[Contrarian]

MVP: Daniel Bryan

Least Valuable Player: Alberto Del Rio

Rookie of the Half-Year: Bray Wyatt

Biggest Surprise: Randy Orton

Biggest Disappointment: Antonio Cesaro (Reason stated - Cesaro lowered to tag teaming with Swagger)

Most Likely to Achieve: Cody Rhodes

Most Likely to Underachieve: The Miz

Best Moment: The Ending of SummerSlam

Worst Moment: The Ending of Battleground

Feud of the Half-Year: CM Punk Vs Paul Heyman

Match of the Half-Year: Sami Zayn vs. Antonio Cesaro, NXT, 8-21-13

Most Improved: Damien Sandow

Sixth Man of the Half-Year: Big E Langston

Coach of the Half-Year: Zeb Colter

Defensive Player of the Half-Year: Dolph Ziggler

Diva of the Half-Year: AJ Lee

Tag Team of the Half-Year: The Shield (All three of them. Freebird Rules meet the
criteria of Grantland awards-giving)

Comeback of the Half-Year: Brock Lesnar/Goldust

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id...rds-taking-stock-2013-six-months-wrestlemania

Your thoughts?

 

[samizayn]

I'm only faltering on Bray Wyatt as rookie of the half year, everything else seems pretty spot-on. Not sure what they're getting at by defensive player, though

 

[Duke Silver]

ADR doesn't deserve LVP. I'm not someone that usually sticks up for Del Rio, but 2013 has been his best year by far. He's had some really good matches (w/ Ziggler, Show, etc.) and furthered his heel character. He's still fairly low on the totem-pole, but to call him the least valuable player on the entire roster? It pretty much invalidates the entire list (despite having some good [obvious] picks).

Bryan is certainly the MVP. Zayn/Cesaro is a decent pick for MOTY, if only because it won't get mentioned very often. Shield are obviously team of the year. And Miz getting the 'most likely to underachieve' award warms my heart.

I'd change a lot of the rest. Punk/Heyman might have been FOTY had it ended straight after Lesnar left. It's dragged way too long and involved too many ancillary characters. Cesaro being added to the Real Americans was the best thing for the direction of his character - another stupid choice.

Can Lesnar really be chosen as the comeback of the year when he returned last year as well? Goldust is a good shout though.

 

[#Mark]

This article is beyond dumb. Grantland is far too gimmicky for my liking.

 

[samizayn]

ADR doesn't deserve LVP. I'm not someone that usually sticks up for Del Rio, but 2013 has been his best year by far. He's had some really good matches (w/ Ziggler, Show, etc.) and furthered his heel character. He's still fairly low on the totem-pole, but to call him the least valuable player on the entire roster? It pretty much invalidates the entire list (despite having some good [obvious] picks).

Bryan is certainly the MVP. Zayn/Cesaro is a decent pick for MOTY, if only because it won't get mentioned very often. Shield are obviously team of the year. And Miz getting the 'most likely to underachieve' award warms my heart.

I'd change a lot of the rest. Punk/Heyman might have been FOTY had it ended straight after Lesnar left. It's dragged way too long and involved too many ancillary characters. Cesaro being added to the Real Americans was the best thing for the direction of his character - another stupid choice.

Can Lesnar really be chosen as the comeback of the year when he returned last year as well? Goldust is a good shout though.

I took Del Rio's LVP award to mean, where are WWE getting the least value for their money? I agree with you actually, I think this has been a very good year in his career, but he's still not a top guy. For the time, money and effort spent on him, that he reach that position and stay in that position is imperative.

I would have challenged the feud of the half year as well, but I couldn't think of a reasonable alternative. I agree with you that it got drawn out after Lesnar left the picture, but 'The Corporation' is too big a sprawling beast to nominate for something like this. Because thinking hard, it actually incorporates several sub-feuds: Bryan vs Orton, Bryan vs Corporation, Big Show vs Corporation, Rhodes vs Corporation, Rhodes vs Shield... otherwise it's by far feud of the year.

 

[Jimshine]

DZ is probably 'defensive player' because he's just doing his job, getting stuck in and performing every night to not much direction from WWE writers

 

[validreasoning]

del rio getting least valuable is laughable. wouldn't give wyatt rookie when all 3 members of shield have been better and cesaro is far more over now in that tag-team than he was as a singles guy

 

[Synax]

Not enough Shield and if biggest surprise falls along with negatives, I'd give it to Ziggy from winning the WHC to being stranded on an island again.

 

[Iceman.]

"Getting lowered to teaming with Swagger"
Yeah his stock has really lowered since teaming with a guy that just this year was in one of the main event's of Wrestlemania. So stupid.

 

[kregnaz]

I'm only faltering on Bray Wyatt as rookie of the half year, everything else seems pretty spot-on.

Helps to be the only new guy :

 

[Joshi Judas]

Shield deserve that Rookie award. And mostly agree with the rest.

 

[Kratosx23]

Sandow being most improved is offensive. What? Motherfucker was on point since he debuted.

Zayn/Cesaro over Punk/Lesnar = LOL.

Best feud = Heyman/Punk.....I guess, and it's been terrible for 2 months so think about what that says about the WWE. And it's not Heyman and Punk's fault, they're still entertaining on the mic but the feud itself just needs to be shot dead.

What they've done with Barrett is far more disappointing than what they've done with Cesaro.

Wyatt being the best new guy is obvious as fuck.

I don't know what the fuck sixth man of the year even means. Is that just a polite way of saying "most irrelevant guy with potential?"

Daniel Bryan, MVP? Ughhhh. This is what wrestling has been reduced to in 2013.

That's all I've got right now.

"Getting lowered to teaming with Swagger"
Yeah his stock has really lowered since teaming with a guy that just this year was in one of the main event's of Wrestlemania. So stupid.

That was absolutely NOT one of the main events. The main event was Rock vs Cena and the other matches that they pretended were the main event but really weren't were Triple H vs Brock Lesnar and Undertaker vs CM Punk. Del Rio vs Swagger meant nothing, and Swagger is, and is treated by the company like a punk bitch.

 

[kregnaz]

Shield deserve that Rookie award. And mostly agree with the rest.

Shield debuted in 2012...

 

[DoubleDeckerBar]

MVP: The Shield

Least Valuable Player: Randy Orton

Rookie of the Half-Year: Bray Wyatt

Biggest Surprise: Sandow winning MITB

Biggest Disappointment: Wade Barrett's booking

Most Likely to Achieve: Cody Rhodes

Most Likely to Underachieve: Wade Barrett

Best Moment: Sandow winning MITB

Worst Moment: The Ending of Battleground

Feud of the Half-Year: Big Show vs. Triple H

Match of the Half-Year: Punk vs. Lesnar

Most Improved: Roman Reigns

Sixth Man of the Half-Year: The fuck is this?

Coach of the Half-Year: Paul Heyman

Defensive Player of the Half-Year: The fuck?

Diva of the Half-Year: Nikki Bella (she overcame a career ending injury)

Tag Team of the Half-Year: The Shield (All three of them. Freebird Rules meet the
criteria of Grantland awards-giving)

Comeback of the Half-Year: Goldust

Mine

 

[Mountain Rushmore]

How is Wyatt rookie of the year when Ambrose, Reigns, Rollins and Langston are all better and have done more?

I think Cena has been the MVP if they're using the logic of "best bang for the 'E's buck" which they are if they're calling ADR the LVP (so there's a hole I just poked in this joke article).

Best feud of the half year was Cena/Bryan for me and it lasted a month. Match of the half year is still Bryan/Cesaro for me. Cena/Bryan is overrated, Punk/Brock is extremely overrated and I haven't seen Cesaro/Zayn

 

[kregnaz]

How is Wyatt rookie of the year when Ambrose, Reigns, Rollins and Langston are all better?

Shield and Big E debut was in 2012, this is about roughly the first half of 2013
Debateable criteria, I know

Here is the reasoning:

Rookie of the Half-Year: Bray Wyatt

This was a tough call — the past six months have seen the debuts of other intriguing talents, like Curtis Axel (like Wyatt, he's not a pure rookie, but, due to repackaging, he's a rookie according to Grantland's Awards Rules Committee) and, of course, the glorious El Torito, who is hamstrung by his brief run to date.

No other rookie has hit the scene with the intrigue and charisma of Bray Wyatt, who seems to have sprung whole cloth out of a Barry Hannah nightmare and who has introduced Southern Gothic to squared circle consciousness. So far, he has been sequestered off in his own ghoulish feuds, and thus hasn't interacted with much of the roster, and if he hasn't been the force that some hoped he would be based on his run in NXT, he's still been very good, warbling and leering with stunning aptitude for such a youngster. With shocking mobility for his size, his unsettlingly offbeat promos, and the unfathomably creepy upside-down spider walk he recently worked into his repertoire, Wyatt has made an impression in a relatively short span of time. If nothing else, he's different, which is something WWE needs badly.

So it basically is Axel or Wyatt, so of course Wyatt takes the spot :

 

[checkcola]

I've yet to see one single good match from Bray Wyatt and his ppv matches are always sure fire worst of the night. Big E is a much much much better talent.

Ok, if its either Axel or Wyatt, I'll give the nod to Axel because at least he knows how to wrestle.

 

[birthday_massacre]

How is Wyatt rookie of the year when Ambrose, Reigns, Rollins and Langston are all better and have done more?

I think Cena has been the MVP if they're using the logic of "best bang for the 'E's buck" which they are if they're calling ADR the LVP (so there's a hole I just poked in this joke article).

Best feud of the half year was Cena/Bryan for me and it lasted a month. Match of the half year is still Bryan/Cesaro for me. Cena/Bryan is overrated, Punk/Brock is extremely overrated and I haven't seen Cesaro/Zayn

The half a year starts the month after Wrestlemania since thats the WWEs world series/superbowl. So this really only counts from like April through the end of Sept. The shield and Big E debuted way before then.

 

[brandiexoxo]

Match of the year

Sent from Verticalsports.com Free App

 

[jamal.]

Zayn/Cesaro is miles better than Punk/Lesnar. So idk why some of you guys think it's laughable or some sort of surprise.