Behind door number one sits CM Punk and his Anaconda Vise, a crushing submission maneuver that clasps itself around a Superstar’s head and constricts it like a jungle snake, compacting his cranium until he screams in pain and taps in humbling defeat.

Behind door number two lies Daniel Bryan and his “Yes!” Lock, a torturous hold that Bryan adapted from the legendary Gene LeBell. This contorting human torture contraption combines the mixed-martial arts omoplata with a crossface that attacks both the neck and shoulder joints with equal precision, leaving Bryan’s victim squirming for salvation from two angles until they tap while Bryan’s obnoxious screams of “YES!” rattle in their ears and reverberate off of the arena’s walls.

They are two of the most ignominious ways a Superstar can face the final bell in a match, and at WWE Over the Limit this Sunday, there’s a very good chance the WWE Title will be decided with one of them. But which hold wins out? As Punk and Bryan prepare for their long-awaited face off for the ultimate prize (HISTORY: CM PUNK VS. DANIEL BRYAN), WWE.com takes a look at each submission hold, its strengths and weaknesses, and a few choice testimonials from the Superstars who’ve been locked in its clutches. Ponder which one you’d prefer while you’re at it, too. As a wise man once said, you must choose. But choose wisely.

The Anaconda Vise

The sensation of having one’s head crushed by their own arm is a remarkably unpleasant one, as many of CM Punk’s opponents can attest to. Punk’s Anaconda Vise submission hold – a deviation of the ju-jitsu arm triangle – is a combination of amateur wrestling tactics and some of The Second City Saint’s own ruthlessness, and it has helped him both win and retain the WWE Championship on several occasions. To lock in the devastating maneuver, Punk positions himself across his opponent’s body like he’s throwing in a headlock, putting pressure on the victim’s chest so they’re unable to wiggle free. The Voice of the Voiceless then traps his opponent’s forearm so they’re unable to roll through and reverse, snaking his tattooed arms around their head and upper body, squeezing until they surrender (and sometimes for a few minutes after, if he’s looking to make a point).

“It’s multifaceted and can be applied in different ways,” Punk told WWE.com back in November, before he used the Vise to capture the WWE Title from Alberto Del Rio at Survivor Series. “Because I have control of my opponent’s head, I can beat up a guy’s neck, his shoulder or his arm. That’s why I like it.” (PHOTOS: DEL RIO VS. PUNK – WWE TITLE MATCH)

The hold tends to leave an indelible mark on any Superstar who suffers it as well. Before Punk used it to win the WWE Championship from Del Rio, he infamously trapped The Essence of Excellence in the Vise for several miserable minutes, forcing him to grant Punk the title opportunity in the first place.

Announcer Michael Cole was another one of Punk’s more memorable victims, literally squealing for mercy after all of five seconds in The Second City Saint’s clutches. “Obviously the Anaconda Vise is a devastating submission hold. I wouldn’t say it’s quite as effective as my An-Cole Lock, which I used on J.R. – a WWE Hall of Famer, by the way – last year,” Cole told WWE.com, while also conceding that it could well be the deciding factor of the WWE Title Match at Over the Limit. “Being stuck in that move was one of the more humiliating moments of my career. I’d say if Daniel Bryan gets caught in that, he’s going to have his work cut out for him.”

As for The Miz, who is among those who’ve also tapped to the Vise, WWE.com reporters found him in a rare state when questioned on the move’s effectiveness: speechless.

“We don’t need to talk about that,” The Awesome One said of his past encounters with Punk’s submission.

Like we said: it leaves a mark that can’t be measured.

The “Yes!” Lock

Imagine, if you will, having your arm torqued behind you at a violent angle, with the weight of a 210-pound man resting upon your shoulder. You try to wiggle free, but mercy eludes you as a pair of arms clench in an iron grip across your face, pressuring against your nose and cranking your neck back. And, as if your situation couldn’t be any worse, all you hear in your head is furious screams of “YES!” as Daniel Bryan cranks up his aptly named “Yes!” Lock and you’re left with no choice but to tap.

“It’s painful to say the least,” WWE Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston said of the maneuver, which Bryan infamously trapped him in for minutes on end a few weeks ago on Raw SuperShow. “First of all, the way Daniel Bryan will do it, if you look, when he grabs your face, he has his knuckles turned in. So imagine someone’s knuckles grinding in your face. Pretty uncomfortable.”

In stacking his own maneuver up against the Anaconda Vise, Bryan wasted no time in extolling the virtues of his weapon of choice.

“It just puts more torque on the person’s body,” the No. 1 contender told WWE.com. “It attacks both the shoulder and the neck. Don’t get me wrong, the Anaconda Vise is devastating. Just not as devastating as the ‘Yes!’ Lock.” (WATCH: DANIEL BRYAN’S TRAINING REGIMENT)

Kingston went on to embellish the crux of Bryan’s move is the helplessness it inspires, as well as the debilitating mind games of the No. 1 contender that demoralize his victims into submission. “You can’t do anything about it, because you only have one arm,” Kingston said. “It’s painful on so many levels, and the fact that he’s yelling in your ear full blast, it’s not a pleasant move to be in.”

In other words: Is it painful? Yes! Is it humiliating? Yes!. But will the “Yes!” Lock win Daniel Bryan the WWE Championship at Over The Limit?
… Maybe.

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DIGITAL PICTURES — SCREEN CAPTURES — VIDEO

WWE Champion CM Punk & United States Champion Santino Marella def. Daniel Bryan & Cody Rhodes

Less than a week before WWE Champion CM Punk will defend his title against Daniel Bryan at WWE Over the Limit, the champion tangled with his foe in tag action. And it was The Straight Edge Superstar who captured victory for his team over Cody Rhodes with a GTS … all the while making sure Bryan kept close watch on his fast and furious offense against Rhodes.

No Superstar knows how to cause a commotion quite like WWE Champion CM Punk. The Voice of the Voiceless is both Raw’s most outspoken Superstar and arguably its most glorified one. With his impulsive behavior and anti-establishment attitude, Punk’s presence evokes images of the toughest S.O.B. to make Raw a must-watch program: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. It’s fitting, then, that Punk wore a “Stone Cold” T-shirt when he launched his legendary pipe bomb on the June 27, 2011 edition of Raw SuperShow.

Punk’s stay on the Raw roster hasn’t been long, but his ability to make an impact was clear just one week after he was first drafted to the brand on June 23, 2008. On his very first appearance on Raw, The Straight Edge Superstar shocked the WWE Universe by cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase against Edge to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Now, he’s the longest-reigning WWE Champion in more than four years. We’d say that merits his “Best in the World” moniker, although our next franchise player will tell you otherwise.

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Vote for Punk here: http://www.wwe.com/inside/polls/who-is-franchise-player-of-raw

USA Network’s ‘Welcome Summer’ Photoshoot

HQ Digitals

The WWE Champion is not supposed to be here.

They said he was too small, a straight-edge scrapper who was about as far from the flamboyant WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels as can be, and far too much of an “internet darling” to reach the lofty heights of the title he now holds.

The No. 1 contender is not supposed to be here, either. He is a 5-foot-10 vegan in a land of red-blooded, meaty hulks, a man who wins matches with submission holds instead of bone-crunching strikes. Not exactly Hulk Hogan reincarnate, in other words.

And yet, here CM Punk and Daniel Bryan are. The important thing to realize is that it is not a rivalry born of natural animosity, like Austin vs. McMahon. It is not born of betrayal, like Hart vs. Michaels, nor does it stem from self-destructive impulse, like Triple H vs. The Undertaker.

Instead, Punk vs. Bryan is a rivalry born of destiny, in an oddly roundabout way. The WWE Champion and his upstart, egomaniacal challenger are among a rare breed of WWE Superstar in that, from the very beginning, they were not supposed to reach WWE according to many . They do not come from the same kind of sports-entertainment pedigree as titans like Bret Hart and The Rock. They’re journeymen in the truest sense, hard workers who suffered and bled for their sport to reach for the top rather than be recruited by WWE’s developmental system, They are also the wiry, athletic type that is typically deemed too odd, too puny and too “indie-looking ” to thrive in the land of giants.

But somehow, to the growing disbelief of even their most ardent fans, Punk and Bryan did succeed. One of them has held the WWE Championship for five months now. The other held the World Heavyweight Championship for four before losing it at WrestleMania XXVIII. And at WWE Over the Limit, The Second City Saint will put his prize on the line against the man who many believe to be his greatest foil, despite the fact they haven’t met all that often in the middle of the squared circle.

It’s as strange a WWE Championship rivalry as the WWE Universe is ever likely to see, and certainly one many thought they never would. And make no mistake: the road they took to get there was not an easy one …

2002-2005: The Early Years

Though they are rarely alluded to on WWE programming, the independent careers of CM Punk and Daniel Bryan have become something of sports-entertainment legend. Bryan’s stoic, methodical work as the “American Dragon” has become a holy grail for wrestling purists looking to study the technical intricacies of the sport; his talents were so immense he was christened as “The Best in the World” by wrestling fans worldwide. Punk’s journey , meanwhile, was a model in style and individuality, blending technical prowess with an inimitable attitude that would eventually lead him to change the landscape of WWE with his infamous “pipe bomb” in the summer of 2011.

The two iconoclasts are so closely linked in the minds of many fans that it’s a common misconception they are longtime rivals. “We actually haven’t wrestled as frequently as people think,” Punk said, although he and Bryan both cite a well-known Florida contest between the two – what Bryan called “a 45-minute match in front of about 35 people” – as one of their more unforgettable bouts.

Even in those early days, though, their reputations preceded them to each other. “He was the guy I always heard about,” Punk told WWE.com, citing Bryan, along with future WWE Superstar Brian Kendrick, as two of the more well-known West Coast competitors among the Midwest crew Punk came up with. “It was really few and far between where you think, ‘Wow, I really want to get in the ring with that guy,’ [but Bryan] seemed to eat, breathe, sleep, dream pro wrestling … he didn’t care where he was, he just wanted to be in the ring.”

For Bryan, it was Punk’s toughness that left a mark in their first meeting, at a 2002 event called the Jersey J-Cup. “[He] fractured his skull,” Bryan told WWE.com, adding that The Second City Saint was wheeled off to the hospital at the end of the event. “He had to go to the hospital, and that was the first time I ever met him.”

Despite the infrequent meetings, however, Punk conceded there was a general feeling that the two would inevitably collide with the supreme prize at stake: “A lot of hardcore wrestling fans used to say that me and him were going to main event a WrestleMania at some point, and not only were we going to do that, we were going to do it against each other,” Punk said. And while that match is still a pipe (bomb) dream, Punk does admit that “[Over the Limit] might be the first step toward that main event.”

Before this match could even happen, though, there was still one problem: making it to WWE …

2005-2011: The Big Stage

It was Punk who did it first, infamously (according to wrestling lore) using his independent championship as a clipboard to sign his WWE contract and igniting the “Summer of Punk,” a blaze-of-glory championship run that swept the independent scene in the final months before he relocated to WWE developmental. Punk’s first appearance with the company, however, was appropriately low-key, if not fitting with the underdog stigma that surrounded him: he was one of the faux-goons riding on the side of John Cena’s car at WrestleMania 22 in Punk’s hometown of Chicago.

Punk’s proper debut was far more dynamic, as The Second City Saint rattled off an undefeated streak on the resurrected ECW. Rising to the challenge of WWE stardom, Punk eventually captured a pair of Intercontinental and World Heavyweight Championship reigns. The “indie king” was fast in carving out a name for himself as a Superstar to be reckoned with, despite the under-the-radar pedigree that many said would be a hindrance to his rise.

While Punk ascended, however, Bryan continued to toil in the independent scene until he finally got his chance as one of the rookies in the inaugural season of WWE NXT. He was one of the first cast off the competition as The Miz’s rookie, and briefly parted ways with the company altogether until he returned at SummerSlam 2010 (WATCH: DANIEL BRYAN REACTS TO HIS NXT ELIMINATION). It wasn’t long before Bryan made a name for himself just as Punk had, winning the United States Title from his former mentor.

It looked as though the two would remain on divergent paths until the 2011 Royal Rumble, when Punk and Bryan were the first two entrants in the historic, 40-man Rumble Match itself. (PHOTOS: 2011 ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH) Bryan put up a strong showing in his first big-match situation, but he was ultimately bested, tossed out of the ring by none other than The Second City Saint himself. Punk vs. Bryan in WWE finally had a scorecard, if only for a chance meeting.

2011: A Change is a-Gonna Come

Less than a year later, however, Punk would change the landscape of WWE with his game-changing takedown of sports-entertainment’s corporate culture, instantly turning the WWE Universe into his own personal acolytes and firmly redefining the parameters of a WWE Superstar.

“It’s a lot like certain people’s affinity for me,” Bryan said of the fame Punk brought himself with the pipe bomb. “It’s pushing against the system. He wasn’t somebody you’re supposed to cheer for. He’s not the poster boy for a WWE Superstar.”

Punk called for an uprising of the Superstars many believed were overlooked and under-appreciated as he vowed to relieve John Cena of the WWE Championship, staking Bryan’s old claim of “The Best in the World.” At least one person was listening. Later that month, at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, CM Punk made good and won the WWE Title from Cena, while Daniel Bryan won the SmackDown Money in the Bank briefcase. (WATCH: SMACKDOWN MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH) The victory guaranteed the onetime “Dragon” a World Title shot within the next year. Suddenly, fantasy did not seem so far off anymore.

At WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Punk defeated The Miz and Alberto Del Rio to retain the WWE Championship he had recaptured at Survivor Series, and Bryan cashed in his contract to relieve Big Show of the World Heavyweight Title. The first Raw after served as the indie-darlings’ coming-out party; along with newly crowned U.S. Champion Zack Ryder, they stormed the ring through the crowd, ECW-style, and celebrated the improbable underdog triumph they achieved with a heartfelt victory over Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio and The Miz to close WWE’s flagship television show. (WATCH)

But, of course, nothing this great was ever meant to last, and no darling stays indie forever.

2012: “The Best” vs. “Yes!”

“I think the title, the power, stuff like that can change people,” Punk said of the perils of championship glory. And while The Second City Saint managed to keep his feet on the ground and the WWE Universe on his side while he ruled as champion, Bryan went into business for himself.

The former underdog exploited various technicalities to overcome towering opponents like Mark Henry and Big Show, celebrating each win with a cocky, world-beating bellow of “YES!” that began to turn the WWE Universe against him.  Punk seemed to feel the same way and met Bryan head-to-head in a series of thrilling Champion vs. Champion Matches that did not have a clear winner. (PHOTOS) And when Bryan lost the World Heavyweight Title to Sheamus at WrestleMania XXVIII in a historic 18 seconds, (PHOTOS) it seemed the dream of Punk and Bryan reigning atop WWE together died.

Of course, Bryan would not be so easily denied. He beat Sheamus into unconsciousness in a grueling 2-out-of-3 Falls rematch at Extreme Rules, and though he failed to reclaim the title, his throttling of The Great White propelled him forward to his next challenge: Punk’s championship.

“As a competitor, [Punk] has what I want,” Bryan said. “He has the most prestigious title in the WWE, the WWE Championship. I will do whatever it takes to get that.”

Bryan earned the right of No. 1 contender the very next night and now, to the disbelief of wrestling fans across the country, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan will main-event a WWE pay-per-view with the WWE Title on the line. It seems like a few years ago, this never could have happened, that Bryan and Punk could not possibly get here without compromising their identity, their skills, or undergoing some radical change that would cause them to “sell out” and lose the identities that made them ideal opponents in the first place.

But Bryan, you’ll notice, still sports a dragon on his trunks. Punk still has the irascible rebel attitude and the chip on his shoulder that will never go away, the guy who consistently refers to himself as a “professional wrestler” and not a WWE Superstar. In other words, not much has really changed.

That goes for the mutual respect as well. “I’m still in awe of his ability in the ring,” Punk said of his opponent. “I think me and Daniel Bryan is hopefully just going to be a straight-up pro wrestling match. I think it’d be kind of refreshing at this point.”

Bryan, for his part, agreed, with a small caveat: “CM Punk is great. He’s great at everything he does. I am better.”

And of course, that old stigma still remains, even as Punk and Bryan defy it. “I never anticipated we’d both be here and both in the situation we’re at now,” Bryan told WWE.com, repeating the mantra of this oddly historic rivalry. “We’re two guys who weren’t supposed to make it. He’s ‘skinny fat,’ I am ‘too small,’ we are not prototypical WWE Superstars … we are two guys who are not supposed to be here.”

Yet here they are. Gloriously, unbelievably, finally, here.

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PHOTOS & WWE.com Video

For a guy who has won seven world championships as a professional wrestler and has performed in front of millions, CM Punk appeared … well, slightly jittery in the press box on Monday night at Wrigley Field.
“To me, I don’t really get nervous as often wrestling anymore,” he said.

And as he warmed up for his big moment with organist Gary Pressy in a tiny booth high above Wrigley Field, tattooed tough-guy CM Punk melted away and was replaced by Phillip Jack Brooks (Punk’s real name), a wide-eyed kid who just stole the keys to the candy store.

“Take me out to the ball game…”

“This is huge, uncharted waters so this is a little bit more nerve-racking,” Punk said, a grin creasing his face.

That is, of course, because the lifelong Cubs fan was living out a dream of leading the home crowd in a rendition of the seventh-inning stretch, an honor bestowed upon him in large part due to a concerted social media effort by his fans.

Kevin Saghy, the man behind the Cubs’ official Twitter account (@Cubs), says the team noticed a growing trend among the people who were replying to them in 140 characters or less.

“We started getting an influx of tweets from our followers saying ‘You should have CM Punk sing the Stretch,’” Saghy said. “He’s thrown out a first pitch here before so we’re familiar with who he is. That’s our goal is to bring seventh-inning stretch conductors and first-pitch throwers who are popular with our fans.”

The team decided to reach out to Mr. Punk. Via Twitter, of course.

“I think when that @Cubs pops up on your feed, it stands out among the rest,” Saghy said. “We know he follows us pretty closely.”

Saghy’s hunch proved correct.

“I literally started showing people next to me, complete strangers or whatever, so it was a pretty cool way to get to sing the stretch,” Punk said. “I got invited.”

Punk’s response came in 15 minutes, enthusiastically: “@Cubs uh. Let me check my scheduleYESIWILLDOIT.”

Punk, a Chicago native who says he tries to make it out to at least one Cubs game per homestand when he’s in town, is currently training for his next bout against old nemesis Daniel Bryan in WWE’s “Over the Limit” on May 20.

So what can his longtime fans expect to see when the two go toe-to-toe?

“I’m just training really, really hard, not so much for size but kind of for speed,” Punk said. “I’m expecting this one to go the distance.”

Before his turn on the microphone, he was signing autographs in the press box cafeteria when a Cubs staffer handed him a laminated white piece of paper, the contents of which made him roar with laughter.

It was the lyrics to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” Just in case the guy who grew up worshipping at the altar of Harry Caray should forget his patron saint’s most sacred tune.

“That is hilarious to me,” he said. “I can see where that would come in handy for out-of-towners and the occasional celebrity who doesn’t watch baseball. I could sing this thing backwards and forwards and in my sleep.”

http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/sounds/post/_/id/988/cm-punk-lives-dream-sings-at-cubs-game#more

DIGITAL PICTURES — HQ SCREEN CAPTURES

General Manager John Laurinaitis was ripped by WWE Champion CM Punk
Raw and SmackDown General Manager John Laurinaitis showed no remorse for his ruthless assault on John Cena at the end of last week’s Raw. The GM said he wasn’t punished by the Board of Directors for his actions, which he claimed was justified because The Cenation Leader tried to undermine his authority and ridicule his leadership skills. Laurinaitis mandated that Cena not appear live tonight and instead undergo rehabilitation so he doesn’t have an excuse why he will lose to him at WWE Over the Limit. (PHOTOS | VIDEO)

Laurinaitis then revealed that the reason his voice sounds so hoarse is because he was injured in a match against “Dr. Death” Steve Williams in Tokyo, Japan. Showing off images of his in-ring action on the TitanTron, Laurinaitis boasted that, when he performed in Japan, he was Hulk Hogan, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock, all rolled into one dominant competitor.

Before Laurinaitis could get any further, WWE Champion CM Punk came out to the ring to confront the cocky General Manager. Punk blasted Laurinaitis for losing touch with the people, despite all the GM’s bragging that he’s the brains behind “People Power.” The Straight Edge Superstar’s sharpest jab of all came when he told Laurinaitis the reason he went to Japan is because no one in America ever wanted to see him compete.

Angered by Punk’s verbal barbs, Laurinaitis made a big match for Raw SuperShow tonight, pitting the WWE Champion against the fearsome Lord Tensai.

Before the main event, John Laurinaitis announced that the CM Punk vs. Lord Tensai contest was now a 2-on-1 Handicap Match, with Punk taking on both Tensai and Daniel Bryan.

The WWE Champion had his work cut out for him, as Tensai blasted and mangled Punk early with a series of power moves. Punk mounted a rally after Bryan missed with a flying headbutt off the top rope, but the strength in numbers would soon prove to be too much for The Straight Edge Superstar to overcome. As Punk went to the top turnbuckle, a lurking Bryan sent him flying with a shove, and Tensai took full advantage by squeezing The Second City Savior’s head like a vice with a green mist-filled claw. (PHOTOS | VIDEO)

Adding insult to injury, Bryan snapped the “Yes!” Lock onto Punk following the 2-on-1 victory and berated the helpless WWE Champion. If we’ve learned one major lesson from this Raw SuperShow, it’s that Laurinaitis is hell-bent on making Superstars pay dearly for crossing him.

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