#1: John Cena vs CM Punk - #1 contender match (Raw: Feb 25)
Whenever these two get in the ring, they produce magic in that ring. As you might have seen from their past matches at Money In The Bank 2011 in Chicago, SummerSlam 2012 and Night of Champions 2012 in Boston. These two never disappoint in the ring and this was one another classic that these two put on. Just a month after The Rock ended CM Punk's historic title reign which lasted 434 days, These two wrestled for approximately 30+ minutes and had yet another spectacular match
Out of all their past matches, I'd say this was the best wrestling-wise. There is no denying that the hype and crowd was better at Money In The Bank 2011 but I'd say this match was much better wrestling-wise. This was one of the best matches I've ever seen on Raw or WWE in recent history. It kept everyone on the edge of their seat. Punk kicked out of Cena's Attitude Adjustment and Cena kicked out of the GTS. Cena's powerbomb and hurricanrana (as awkward as It was), Punk's piledriver. Everything was just Incredible.
This was a WrestleMania worthy main event and I loved every second of It. Both have brilliant chemistry in the ring. Amazing stuff.
#2: Brock Lesnar vs CM Punk - SummerSlam (Aug 18)
This match was rumored few months ago prior to this match and I wasn't really hyped or Interested in It to be quite honest. I honestly thought the match wouldn't be all that great and It would be a forgettable match. I was completely wrong because this was an amazing bout. On the post-Payback Raw, during Punk vs Del Rio, all of a sudden Lesnar's music hits and the entire area is shocked. Brock got in the ring and gave Punk a F5 and that was the beginning of this feud.
Paul Heyman cracked CM Punk with a ladder as Punk was about to win the MITB contract and cost him a chance at winning the WWE Championship. It was teased every week that these two would break up and eventually It happend at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view. Leading to this match every week, Both Heyman and Punk got some amazing promos. I stated earlier that I wasn't high on this match in the first place but I knew Punk vs Heyman on the mic would be absolutely golden and It was. The Lesnar and Punk brawl(s) before their match were just as epic. A Powerhouse vs an underdog.
This was a match full of violence. So many chair shots and everything. This match arguably got the best reaction from the audience. Punk gave yet another MOTY candidate and Lesnar who doesn't wrestle often showcased what an incredible athlete he is. I wouldn't be surprised If we see a rematch between the two sometime in 2014.
#3: John Cena vs Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship - SummerSlam (Aug 18)
On the Post-MITB Raw, Brad Maddox let John Cena pick his opponent for SummerSlam.
The Great Khali told John Cena earlier that If He picks him, they'll have the best match in history but John Cena did not listen. As he named a lot of Superstars, He forgot one man. Daniel Bryan. As he announced Daniel Bryan and He came out, the reaction from that crowd was Incredible.
This was a match between an established star vs an unestablished star. While I did put Lesnar vs Punk ahead of this match, I can not lie but say the climate and energy of this match was much better than that match. This match told much better story than that match.
The start of this match was slow and hard to get Into It but as the match went on, Everyone got Interested to It. Bryan kept targetting Cena's Injured arm through out the match. Both used some amazing moves and Cena did one of his newly added move to the 5 moves of Doom powerbomb but the crowd continued chanting "You can't wrestle" or "You still suck!" You can say that about the whole crowd were supporting Daniel Bryan.
When Bryan hit Cena with the running knee, I didn't think that, that was It. Heading into this match, Lots of people thought Bryan would make Cena tap, While that didn't happen, Bryan did pin Cena clean. Something that is very very rare nowadays. Cena is not a consistent great wrestler, But when It's a big match and you've got a wrestler like Bryan, He can perform as good as ever. This match was excellent and will be remembered for many years.
#4: Undertaker vs CM Punk - WrestleMania. (Apr 7)
At WrestleMania 29, The show disappointed big time. There were already lots of predictable matches and Out of the top 3 main events, Two were rematches except this match. This match stole the show at WrestleMania. This match wasn't that great but because the other two main events already happend before and were somewhat predictable, This match was the one everyone had their eyes on. Taker's WrestleMania matches are always amazing and Match of the year candidate and this wasn't anything different.
During the build-up to this match, They used Paul Bearer's death in storyline which was creative and not thought of. CM Punk doing the Old School move to Taker, chokeslam, kick outs and everything was great. In the end, Taker prevailed with a tombstone. I'd say the match lived up to It's expectations and both Punk and Taker delivered a great match.
#5: Daniel Bryan Gauntlet Match - Raw (Jul 22)
Just less than a month before He faces Cena for the WWE Champion at SummerSlam, Maddox questioned whether Bryan deserves a title shot or has even earned It. So He put him in a Gauntlet match against Jack Swagger, Antonio Cesaro and Ryback.
Bryan wrestling for around 40+ minutes in the main event of Raw can't go wrong. Bryan delivered thrilling performance that put me on the edge of my seat. His stamina to wrestle for around 40 minutes with three different guys is gutsy. He runs around in the ring and does all these crazy moves yet still doesn't slow down. His match with Jack Swagger was slow at start, but It was still a good match. Swagger kept trying to finish him but in the end tapped out to Bryan's "Yes Lock". This was for about 15 minutes and It was good.
While his match with Swagger wasn't bad, His match with Antonio Cesaro was just outstanding. It got the crowd to chant "This is awesome" and It was. They wrestled for around 20 minutes and It was just magic in the ring. Cesaro is phenomenal in the ring and Bryan outstanding as always. I liked the finish to the match as Bryan managed to counter Cesaro's mid-air uppercut and pin him. Outstanding stuff. His third opponent was Ryback who rarely has good matches but usually puts on good matches with Bryan as they've wrestled each other quite a lot of times. This match wasn't as good as the one with Swagger or the outstanding one with Cesaro, as It was for about 5+ minutes. But overall, this match was great. Bryan showed toughness and heart to wrestle for approx 40 minutes.
There were other great matches too this year such as
* Daniel Bryan vs Rollins
* CM Punk vs Chris Jericho at Payback
* RVD vs Jericho on Raw
* Alberto Del Rio vs Christian at SummerSlam
* The RAW MITB Ladder Match
* Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton Street Fight on Raw
* CM Punk vs The Rock at Elimination Chamber Chamber
* John Cena vs Mark Henry at Money In The Bank
I've missed out on a bunch of other great matches that were good too. Also 3 of the matches in my top 5 list Involves CM Punk because He wrestled some amazing matches this year. Hope you enjoyed reading this.
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