The Top 50 WWE Matches of 2013 – #10 to #1

#10 The Shield vs Daniel Bryan, Kane & Kofi Kingston – Raw 5/20/13

After falling short with Undertaker, John Cena, Ryback and Chris Jericho as their partners, Team Hell No took one more attempt at beating The Shield. This time, their partner was Kofi Kingston, who had just lost his US title to Dean Ambrose. The Shield were smart and knew that Daniel Bryan was at least perceived as mentally weak, and used that to their advantage. They corner Bryan and continuously trash talk him, telling him he’s the weak link. This match goes 23 minutes but honestly feels closer to 10 with how smooth everything runs. Bryan finally makes the hot tag to Kane, however after a flying knee to the head by Rollins and a spear from Reigns, The Shield continue their undefeated streak in their best six man tag match of 2013.

#9 Daniel Bryan vs Jack Swagger, Cesaro & Ryback – Gauntlet Match – Raw 7/22/13

The week before this match, Daniel Bryan was selected as the WWE title opponent for John Cena at Summerslam. Vince McMahon was not happy with this and Brad Maddox, the acting GM, put together a test for Bryan. That test featured a gauntlet match against Jack Swagger, Cesaro & Ryback. In the first leg, Bryan manages to put away Jack Swagger in a fun, sub five minute match. However next in is Cesaro and over the next twenty minutes or so, they put on magic. Counter after counter, kicks vs uppercuts, it’s all amazing. Bryan eventually manages to turn the Swiss Death into a small package and gets the win. Bryan is exhausted at this point as Ryback enters. Bryan puts up a hard fight but Ryback is too fresh and Bryan is too tired. Bryan continues to be resilient and won’t go down, so Ryback sets up a table and powerbombs Daniel through it, giving Bryan the win via DQ. All three matches in this gauntlet offer something different but the Cesaro one steals the show.

#8 Cody Rhodes & Goldust vs Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins – No DQ – Raw 10/14/13

Triple H was not pleased that The Shield allowed Rhodes & Goldust to get their jobs back. But in this tag team titles match, there would be no disqualification and Triple H specifically told The Shield that the gloves are off and he wants them finished. Goldust and Cody fought their hearts out but with the stipulation of no DQ, Ambrose would interfere as he pleased, causing problems for the Rhodes Bros. Ultimately The Big Show, who had been bullied by the authority for weeks comes out to even the odds and helps Rhodes & Goldust to their first tag team title reign together in a phenomenal and emotional match.

#7 Cody Rhodes & Goldust vs Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins – Battleground 2013

This feud began when Cody Rhodes questioned Randy Orton’s cowardice when it came to defending his title. Triple H told Cody that he’d face Orton that night, but if he lost, he’s fired. Rhodes put up one hell of an effort, with a sold out crowd behind him, but came up short. Goldust, Cody’s brother, made his return the following week and challenged Orton, hoping to get Cody’s job back. Unfortunately Cody also fell short. Dusty Rhodes made his return and struck a deal with Triple H & Stephanie where if Cody and Goldust could beat The Shield at Battleground, they would be re-instated. However, if they were to lose, Dusty would be fired from his job in NXT and the whole family would be blacklisted from WWE. In an emotion filled match, Rhodes & Goldust put on the performances of their lives and managed to defeat The Shield, giving us a touching moment between the brothers and their father.

#6 Undertaker vs CM Punk – Wrestlemania XXIX

CM Punk couldn’t challenge for the WWE title at Wrestlemania, so he went after something even bigger. Punk wanted to finally end The Undertaker’s undefeated Wrestlemania streak. Punk was obsessed with it. After the passing of Paul Bearer, Punk used this to get into the head of Undertaker, stealing the urn and enraging both Undertaker and Kane. The feud hit it’s climax when Punk knocked out Undertaker and dumped Bearer’s ashes all over Taker. At Wrestlemania, Punk put up as good a fight as any man that challenged Undertaker before him. He managed to kick out of a tombstone and hit Undertaker with a GTS, but ultimately the Undertaker was just too powerful and managed to put away CM Punk at the grandest stage of them all in a classic.

#5 Daniel Bryan vs John Cena – Summerslam 2013

For the majority of 2013, Daniel Bryan was fighting an internal struggle to prove that he was not the weak link of his tag team with Kane. After coming up short so many times, the crowd began to gravitate towards Bryan and became infatuated with seeing him succeed. When John Cena was given the opportunity to choose his opponent for Summerslam, he ultimately listened to the fans and went with Daniel Bryan. However Bryan felt that Cena chose Bryan because he felt he was an easy win and he questioned Cena’s passion for wrestling. On a heated Miz TV segment, Bryan told Cena that he doesn’t respect him as a wrestler. In one of the greatest matches in Summerslam history, Bryan and Cena went back and forth for over 20 minutes, gaining each other’s respect as the match went on. Bryan managed to defeat Cena, winning the WWE title, only to be cashed in on by Randy Orton, with some help from special guest referee Triple H, moments after.

#4 CM Punk vs John Cena – Raw 2/25/13

The Rock had previously defeated CM Punk for the WWE title and this was Punk’s last chance to get into the main event of Wrestlemania. John Cena won the Royal Rumble but put his spot for the title on the line against Punk. This match is generally known as the match where Punk hit the first piledriver in over 6 years in WWE. But it was so much more than just that. These two showed a level of emotion that made you feel like they both really wanted it. Even though it seemed pretty clear that Cena was going to Mania, this match kept you on the edge of your seat, like many of the Punk vs Cena matches have done in the past. I’d personally rank this only behind MITB ’11 on the list of Punk/Cena matches.

#3 Dolph Ziggler vs Alberto Del Rio – Payback 2013

Dolph Ziggler managed to shock the world and cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Del Rio the night after Wrestlemania XXIX. An unfortunate concussion sidelined him for a short while after. At Payback, Del Rio immediately targeted the injured head and brain of Ziggler. Going into the match, Del Rio was a babyface that was being overshadowed in cheers to the heel, Dolph Ziggler. Del Rio decided that he no longer cared what the fans thought of him and began mercilessly trying to re-injure Ziggler. The hot Chicago crowd was immediately behind Dolph as they tried to will him into the match. Unfortunately it was all just too much. After kicks to the head, elbows to the head, choking and a lot of dirty tactics, Ziggler was all but done. A Zig Zag out of nowhere led to a near fall but ultimately Del Rio finished Ziggler off with one last superkick, taking his title back but losing the respect of the fans in the process. While I have two matches ranked above this, I consider this match to be my favorite match of 2013 and one of my favorite matches of all time. It’s wrestling storytelling at it’s finest.

#2 Kassius Ohno vs William Regal – NXT 4/10/13

Growing up, Kassius Ohno looked up to William Regal when he was developing into a wrestler. Regal served as a bit of a mentor to Ohno. Over his first 8 months in NXT, Kassius Ohno did nothing but cause trouble, beating down every wrestler in his way and showing no respect. It was assumed that Ohno respected NXT commentator, William Regal. However, in his older age, Ohno felt that Regal had become soft and wasn’t the man he used to be. Ohno violently attacked Regal on multiple occasions and Regal decided to come out of retirement for just one more match to teach Ohno a lesson. This match was extremely hard hitting, even the holds were hard hitting. It felt like there was emotion behind every single move and the selling behind everything was fantastic. Regal manages to get the win via Knee Trembler but can barely get to his feet after the victory, selling the amazing skill of Ohno. The week after, Ohno and Regal managed to shake hands and show respect to each other after this phenomenal match. The second best match in NXT history, after Zayn/Neville, in my opinion.

#1 CM Punk vs Brock Lesnar – No Holds Barred – Summerslam 2013

After being attacked by Brock Lesnar in June and betrayed by Paul Heyman in July, Punk was red hot with rage as he challenged ‘The Beast’, a man that seemingly looked twice the size of CM Punk. Punk fought his heart out against Lesnar and did all he could to bring Brock down to his size. With the no holds barred stipulation, Punk managed to use a few weapons to fight him off. When Heyman tried to get involved, Punk’s rage got the best of him and he attacked, giving Lesnar the opening to hit an F-5 and get the victory. What I really liked about this match is how realistic it felt. Lesnar has a clear size advantage but every bit of Punk’s offense was realistic against Brock. He used weapons, scratched, clawed and put Lesnar through finesse submissions. One of the most masterfully worked matches in WWE history.