Best Of The Month: February 2013

The Rock's new WWE Championship arrived to much controversy

Here are the highlights from February 2013:

 

Wrestler Of The Month: Karl Anderson

For the majority of 2012 Karl Anderson had been on a steady incline slowly but surely developing into one of the top ten singles workers in New Japan Pro Wrestling.  In his standout matches with Kazuchika Okada he had shown some true main event potential and the wrestling world began to buzz about the man who could be Japan's next big gaijin superstar.  This past month, he capitalized on that momentum by challenging for Hiroshi Tanahashi's IWGP Heavyweight title and even though he was unsuccessful, he took Tanahashi to the limit in what was arguably, the year's finest match thus far.  It was a breakout performance that was so impressive, no one else could follow it.

Match Of The Month:: WWE Raw 2/25: John Cena vs. CM Punk

In one of the best matches in the history of Monday Night Raw, John Cena and CM Punk turned in perhaps the most brilliant performance of their now legendary rivalry.  This match had everything you could want in a WWE style contest.  There was loads of drama, excitement, surprises (a piledriver!) and some masterful storytelling on par with anything we've seen from either man before.  The respect between the two has been well documented, but this match signified something even more important, immortality.  Both men battled for the chance to face WWE Champion The Rock in the main event of Wrestlemania XXIX.  Many have said that this was the kind of matchup that should have headlined the year's biggest show.  With that in mind, both Cena and Punk went out there and showed Rocky just how much being in that top spot means to them.  The Result?  An instant classic.

Top 15 Wrestlers Pound For Pound

*The number in parenthesis is the wrestler's rank in the last month's list.

1. Hiroshi Tanahashi (1) IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Tanahashi continues to be the gold standard for in-ring excellence and he once again turned in a stellar title defense this past month against Karl Anderson. 
2. The Rock (2) WWE Champion: Say what you want about The Rock's lack of appearances and overall dismissive attitude of most of the current roster, but the guy is 2 for 2 against CM Punk in mega hyped PPV main events.  He's already looking far better than he did last year.
3. John Cena (4) #1 Contender, WWE Championship: Cena may have not been able to lead his team to victory over the Shield at Elimination Chamber, but he earned a more personal victory over CM Punk in a MOTYC. 
4. The Shield (9): Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins are now the most feared names on the current WWE roster with their supremely dominant performance this past month.  Beating two stacked teams of main event stars in just a few months since their debut.
5. Karl Anderson (15): Anderson made the biggest jump this past month after his electric performance at NJPW's New Beginning iPPV.  He may not have been able to secure the gold, but he's now on everyone's radar as one of the promotion's top talent.
6. Alberto Del Rio (7) WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Del Rio defeated Big Show for the third straight time to successfully retain his World Championship at the Elimination Chamber PPV.  He's also become one of the most popular acts in the WWE in the process.
7. Jack Swagger (-) #1 Contender WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Swagger may not be making any friends with his borderline racist manager Zeb Coulter pulling his strings, but he's been nothing short of impressive since his re-debut.
8. CM Punk (3): CM punk just can't seem to catch a break these days.  He's still arguably, the best wrestler in the world today, but he dropped a bit in the rankings due to the fact that he lost two big time matches in February to The Rock & arch-rival John Cena.
9. Kevin Steen (10) ROH World Champion: Whether he appears for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla or his home base, Ring Of Honor, Steen always makes an impact.  He's the most dangerous champion in the biz today.
10. Kazuchika Okada (6): It was one of the biggest shockers of the month when Okada lost to Minoru Suzuki at the New Beginning iPPV.  It was a crippling blow to the morale of CHAOS and an even bigger shot to the confidence of Japan's breakout sensation.
11. Bobby Roode & Austin Aries (13) TNA World Tag Team Champions: As much as these two act like they hate each other's guts, they have made for the most formidable tag team TNA has seen in ages.  It doesn't hurt that they're also the highlight of Impact each week.
12. Shinsuke Nakamura (8) IWGP Intercontinental Champion: Nakamura has added the most prestige to the still very new IC title with his impressive 220+ day reign as champion.  He also impressed when he made relatively easy work of Kengo Mashimo at New Beginning.
13. Daniel Bryan & Kane (11) WWE Tag Team Champions: Even though it seems that we may be seeing the last days of Team Hell No, they are still the WWE's most popular and successful duo right now.  Still, there's not much more they'll be able to do if they can't co-exist.
14. Antonio Cesaro (14) WWE United States Champion: Cesaro is the WWE's brightest shining prospect and his single handed resurrection of the United States Championship is perhaps the most understated achievement in the company right now.
15. Jeff Hardy (5) TNA World Heavyweight Champion: Hardy is still Impact Wrestling's most popular superstar, but made little to no appearances at all in the past month.  Not much can be said about a champion who can't even show up to work.