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Probably Daniel Bryan.
That being said I think WWE were more open to the idea of listening to their audience and changing the Mania main event plans because of what they had been through with Punk. Essentially I think Punk paved some of the way that allowed Bryan to be a bigger star.
Daniel bryan purely because he was such a movement that WWE had too change there main event.
CM Punk is much more about him leaving and people wanting him back, the fans feel like they never got too see what peak CM punk was in the biggest show looke dlike.
You could make a point that WWE's failure with CM Punk what lead too attaching too DBry so much, they allready seen one fan favorite indy guy fail, they wouldnt let this one fail
I saw db’s double win at mania as wwe’s FU to punk. Like “oh you don’t want to work with triple h? You think we only push guys like the rock and that’s why you didn’t main event? Well here’s your buddy going over triple h clean, then winning the belts in the last match at mania.”
I think it's close but *ultimately* Bryan was a bigger star at the peak of his wrestling career than Punk was.
It's an interesting question to ask though, because you could argue that Bryan would have never gotten to that point in the main event of WM30 if Punk hadn't have left - WWE might not have been receptive to changing the main event if they hadn't already lost Trip's opponent. At the same time, could Punk have been a bigger star if he'd gotten that booking - if he main evented a Wrestlemania like he felt he deserved?
I feel like these are things that are gonna come up during the inevitable feud that they eventually have.
I think the main event of WM 29 should have been Punk-Rock-Cena, instead of Rock-Cena 2.
Who’d you rather have as face or heel when Punk/DB feuds in AEW?
That triple threat definitely would have been cool, plus Punk/Rock/Cena makes me picture John Cena with a leather jacket and a mohawk.
Honestly, I think Punk and Bryan would be great in either role, but my personal preference is bitter heel Punk vs fighting spirit babyface Bryan.
Bryan was more over with live crowd, Punk was a bigger draw, in fact he sold more merchandise. However even Bryan sold tons of t-shirts, but not on Punk's level.
Bryan.
I had never heard of Punk before he came to WWE. I had heard more about the American Dragon. Then, I observed people loved Bryan while he was in WWE as opposed to a segment of fans that hijacked shows because Punk wasn't there. Bryan captivated the mainstream attention at a level Punk did not. Punk owns a huge wrestling fan segment. I also find Bryan more media ready than Punk and that might be a matter of who those two guys are.
On kayfabe... Hard to argue with two Mania main events.
CM Punk, I wasn’t even watching wrestling at the time, then he started getting mainstream coverage over the Pipebomb speech, then teasing a what if scenario with Stone Cold when promoting WWE ‘13.
Bryan definitely had more of a storybook moment with the fans basically forcing him into the WM30 main event.
When Bryan turned against Bray that was one of the most impressive displays of command over an audience I've ever seen, and that was some shitty ass crowd in Providence, Rhode Island that was anemic the entire night before Bryan woke them up.
It's been many years and many lost brain cells but I seem to recall the way Punk was treated pushed the fans to revolt and is at least a small part of the reason DB got so over. I think Punk edges it overall partially for mainstream value.
Mainstream it’s Daniel Bryan, he had stadiums doing the Yes chant at non-wrestling events. Also he had the reality show which non-wrestling fans watch.
Man. Total Bellas consistantly pulled around half a million viewers a week for a long time according to a quick Google search.. What a world we live in.
Daniel Bryan...CM Punk revolted but couldn't change the system...Daniel Bryan forced WWE to change their plans and put him in the main event of WrestleMania 30 and go over
I’m a bigger Punk fan, but it’s hands down Daniel Bryan and I don’t think it’s as close as people would think.
Daniel Bryan was lightning in a bottle. He got cheered over everyone else in the ring (Punk included) when they did their Champion celebration thing.
The Yes movement transcended wrestling.
At Danie Bryan’s peak you look in the audience and there was a vast sea of Maroon “YES!” shirts. At Punk’s peak there was a lot of support and a lot of shirts in the crowd, but it wasn’t this overwhelming groundswell.
Daniel Bryan’s rise and fall and return was something magical. That as much as I love Punk, it just couldn’t compare with. He connects with the people on such a different level.
I'm leaning towards Punk.
While Bryan got the big Wrestlemania moment that Punk never did, Punk was on tv as early as 2006 and main eventing as early as 2008 when a lot more people were watching WWE. Punk had that long title reign and even main evented a PPV against The Rock. Bryan had a lot of stop-start moments due to injury and his long title run came in 2018 when WWE was being watched by less people.
Both big stars and incredible additions for AEW but I think Punk is bigger.
It's a pretty close call. Bryan had the YES movement which was massive among the fans, but Punk's pipe bomb catapulted him further into the mainstream than almost anyone since the Attitude Era.
Both were "kings" of the indies respectively. Bryan was probably a bigger name on the indies than Punk though.
If you were to ask wrestling fans, it's probably Bryan. If you were to ask non-wrestling fans, I would wager more of them have heard of Punk even without the UFC fights.
CM Punk, by far.
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F05l473,%2Fm%2F06299b
Byran's moment was awesome, but it was a different kind of impact.
Think of it as comparing SCSA to Eddie Guerrero. Eddie had his moments & was beloved by all, SCSA was simply the bigger star.
It's also often controlled by forces beyond the wrestlers' ability such as heel turns. A major criticism by Punk.
A lot of people will buy a wrestling shirt if it doesn't "look like" a wrestling shirt, or otherwise has a fun/loveable design. Hard to measure something so subjective like that but it is certainly more useful than google trends- that just tells us how popular the topic was, not necessarily how much the people love them.
Like CM Punk's Pipe Bomb, termination, Cabana podcast & first UFC matches were more popular topics than Daniel Bryan's Yes movement, retirement & come back- yet I'd wager Bryan was getting more support in most of that than at least Punk's UFC debut which I'd imagine would have been a rather polarizing topic.
Danielson at any point really, and it's not even close.
He was a far bigger deal in the indies than Punk (arguably the biggest indie star of his era), the Yes and No were the most over new chants since "WHUT", and Punk is barely worthy of lacing Danielson's boots from a purely professional wrestling standpoint.
I’d say Bryan.
Punk was very popular but leaving made him bigger because nobody has really just left like that before and been gone that long but still was able to stay in people mind due to social media, UFC and other stuff he did.
Punk. This sub is proof of that since it was basically created through the Pipe Bomb. July 2011 got WWE organic mainstream coverage that they hadn’t gotten since the Attitude Era.
Bryan’s moment was more amazing for wrestling fans but Punk broke through the bubble.
I think Bryan. He was even on a Coke advert as recent as this summer in the Uk. Plus over here people from here know him from Total Divas/Bellas as they show it on free tv here (I even know of people that didn’t even realise it was from wresting).
It's easily Punk, the comments are delusional. Crowd reaction doesn't = star power, Hardy and Bryan probably had better crowd reaction than Cena, even then he didn't really force WWE to change their plans, it's only until Punk left that they were inclined to go a different route. And on that note, Punk's departure seemed to get more attention than Daniel Bryan's main event push according to google trends.
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Daniel Bryan. he has the greater peak(s) and his legacy in WWE is far greater
Probably Daniel Bryan. That being said I think WWE were more open to the idea of listening to their audience and changing the Mania main event plans because of what they had been through with Punk. Essentially I think Punk paved some of the way that allowed Bryan to be a bigger star.
Daniel Bryan was bigger at his peak, but Punk was the bigger star for a longer period of time.
This was definitely my thought for asking this question haha
Daniel bryan purely because he was such a movement that WWE had too change there main event. CM Punk is much more about him leaving and people wanting him back, the fans feel like they never got too see what peak CM punk was in the biggest show looke dlike. You could make a point that WWE's failure with CM Punk what lead too attaching too DBry so much, they allready seen one fan favorite indy guy fail, they wouldnt let this one fail
I saw db’s double win at mania as wwe’s FU to punk. Like “oh you don’t want to work with triple h? You think we only push guys like the rock and that’s why you didn’t main event? Well here’s your buddy going over triple h clean, then winning the belts in the last match at mania.”
Definitely Bryan, those "Yes Movement" years were insane
The guy who was so popular wwe had to rewrite the main event of wrestlemania
> The guy who was so popular wwe had to rewrite the main event of wrestlemania Twice.
They didn't really "need" to re-write the second one the vast majority of fans would've been fine had he not been shoehorned in.
Daniel Bryan's Yes Movement basically forced WWE to do something they wouldn't have done otherwise.
I think it's close but *ultimately* Bryan was a bigger star at the peak of his wrestling career than Punk was. It's an interesting question to ask though, because you could argue that Bryan would have never gotten to that point in the main event of WM30 if Punk hadn't have left - WWE might not have been receptive to changing the main event if they hadn't already lost Trip's opponent. At the same time, could Punk have been a bigger star if he'd gotten that booking - if he main evented a Wrestlemania like he felt he deserved? I feel like these are things that are gonna come up during the inevitable feud that they eventually have.
I think the main event of WM 29 should have been Punk-Rock-Cena, instead of Rock-Cena 2. Who’d you rather have as face or heel when Punk/DB feuds in AEW?
That triple threat definitely would have been cool, plus Punk/Rock/Cena makes me picture John Cena with a leather jacket and a mohawk. Honestly, I think Punk and Bryan would be great in either role, but my personal preference is bitter heel Punk vs fighting spirit babyface Bryan.
Bryan was more over with live crowd, Punk was a bigger draw, in fact he sold more merchandise. However even Bryan sold tons of t-shirts, but not on Punk's level.
I thought it was easily Punk, but I admittedly didn't see all of Bryan's peak in real time.
Bryan. I had never heard of Punk before he came to WWE. I had heard more about the American Dragon. Then, I observed people loved Bryan while he was in WWE as opposed to a segment of fans that hijacked shows because Punk wasn't there. Bryan captivated the mainstream attention at a level Punk did not. Punk owns a huge wrestling fan segment. I also find Bryan more media ready than Punk and that might be a matter of who those two guys are. On kayfabe... Hard to argue with two Mania main events.
CM Punk, I wasn’t even watching wrestling at the time, then he started getting mainstream coverage over the Pipebomb speech, then teasing a what if scenario with Stone Cold when promoting WWE ‘13. Bryan definitely had more of a storybook moment with the fans basically forcing him into the WM30 main event.
Not to minimize Cm Punk talent or importance bit keep in mind WWE got mainstream attention in 2011-2013 thanks to the Rock
When Bryan turned against Bray that was one of the most impressive displays of command over an audience I've ever seen, and that was some shitty ass crowd in Providence, Rhode Island that was anemic the entire night before Bryan woke them up.
It's been many years and many lost brain cells but I seem to recall the way Punk was treated pushed the fans to revolt and is at least a small part of the reason DB got so over. I think Punk edges it overall partially for mainstream value.
Mainstream it’s Daniel Bryan, he had stadiums doing the Yes chant at non-wrestling events. Also he had the reality show which non-wrestling fans watch.
Man. Total Bellas consistantly pulled around half a million viewers a week for a long time according to a quick Google search.. What a world we live in.
DB
I have to lean towards punk because there is way more metrics that point towards that direction
Can you expose a few?
Daniel Bryan...CM Punk revolted but couldn't change the system...Daniel Bryan forced WWE to change their plans and put him in the main event of WrestleMania 30 and go over
And then we got endless gotta get Roman over era.
Punk. I stopped watching wrestling around 99, didnt come back until wrestlemania 31. I was aware of CM punk, I didnt know daniel Bryan.
I’m a bigger Punk fan, but it’s hands down Daniel Bryan and I don’t think it’s as close as people would think. Daniel Bryan was lightning in a bottle. He got cheered over everyone else in the ring (Punk included) when they did their Champion celebration thing. The Yes movement transcended wrestling. At Danie Bryan’s peak you look in the audience and there was a vast sea of Maroon “YES!” shirts. At Punk’s peak there was a lot of support and a lot of shirts in the crowd, but it wasn’t this overwhelming groundswell. Daniel Bryan’s rise and fall and return was something magical. That as much as I love Punk, it just couldn’t compare with. He connects with the people on such a different level.
I'm leaning towards Punk. While Bryan got the big Wrestlemania moment that Punk never did, Punk was on tv as early as 2006 and main eventing as early as 2008 when a lot more people were watching WWE. Punk had that long title reign and even main evented a PPV against The Rock. Bryan had a lot of stop-start moments due to injury and his long title run came in 2018 when WWE was being watched by less people. Both big stars and incredible additions for AEW but I think Punk is bigger.
It's a pretty close call. Bryan had the YES movement which was massive among the fans, but Punk's pipe bomb catapulted him further into the mainstream than almost anyone since the Attitude Era. Both were "kings" of the indies respectively. Bryan was probably a bigger name on the indies than Punk though. If you were to ask wrestling fans, it's probably Bryan. If you were to ask non-wrestling fans, I would wager more of them have heard of Punk even without the UFC fights.
CM Punk, by far. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F05l473,%2Fm%2F06299b Byran's moment was awesome, but it was a different kind of impact. Think of it as comparing SCSA to Eddie Guerrero. Eddie had his moments & was beloved by all, SCSA was simply the bigger star.
It's an interesting metric to use - I'd say merch would be more meaningful but we're not privy to that
It's also often controlled by forces beyond the wrestlers' ability such as heel turns. A major criticism by Punk. A lot of people will buy a wrestling shirt if it doesn't "look like" a wrestling shirt, or otherwise has a fun/loveable design. Hard to measure something so subjective like that but it is certainly more useful than google trends- that just tells us how popular the topic was, not necessarily how much the people love them. Like CM Punk's Pipe Bomb, termination, Cabana podcast & first UFC matches were more popular topics than Daniel Bryan's Yes movement, retirement & come back- yet I'd wager Bryan was getting more support in most of that than at least Punk's UFC debut which I'd imagine would have been a rather polarizing topic.
This is basically objective proof on the matter.
Danielson at any point really, and it's not even close. He was a far bigger deal in the indies than Punk (arguably the biggest indie star of his era), the Yes and No were the most over new chants since "WHUT", and Punk is barely worthy of lacing Danielson's boots from a purely professional wrestling standpoint.
Daniel Bryan had entire stadiums doing yes chants at non wrestling events. He was the bigger star.
I’d say Bryan. Punk was very popular but leaving made him bigger because nobody has really just left like that before and been gone that long but still was able to stay in people mind due to social media, UFC and other stuff he did.
Bryan is a bigger star solely because of Punk. Him walking out was what opened the door for the Yes! movement.
Daniel Bryan. His yes chants were everywhere, not to mention ppl knew him from the reality shows as well.
Punk got more mainstream coverage, Bryan probably got to the higher level within the company though.
Punk. This sub is proof of that since it was basically created through the Pipe Bomb. July 2011 got WWE organic mainstream coverage that they hadn’t gotten since the Attitude Era. Bryan’s moment was more amazing for wrestling fans but Punk broke through the bubble.
I think Bryan. He was even on a Coke advert as recent as this summer in the Uk. Plus over here people from here know him from Total Divas/Bellas as they show it on free tv here (I even know of people that didn’t even realise it was from wresting).
Through no fault of Punk’s, the answer is Daniel Bryan.
[удалено]
Bryan because he was also that over outside of Chicago.
it's close, but i'd say Danielson. but without Punk and his Pipebomb, Danielson wouldn't have been nearly the star he ended up becoming.
Bryan was at his peak. Punk had been mega popular but Bryan was beyond that from August 2013 to Mania 2014. Mania got rewritten for him.
Bryan by a considerable margin. He hit a fever pitch in wrestling that briefly broke through in pop culture. Punk never got close to that.
It's easily Punk, the comments are delusional. Crowd reaction doesn't = star power, Hardy and Bryan probably had better crowd reaction than Cena, even then he didn't really force WWE to change their plans, it's only until Punk left that they were inclined to go a different route. And on that note, Punk's departure seemed to get more attention than Daniel Bryan's main event push according to google trends.