2013 was a very good year for WWE. Some awesome matches happened this year, especially on PPV's. That's where this set comes in to play. I've always been a fan of these sets because I don't normally buy each PPV DVD when it comes out, so it's a good way to re live action from the past year. So without further a due, let's see if this set lives up to it's title.
Disc 1:
CM Punk vs. The Rock - WWE Championship Match - Royal Rumble 2013
I didn't see either of Punk and Rock's matches originally, so I was interested to see if this match was any good or not. A lot of people said it was good, but not great because it was slow. Well, I was honestly shocked at how good it was. It's not a classic or anything, but it is a solid match, much better than Rock's match with Cena last year. I really enjoyed this bout, even the ending with the lights going out and the match getting restarted. Great contest.
Match rating - 8/10
John Cena, Sheamus, & Ryback vs. The Shield - Elimination Chamber 2013
This match had a lot of hype to live up to as The Shield's first match on WWE PPV at TLC in December of 2012 was a classic. Although this match was no where near how great their match at TLC, it was still a solid six man tag match. It was action packed and fun to watch. My favorite part was seeing Reigns spear Sheamus through the barricade. Gets me every time.
Match rating - 7/10
CM Punk vs. The Undertaker - WrestleMania 29
This is one of those matches that keeps getting better with time. I watched this when it originally happened on PPV and was amazed. Then I watched it again when I got this DVD and remembered how great this match was. Punk and Taker went back and forth for 20 minutes in a hard hitting battle. It was without a doubt the best match on that particular night and one of the best of 2013 as a whole. Awesome match.
Match rating - 9/10
John Cena vs. The Rock - WrestleMania 29
I'm not a big fan of The Rock nor John Cena, so this match didn't do much for me the first go round. As you can imagine, I was even less excited when they decided to do this match AGAIN. None the less, it was a decent match. I didn't enjoy it that match, but I can understand why they would put this on here. This encounter may have been just a tad bit better than their previous match, but not by much. There were one or two cool counters, but other than that this is nothing special. Several moments in this match where one man is just standing there for minutes waiting on the other to get up. I found it boring for the most part, but it was still a decent encounter. I personally think I'm being generous with the rating, but being that it was such a big match, I didn't want to rate it too low.
Match rating - 7/10
Disc 2:
The Big Show vs. Randy Orton - Extreme Rules Match - Extreme Rules
Well what can I say.. this was a fun little match. Was it worthy of being put on this set? I personally don't think so. The Rock/Cena match was put on here mainly because of how big it was, but this match.. I have no idea why it was put on here. I'm making this match sound like it was a trainwreck, but it really wasn't. A few weapons were used and there were some nice moments throughout. Orton brings back the punt kick to finish off Show in the end. Decent match, nothing special though.
Match rating - 6/10
Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H - Steel Cage Match - Extreme Rules
Out of all of Brock and Hunter's battles, I believe this was the best one. They waged a war inside the Steel Cage at Extreme Rules. Lesnar injured his knee early and that became Triple H's target. They played this out perfectly with Triple H using the figure four and various other moves targeting the knee. Triple H brings the sledgehammer into play, but it ends up being used against him. Hard hitting match that portrayed Lesnar as the beast that he is.
Match rating - 8/10
Wade Barrett vs. The Miz vs. Curtis Axel - Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Championship - Payback
Triple Threat matches are always fun as the action is normally fast paced. This was no exception. Barrett, Miz, and Axel put on a great match to open up Payback. It did it's job to get the crowd pumped and ready for the rest of the show. The crowd was heavily behind Axel and I was too. It was Father's Day and Axel was competing for the championship his father (Mr. Perfect) made famous. Great moment at the end with Axel winning.
Match rating - 7/10
AJ Lee vs. Kaitlyn - Divas Championship Match - Payback
I think everyone can agree that this was the best Divas match of 2013. We don't normally see hard hitting competitive women's matches anymore, but on this night we got one. Kaitlyn and AJ threw everything they had at each other and produced a great match. For a Divas match, this was quite exceptional.
Match rating - 7.5/10
Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio - World Heavyweight Championship Match - Payback
Ziggler and Del Rio have great chemistry together, thus they normally have really good matches. This was shown here as Del Rio and Ziggler pulled off something that is very difficult to do - a double turn. Del Rio came in as the face and left as the heel. He targeted the recently concussed head of Ziggler which in turn caused the crowd to feel sympathy for Ziggler. The match itself was very good and the fact they pulled the double turn off to perfection was astounding.
Match rating - 8/10
Cody Rhodes vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Jack Swagger vs. Wade Barrett vs. Antonio Cesaro vs. Fandango vs. Damien Sandow - World Heavyweight Championship Money In The Bank Ladder Match - Money in the Bank
Wow, this was an awesome match. Everybody in this bout worked hard and put on a show. There were several outstanding spots such as Cesaro delivering a huge uppercut to Barrett as he fell of the ladder, Cody delivering a muscle buster to Cesaro on a ladder and the big ending which saw Ambrose get pushed off the ladder onto Cesaro, Swagger, The Usos, Fandango, and Rollins & Reigns on the outside. Yeah, there was some interference in this match from The Usos and Rollins & Reigns, but it was well done and added to the match. Awesome contest!
Match rating - 9.5/10
Disc 3:
CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar
Punk and Lesnar are two of my all time favorites so I was very excited for this match. It had everything a good wrestling match needs. A dramatic and emotional storyline plus a match filled with brawling, technical wrestling, AND submissions. That's what we got here as Lesnar and Punk exhibiting nearly every style of wrestling in one match and even tampering in a few MMA holds. It was very physical and most definitely a classic. Match of the year without a doubt. It's one of those matches you can watch over and over, but it never gets old. Must watch.
Match rating - 10/10
John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan
As history shows, if you put Cena with an outstanding wrestler, they will have a classic match and this was no different. Bryan and Cena tore the house down in this near 30 minute bout for the WWE Championship. There were so many awesome sequences in this match that I can't name them all, the only thing I can say is, you have to see this match. It's one of Cena's best as well as one of Bryan's. Definitely a match of the year candidate.
Match rating - 10/10
Alberto Del Rio vs. Rob Van Dam - Night of Champions 2013
I was really enjoying this match until the way it ended. I don't understand why WWE would put a match on here that ends in a disqualification. It was a really good match, but the ending left a sour taste in my mouth. Right as things were getting interesting with near falls and what not, Del Rio is disqualified. I wish the match would have went on because it would have gotten a better rating if it did. Good match, bad ending.
Match rating - 6.5/10
AJ Lee vs. Natalya vs. Naomi vs. Brie Bella
Suprisingly this was a very good match. WWE did a good job in choosing what matches to put on this set to represent the Divas divsion. I was particulary impressed by Naomi in this one as she pulled off a lot of cool moves. Natalya did some great work as usual, even executing a double sharp shooter. Although this match didn't last very long, it was good while it lasted. Enjoyable, fast paced Divas contest.
Match rating - 7/10
Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes & Goldust - Battleground
Each man in this match gave it everything they had and put together a solid tag team match. The emotion going into this match is what pushed it over the top though. For those who don't know, if Cody & Goldust won, they would get their jobs back, but if they lost, them along with their father, Dusty Rhodes would be fired. It was an action packed match and very entertaining.
Match rating - 8.5/10
Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena - Hell In A Cell - World Heavyweight Championship Match
Del Rio normally puts on good matches as does Cena, but I just wasn't feeling this one. There were some good exchanges, but other than that it felt like nothing more than a TV match. It certainly wasn't any better than their previous encounters. I think the main reason WWE put this on here was because it was Cena's return match and he won the World Title here. Bland match.
Match rating - 6/10
Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan - Hell In A Cell Match for the WWE Championship - Special Referee: Shawn Michaels
Just like the Del Rio/Cena match, this one didn't do much for me. Bryan hit some cool moves, but other than that this was nothing special. Ironically, Bryan and Orton's best encounters have been on RAW. They main evented three pay-per-view's in a row in 2013, but none of them were as good as their matches on RAW (Street Fight in June and match in December). I don't know if the fact there was interference in all of their PPV encounters had anything to do with it, but none of the matches they had on PPV were above average. This was no exception as they delivered a decent match, but nothing worth going out of your way to see. Triple H ends up interfering and HBK screws Bryan over. That ending didn't help the match either.
Match rating - 6.5/10
Overall thoughts: Well, the question I said we would answer by the end of this review was whether the content of this DVD lived up to it's title. For the most part it did. There were a few duds and things I would have changed though. Instead of Show/Orton from Extreme Rules I would have included the tornado tag match between Bryan & Kane and Rollins & Reigns from Extreme Rules. It was a much better match. Also, instead of the RVD/Del Rio match, I would have included Christian/Del Rio from SummerSlam.
In my opinion, this DVD is worth buying for Punk/Taker, Punk/Lesnar, Cena/Bryan, MITB Ladder Match, & Rhodes Bros/Rollins & Reigns alone. Those are the matches I mainly bought this for and they certainly delivered. If you don't already own any of those matches on DVD and they interest you, I'd suggest picking this up. Punk/Rock, Ziggler/Del Rio, AJ/Kaitlyn, & Lesnar/HHH are solid additions to this as well. Show/Orton, Cena/Del Rio, Bryan/Orton, and Cena/Rock were the only ones I didn't really enjoy watching. RVD/Del Rio is good for a viewing, but the ending ruined what was a pretty good match.
The good does outweigh the bad here. If you don't have any of the PPV's from this year, I suggest picking this up to see the matches I listed in the first sentence of the previous paragraph. Although, if you have SummerSlam, WrestleMania, and/or Money In The Bank PPV, I'd suggest passing on this one as nothing from any other PPV really stood out here besides Rollins/Reigns-Rhodes/Goldust at Battleground and it wouldn't make sense to buy this set just for that one match.
Overall rating - 7.5/10
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