2013-14 WWE MVP

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Going to borrow Dagger Dias' retrospective posts on Mania and SummerSlam and apply them to this concept. Will begin with the most recent year and work our way back. I am going by the WWE year instead of the calendar year so each year begins with the day after Mania and concludes at the following years Mania. For me the MVP is the wrestler who I feel was most important to the main event scene but if you have a different interpretation on what the MVP should be by all means use it and give your MVP based on your criteria.

The 2013-14 WWE MVP is Daniel Bryan.

He was hot for the entire year, and by the time he was placed in the main event during the summer there was no going back. He had the longest/most important/most over story of the year with his chase of the WWE Title that was finally realized at the end of the year at Mania.

 

[Tyrant25]

The Shield as a whole. I honestly can't think of a bad match by The Shield - every single match they competed in was top notch (maybe except for Shield vs. Kane/New Age Outlaws at Wrestlemania because the match lasted 5 minutes). They didn't need a cool catchphrase to get over, either. And even now as singles stars, all of them are showing their individual personalities and all of them have main event potential.

 

[MC_Live]

From WrestleMania XXIX till WrestleMania XXX it's without a doubt Daniel Bryan. The Shield was close. But you wanna talk about a perfect year? In terms of crowd connection and storytelling, the rise of Daniel Bryan from Mania 29 until Mania 30 was absolutely perfect. There is nobody the fans wanted to succeed more.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Last week, I read a little piece at PWTorch.com. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_79552.shtml

The piece has some interesting stats on how Daniel Bryan's presence and lack of presence due to his injury have affected WWE's ratings. While Bryan being gone hasn't sent ratings plummeting to all time lows, the report clearly shows that Bryan is one of the very few WWE talents in years to have a significant impact on the ratings of WWE Raw.

Just from a business perspective, any wrestler that's able to have a positive impact on ratings and for ratings to be significantly weaker when that wrestler is gone is definitely someone that's, and I swear no pun is intended, best for business. That's not to say that DVR viewership can't have an impact as well, as the report also states, but the report also states that WWE's audience has "a 90% live viewing experience" that WWE included in paperwork during their latest TV contract negotiations, so DVR's impact is pretty minimal. Even during last fall, WWE still got creamed by Monday Night Football, but not by as much as they did in the fall-winter of 2012-2013.

From a product perspective, fans have rallied around Daniel Bryan in a way that's also not been seen in WWE or pro wrestling as a whole in many years. From early last summer straight through when he announced he had to have surgery, Daniel Bryan has been the most over babyface on the WWE roster. All you have to do is consider the times that fans have hijacked segments of Raw or ppvs themselves with overwhelmingly loud "Daniel Bryan" or "Yes!" chants. Whether he'll be able to recapture that fire upon his return is something that time alone can tell, but that's neither here nor there. Bryan's had great matches during his quest to become champion, his segments have usually been the single most watched ones on Raw even through WrestleMania season.

In my opinion, the strongest bit of proof came at WrestleMania XXX itself when Daniel Bryan captured the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Fans were hoping it'd happen, they wanted that big moment, that feel good moment and they got it. They needed it all the more so after the unthinkable happened: we saw the streak die and didn't have the slightest inkling of a hint that it was coming. WWE NEEDED a MASSIVE feel good moment in order to balance out the shock, dismay and outright sadness caused by Taker losing at WrestleMania XXX. I mean, we literally saw the passing of an era; one of the very, very, very few aspects of pro wrestling of the past 20 years that was still in tact, the only remnant of the Attitude Era, part of our childhoot in fact, came to an end. Daniel Bryan winning was the only way WWE would be able to balance the scales; the fans were given a shocking, crushing low and they needed a tremendous high in order to keep the ppv from ending on a sour note. Bryan winning was the ONLY way to deliver that high and WWE management knew it.

Since he's been out injured, The Shield members have definitely picked up the slack and have done a great job. WWE lucked out and managed to find three diamonds, but whether as individuals or as a team, they're still not nearly as over as Daniel Bryan has been over the course of the past 12 months or so.

Considering that Bryan's a significant draw and money maker for WWE, fans spending almost a year hanging on everything he did with rapt enthusiasm and that they truly wanted to see him succeed makes him the MVP in my opinion. Whether or not Bryan would have been pushed if CM Punk hadn't walked out, he did what he's done with every single opportunity that the company's given him over the course of the past 3 years: he's grabbed the ball and made the most of it.

 

[Navi]

I have to go with the Shield as well. Since they came into the WWE they've been great. For some reason this threesome had the best booking of anyone on the roster, and they are arguably the best faction the WWE ever created. All of them can work well as faces or heels and with the exception of Reigns, who is getting better, are gold on the mic.

Since the split all of them have proved they are worthy of a main event singles run, and they will all be pertinent in the years to come.

I would have gone with Bryan, but I can't help feeling that it was the fans who got him over the top. No doubt he worked his ass off to get where he was, but the backlash after he won and his horrible title run proved that in my eyes he wasn't their first pick.

 

[LBGetBack]

1. Bryan - This was his year. He got incredibly over, and as always put on great matches. Will go down as one of the more memorable years a wrestler had, with an awesome build to his title win. Unfortunately he was immediately saddled with a bad, pointless Kane feud, and then got hurt.

2. The Shield - Almost snatched #1 after Bryan got hurt and they held the show together. But I went with Bryan due to he was clearly above them when he was healthy. WWE did an incredible job in basically doing everything right with them during their run together. The split was abrupt and I wasn't sure.....but it's working! All 3 are doing great and are very over.

3. Stephanie McMahon - She's the biggest heel on the roster. This would be a problem if she was selfish with it, but she's not......she uses her heat to get faces more over. She's damn near Vince in his prime level, at this point. Always liked her, but she's taken her game to a way higher level this last year.

There's the top 3. Punk quit, Brock's not around much, Cena's stale, Orton seems to have plateaud.....it was great to see Bryan and The Shield step up as THE guys. Also, Stephanie kind've came out of nowhere too. I don't think anyone would've forseen her stepping up to this role and this level a year ago. Props to HHH too for being a strong heel and taking some L's in the ring when needed, but Stephanie took it to another level in terms of getting others over on the mic.

 

[The Man]

Yeah, the MVP for 2013-14 has to be Daniel Bryan. The guy surged in popularity, had great matches, and had a tremendous rivalry with The Authority (namely Triple H).

 

[SuperTaco]

My vote goes to Ringside Cameraman B. Here's a guy that always does his job without saying a word, even when he takes a bump from a raging heel. Whenever you need to see someone thrown into the timekeepers area, he's there. Whenever a dude gets put through the announce table, he's there. Whenever you need the shakiest of shaky camera shots, you can be DAMN sure he's there and ready for action.

..
..

Oh wait, we're picking wrestlers? I'll go with Daniel Bryan because that long story with the Authority took all the right turns, and ended with Daniel getting his huge Wrestlemania payoff. He kept rising throughout the year, and reached the top, right at the pinnacle of the wrestling season.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Interesting...

On paper Daniel Bryan wins on sheer merit... A year that started with Hell No and ended with YES, YES, YES and confetti as he lifted the title was something special... BUT

WWE did everything in their power NOT to use him or have that moment... they didn't want him to have that moment for real... they eventually HAD to cede to the fans wishes. So they don't consider him their MVP...for that reason I can't...

The Shield are very good contenders for it... Very good in that they did all asked of them, got it over well and used the opportunity as it was intended... BUT they didn't do it best...

For me the MVP of that period was Bray Wyatt.

Why Bray over the others? This is a guy who came in with vignettes just after Mania and immediately captured imagination and got people excited. The debut was excellently handled (despite the Husky chants of a few douches) and almost immediately Bray got hurt...

Disaster? Not at all, it gave time for the gimmick to percolate, for Harper and Rowan (who share the honor by the way) to take the point and build it. When he returned and began wrestling, he was putting on match of the night on EVERY PPV he wrestled. Kane, Bryan... but by bit the gimmick and subtle things Bray was doing caught on... first the Opening "We're Here", then the theme and rocking chair... the spiderwalk, then the camera flashes, then the singing... When was the last time a ROOKIE got their music played live at their first Mania going against the top guy... Never...

The WWE landscape is different because of Bray Wyatt, he's shown that a character created by the talent, that isn't the traditional "Volume Turned Up" can not only get over but provide some of the most compelling TV WWE puts out... the sheer creativity of it isn't coming from Vince, his writers or Triple H... it's coming from Bray Wyatt... he breaks the mould of everything a tradtional WWE wrestler is seen to be, or thought they could be in the company... he and Bryan together show talent can rise and not ignored...but Bryan had to practically force them to give him that... Bray hasn't been "handed it" he's gone out, with his two equally talented sidekicks and taken it... That is a valuable commodity in the WWE... he has the fans, he has the locker room and he has a very level head as proved by his recent incident with Flair...

Rowan and Harper deserve equal credit... Rowan has on paper the shitty job... he doesn't talk, just is the "muscle"... but he has also contributed perhaps the creepiest part of the package... the mask... I hope he never loses it, however beat up it gets it stays... he is basically WWE's replacement for Undertaker long term...not in terms of ability (although who is to say he won't learn in the way Taker did once they stopped booking him against monsters) but in that he is the Michael Myers of WWE just as Taker was at the start... a creepy silent predator that just destroys...

Harper deserves a lot of the credit... he has the better role of the two, is "pushed" slightly harder as he gets more credit as Bray's #2... but his facial work is excellent, when he does talk it's strongly reinforcing the gimmick and over the year he improved immensely... working with talents he did have made him better already... in 3 years, he can also be a major player on his own... the WWE has never had "it's" version of Bruiser Brody... they do now...

So all 3 Wyatts deserve the MVP in my eyes... a close runner up is actually Dustin Rhodes... what he has produced in the ring in that period, as part of the Brotherhood and in terms of helping talent is inspiring... he's been on the roster as Goldust nearly 20 years give or take... that he is still where he is proves he is valuable, and a veteran who can a) go, b) make others look good and c) defy time and expectation is always a strong MVP candidate...

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Good to see the feedback. Seems like most are going with Bryan and the crazy part is that he only held the WWE Title for A DAY during this time period. As I continue with previous years for the most part the guy who I pick as MVP either held the title for a good amount of time or dominated the title.

Shield and Wyatt had a breakout year no doubt and I think anyone from either group will be a strong candidate for the current year. I was waiting for someone to mention Cena. He began last year by being the defending champ and held the title until SummerSlam. Was thought to be gone for the rest of the year but only missed like a month, came back and featured in the title picture towards the end of the year and finished off the year (and carried over into this year) with a strong feud against Bray. Probably did enough to be considered a MVP, but Bryan was just so over and so important and had by far the most compelling story 13-14 with the Authority.

 

[FlairFan2003]

2013-2014 - John Cena

Main evented WrestleMania vs Rock, won his 15th World Title, worked extensively with The Wyatt Family to establish them as one of the top heel factions in the business, long running feud with Randy Orton main evented multiple PPVs, he's been the "Go To Guy" all year.

No one else even comes close although D. Bryan & The Shield had impactful runs during that time frame.