The Top 50 WWE Matches of 2013 – #50 to #41

First off, I would like to introduce myself, my name is Brian and I’ve been a wrestling fan since the young age of six and started in 1998. I became a fan when my dad brought home a recorded copy of Wrestlemania XIV and although he was hesitant at first, he let me watch it with him. From that point on, I was hooked. You can find me at my new Instagram account as well, @markmadnesswrestling , so give me a follow. My favorite wrestlers of all time are Shawn Michaels, Christian, Eddie Guerrero, CM Punk and Edge. I currently follow WWE, NJPW, ROH, PWG and I dabble with TNA. My current favorite wrestlers are Summer Rae, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Becky Lynch and Samoa Joe. Summer Rae might sound like an odd choice but I’m a huge fan of the way she works. Great charisma, great mic skills, great ring psychology and while she may not have the moveset that someone like Becky Lynch has, Summer uses her’s extremely well. Not to mention, outside of the ring Summer is pretty much the sweetest person ever.

I’ve got plenty of things planned for my blogs on this site. To give you a rundown, here’s the things I plan on doing:

• The top 50 matches in WWE 2013
• The top 50 matches in WWE Superstars history
• The top 50 matches in WWE Main Event history
• The top 50 matches in WWECW history
• A weekly review of Raw/SD/PPVs from the brand split beginning and going forward
• A number of top ten lists of different wrestler’s best matches
• And much more!

So without further ado, here is my first piece for here…

---

2013 was my favorite year in WWE’s history in terms of matches and months ago I made this big list of matches in the best order that I could to rank them in quality. I figured I would write a little something up about each and post it here. I don’t want to overload and make it too long, so I’m splitting it into five parts of ten matches for each blog. It’s mostly subjective. I mean I imagine most people probably consider HHH vs Lesnar worthy of making the list over Fandango vs Orton but this is really based on my personal enjoyment over anything, but with a little bit of objectivity thrown in of course. I also provided the dates that these matches took place, therefore if you want to go check them out on the WWE Network, you can find them easily.  Feedback, criticism, debate, etc is welcomed!

Honorable Mentions
Shield vs Cody Rhodes, Goldust and Daniel Bryan (10/7/13),
Summer Rae vs Paige (10/30/13),
Miz vs Randy Orton (8/30/13),
John Cena vs Alberto Del Rio (7/1/13),
CM Punk vs Chris Jericho (2/4/13),
Sheamus vs Damien Sandow (6/28/13),
Jack Swagger vs  Randy Orton (5/20/13).

#50 Fandango & Summer Rae vs Emma & Santino Marella – NXT 10/2/13

In my eyes this is the most fun mixed tag match, I’ve ever seen in WWE. Summer and Emma’s feud in NXT is one of my favorites and this match showcases that. Santino’s great comedy spots and the usual creepiness and greatness of Fandango meshes well. There’s a spot where Summer slaps Santino while the ref is distracted. Emma tries to get over to Summer, outside the ring. Santino dives past Fandango and goes for the hot tag…to no one since Emma wasn’t there. All four of them have great chemistry with each other. It’s sad to think that they could have made this feud just as fun on the main show but didn’t bother to.

#49 Ryback vs Daniel Bryan – Raw 6/3/13

This was right in the midst of the Daniel Bryan ‘weak link’ of Team Hell No storyline. Earlier in the night, Orton/Kane/Bryan fell short against The Shield due to miscommunication and afterwards, Ryback mocked Bryan backstage. Bryan, with his pride on the line, challenged Ryback to a match later in the night. The result is a great David vs Goliath match with Ryback doing what he does best, bullying Daniel, while Bryan was doing what he does best, being the underdog. This isn’t as good as their match from the month before (which will be on this list) but it’s still pretty awesome and I think Bryan was almost the perfect opponent for Ryback. They compliment each other so well in the ring.

#48 CM Punk vs Chris Jericho – Payback 2013

This might be a little controversial, and it was tough to grade, but I didn’t love this match as much as many do. I think it suffered from being way too long and the finishing stretch was so drawn out. Even the Chicago crowd sort of fell in and out of interest at times. I don’t mind a slow pace match, but at times it wasn’t as much about the pace as it was hitting a move and then lying down. It was still a good match, but it just didn’t have that ‘wow’ factor for me that made their 2012 matches so special. Two of my all time favorites and still a good match but I felt that it had a lot of flaws to it that didn’t really give it the epic feel that they seemed to hope the match would have.

#47 Adrian Neville vs Sami Zayn – NXT 11/28/13

This is a #1 contender match for Bo Dallas’ NXT Championship and we have the pleasure of having Bo on commentary for this with some bad puns. It’s not the R-Evolution match, but it’s a great face/face match featuring the two top babyfaces of NXT at the time. I think NXT was in good hands when you have both of these men as top guys in your fledgling developmental brand. My favorite spot in this match was Neville doing a backflip into the corner and Zayn catching him in mid air and hitting the Blue Thunder Bomb.

#46 AJ Lee vs Kaitlyn – Payback 2013

Kaitlyn and AJ Lee were once best friends but when AJ felt that Kaitlyn abandoned her during her hard times, she vowed to make Kaitlyn’s life a living hell. Lee’s first step was humiliating Kaitlyn by creating a fake secret admirer for her, which turned out to be Big E. The second step was taking Kaitlyn’s title. This match was a war with AJ and Kaitlyn throwing everything they had at each other. AJ wears Kaitlyn down but Kaitlyn manages to spear AJ! However AJ had effectively gotten in her head and by trying to give AJ more punishment, it gave AJ a chance to recover and force her to tap out to the Black Widow. Great match and the only main roster women’s match to make my list. Total Diva disease hit the roster shortly after this.

#45 Randy Orton vs Fandango – Raw 7/15/13

Back when Fandango was able to hang with the big boys. This match was really elevated by a hot crowd (Summer Rae chants) and really solid back and forth action from both guys. Fandango absolutely looks like he can hang with a guy of Orton’s stature in this match. Orton gets the win here but Fandango looked very good in defeat here and in my opinion, this is his best main roster match.

#44 Bray Wyatt vs Chris Jericho – NXT 5/1/13

This is Bray’s first ever big opponent and his first real test as Bray Wyatt. Bray works a very methodical offense here but I think he does a wonderful job of wearing down Jericho and Jericho makes Wyatt look like a million bucks. Bray just slowly breaks apart Jericho and anytime the ref is distracted, Harper gets his in too. Jericho ultimately reverses Sister Abigail and locks in the Walls for the victory. A very solid match that I feel came across better than the ones in their main roster feud in 2014.

#43 Summer Rae vs Paige – NXT 5/1/13

My personal favorite women’s feud of all time and the storyline that made me a Summer Rae mark. I feel like this match represented the feud extremely well. Paige didn’t wrestle like a face because she wasn’t supposed to be a nice person here. In Summer’s debut mach, she embarrassed Paige and kayfabe injured her shoulder, then bragged about it for weeks. When Paige came back, Summer always weaseled her way out of confrontation or would jump Paige from behind. This was Paige’s first real chance to get her hands on Summer. These two just throw everything they’ve got at each other and don’t hold back one bit. It isn’t a wrestling match as much as it is a fight and both of them are willing to play dirty. Also Summer bumps to the Paige Turner better than most. A great feud that I hope will be revisited someday on the main roster.

#42 The Shield vs John Cena, Sheamus & Ryback – Elimination Chamber

This was just the second match on the main roster for The Shield and once again they proceed to deliver. Something great about this match is the way that it’s made clear that The Shield have a chemistry that no random 3 man team has. They pummel and pummel away. The finish capitalizes on that idea. Ryback and Cena both have Rollins and Ambrose above their heads. Cena hits the AA but doesn’t realize Reigns speared Ryback. Rollins covers Ryback while Reigns fights off a surprised Cena. The Shield know where each other are at all times and it shows. Also defeating the three top babyfaces at the time is a huge accomplishment.

#41 Paige vs Emma – NXT 7/24/13

The first ever NXT Women’s Championship match. This is the match that I felt really established Emma’s credibility in NXT. Months before this she was sort of a pushover for Summer Rae and even for the likes of Aksana and Audrey Marie. However in this match, Emma goes toe to toe with Paige, the top dog in the division and almost wins. A nice heavy back and forth match with tons of submission attempts, bringing tons of suspense to the bout. My only real gripe is that the Paige Turner at the end of the match looked really weak. Then again, the Paige Turner kind of always did look sloppy and weak. This is my top women’s match of 2013.

These are the first ten matches of my Top 50 matches of 2013 in the WWE. I hope you guys enjoyed and I look forward to your feedback and thoughts, before I come back with my next ten. Thanks for reading.

---

Hope you enjoyed and for more cool wrestling related stuff, follow me on Instagram @Markmadnesswrestling !