Summerslam 2013 - Superstars of the show

Christian

Summerslam ’13 was one of the best pay-per-views I have seen in a very long time. In fact, I don’t remember seeing a WWE event as good as this one the last time! Whether in terms of in-ring action, or in terms of the angles surrounding the various matches or even the hype building up to the event, this event was special and truly exceeded expectations on almost all counts.

The Ziggler/Kaitlyn – Langston/AJ and the Cody Rhodes – Damien Sandow matches were fun while, both the championship matches were excellent and the Punk-Lesnar match was outstanding. My MOTY candidate already! The performers were all in full form and every match had a big-match feel to it…. well almost every match (The divas match and the Wyatt-Kane matches didn’t do much for me). But like I said, it didn’t really matter and instead of the usual standard operating procedure of rating the superstars as per the individual performances, considering how awesome this event was, I have gone with the top superstars in context to their matches. So, the superstars in the list are in pairs, as per the matches they were involved in. Here we go….

Christian/Alberto Del Rio

This was an instant classic and to be honest, I wasn’t surprised at all. I was expecting nothing less. Del Rio is one of the best pure wrestlers in the company and Christian is the perfect sympathetic babyface for the champion’s aggressive ruthless offensive style. In the best match till that point, both men showed what it is to be like when you wrestle the much-ignored old-school wrestling style. Things like sequencing, in-ring psychology, and more importantly utilisation of sensible offence was on full display as the two battled it out for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Christian is so great at selling that every time ADR would get close to him, I would cringe. Hallmark of a great match and the ability of the performers to get the fans invested in the ongoing proceedings. Like with most of his matches, ADR targeted Christian’s left arm and some of his kicks were so vicious that Christian’s yelps seemed legit. But he recovered to deliver a spear, which could have done it for him had his arm not been hurt and that was enough for the champ to lock in his finishing hold and with a classic heelish move of a rake to the eye, the champ left the challenger with no choice but to tap out and bring an end to the back & forth battle.