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Thing is we're going by the way Punk's career ended, and the way DB's career ended up unfolding. Had Punk not ended up having the grievances he did do any of you honestly believe his career would have stalled out? If the dude had stuck it out and stayed with the company he'd have almost certainly stayed in the main event, and likely would have ended up taking DB's spot as the guy who beat the Authority, albeit in a much less satisfying way as I don't think we'd have seen the triple threat happen and instead it'd have just been Punk vs Triple H while Batista went on to fight Orton.
Also the idea that Punk only got over because of the "best in the world" shtick is really underestimating him in my opinion. It's like saying the only thing that got DB over was the YES! chants. Yeah, it definitely didn't hurt, but the dude was over even before that. Sure he didn't reach the peak until he started that stuff, but his career even before the "Summer of Punk" was nothing to scoff at. The dude had "it" in spades.
As for Punk's matches not being as exciting as DB's, well, that certainly can be argued, but in-ring competition isn't the only thing that defines a great wrestler. If it were Tyson Kidd would have been god-tier. Punk was great in the ring. Not as great as Bryan, but still great. I'm a sucker for good workers and 5-star matches, but for me interesting characters and promos are more important, and if you can have both like Punk did you're golden in my eyes.
Oh, and just an FYI I'm not saying DB wasn't amazing. I loved the dude, and he is one of my favorites to grace the ring in recent years. I'm just saying that in my honest opinion Punk had more of a star quality to him.
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