Images via: Bucks-Fansided, Punk & BD-Sound Cloud, AEW-AEW
Bryan Danielson vs. CM Punk – They have faced each other before—many times before—and the result has always been spectacular. And yes, even within the limited constraints presented in WWE, the two men were able to pull off quite the technical match many times over.
Of course that wasn’t always the case in WWE—there were days prior to 2008 when matches were high-octane and high-risk, but that went the way of the Attitude Era and early Ruthless Aggression Era as time went on.
Yet Daniel Bryan, as he was known at the time in WWE, and CM Punk, were still able to pull of matches that were very reminiscent of the battles put on by the likes of Bret Hart, The British Bulldog, Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. Of course there were other greats, but we’ll limit it to just those few to make the point here.
And yes, of course Danielson and Punk had clinics in ROH when they were a lot younger as well. The prospect of having a match in AEW now that they’re both in the company has indeed come up, and fans are definitely excited with extremely good reason.
“I think both of those are really exciting to me. You also mentioned two teams that I would love to do a serious program with, not just a one-off thing. And who better to team with than Punk? I’ve always thought, and said this even when I was in WWE, it felt to me like Punk and I were destined to do a WrestleMania match and then it just never happened…
It felt like, ‘Man, it’s so perfect and it makes so much sense that we would have this WrestleMania match against each other.’ And it never happened. But now, given the time of how long it’s been since we’ve been in a ring against each other or even as a tag team, now I feel like when we do it, it’ll be big. And it will be big in a different way…
That’s something I really look forward to. I also like the idea of us battling over who the real best in the world is. That sounds like a lot of fun.”
via “Casual Conversations with The Classic ” /Wrestling Inc (Transcription)
via ROH /YouTube
(*Yes, that is Ricky Steamboat as the special referee for that classic ROH match above!)
So perhaps a promise to get the epic match that WWE never gave us. As stated earlier, they did have matches in WWE, but not on what is considered by some to be the ‘Grandest stage of them all.’ Maybe we’ll get to see it in AEW, as they’ve given us so many great gifts already.
Kind of reminds me of the old Flair vs. Hogan…yet another match that WWE never gave us. But Ted Turner did, and although that’s a wee bit of ancient history, you know what they say about history, right…? It repeats itself; sometimes turned around and flipped about, but it sometimes repeats itself just the same.
The Young Bucks named Number 1 in PWI’s Tag Team 50 rankings of 2021
Pro Wrestling Illustrated rankings are held in high regard. Earlier this year, Kenny Omega took the top spot for singles male competitors, beating out Roman Reigns, and now The Bucks take the top spot for the tag team divisions spread out across the industry.
