WWE ROYAL RUMBLE

Sunday, January 26th, 2014
Pittsburgh

DANIEL BRYAN vs. BRAY WYATT: Good match. The match of the night. Towards the end it got brutal and wild and the crowd was energetic. Bryan lept off the apron and gave Wyatt a tornado ddt on the floor. Sick. Then later Bryan lept through the ropes, was caught by Wyatt, and he delivered his finisher by planting Bryan's head into the ringside barrier (sick because Bryan had a concussion a week ago...pretty dumb to have let this move take place). Wyatt won clean which the crowd thought meant Bryan was going to win the Rumble later on...**1/2

BROCK LESNAR vs. THE BIG SHOW: Before the match started Lesnar hit Show then beat him with a chair. Finally the ref rang the bell and Show punched Lesnar. Then Lesnar F5'd him and won. Then Lesnar hit Show with a chair like fifty times. This was to prove Lesnar is a beast...but I'd rather have seen a real match. **

JOHN CENA vs. RANDY ORTON: The crowd chanted, "This is awful!" and also "Randy Savage" and other randomness during this okay match. Both guys gave the other the other person's finisher. It was okay, nothing special. The Wyatt family showed up to distract Cena and Orton won. **

THE ROYAL RUMBLE (BATISTA): The story of the show was the crowd. When #30 was announced and it wasn't Daniel Bryan but was Mysterio, the crowd booed until the end. They booed Mysterio, booed Batista winning, cheered Roman Reigns who was left with Batista at the end. We all wanted Bryan. Why the WWE hates Bryan is beyond me. On RAW the next night they acknowledged this by having Bryan come out to open the show and confront Stephanie and Hunter. Hunter, in a baby voice, said, "Awww...you didn't get what you wanted?" to the crowd. Way to sell the WWE network by fucking the fans. I'm sure people will want to pay for it now that you hate us. As for the Rumble...it had spots of entertainment. Torrito, the midget, came in and eliminated Fandango. Diesel, Sheamus, and JBL were surprise entrants. Kofi was thrown out but caught by some new NXT star who slammed him onto the ringside barrier. Kofi had never touched the floor so he stood up and ran and lept onto the ring apron. Cool. But a mediocre Rumble, mediocre show, awful booking. Batista vs. Orton as the 'Mania main event? Good luck with that. **

Best Wrestler of 2013: CM PUNK

CM Punk had the best match at Wrestlemania (against The Undertaker) and Summerslam (against Lesnar), was in the best match of the year, had one of the best matches on RAW all year (against Cena for the title in February) was terrific and awesome during his war of words in feuds against Lesnar, The Rock, and Paul Heyman. It's not easy to be great in the ring or great on the mic but Punk is both. He will go down as one of WWE's great stars. It was a good year for the little tattooed kid from Ring of Honor.

Best PPV of 2013: WWE MONEY IN THE BANK

Two three-star ladder matches, a three-star Alberto Del Rio match (still can't believe it), RVD jumping off the top of a big dog ladder, Paul Heyman turning on Punk...this show was a good one. Sure, it had filler, but the three good matches were highly entertaining and super fun. This is always a good show and with the Smackdown title now gone this is an end of an era. A nice way to go out.

Best Match of 2013: CM PUNK vs. BROCK LESNAR WWE SUMMERSLAM

Nearly a masterpiece, this epic showdown between the beast and the little punk kid provided the most action, entertainment, and emotion of any match I saw last year. The reason was simple; they went back and forth in brutal fashion and the near-falls had me on the edge of my seat. A great match between two legends.