Top 5 Superstars of 2013 for WWE
By Mike Smith
WWE.com
WWE as a whole had a great year in 2013, but of course, some Superstars had a better year than others. There have been great matches, and great moments. None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for those Superstars.
Here are the top 5 WWE Superstars in 2013:
5. CM Punk
2011 and 2012 were both dominated by Punk, so 2013 was a bit of a down year, but Punk still managed to find his way on this list. He spent the first month of the year finishing up his WWE Championship run, the best title run in the modern era. He was involved in three of the best matches of the year. He lost to John Cena on Raw in a match leading up to WrestleMania 29, in my opinion, the best match of the year. He faced off with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 29, one of the best matches in WrestleMania history. He took two months off following WrestleMania and his return to WWE TV came at the Payback pay-per-view, where he put on another classic with Chris Jericho. At SummerSlam, he had an amazing match with Brock Lesnar, as apart of Punk’s feud with Paul Heyman. And at TLC, he became the first person to take on all three members of The Shield, and win. It was a good year for Punk, and he seems set to have an even better 2014.
4. John Cena
It’s going to take a lot for Cena to not find his way on this list, year after year. This year, Cena won his second Royal Rumble, the fourth Superstar to do that, joining three hall of famers, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin. His title shot was put on the line against CM Punk on an episode of Raw, Cena defended, and went on to defeat The Rock at WrestleMania 29 for the WWE Championship. Cena defended the title against Ryback and Mark Henry, before losing it to Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam. Cena took some time off for an elbow injury, then returned in a World Heavyweight Championship match, a match he won against Alberto Del Rio. Cena beat Del Rio, in Del Rio’s rematch at Survivor Series. Cena had two title victories in 2013, but falls down the list as he still exits the year without one.
3. Randy Orton
Unifying both world titles makes it very easy to find your way on this list. Randy Orton did just that at TLC in December, when he defeated John Cena to take claim of both major titles. Other than that, Orton had a phenomenal feud with Daniel Bryan, a feud that took place entirely on Raw and SmackDown in the early summer months of 2013. He won Money in the Bank and cashed in after the main event of SummerSlam. He finished the year as the only world champion in WWE, the first time the company has only had one world champion in 11 years.
2. The Shield
Three Superstars add up to fill the second spot on this list. The Shield debuted at the end of 2012, and they immediately took the world by storm in 2013. In 2013, The Shield beat the team of John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus at Elimination Chamber. They then went on to their first WrestleMania, where they beat the team of Randy Orton, Big Show and Sheamus. In the weeks after WrestleMania, they beat The Undertaker, Kane and Daniel Bryan on an episode of Raw. At Extreme Rules, they won their first titles, Dean Ambrose won the United States Championship, while Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns took control of the WWE Tag Team Championship. Rollins and Reigns held their titles until October, when they lost them to Cody Rhodes and Goldust, while Ambrose still holds the United States Championship. They are currently working as enforcers for Triple H, protecting what he sees as “best for business”. The Shield don’t stand to last long into 2014, but they will always be remembered for the year they in 2013.
1. Daniel Bryan
2013 was, without a doubt, the Year of the Goat. Daniel Bryan entered 2013 as one-half of the WWE Tag Team Champions, the hottest tag team in years, Team Hell No. Bryan, and his partner Kane, carried the belts into May, when they lost them at Extreme Rules to Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins of The Shield. After the loss, Team Hell No lost their rematch on Raw, one week later. They seemed to be left with nothing, until Bryan went on the hottest run of his WWE career. Bryan was earning the biggest crowd reaction every night, with his TV time always seeming the most important, no matter when it came. Bryan ended up tagging with Randy Orton at Payback in June to try and win the titles, but they failed as well, leading to a short feud between the two. This feud resulted in some of the best matches on Raw and SmackDown all year, in fact, Bryan himself could have his own Best of Raw and SmackDown collection in 2013, for the amount of memorable matches he had. He ended up pinning John Cena in the middle of the ring in the main event of SummerSlam and winning the WWE Championship, though he lost it minutes later to Orton, who was cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase. He would feud with Orton for three more months. He would win the title again at Night of Champions, but have it stripped the next night by Triple H, due to a fast count by the referee. Bryan would find himself in a no contest at Battleground, before the feud finally ended when Orton pinned Bryan at Hell in a Cell, following a Sweet Chin Music from special referee Shawn Michaels. Bryan spent the last two months of the year in a feud with The Wyatt Family, before finally succumbing to their recruitment in the final moments in the final Raw of 2013.
A lot of unexpected things happened in 2013, what do you expect to see as 2014 gets underway? Let me know in the comments section below.