Originally, Kane and Bryan were feuding with each other. Bryan was “engaged” to AJ Lee, who dumped him, leaving him angry, leading him to change his “Yes!” routine into “No!”. She was the “General Manager” of Raw and ordered the two (Kane & Bryan) to enroll in anger management classes. Their they were told to team up and build up a bond.

After testing the waters as a duo, the two eventually got a title victory at September 16th, 2012 at Night of Champions, Bryan teamed up with Kane (Team Hell No) to defeat Kofi Kingston & R-Truth. Team Hell No would successfully defend their titles for 245 days, eventually losing to Shield members, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins at Extreme Rules in May 2013. Shortly after the loss, the two dissolved their friendship and began a feud.

Bryan cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on December 18th, 2011 at TLC. He pinned Big Show who had just defeated ex-champ Mark Henry. Daniel Bryan would go on to hold the title until WrestleMania 28.

He unsuccessfully defended his title against Sheamus at WrestleMania 28, April 1st, 2012. Leaving his total reign just over three months long, and since the title has now been unified with the WWE Championship, Bryan’s one shot at the belt will also be his last.

Daniel Bryan’s first reign as champion was extremely short lived. Less than a day, in fact. He defeated John Cena at SummerSlam August 18th, 2013 (match was awarded PWI’s Match of the Year) with Triple H as the special guest referee. Immediately following his victory, Triple H hit Bryan with his finisher, the Pedigree. Randy Orton, Triple H’s friend, cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and pinned Bryan to steal the title from him.

Bryan would get his rematch at Night of Champions, September 15th, 2013. He’d go on to win after giving Orton the Flying Knee, but due to referee Scott Armstrong’s fast count, the following night on Raw, Triple H stripped Bryan of his title. Daniel Bryan had technically been WWE champion twice, but never reigned for even a full day within his first two reigns

The feud started at Extreme Rules 2009 when Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank contract against Jeff Hardy who had just had one hell of a tough fight. Punk rolled in, dropped the GTS, attempted a pin, then a roll up, then a kick to the head, then another GTS and got his three count and “stole” the title from Hardy. See for yourself..

Punk would retain his title against Hardy (and Edge), and then again June 28th, 2009 at The Bash. Punk was suffering from an eye injury so in their match at The Bash, he “accidentally” kicked the ref, who then disqualified him (retaining title). Hardy called out Punk for faking his eye injury, on top of Punk saying he was of higher moral standard for being straight edge, opposed to the publicized drug usage of Hardy, which then turned Punk heel (bad guy).

At this time Jeff Hardy had a complete slew of serious injuries (real). Their final match came during a steel cage match August 28th, 2009, where the victor would be forced to leave the WWE. Punk won, Hardy got bounced out of the WWE to heal his wounds. A large misconception is that Hardy was forced out of the WWE due to his arrest following charges of trafficking controlled substances (steroids and prescription pills), but the truth is, this shit went down a few weeks after his match with Punk.

Popular pro wrestling publication Wrestling Observer awarded this as Feud of the Year for 2009. WWE’s Slammy Award for “Shocker of the Year” in 2009 was Punk ousting Hardy in the steel cage match.

A tournament began for a number one contentensionship, right to face William Regal and the Intercontinental Championship. Punk defeated Snitsky and John Morrison in the first two rounds of the tournament. Punk would seal the tournament victory off with a win over Rey Mysterio at Armageddon in December of 2008.

Punk got his title shot against William Regal on January 5th’s episode of Raw. The match ended with Regal being disqualified. The following week, they’d rematch, with Punk being disqualified this time. On January 19th’s Raw, Stephanie McMahon granted Punk a rematch for the title, but this time, the match would be a No Disqualification match. Punk goes on to win. He’d have the Intercontinental title for just under two months before losing to JBL on Raw in March.

Punk teamed up with fellow up-and-comer Kofi Kingston and defeated Ted DiBiase (Jr.) & Cody Rhodes on an episode of Raw on October 27th, 2008. They’d possess the titles for just over a month before the two lost their tag titles at a house show December 13th, 2008 to John Morrison & The Miz.

Punk’s first go-round with the WWE Championship came at Money in the Bank on July 17th, 2011 following his glorious “pipe bomb”. He defeated John Cena in his hometown of Chicago. The match would go on to be considered the best of the year by many wrestling publications. That night (at midnight) his contract expired and he “left” the company with the championship.

With Punk’s absence, the WWE conducted an 8-man tournament to crown a new champion, the title changed hands from Rey Mysterio to John Cena only for CM Punk to return and challenge Cena to be crowned “undisputed” champion. The match took place in LA, at SummerSlam on August 14th, 2011 with Triple H as special guest referee. CM Punk won, however immediately following the win, Kevin Nash attacked Punk then Money in the Bank victor Alberto Del Rio cashed in his win and pinned Punk to be crowned the new WWE Champion; this would officially end CM Punk’s first reign as WWE Champion.

A few months later at Survivor Series CM Punk would go on to defeat Del Rio by submission with his Anaconda Vise, in a singles match which would mark Punk’s second reign as champion. This reign would go on to become the longest championship reign since Hulk Hogan from 1984-1988. Punk’s run would have a total count of 434 days.

He eventually lost to The Rock at 2012’s Royal Rumble main event to The Rock. Punk originally won the match after The Shield interfered. The Rock convinced Vince McMahon to restart the match over stripping Punk of his title. Shortly after, The Rock pinned Punk, officially ending his record-setting run as champion.