Smarky Awards: WWE SummerSlam 2013

Wow. In what was supposed to be WWE’s “2nd biggest PPV of the year”, WWE easily put on the most exciting and engaging show since Extreme Rules 2012. From the amazing storytelling to the phenomenal match quality, WWE hit all the notes they needed to and made SummerSlam an event that fans will remember for a long time. While I would like to hand out the praises to everybody who participated on the show, it’s time to single out the best of the best.

Best Match Award

Winner: CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar

There have been a lot of instances where the build-up to a match is miles better than the match itself, but rarely has there been a time where the almost impossible to live up to hype is completely exceeded in the match itself. Well, that happened at SummerSlam when CM Punk faced his former best-friend’s client, Brock Lesnar. The match was filled with brutal spots, amazing wrestling, and above all, perfect story telling. In the end, CM Punk would fall victim to an F-5 on a chair, but even in a loss Punk looked like a million bucks. Lesnar also proved that he may possibly be one of the best big men in history.

Best Feud Award

Winner: John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan defeated John Cena cleanly for the WWE Championship on Sunday. Let’s just take that in for a moment. He beat Cena with no distractions, no ref mistakes, no shenanigans. He just pinned Cena by himself. Not even CM Punk did that. In what will go down as one of the most memorable and feel-good moments in recent memory, Daniel Bryan finally made it to the top of the WWE by defeating John Cena. After weeks of being called unfit for the task, and even being talked down to by good guy Cena, Bryan overcame the odds to win his first ever WWE Championship. While the celebration may have been cut short, Bryan is now officially the number one guy in the company right now (especially with Cena gone), and he is about to feud with what seems like a new age corporation. And don’t worry, Daniel Bryan will be winning that WWE Championship back in no time.

Best Diva Award

Winner(s): AJ Lee & Kaitlyn

Seeing as the two have been trading wins back and forth leading up to the PPV, it didn’t really make any sense to put one above the other. They put on a decent match at SummerSlam (following Lesnar/Punk, too), and have been the two major forces in the rebuilding of the Divas Division. Hopefully, we can see stars like Natalya and Layla make their way into the spotlight too.

Biggest Loser Award

Winner(?): Damien Sandow

It seems like every year, whoever holds the blue briefcase (or the chocolate briefcase in Sandow’s case) becomes the victim of unlucky booking. Well, it seems as if Sandow will be following in the footsteps of Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler, as the Self-Proclaimed Savior of the Unwashed Masses has been losing matches left and right. Whether it’s to Randy Orton, Christian, or most recently his former tag team partner Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow has been spending more time with his shoulders pinned to the mat than he does trimming his beard. Hopefully things will turn around next month, Sandow (they probably won’t).

Best Superstar Award

Winner: Daniel Bryan

Who else? Daniel Bryan became WWE’s top guy last night when he defeated John Cena CLEANLY (the last two people to do that were the Rock in 2012 and Sheamus in 2009) to win the WWE Championship. While his WWE Championship reign was shorter than Rey’s, Daniel Bryan is now on track to feud with the newly turned heels Randy Orton and Triple H in what will no doubt be WWE’s top angle. Now it’s time for the American Dragon to do what he deserves to do, and that’s headline PPVs and steal the show.

Agree? Disagree? Tell my why in the comments.