That Bryan/Cena feud was insanely good, the rose tinted glasses are real however. There was a lot of crap back during that period and it was still 3 hours on Raw but it benefited from Brock not being in his squash every phase yet, Bryan was over as hell and seemed to be genuinely getting pushed, The Authority was yet to kick in, Smackdown featured The Shield and Bryan most weeks and usually main evented with a great 6 man tag match and there was a string of good PPVs.
TLC 2012 was an amazing show, Hell No and Ryback/Shield was easily *1/2, Dolph/Cena was *, Sin Cara and Rey Vs Rhodes Scholars was a fun opener with a great ending and Big Show Vs Sheamus was alright. It hit when it mattered most, opened strong, hit hard in the middle and closed strong.
Royal Rumble was a great show, Big Show/Del Rio was a fun opener, Rumble match was great and Rock/Punk was a **** main event, Hell No/Scholars was solid for a match in the death spot.
EC 2013 was another good show, Punk/Rock had another good match, Chamber match was good, Shield match was good.
Wrestlemania and Extreme Rules really fell off the waggon, neither shows had a match breaking 4 stars. A lot of people will say Taker/Punk but that match was more in the region of 1/2-3/4.
Payback/MITB/Summerslam was a great trio of shows however.