CM Punk and Daniel Bryan: Who Will Have the Better WWE Career?

No, you’re not dreaming. CM Punk really is the WWE Champion, Daniel Bryan is indeed the World Heavyweight Champion, and yes, they actually are defending their titles at WrestleMania 28. 

The two world-renowned wrestlers who made a name for themselves in Ring of Honor eventually made their way to the WWE, and though their path was filled with obstacles, doubters, roadblocks and haters, they are now holding the two most prestigious titles in the company. 

For Bryan, it’s his first world title reign in WWE and just his second singles title reign of any kind. For Punk, it’s his fifth world title reign and eighth title reign overall in Vince McMahon’s company. 

The WWE careers of Bryan and Punk really aren’t comparable at this point in time, but that still begs the question: Who’s going to have the better WWE career when it’s all said and done? 

Here’s a look at Punk’s overall accomplishments in WWE so far: three-time World Heavyweight Champion, two-time WWE Champion, two-time Money in the Bank winner, 19^th Triple Crown champion and one-time ECW, World Tag Team and Intercontinental Champion. 

And now, a look at Bryan’s: one-time World Heavyweight Champion, United States Champion and Money in the Bank winner. 

As you can see, Punk has the edge here by a country mile, with six more individual title reigns than his ROH brethren, Bryan. 

Where Bryan does have the advantage, however, is in one very distinct category: age. Punk turns 34 in October, while Bryan turns just 31 in May. 

That means that, although Bryan has a lot of catching up to do, he also has a boatload of time to do so, and given his quick rise to the world title scene, he just might be able to. 

Punk won his first world title in the WWE almost exactly two years after his debut, but Bryan got there ever faster, with his World Heavyweight Championship win coming 22 months after his debut on NXT, despite the fact that he was released from his WWE contract for a few months in 2010. 

You can criticize the WWE all you want for “not pushing Bryan fast enough,” but that argument really has no merit. Bryan rose to his current position as world champion as fast as just about any WWE star not named Sheamus or Alberto Del Rio. 

What will define how the rest of Bryan’s career plays out is whether he instantly becomes a consistent main-eventer, or like Punk, he takes a bit of a roller-coaster ride in the WWE, with his main-event runs coming and going from time to time. 

Although Punk made it to world title contention incredibly quickly (in June 2008 after debuting in June 2006), it wasn’t until roughly three years later (in July 2011 at Money in the Bank) that he became the bona fide superstar and face of the WWE that he is today. 

I can’t help but wonder if Bryan will take a similar path. 

Professional wrestling is all about pushes. They start, they stop, they come and they go. And no one knows how Bryan’s push will play out. 

Even so, Bryan reached his first world title win at roughly the same age Punk was, and at 30 years old, Bryan’s career has been very similar to how Punk’s was when he was that age. 

The main current difference between the two, however, is that Punk has already become one of the top three stars in the WWE and is poised to remain one for the next three to five years, while we really have no idea if Bryan’s current run is anything more than a brief and temporary thing. 

Like Punk, Bryan has proved recently that he has all the tools—the in-ring skills, the mic skills, the charisma, the gimmick, etc.—to stay at the top of the WWE for a long time, but Punk has already built up a Hall of Fame caliber resume, with five world title reigns. 

Bryan, on the other hand, has just two singles title reigns in the WWE, and as evidenced by guys like Kane and The Big Show, no one knows if he’ll even end up with two world title runs once he calls it quits. 

While I have no doubt that Bryan will continue to put on some phenomenal matches throughout his WWE career, he has no Match of the Year winners in the WWE like Punk does, has five fewer title reigns than Punk and may not be a long-time main-eventer. 

Therefore, if I had to choose between Bryan and Punk today, I would go with Punk ever so slightly ahead of Bryan because the Straight Edge Superstar’s resume is considerably more impressive at the time being. 

Don’t count out Bryan, though. 

When he’s 33, he might have just as many accolades as Punk currently does, and as someone like Shawn Michaels proves, you can’t define everyone’s career by world title reigns.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions on Formspring.