2013 Year in Review: WWE

[Big Red Machine]

2013 was a year of ups and downs for the WWE. Various superstars and risen and fallen in prominence, and the product as a whole seems to have gone through various phases of being very good to aimless and meandering.

The year started off on a good note, with The Rock helping get a very big increase in buys for both the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber. While Wrestlemania actually received fewer buys than the previous year, it did set a new record as the highest grossing WWE live event of all time, raking in a gross of $72 million. The WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2013 was one of the most start-studded in the often-maligned concept’s history, consisting of Bob Backlund, Mick Foley, Trish Stratus, Booker T, Donald Trump, and thought the miracle of Triple H’s powers of persuasion, Bruno Freakin’ Sammartino!
The Royal Rumble match itself was exciting (especially the final three), they debuted a new character in Zeb Coulter who managed to capture some mainstream media attention in a way that made WWE look good, Chris Jericho returned to the company, and CM Punk and John Cena had a match on Raw that remains near (it not at) the top of most people’s Match of the Year lists (especially if you exclude Japanese matches).

While this was all great (and there are people who will tell you that the financial success is all that really matters), the company was not doing well, creatively. Alberto Del Rio who had been turned babyface and given the World Heavyweight Title specifically to be the new babyface Hispanic hero, was floundering in that role, even when given opponents who were being racist and xenophobic. He was not helped out by the fact that his Wrestlemania challenger, Jack Swagger, was arrested for DUI and marijuana possession just two days after winning the right to challenge for the title.
While some matches, like The Rock vs. John Cena and Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar, had been set out many, many months in advance, most of the rest of the card was not finalized until just a few weeks before the show. The result was poorly-built matches like Chris Jericho vs. Fandango, Wade Barrett vs. The Miz for the Intercontinental Title and Dolph Ziggler & Big E. Langston challenging Team Hell No for the tag team titles. US Champion Antonio Cesaro was booked as a complete and total jobber in the build up to Wrestlemania, and the hugely popular Rhodes Scholars were booked into an eight person inter-gender tag team match that wound up being cut from the show for time. The CM Punk vs. Undertaker feud only got the kick it needed after the unfortunate death of Taker’s former manager and close friend Paul Bearer. Even the Mark Henry vs. Ryback match, which had great build, had a mind-bogglingly stupid finish (Ryback, who WWE was about to push to challenge John Cena for the WWE Title, lost cleanly in five minutes… but then, to give him a “Wrestlemania moment,” he hit Henry with his finisher after the match. Nine months later, no one has been able to explain why it wouldn’t have been a “Wrestlemania moment” for Ryback to hit Henry with his finisher DURING THE MATCH and then pin Henry and win the match).
And, of course, people were complaining that Wrestlemania was being headlined by John Cena vs. The Rock. This would be the second year in the Row that we got this “once in a lifetime” match… and this time, with the WWE Title on the line, everyone knew that the chances of Cena losing were about as likely as the chances of Vladimir Kozlov winning the ROH World Title.

The next two months weren’t very good, either. They actually started off on a very high note, with Dolph Ziggler finally cashing in his Money in the Bank contract on Alberto Del Rio to win the World Heavyweight Title, getting a MASSIVE babyface pop. Then, a few weeks later, Ziggler was sidelined with a concussion. The midcard titles were swapped around with no real rhyme or reason, and perhaps most damaging of all, the invincible monster Ryback turned heel… just so he could be slain by Super Cena. Triple H and Brock Lesnar’s blow-off was much worse than their first two encounters, and the redebut of Curtis Axel was questionable-done at best. Sheamus, one of the top babyfaces in the company for most of last year, was booked as a sore loser who, for some reason, we were supposed to cheer for, while acts that were clearly getting over, like the Rhodes Scholars, or guys who were putting on great matches when given the time, like Antonio Cesaro, were ignored. The Shield, Team Hell No, and Randy Orton were all doing great stuff in their feud(s) with each other, but aside from one awesome Punk vs. Jericho match, that was the only good thing going on in the company.

Then, on the Raw right after Payback, things just seemed to take off. Del Rio followed up exploiting Ziggler’s concussion to regain the World Heavyweight Title by cutting an awesome promo making the double-turn official. Heyman and Punk had a big argument which resulted Heyman wanting to manage Punk, but Punk wanting Heyman to stay in the back and just be his friend. WWE followed up on the announcement of Rob Van Dam’s big return to the company with Christian’s long-awaited return from injury. Daniel Bryan’s feud with Randy Orton took off, and Mark Henry came out of nowhere and managed to get everyone to bite on a false retirement angle that kicked off a feud between him and Cena. Perhaps most importantly, though, the three hour Raws stopped being such a chore to sit through.

As Summer Slam approached, things were looking great. The arguments between Vince, Steph, and Triple H, which had been annoying and petty at first, actually became real debates over what it meant to be the face of the WWE. Who had “it,” who didn’t, and who could possibly find “it,” with some coaching. Lesnar and Punk were feuding, Del Rio was having very strong matches as World Heavyweight Champion while Christian was built up as strong challenger, and the mysterious Wyatt had debuted, creating some storyline intrigue. While they might have been overshadowed by both AJ’s feud with Dolph Ziggler and the Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell matches in TNA, it was clear that with AJ Lee and Kaitlyn at the top, the Divas’ division had become more than just an afterthought. Damien Sandow had turned on Cody Rhodes to win the World Heavyweight Title Money in the Bank contract, setting up for a push that both men had more than earned. Most importantly, though, Daniel Bryan was built up as a true main event caliber superstar. So much so that people really believed that he would beat John Cena cleanly in the middle of the ring to win the WWE Title.
Then Summer Slam came around… and that is exactly what happened. Even in Los Angeles, which is not a notoriously smarky crowd like New York or Chicago or Baltimore of Philly where smarky favorites and indy darlings like Bryan, Punk, RVD, Ziggler, and Chris Benoit have had some of their biggest wins, the entire building went NUTS for Bryan’s win. All of the time that WWE had put into building Bryan up over the past few months had paid off big-time…
Which is good, because they put A LOT of time into it. The Bryan vs. Cena and Punk vs. Lesnar matches were the only two matches on Summer Slam that got any significant build. Cody vs. Sandow, Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, and AJ & Big E. vs. Ziggler & Kaitlyn got some build, but not much… and the longest of those three matches went less than eight minutes. Summer Slam 2013 was designed, promoted, and booked as a two match show (it wound up being a three match show purely because Christian and Del Rio decided to work their asses off in their match)… and those two matches delivered HUGE (Bryan vs. Cena was amazing and Punk vs. Lesnar was a perfect 10/10 and this author’s choice for Match of the Year in all of wrestling in 2013).
A lot of people (including, allegedly, WWE management), have been down on Summer Slam because it’s buy rate saw a major dip from last year’s show (headlined by Punk vs. Cena vs. Big Show and Triple H vs. Lesnar), but it is important to remember that last year’s show was built as a full card of matches, with every match on the card receiving both decent hype and a bit of time on the show. Summer Slam 2013 actually did the same buy rate as the 2011 edition, which was also mostly a two-match show, and that show had the advantage of the Punk vs. Cena “who is the real WWE Champion” match, while one of the company’s top stars, Randy Orton, wasn’t even advertised to wrestle on the 2013 Summer Slam.
Whatever its financial results, though, Summer Slam 2013 was a resounding creative success. Fans tuned in to Raw the next night to see how Daniel Bryan would react to being screwed out of the WWE Title that he had worked so hard for by Triple H and Randy Orton. They got a lot more than that, though. They got the news that John Cena would be out of action for about six months with elbow surgery, opening up space as the top babyface on the card for Daniel Bryan to step right in, and both Bryan’s elevation and Orton’s heel turn opened up two more babyface spots at the top of the card as well.
They also got the return of the popular McMahon-Helmsley Regime, a version tried and true formula of heels in authority roles that had worked well during the Attitude Era and on Raw during the “Ruthless Aggression Era” from 2002 until Wrestlemania XXI. Throw in a great heel and a super-over babyface who fans truly want to see as the champion because they believe he deserves it, and you have a great formula for success.
This new heel faction (called “the Authority”) also came complete with its own henchmen in the Shield. When they debuted in late 2012, the Shield were an unstoppable trio who seemed to have some mysterious agenda. They dominated in all of their matches using chemistry and teamwork to defeat teams composed of some of the WWE’s biggest stars. John Cena, Randy Orton, Sheamus, the Big Show, Ryback, Kane, Daniel Bryan… the Shield beat various combinations of all of these men in trios action. Even the Kane and The Undertaker reuniting and teaming up with Kane’s then-partner Daniel Bryan couldn’t defeat the Shield. They were given credit for putting out a wide range of WWE superstars including The Rock and The Undertaker.

Of course all good things must come to an end, but what matters is how you end it. The Shield’s first loss was booked about as well as possible (to the team of Bryan, Kane, and Orton on the go-home Smackdown before those three men would challenge for the Shield’s titles at Payback), but despite still being champions, they seemed to stop feeling special, and even stop feeling important or dangerous at times. All of that changed when they joined Authority, standing vigilantly at the bottom of the ramp, keeping a watchful eye on the wrestlers assembled on the stage, ready to stop anyone who made a move to threaten the Authority and its champion as they addressed their employees from the ring. All of a sudden the Shield seemed important and dangerous again.

The Shield were not the only ones to benefit from interacting with the Authority. Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, The, Miz, Big Show, and the Usos all seemed in line to get babyface pushes opposing the Authority. Cody Rhodes was kayfabe fired, which led to him not only getting a push, but also the return of his brother Goldust to the company.
Unfortunately, things really seemed to fall off of a cliff soon after. Bryan’s rematch with Orton at Night of Champions was built up to very well and the match was great, but it resulted in Bryan winning the title back from Orton WAY too early… or so we all thought. The next night Triple H determined that the referee had fast-counted Orton and decided to hold up the title instead of just give it back to the apparently rightful champion, Orton. This lead to two months of poor pay-per-views built off of needless dissension between Orton and the rest of the heels in the stable, repeated non-finishes and screwy finishes in the Orton vs. Bryan matches for the vacant title, and then more of the same when Orton faced the Big Show. Of the pushes that seemed to be coming for babyfaces standing up to the Authority, just the Rhodes brothers and Big Show actually got pushed. After winning their jobs back and winning the tag team titles from the Shield, the Rhodes Brothers (as well as Big Show) seem to have just dropped out of their feud with the Authority. Kane, who had just returned from being kidnapped by the Wyatt Family, randomly took his mask off and joined the Authority as the “Director of Operations,” a role in which his character feels a lot more like he is Glenn Jacobs rather than Kane.
Around the time that this decline started, another major series of events happened. First John Cena returned from his injury much, much earlier than the expected recovery time. Then, in his first match back, he won the World Heavyweight Title from Alberto Del Rio (who had been having great matches as champion). Del Rio went after Cena’s injured arm, but Cena still won. Then, the very next night on Raw, Damien Sandow destroyed Cena’s arm and cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. He lost. Cleanly. Despite having destroyed Cena’s arm right before the match. This not only killed all of Sandow’s momentum, but it absolutely infuriated both fans who wanted to see Sandow get a big push and fans who were just sick and tired of Cena winning all the time. Going into (and out of) Survivor Series, Cena and Orton were the champions. Again.

WWE had, over the past eight years or so, gotten a reputation for not having much mobility on the card. From 2006 until about mid 2011, the main event picture was pretty much set in stone: Cena, Batista, Triple H, Orton, Edge, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, and when he was around, the Undertaker. Occasionally someone else was given a chance to run with the ball, but they were usually still not the focus of the show, and they were often quickly demoted back down to upper-midcard level after that. Things started to change in mid-2011, and guys like Punk, Bryan, Ziggler, Del Rio, Mark Henry, and Sheamus all seemed to be getting legitimate chances to prove themselves in main event spots. Between Del Rio’s loss to the miraculously quick-healing Cena, the subsequent burial of Sandow, and the shunting of Bryan (and Punk along with him) into a mid-card feud with the Wyatt family, and the halting of pushes to other promising stars like Ziggler and Del Rio, it felt like WWE was reverting to the dark days of five years ago, where the main eventers were the main eventers and everyone else was stuck.

Then, in the last month or so of the year, the direction of the company seems to have completely changed again. With just a mere three weeks of build, WWE decided to unify the World Heavyweight Title and the WWE Title. Randy Orton, who had been surviving as a champion due to various heelish tactics on his part and on the part of the Authority, defeated John Cena cleanly (or as cleanly as a TLC match can get) to unify the titles. The Authority, which had once been the focal point heel stable, now feels like it is almost a non-factor. The break-up of the Shield has started, with Roman Reigns poised to emerge as a babyface star, while Daniel Bryan decided to join the Wyatt Family, turning heel. Brodus Clay has also turned heel, while The Miz has turned heel then babyface then heel again at least twice in the past month and a half. They did manage to end the year on a strong note, though, with the return of Brock Lesnar, the announcement of Batista’s return, and the intrigue created by Bryan’s heel turn.

Before wrapping this up, there are two other points that I need to address. The first has been WWE’s developmental territory, NXT. NXT has been flat out awesome all year long. Almost every character on the show is fun and interesting, the matches are great,and all of the feuds and titles feel important. Bo Dalls is the best heel in wrestling right now, Sami Zayn is the best babyface in all of wrestling, and the NXT women’s division is fantastic. Zayn and Antonio Cesaro had an amazing match that, in terms of the attention it put on the promotion, was even more of a major moment for NXT than the amazing Ambrose vs. Rollins 30 Minute Iron Man match was for FCW in 2011. If you haven’t been watching NXT in 2013, you need to start watching it in 2014.

As great as NXT has been, Total Divas been the opposite. WWE finally got a reality show on E!, which they hoped would bring more mainstream exposure to the product. Whether or not this has happened I don’t know, but I do know that it has been completely strangling the Divas’ division.
AJ Lee’s worked-shoot promo on the Total Divas back in August seemed like the start of something awesome. Instead, it was the start of something absolutely terrible. It drew new kayfabe lines in the women’s locker room. No more were the Divas divided between the virtuous babyfaces and the evil heels, but instead along the Axis of "are you on Total Divas or not." All of the Divas’ Title matches have been AJ facing members of the Total Divas cast (who, aside from Natalya, aren't very good workers), essentially shouting that anyone who isn’t on Total Divas or isn't AJ (or, by extension, AJ’s bodyguard Tamina), doesn't matter. Even since this divide has taken place, the division has seemed painfully stale. Every single match seems to be a giant clusterduck tag team match pitting a random combination of the Total Divas against a random combination of the others, and no matter who wins and how, they keep having similar matches every week. The parts may change, but the resulting match is always the same, and everyone knows that the finish doesn’t matter. If WWE doesn’t find something new to do, Total Divas will kill the Divas division (which is a damn shame considering all of the talent down in NXT).

2013 has been a year of ups and downs for WWE. It has seen new stars made and then, without reason, demoted down to midcard level. WWE needs to be careful in 2014, or else all of the work they put into guys like Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, the Shield, and Alberto Del Rio in 2013 will all be for naught.

[cero2k]

Even in Los Angeles, which is not a notoriously smarky crowd like New York or Chicago or Baltimore of Philly where smarky favorites and indy darlings like Bryan, Punk, RVD, Ziggler, and Chris Benoit have had some of their biggest wins, the entire building went NUTS for Bryan’s win. All of the time that WWE had put into building Bryan up over the past few months had paid off big-time…

what?

[Big Red Machine]

Even in Los Angeles, which is not a notoriously smarky crowd like New York or Chicago or Baltimore of Philly where smarky favorites and indy darlings like Bryan, Punk, RVD, Ziggler, and Chris Benoit have had some of their biggest wins, the entire building went NUTS for Bryan’s win. All of the time that WWE had put into building Bryan up over the past few months had paid off big-time…

what?

I'll admit it seems a bit random, but he and RVD were the old-school versions of guys like Ziggler and Dragon. Super-over with the smarky crowd and the smarky crowd felt that he really DESERVED a run at the top.

[cero2k]

Even in Los Angeles, which is not a notoriously smarky crowd like New York or Chicago or Baltimore of Philly where smarky favorites and indy darlings like Bryan, Punk, RVD, Ziggler, and Chris Benoit have had some of their biggest wins, the entire building went NUTS for Bryan’s win. All of the time that WWE had put into building Bryan up over the past few months had paid off big-time…

what?

I'll admit it seems a bit random, but he and RVD were the old-school versions of guys like Ziggler and Dragon. Super-over with the smarky crowd and the smarky crowd felt that he really DESERVED a run at the top.

oh ok, i thought you meant like that same night at LA, and not overall wins

[Big Red Machine]

what?

I'll admit it seems a bit random, but he and RVD were the old-school versions of guys like Ziggler and Dragon. Super-over with the smarky crowd and the smarky crowd felt that he really DESERVED a run at the top.

oh ok, i thought you meant like that same night at LA, and not overall wins

No no no. But some of Benoit's big wins came in smarky places like NYC rather than in more "casual" places.