Is there a way to check the water pump besides the bleeding process?
 

2009 X5 started overheating recently, the fan would come on high speed almost immediately. Couldn't get any reaction from the water pump using the bleeding process so I replaced it since it had a lot of miles on it anyway but it still does the same thing except the fan now doesn't come on as soon. It will sit and idle for as long as I want without overheating but as soon as I start driving it it overheats within a few minutes. I've already checked the 40 amp fuse under the hood and its good.

Any ideas to try would be appreciated.

You could try the thermostat. Thats usually what would happen with a faulty thermostat.