‘Best of RAW & Smackdown 2013’ DVD Review

2013 was a mixed year for WWE in terms of storylines, match quality and fan interest, but regardless of those things it is still safe to say that 2013 was a very interesting, sometimes controversial and often entertaining year for WWE and features some really excellent moments and matches, while also providing, as wrestling always tends to, some septic little happenings that annoyed, frustrated and bored wrestling fans to tears. This set looks at a variety of these moments and matches in what is labelled as the “Best of RAW & Smackdown” from 2013.

Here is the content listing:

• Raw – 7^th January 2013 – Tables, Ladders, & Chairs Match for the WWE Championship – CM Punk vs. Ryback
• Smackdown – 11^th January 013 – Last Man Standing for the World Championship – Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio
• Smackdown – 25^th January 2013 – The Rock & CM Punk’s Verbal Battle
• Raw – 28^th January 2013 – Paul Heyman & Mr. McMahon Confrontation
• Raw – 25^th February 2013 – Winner faces The Rock at WrestleMania 29 – John Cena vs. CM Punk
• Raw – 4^th March 2013 – The Rock & John Cena – Point/Counter-Point
• Raw – 1^st April 2013 – CM Punk Disrespects The Memory of Paul Bearer
• Raw – 8^th April 2013 – Handicap Match – Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger & Zeb Colter
• Raw – 8^th April 2013 – Kofi Kingston vs. Fandango
• Smackdown – 19^th April 2013 – Sheamus & Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry & Big Show
• Raw – 22^nd April 2013 – Undertaker, Kane, & Daniel Bryan vs. The Shield
• Raw – 6^th May 2013 – Brock Lesnar Destroys Triple H’s Office
• Smackdown – 7^th June 2013 – Curtis Axel vs. Chris Jericho
• Raw – 17^th June 213 – Mark Henry’s Retirement Speech
• Raw – 24^th June 2013 – Street Fight – Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton
• Smackdown – 28^th June 2013 – Alberto Del Rio’s Championship Fiesta
• Smackdown – 12^th July 2013 – AJ and Kaitlin’s Contract Signing
• RAW – 15^th July 2013 – The Wyatt Family Makes a Statement
• Smackdown – 26^th July 2013 – Damien Sandow Searches for his Briefcase
• Smackdown – 9^th August 2013 – Rob Van Dam vs. Randy Orton
• RAW – 12^th August 2013 – Miz TV with John Cena & Daniel Bryan
• RAW – 9^th September 2013 – Santino Marella vs. Antonio Cesaro
• Smackdown – 13^th September 2013 – Big Show faces Off with the Shield
• RAW – 7^th October 2013 – Daniel Bryan, Cody Rhodes, & Goldust vs. The Shield
• RAW – 14^th October 2013 – World Tag Team Championship – The Shield vs. Cody Rhodes & Goldust
• Smackdown – 1^st November 2013 – Cena, Cody & Goldust vs. Sandow, Antonio Cesaro, & Jack Swagger
• RAW – 11^th November 2013 – 3-on-2 Handicap Match – CM Punk & Daniel Bryan vs. The Shield
• RAW – 9^th December 2013 – Championship Ascension Ceremony

The set has some really great stand-out moments included and many of them are well worth revisiting, especially some of the excellent matches featuring The Shield, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Goldust and The Real Americans. The Shield often were in the best matches of RAW throughout 2013. It is a shame to see a lack of The Uso’s on the set, as their matches with The Shield and other teams were often some of the best segments of RAW and Smackdown too. There are some moments included that didn’t really feel nessesary, and matches like the Kingston vs. Fandango are strange inclusions, especially considering some of the brilliant encounters that weren’t added to the set (Goldust vs. Orton and Rollins vs. Bryan come to mind immediately).

There are some fun promos and segments on here, like the segment where Brock and Heyman invaded Titan Towers, the Rock/Punk verbal battles and the Mark Henry faux-retirement, but there are some shoddy ones too, with the closing Championship Ascension Ceremony and CM Punk’s cheap-heat seeking exploitation of Paul Bearer that occurred just hours after the real death of Paul “William Moody” Bearer. I could have done without seeing these moments again.

These “Best of…” compilations are always very hit and miss and there are always things to complain about, but this isn’t bad and it really does feature some excellent matches and moments over its 3 DVD discs or 2 blu-rays. Speaking of blu-ray, there are some exclusive matches included on the BD release of the set, including Cena vs. Ziggler in a cage match and The Shield vs. Team Hell-No and Kofi Kingston.

The Best of RAW & Smackdown 2013 is available on DVD and Blu-ray, through FreemantleMedia, now.