CM Punk and Daniel Bryan: The men who made the internet matter

CM Punk and Daniel Bryan at ROH

The WWE, over the years, has gone through various eras. The Golden era, the Attitude era, the Ruthless Aggression era, the PG era and the present age in which the WWE has tried to reach as close to reality as possible.

Guys like Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe, Kewin Owens, Finn Balor and Sami Zayn are the guys that were never supposed to make it in the WWE. These are the names that  would've been unheard of by a common WWE fan a couple of years ago.

Since these wrestlers aren't 6'6 bodybuilders that WWE wants to portray and build their company around, the idea of them doing something significant in WWE would have been laughable in the past.

 I mean, what can you expect out of a man that has been relying on a Hulk Hogan or Rock back in the day, or John Cena for the past entire decade. But as we get to the present scenario, a lot has changed.

From building up new talent in NXT and calling them up to the main roster to acknowledging wrestlers around the world and bringing in guys from different promotions which is a significant sign of affording them the respect that they deserve.

Well, an ideal WWE face should have the looks, the appearance and decent wrestling ability.

Looking at John Cena , Vince McMahon knew this would be the man who would be the poster boy, the face of the company, the man who would carry the company on his reliable shoulders for the years to come.

And as it turned out, John Cena is currently a fifteen-time world champion and counting. Guys like Cena, Triple H, Batista were handed the spots and worked main event for years. But along with this, there were a couple of names that were starting to emerge and cast their spell upon the WWE crowds.

They started a revolution of sorts, breaking the glass ceiling and opening up the gates for the Indy guys.

The Superstars I’m talking about are CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. The two wrestled all across the globe before stepping into the WWE. Daniel Bryan is the best technical wrestler of this generation. He was even called " The Best In The World " during his time in ROH.

And CM Punk had it all from wrestling skills to promo work.

But were these guys ever supposed to reach the top of the tree in the WWE?

When there was a face off between the two during the 40 man Royal Rumble, the internet community went nuts. They would love to see this match, but " Who cares about the internet? " said Matt Striker, one of the commentators at the time.

Then there was the epic "Pipe bomb" that CM Punk dropped on the franchise and its ways getting a lot of things off his chest during the process.

Seeing talents like Brian Kendrick, Dolph Ziggler, Paul London, Tyson Kidd getting screwed up by the system just because of their size and stature and all of what Punk said sounded genuine. It was the truth. This is where the turn of events took place and Punk became the talk of the wrestling world.

He was red hot, his promos were godly and was leading the WWE crowds into fighting against the system, which ultimately led to him earning a main event spot at 'Money in the Bank'. A spot where he belonged, a spot he deserved despite coming from the indies.

He eventually went on to become the longest reigning WWE champion of the Modern era. Daniel Bryan on the other hand was getting monster reactions , the loudest of the pops, and a great reception each time he laid foot in that ring to grace the squared circle.

And in Royal Rumble 2014, people across the internet hoped for Bryan to win, but when he didn't even show up, the wrestling community exploded, the crowd crapped all over the Rumble which led to Vince changing his plans and inserting Bryan into the main event of WrestleMania.

The successful WWE careers of Punk and Bryan paved the way for future Indy guys and wrestlers even from Japan to be called up which would've been an afterthought in the past.

Its great to see Triple H having a great working relation with talents of other promotions and Vince McMmahon basically opening up a bit to the change and letting his company evolve.

The bare fact that Dean Ambrose is our WWE Champion and Cesaro, Kewin Owens, Sami Zayn are all involved in crucial storylines is the evidence of the change, the right path WWE is heading into.

All the scratching and crawling they had to go through for over a decade and it looks like all of their hard work is finally bearing fruit. It is great for the wrestling fans, we are finally being appreciated by the WWE.