We are a little over a quarter of the way through the year. With WrestleMania behind us, the WWE will now begin its summer programs and hope to build toward its second biggest pay-per-view of the year, SummerSlam.

With that said, I felt it would be interesting to look at the top five matches from the first quarter of 2014. I included full match videos and highlights where possible, but WWE licensing restrictions made it difficult at times. (I also apologize for the terrible music in a few of the videos.)

5. John Cena vs. Cesaro (February 17 Raw) – Say what you will about John Cena’s in-ring ability, but he has put on some great matches so far this year, with none better than this matchup with Cesaro. There were a number of amazing spots during the contest, with Cesaro’s counter of the AA certainly ranking near the top. It appears the WWE is going to push Cesaro hard, and this was the week where his push began after he defeated Randy Orton and pushed Cena to the limit.

4. Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H (WrestleMania) – After weeks of begging for a match with Triple H, Daniel Bryan finally got his wish at WrestleMania. He took full advantage of it during the opening contest of the night. Both superstars really shined during the match and it was, in my opinion, the highlight of the show. It also ranks as quite possibly the best opening match in WrestleMania history, with only Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart at WrestleMania X giving it a run for its money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzEetf0xlsU

WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan is front and center on the official pay-per-view poster for Extreme Rules 2014.

Extreme Rules takes place on Sunday, May 4, 2014 at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The following press release was issued today:

RAW IS BACK!

TELE 5 brings back WWE® to Free-TV

Top-Deal between WWE® and TELE 5: The flagship program of WWE®, Monday Night RAW returns to TELE 5 on April 10, every single Thursday at quarter past 10.

Two hours of non-stop entertainment on TELE 5: 25 years after TELE 5 was the first German TV-Station to air WWE® on Free-TV – we are celebrating the return of one of the most successful entertainment shows on the planet. In the United States Monday Night RAW is one of the longest weekly episodic primetime television shows and also one of the highest rated broadcasts on cable.

The season-kickoff of Monday Night RAW will air on TELE 5 on April 10 at quarter past 10 with the biggest edition of the year. The Monday Night RAW after WWE’s® biggest pay-per-view of the year: WrestleMania 30.

“Monday Night RAW is an entertainment phenomenon which fascinates people from around the world.” said TELE 5 CEO, Kai Blasberg. “Finally we can give people back what they’ve been asking for – a real highlight of the entertainment industry.”

“WWE® is really excited about the partnership with TELE 5”, said Stefan Kastenmüller, General Manager of WWE Germany. “Our team in Germany will accompany the television shows with numerous activities around the year at various live events and PPVs, ensure a steady presence on digital platforms and social media outlets and will be producing merchandise.”

Noah Mark is back with his the latest installment of “The YES! & The NO! of WWE RAW.” Comment below and tell us if you agree with this week’s picks.

Complete WWE RAW Results (12/9)

WWE RAW (12/9): The “YES!”

Daniel Bryan

The Star of Raw Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan, winning three Slammy Awards competing in a match, appearing in the Championship Ascension Ceremony, was without question the star of the show. His hometown crowd chanting YES! YES! YES! and DANIEL BRYAN! throughout the beginning of the Championship Ascension Ceremony. Going back earlier in the night to his first Slammy win for Superstar Of The Year. On stage The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels. He announces the Superstar of the year is Daniel Bryan. We were all expecting fireworks to occur during that interaction. HBK even exited stage right a perfect set-up for a “surprise” superkick from out of nowhere! But there was no Sweet Chin Music. Just a humble acceptance speech by Bryan for his Slammy Award which he refereed to as The “HB Swizzle”  award, Michaels naming it that just before presenting the award. Bryan did mention if it wasn’t for Shawn he wouldn’t be in the WWE. Likewise if it wasn’t for his interference at Hell-In-A-Cell he would be the WWE Champion. Although there was no physical interaction here, that wouldn’t be the last time these two interacted on the show.

See this is why I can’t shake off fighting the Daniel Bryan cause, he belongs in the main event. Heck this article uses his YES! and NO! and lord help us all if Daniel Bryan ever appears in a “NO!” portion of this article.  Some people might say, he was in his hometown and had an extra kick of support. There may be a bit of truth to that, but I feel that there are just some hot wrestling towns. Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and apparently Seattle. After what transpired later in the show who knows what will happen the next few months. I’m excited! YES!

Championship Ascension Ceremony

John Cena showing why he is in fact the face of WWE.

Former World Heavyweight and WWE Champions appeared all in the ring for the Championship Ascension Ceremony. As I said earlier the crowd was going crazy for Daniel Bryan. While Triple H was talking up the match, and the championship, the Seattle crowd chanted YES and Daniel Bryan to the point where Triple H gave them what seemed like at least a minute of chanting and Yessing and clapping. This crowd was on fire for Daniel Bryan. Triple H introduced both Orton and Cena. The crowd did not want to hear what Orton had to say. There were boos and boring chants. Then Cena took the mic. More boos and cheering mix. Then Cena begins to speak and prove why he is the face of the WWE. These days with everything being very planned and scripted, Cena played to the crowd and included Daniel Bryan in the conversation, he compared Randy Orton’s rise to success to Daniel Bryan’s. The idea was Bryan didn’t have a father and grandfather to get him in to the WWE, he did it by working. Cena turned practically the entire crowd around and behind him., shouting out his past opponents, HBK, CM Punk, and putting over that the only fair shot Daniel Bryan had was the one with him.  Brilliant, this is why he is where he is. The end was something I haven’t seen in the WWE in a long time. It was an awesome chain of events excuited perfectly. Cena and Orton shake hands as the World Heavyweight Championship and WWE Championship are hoisted up. Orton gets in a cheap shot, the two are down on the mat fighting. Orton and Cena get pulled apart to their corners. CM Punk gets shoved by Orton causing CM Punk to start attacking Orton. Triple H throws down CM Punk, who retaliates with a knockdown of his on on The Game. HBK Superkicks CM Punk, setting up Daniel Bryan to

The Authority and John Cena look over A fallen Randy Orton. A great segment to end raw.

WWE Reminding us what they are capable of, a Powerful and compelling end to Raw.

deliver his running Knee on HBK. Orton tries to RKO Bryan but instead gets shoved into Stephanie McMahon knocking her down. Triple H runs to Stephanie’s aid, and then gets up and pedigrees Randy.  The show closes with The Authority and John Cena looking disappointed over Randy Orton on the mat. What a great segment. This is what WWE used to do on a regular basis. Twists and turns, these chain-reaction action segments. YES!

Quick Mentions

Dean Ambrose vs CM Punk – Ambrose vs CM punk was a Pay-Per-View quality match with a great dissension in the ranks tease when Dean Ambrose wanted Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins to head to the back so he could finish the job by himself. Punk gets the win shortly after that exchange, although Punk loses out to the numbers game and gets a great spear from Reigns. YES!

The Wyatts – With a chip on my shoulder because of Daniel Bryan’s demotion, I don’t think I appreciated Bray Wyatt’s amazing performances over the last few weeks.  They are great, and compelling. YES!

Hit up Page 2 below for the “NO!” of this week’s WWE RAW:

Here’s the latest installment of “The YES! & The NO! of WWE RAW.” I may have a different perspective than you since I was live at Raw this week at The Nassau Colosseum! Comment below and tell us how you like the column and if you agree with this week’s picks.

Complete WWE RAW Results (11/25): With VIDEOS

WWE RAW (11/25): The “YES!”

Daniel Bryan & CM Punk vs The Wyatts

Daniel Bryan & CM Punk cut a promo before facing The Wyatts

The obligatory rematch between The Wyatts and Daniel Bryan & CM Punk, took place on Raw. First a promo from “The Beard & The Best” CM Punk discussing team names, and asking questions allowing Daniel Bryan to answer them with a “Yes!”.  Daniel Bryan got a chance to say more than just the three letter word that will follow him for the rest of his career.

I love Daniel Bryan, and so does the crowd. In fact you could hear Daniel Bryan chants during the opening segment, proving once again that this demotion was not “Best For Business” But more on that in the “NO!” section.

Any match can be enhanced with the crowd behind you. When you have top stars like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, the two most over Superstars at Raw, it can add just that little more energy to the match.

CM Punk made a comment about Triple H and the authority in the opening promo, and wouldn’t know it after Daniel Bryan was “Kidnapped” by the Wyatts. CM Punk was laid out by The Shield.  I wonder if that marks the end of Daniel Bryan and CM Punk together, because I was enjoying that. Time will tell.

Who would have thought Goldust would be having great matches alongside his brother in 2013!

The Shield vs The Rhodes and Rey Mysterio 

I have never been a fan of Tag Teams growing up watching the WWE. I must say however, though all the missteps, and bad booking since SummerSlam, The WWE has a great tag team division. This, of course includes The Shield and The Wyatt factions. Day in and day out these teams from The Veteran Golddust, to newer WWE talent in The Shield and The USO’s, are having great matches. I am thoroughly enjoying watching these teams work.

The Kosher Butcher!

The Kosher Butcher
Superstars for Sandy Relief Auction winner, ” Charlie Tebele was interviewed by Jerry “The King” Lawler. When asked if he were to be a WWE Superstar, what would his name be. Charlie was prepared, with a blue T-shirt and a great gimmick “The Kosher Butcher” He even went as far to come up with his finisher, The Circumcision! At first the crowd didn’t know what to make of this.  Not sure if this was shown on TV, but The Kosher Butcher had at least a dozen of his friends and family at Raw, all wearing their Blue shirts! Great stuff. Half way during the Xavier Woods match, and some further thought, the crowd broke out into chants of  both “Kosher Butcher” and “Circumcision”, add that to the list of most bizarre Raw chants.
Great Stuff.

Hit up Page 2 below for the “NO!” of this week’s WWE RAW:

According to the new 2014 WWE Superstar calendar being sold on their official WWEShop.com website, the following are the dates listed for the company’s 2014 pay-per-view events:

-January 26th
-February 23rd
-April 6th
-May 4th
-June 1st
-June 29th
-July 20th
-August 17th
-September 21st
-October 26th
-November 23rd
-December 14th

Huge Update On The Undertaker’s WrestleMania XXX Opponent

-While Nick Dinsmore, the former “Eugene” character in WWE, has not officially commented on his return to the company, he has been re-tweeting congratulatory messages from friends and co-workers on his official Twitter account. As noted previously, Dinsmore has been named head trainer of the WWE developmental territory. Dinsmore is expected to report to Orlando in the near future to begin his new job.

-WWE is running the Bret Hart Dungeon Collection on pay-per-view this month. Next month, WWE will be running the Mick Foley documentary on pay-per-view.

Multiple Spoilers For Monday’s RAW + New Battleground Matches & Stipulations …

The early estimates are in for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez pay-per-view are in, and it might not be a great sign for the WWE Night Of Champions buyrate.

Early estimates claim the Mayweather-Alvarez Showtime boxing pay-per-view generated approximately 2.2 million buys on pay-per-view, which due to the fact that the show came one night before the WWE’s “Night Of Champions” pay-per-view, and the fact that Triple H himself promoted the fight on his Twitter feed (not a major deal obviously, but not the smartest move either) it may not be a great sign for WWE.

Traditionally speaking, MMA and boxing pay-per-views don’t have a serious impact on WWE pay-per-views, outside of a few particular stars in general (Mayweather being one of them), it still spells trouble for the Night Of Champions show, as the Mayweather-Alvarez show was financially speaking the biggest pay-per-view of all-time, breaking the previous record for the Mayweather vs. Oscar De La Hoya pay-per-view. While their fight drew more than the Mayweather-Alvarez fight, due to the increased pay-per-view cost, it would take the top spot as the highest grossing pay-per-view event ever. Also, with the increased PPV price, and the fact that it fell the same weekend, one night prior to WWE’s show, one would assume it would have to have a negative impact on the Night Of Champions buyrate.

Below is the official Showtime press release sent to SESCOOPS.COM touting the Mayweather-Alvarez pay-per-view numbers:

MAYWEATHER-CANELO FIGHT SETS RECORD AS HIGHEST-GROSSING PAY-PER-VIEW EVENT OF ALL TIME

The SHOWTIME PPV® Event, Promoted by Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Premieres on SHOWTIME® this Saturday, Sept. 21 at 9:00 PM, ET/PT

NEW YORK (Sept. 19, 2013) — Last Saturday’s blockbuster boxing event — THE ONE: MAYWEATHER VS. CANELO — ranked as the highest-grossing pay-per-view of all time, with nearly $150 million in U.S. pay-per-view revenue reported to date. The news was announced today by Showtime Networks Inc., a division of CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A and CBS), in conjunction with event promoters Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions.

The SHOWTIME PPV presentation of THE ONE surpassed the previous record of $136 million generated by Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather boxing event in 2007.

Preliminary reports from distributors show pay-per-view buys projected to be 2.2 million. While not fully reported from all distributors, the total buys could challenge the existing record of 2.48 million pay-per-view buys set by De La Hoya vs. Mayweather. The initial report immediately following the De La Hoya vs. Mayweather event in 2007 was 2.15. THE ONE has already exceeded the previous #2 event, the infamous World Heavyweight Championship bout between Evander Holyfield vs. Mike Tyson II (1.95 million, 1997).

The Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013 event, held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, was headlined by the #1-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Floyd “Money” Mayweather, who already holds the all-time record in gross pay-per-view receipts, and wildly popular Mexican challenger Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in a super welterweight world championship bout. Mayweather dominated the exciting fight and won by decision to remain undefeated with 45 wins in his 17 years as a professional. Also on the pay-per-view boxing card was Philadelphia’s Danny “Swift” Garcia who emerged as the #1 boxer in the world at 140 pounds with an action-packed decision win over Lucas “The Machine” Matthysse of Argentina. Both of these bouts will premiere on SHOWTIME® on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 9:00 PM, ET/PT. The telecast will include never-before-seen ALL ACCESS: MAYWEATHER VS. CANELO footage from fight night. Then, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, SHOWTIME will conclude the ALL ACCESS series devoted to this event with “Epilogue,” premiering on SHOWTIME at 10:00 PM, ET/PT.

What had been called the biggest boxing event in years during the build-up proved worthy of the hype. Tickets for the event sold out within 24 hours of going on sale and set a new boxing record for live gate revenue at more than $20 million. Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions reported earlier a record number of sponsorship and sponsor activation for a boxing event and additional distribution records for live closed circuit viewing (over 26,000 tickets sold in Las Vegas alone) and live movie theatre screenings at more than 500 theatres nationwide. On Friday, before fight night, the crowd at the official weigh-in was believed to be the largest on record, featuring an announced attendance of more than 12,000 excited fans.

ABOUT “THE ONE: MAYWEATHER VS. CANELO”:
THE ONE: MAYWEATHER VS. CANELO was a 12-round fight for Canelo’s WBC, WBA and Ring Magazine Super Welterweight World Championships and Mayweather’s WBA Super Welterweight Super World Championship that took place Saturday, Sept. 14 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, was promoted by Mayweather Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions and Canelo Promotions and sponsored by Corona, O’Reilly Auto Parts, AT&T, Valvoline, Mexico Tourism, Fred Loya Insurance and Nature Nutrition. In the 12-round co-featured attraction, WBC, WBA Super and Ring Magazine Super Lightweight World Champion Danny Garcia and thunderous puncher WBC Interim Super Lightweight World Champion Lucas Matthysse squared off in a fight presented in association with Swift Promotions and Arano Box Promotions. Also, Ishe Smith vs. Carlos Molina squared off in a 12-round battle for Smith’s IBF Junior Middleweight World Title which is promoted in association with Warriors Boxing. The opening bout on SHOWTIME PPV featured a 10-round welterweight showdown between Pablo Cesar Cano and Ashley Theophane. The mega-event was produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME PPV® at 9:00 PM, ET/6:00 PM, PT. The event can be heard in Spanish using secondary audio programming (SAP).

Huge *SPOILERS* Revealed For The Upcoming WWE Battleground PPV [>>]