The Top 50 WWE Matches of 2013 – #40 to #31
My Top 50 WWE Matches of 2013
#40 Mark Henry vs John Cena – Money in the Bank 2013
The match that was the product of one of, if not the best promo of 2013. Mark Henry’s emotional fake retirement led to Cena letting his guard down and being destroyed by Henry. Henry became hungry for Cena’s title and wanted nothing more than to be able to retire after being WWE Champion. I think Henry losing this match turned a lot of people off about this match but it was still really good. The only thing I don’t particularly care for is the whole “can Cena lift him?” thing. But Cena was actually nursing an ankle injury a month earlier so I’m willing to pretend that’s where the uncertainty came from. We’ve seen Cena AA Big Show, Mark Henry, Big Vis, etc a million times now. That story doesn’t work anymore. All in all it’s a good match but overshadowed by an incredible promo that it never lived up to.
#39 Randy Orton vs Christian vs Rob Van Dam – Smackdown 8/2/13
Earlier in the show, Alberto Del Rio was given the chance to name his #1 contender for Summerslam. However when he tried to name Ricardo as his opponent, Vickie Guerrero stepped in and made this match. I could talk right now about how good and reasonable of a GM Vickie was in 2013 but now is not the time or place. This match is fantastic and all three styles clash extremely well. Top spot in the match is Orton managing to reverse a rolling thunder into a scoop powerslam. After Orton RKO’s RVD, Christian reverses an attempt and backslides Orton for the win, FINALLY beating Randy Orton in a match. Christian fans rejoice.
#38 Chris Jericho vs Rob Van Dam – Raw 7/15/13
The story of the 7/15/13 Raw was that John Cena had the rights to name his opponent at Summerslam and all night people were trying to impress him. Despite both being past their primes, Jericho and RVD go to great lengths to try and solidify their chance of being selected for the main event of Summerslam. The pacing slows down towards the middle of the match but it doesn’t detract from it much at all. Some people criticize how tired both of them seem at the end but in my opinion it makes it seem more like they went all out and want it that badly. I mean this is like 15 minutes into the match, it’s not Ashley Massaro getting gassed 40 seconds into a match bad. After a hard fought match, Robbie V picks up the win, however neither man was granted the main event of Summerslam as John Cena chose Daniel Bryan.
#37 Dolph Ziggler vs Alberto Del Rio – Money in the Bank 2013
The much less talked about sequel to the match that you’ll be seeing much later on this countdown. At Payback, Del Rio exploited Ziggler’s concussion to take the title back from him. This time, Ziggler is the face and he’s back, looking for vengeance. Dolph pulls out all the stops but Del Rio continues to work over the damaged head of Ziggler, which he sells extremely well. Before the match, Dolph told AJ Lee, his then girlfriend, that he wanted her to stay backstage for this one. As expected, AJ shows up. Just as Ziggler has a chance at winning, AJ gets in the ring and attacks Del Rio, doing what she believes is defending her boyfriend. Del Rio retains via DQ and Ziggler is devastated that AJ cost him the match. It’s not as good as the Payback match, and the ending is disappointing, but still a great match. Ziggler and Del Rio have fantastic chemistry.
#36 Daniel Bryan vs Roman Reigns – Raw 9/16/13
The evening before, at Night of Champions, Daniel Bryan won the WWE Championship back from Randy Orton. However, due to some shady officiating, the title was stripped from him. Bryan took out much of that anger on Roman Reigns in the early going in this match, savagely working over Reigns with different holds. Bryan’s biggest mistake was trying to suicide dive onto Reigns, who catches him and obliterates him into the barricade. From that point on it was all Roman. If you’re one of those people that thinks Roman only knows five moves, I would highly recommend checking this match out. His stamina isn’t as great here but his moveset is bigger. Bryan nearly had it won when The Shield brothers pull Reigns out of the ring. Bryan literally murders Rollins with a baseball slide. Rollins either sold this like a champ or hits the back of his head off the announcers table. Out of nowhere, on the brink of despair, Bryan locks the Yes Lock in on Reigns, only for Randy Orton to come in and break it up, giving Bryan the DQ win. After the match Bryan gets the Yes Lock in on Orton for a moment before The Shield come in and the four decimate him. This lead to the entire babyface mid card roster coming out and fighting off The Shield. That’s right, Zack Ryder, Dolph Ziggler and Justin Gabriel in the main event! Great match, probably the first good singles match of Roman’s career!
#35 Cody Rhodes & Goldust vs Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Goldust & CM Punk vs The Shield and Cody Rhodes, Goldust, CM Punk, Rey Mysterio & The Usos vs The Shield & Wyatt Family – Smackdown 11/29/13
Quick disclaimer, this whole thing is about an hours worth of content. Definitely worth the watch but it’s pretty long! It’s technically three different matches but at no point are they broken up for more than a minute and there’s no matches in between them, so I figured I would count them as one. The original match was a tag title match between Rhodes/Goldust and Reigns/Rollins. Ambrose tries to get involved and CM Punk comes down to even the odds. Vickie makes the match a six man tag. Halfway through, The Wyatts come out and outnumber the faces, causing Rey and The Usos to come out and Vickie turns it into a 12 man tag. Generally I’m not big on the whole start-restart thing, but it worked well here and all three matches are very entertaining. One of those things that just turns into chaos and it’s hard not to enjoy.
#34 Christian vs CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton vs Rob Van Dam vs Sheamus – Money in the Bank 2013
Yet another match from this fantastic PPV, this time for the WWE title MITB. The MVP of this match, in my opinion, is Sheamus. Sheamus takes three bumps in this match that are brutal. He goes off the ropes through a ladder, falls off a ladder onto the edge of a ladder and then gets crushed by a falling ladder that CM Punk rode from the turnbuckle onto him. Sheamus’ thigh after this match is absolutely disgusting. Overall it’s a really fun spotfest but it really picks up when Bryan goes on a rampage and takes out just about everyone, only for Curtis Axel to come out and screw him over. Axel, like Punk, was a Paul Heyman guy. Heyman comes out and yells at Axel. Heyman tries to help Punk up the ladder, only to backstab him by slamming the ladder into the back of Punk’s head multiple times, busting him open. Orton manages to climb up and win the briefcase.
#33 Antonio Cesaro vs Kofi Kingston – Main Event 5/1/13
This match is amazing. Kofi puts his US title up against the man he defeated for it, Cesaro. The pace is fast, the action is solid and the counters are fantastic. Cesaro uses a ton of strength, Kofi uses loads of speed and agility. Kofi manages to retain the title, however backstage after the match Cesaro beats him down and literally rips one of his dreadlocks out. He goes full Jason Babin. Really good match that sort of exemplifies what I loved about Main Event. It has a level of emotion to it that the Cesaro vs Kofi matches on Raw and Smackdown never really managed to reach.
#32 Christian vs Daniel Bryan – Smackdown 7/12/13
It’s a sin and a shame that Daniel Bryan and Christian never got a full program to work with each other, because I think they’d be able to make actual magic. At a houseshow I went to in 2011, they tore the house down. In this match, in limited time, they put on a fantastic bout. Fast paced action from two of the best workers in WWE as they battle it out in one of those generic “MITB is in a week or so and we need to fill time with the people in it” matches. They take it up a notch and actually turn it into a great back and forth battle. It truly is a shame that these two never got 20 mins on PPV over a title or something.
#31 Randy Orton vs Goldust – Raw 9/9/13
The previous week Randy Orton defeated Cody Rhodes (you’ll see this one eventually) and due to the stipulation, got Cody Rhodes fired. Cody cut an amazingly emotional promo before he left on the McMahon/Rhodes rivalry. The next week, Goldust showed up to Raw to avenge his brother. If he could defeat Orton, Cody gets his job back. If not, Goldust is back to being gone as well. In my opinion, this match formed and shaped the credibility that Goldust carried around with him for a good year or so after this match. He hadn’t been a relevant threat to anyone at the top since around 2003, yet here he is, in the best shape he’s been in decades, going toe to toe with the WWE champion. Despite losing, Goldust put on a performance that we hadn’t seen out of him in years. This match turned Goldust from the jobber of the mid 2000s to a legitimate threat to anyone in the locker room.
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