but Styles can go up against a variety of opponents unlike Punk. Watch his matches with Abyss and Morgan and you'll see what I'm talking about. Punk has struggled to get good matches against JBL and Batista.

 

[FromTheSouth]

AJ Styles is the face of a company, and CM Punk is a passing trend. How many main events is he going to get when the roster gets healthy? Is he going to main event when Batista, Edge, and Taker are all on the show. Remember, Jericho belongs to SD! now, so when they drop the belts, CM Punk falls down another rung.

AJ, on the other hand, is constantly associated, in an alliance or as an opponent, with TNA's biggest name, Kurt Angle. Aj is thought of more highly by his company.

Let's examine them in the ring. CM Punk's kicks are great. His finisher is shit. His signature running knee into bulldog is sloppily done. Neither of these two moves ever seems to hit. If he's not kicking, he's sucking.

AJ, on the other hand, has a wide and varied offensive repertoire. All of his strikes look good and are effective. He actually performs throws, as opposed to Punk, who doesn't. AJ's finishers always look good.

AJ wins in the ring by a mile.

CM Punk is very good on the mic right now. But, all of his promos before this have sucked. Once he sucks the life out of this angle, he is done. You can already tell. His promos in this Undertaker feud have been forced and dry in comparison to the great ones he was giving in the Hardy feud.

AJ is more over than anyone in the business and all he does is talk. Basically, what I am saying is that the person AJ Styles is more interesting than the written character CM Punk.

There is nothing in wrestling that CM Punk is better at than AJ, and it's not even close.

 

[Miko]

Yeah CM Punk's a yawn inducing bore, especially when compared to AJ. People say AJ's mic skills are shit but I really dont see it, he can sell a fued, an angle, a match, in short AJ makes you care, I guess he suffers from being a face and not making a joke every 5 seconds, both of which seem to make you shit on the mic.

CM Punk on the other hand cant get booed unless he's pretending to be Jeff Hardy, and thats only because Jeff is insanely popular, I could go to the ring pretending to be Jeff Hardy and get booed for that.

In the ring Styles blows Punk away, his match with Kevin Nash was better than nearly everything Punk has done, and this is Kevin Nash, while Nash isnt bad by any stretch he's hardly a young and fit man these days. FTS said that when Punk isnt kicking he's shit, and they're right. Apart from that he is fucking sloppy. AJ on the other hand is probably the most entertaining person in the ring today.

 

[maar130]

Well for me I it seems very even.

They are both tremendous workers, Yes, Punk has been more limited, way more limited now that he is in the WWE but he has the potential to have great matches and he can chain wrestle, if you don't see that is because there very few guys in the WWE who want or can do so. AJ tends to relly more on spots (also it is a trend from the company he is in) but can wrestle for sure.

Sorry but the persons saying AJ mick skills are great need to really check that because I watch TNA on weekly basis and his skills are limited, way more than Punk's as face mick skills. Punk as Heel is great and can make you really hate him, while as face he has the same problem (mick wise, in ring skills are something else) than John Cena, he is such a good guy that some times it is boring.

Merch is something else since since CM Punk is in the biggest company, while he is not on the top 5 sellers, still the company is way bigger than TNA in that department.

About the people he has to go by, The competition is way tougher for Punk to grab a main event spot than to AJ. Yes AJ is a Huge fish in a small pond. While Punk is a big fish in the Ocean, I mean he has to go against guys like HHH, Taker, Cena, HBK, Jericho etc. I know he is on Smackdown but on the PPVs you compete with everyone for the main spot.

Once AJ is done with Angle (and as good as Angle is, he was never really the top dog in WWE, political BS or whatever you want but he never was) and Joe, maybe Booker, but then who's left? Matt Morgan? Sorry but there is not too much to take away from TNA Main event scene.

On the finishers part, well yes, the GTS is BS, sorry but it is incredible this is looked at as a Finisher, whoever said that was a great finisher should be fired, but on the other hand He has the Anaconda and moves (if someone freaking allow him to perform them) harder than the GTS. Stlyes has more finishers at the moment but if you finish with "the Styles Clash" that is also lame, sorry but is a half way Dominator with a roll, he has better and more sadistic moves than that one.

And lets say that a Face Punk is as good as a Heel Styles, they both suck at it (Comedic Heel? please those kind of Heels never get to the top of anything, when Kurt was a comedic heel he was fed up to Taz, when he became a serious heel he became Main eventer), and viceversa Heel Punk is as good as Face Styles, they are good at it. Punk just need to tell his half truth no matter who his opponent is and everyone will boo him because of the self-rightousness crap in which he believes he is the Super hero we all need. AJ might not be that great on the mick but he is so good in the ring that you will cheer at his promos even if they are not great. Kind of like when Chris Benoit won his World title, the man never a great talker but his wrestling did all the talk that was needed, this was at 2004.

I just give a small edge to Punk because even with the way he is booked and stiff competition he faces (both companies needs new main guys but the WWE doesn't seem to be on a rush for it and TNA is way more willing to give AJ a shot since he is a new and not that new main eventer, he has been 4 times World Champion and his first run was in 2003) He has been allowed to shine and he has become good at it at the moment and is a 3 time World Champion (Not counting ECW championship) and probably with that trend he will be like 6 time World Champion by the end of Next Year. Sorry but AJ does not faces as tough competition, not even with Kurt Angle there.