I saw a link to this and thought it was pretty cool. Over the years, wrestling rules basically are altered to fit whatever story was going on. This however is an official set of NWA wrestling rules circa 1974 from a souvenir sold in the Mid-Atlantic area. It’s pretty cool stuff.
http://www.ddtdigest.com/features/prog1974/pictures/backib.jpg
I’d LOVE to see a WWF version of this just for the sake of comedy.
Yet another idea that hasn’t been used in like 15 years.Goldberg debuted on Nitro seemingly as a jobber. Tenay, the WCW announcer who seemingly knew everything, had no idea who Goldberg was or knew anything about him. Ignoring the winning streak and all that jazz, that’s a pretty smart way to debut someone. Don’t give them a character, don’t give them anything unique, don’t tell us anything about them, but have the guy win and fill in the background later. It’s better than a ballroom dancer, no?
Well it’s the end of the year and it’s time for someone else to do their awards results. I’ve used a combination of the PWI Awards, the WON Awards and the WrestleZone Awards while leaving a few out. I’ll be listing the winner and another that came to my mind when I was thinking about the winner. To explain it to you schmucks who have to complain about everything I do, THE WINNER IS LISTED FIRST AND THE OTHER PICK IS LISTED SECOND. Let’s get to it.
Winner: CM Punk. The guy was world champion all year long and there’s nothing else you can say to top that. No questions asked here.
Other: John Cena. Love him or hate him, he’s the biggest thing in wrestling and has been for years. He was in the main event of Wrestlemania and had the match of the year with Brock Lesnar. Unfortunately that’s about all he did this year, but no one tops him aside from Punk. Bryan was great too, but Cena fought Brock Lesnar and the Rock. That alone trumps anything Bryan did in the ring.
Winner: HELL NO. This is another layup here as you had two guys who you would NEVER (you have to shout a lot with this team) picture working well together having some of the best comedic chemistry since probably the Outlaws or Edge and Christian. Absolutely the right choice here and I don’t see any real argument for someone topping these guys.
Other: The Shield. These guys burst onto the scene and took over the company near the end of the year. They had one of the best debut matches EVER, taking a war to Ryback and HELL NO. These guys have a ton of potential and they have a chance to be huge in the next year, but this is for team of the Year, not November and December.
Tie: Undertaker vs. HHH (Wrestlemania 28)/Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena (Extreme Rules)
I did this one already and I still can’t come up with a reason for either to be higher than the other. If you’ve got a favorite between the two then rock on man, but I can’t pick here.
Winner: John Cena vs. John Laurinitis (Over the Limit). I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: the best kind of a match is the kind where you can’t figure out who is going to win. This was the polar opposite of that idea, with EVERYTHING happening exactly as we expected it to, down to the not shocking heel turn by Big Show at the end. Why would I want to see this on PPV for 20+ minutes?
Other: Wes Brisco vs. Garrett Bischoff (Impact). I have no desire to ever see either of these guys again, and now we’re going to see these two as major players in Aces and 8’s. This was probably a plot point to introduce them on camera, thereby making this match an unholy abomination.
Winner: James Storm vs. Robert Roode. They feuded forever and the two matches were both great. If Storm had won the title during this, it would have been perfect, but for some reason TNA decided that the perfect build up didn’t deserve the perfect pay off. Then again, that probably has something to do with them never being able to crack a 1.4 TV rating. Anyway, great feud here and great matches throughout.
Other: John Cena vs. The Rock. It’s John Cena vs. The Rock. That’s my explanation.
Winner: Daniel Bryan. Bryan wasn’t much last year, having won the world title about a week before the new year began. Then he got the world title and became a heel, which allowed for him to show some character. On top of that, he then went to war with the fans with a mere two words. On top of THAT, he then got together with Kane of all people to form one of the funniest tag teams in years. Great stuff here and a great surprise.
Other: Big Show. Who would have pictured Big Show ending the year as World Champion, having won the match in a dark horse candidate for the match of the year? He’s doing well with what he’s got, which is a surprise as it’s basically the same stuff he’s always done.
Winner: Jerry Lawler. The man had a heart attack live on Raw and was back two months later. There was no other option here and there shouldn’t be.
Winner: Ryback. This of course depends on what your definition of a rookie is. In the WWE sense of the word, it’s hard to say anyone had a better first year than this guy. He went from squashing jobbers to what would have been three world title matches in a row on PPV. He had me believing something could happen….and then they screwed it up because Rock had to have his title match announced six months in advance but whatever. Anyway, Ryback had an awesome year, but I don’t see much brightness in his near future.
Other: Antonio Cesaro. This is for you traditionalists out there. Cesaro was the only newcomer who didn’t have experience in WWE (remember that Sandow was on Smackdown for a few months back in like 2006/7). He went from debuting to screwing Aksana to US Champion to getting to be the main villain on Tribute to the Troops. For a guy who debuted back in April, that’s quite a year.
Winner: Wrestlemania. It had three of the ten best matches of the year and almost nothing bad going on at all. We also set up a bunch of stuff throughout the rest of the year, had some great matches, and had a match that was literally built up over a year. I had an absolute blast watching this and it still holds up today. Oh and it made more money than any pay per view ever. Wrestlemania wins.
Other: Extreme Rules. Yeah they were mainly rematches, but DANG they were some good rematches. This show is almost always fun as we redo Wrestlemania but with gimmicks instead. Throw in Brock vs. Cena in a WAR and it’s hard not to like this show a lot. Things went downhill from here, but they were pretty high up before they started going the other way.
Winner: Survivor Series. Nothing happened, the main event was thrown together after announcing a different one the week before, and none of the matches were particularly great. Oh and it’s one of the worst drawing shows ever.
Other: Final Resolution. This is basically the TNA version of Survivor Series as it was more or less a house show with nothing significant happening. At the end of the year it felt like both companies were just trying to get to January, and that makes for some BAD PPVs.
Winner: Brodus Clay is the Funkasaurus. Let’s think back to this for a minute. For weeks and weeks, we had been told that Brodus Clay was coming. We knew what Brodus looked like and we knew that he was a monster. Then we heard Lillian say “From Planet Funk”, and everyone collectively said “HUH?” Clay then danced out in a freaking track suit, complete with hot dancing girls, dancing to Ernest Miller’s old theme music. I’ve seen a lot of things in my time watching wrestling, but I NEVER would have guessed that was coming. That’s what I call a surprise.
Other: 18 Seconds. It’s the world title at Wrestlemania. You expect that to break 30 seconds don’t you?
Winner: Daniel Bryan and Kane go to Anger Management. I’ve talked about this one a lot, but man alive is it funny stuff. When I first heard this was coming, I rolled my eyes and thought it sounded awful. Then Kane launched Josh Matthews through the air looking for Bryan, and things got great. The promo by Kane where he lists off his history is still hilarious and these two never stop being funny together. Also, for probably the only time I can remember in years, WWE timed this PERFECTLY, giving them the tag titles almost immediately instead of waiting three months when the angle would have slowed down.
Other: Joseph Park and the Search For Abyss. This one works for me because of Park’s acting. Honestly, if I didn’t know that it was the same guy, I don’t know how long they could have gone before I figured it out. That’s how good Park is in this role of Joseph. The comedy has been great, the matches have been entertaining, but above all else, Park’s acting has been outstanding. The stuff he does in the ring where he looks like he has no idea what he’s doing is amazing, because there’s so much stuff in wrestling you can’t unlearn. This is one of the bright spots for TNA this year.
Winner: Cena and AJ Sitting in a Tree. This is #1 for one reason: it came after Clair Lynch. There’s no arguing that this was a straight copy of Clair Lynch’s story in TNA, which means that someone thought that story was actually GOOD ENOUGH TO BE RIPPED OFF. I’ll give TNA points for trying something and having it fail, but in this case WWE ripped off a terrible idea and somehow made it even more boring by having it go on as long as it did.
Other: Clair Lynch/AJ Styles. It was stupid, it went on too long, the woman who it was centered on left because apparently she couldn’t handle people not liking her and wasn’t a fan of being on a wrestling show. I’ll hold myself back from going on a rant about how pathetic I find that and go with this story SUCKED, but at least it came first.
Winner: Bully Ray (Destined For Greatness – No Surrender). This one works for a few reasons, but the number one of all is that it was done by Bully Ray. I mean….BULLY RAY? Really? The promo is right before the finals of the Bound for Glory Series, where Ray has the chance to go to the main event of the biggest show of the year for the first time in his career. He said that the other participants may be bound for glory, but he was destined for greatness. This promo alone basically turned him face and he’s been on a roll ever since. You know what? I’m reversing these two. Ray deserves it more.
Other: Daniel Bryan/Kane (Anger Management – Raw). This is the kind of promo that we need to see in wrestling more often. This was a promo from outside of the arena, which is where great comedy can come from. It gives you a reminded of how absolutely insane wrestling is when you really stop to think about it. Kane listing off the history of his character is some of the funniest stuff you’ll ever hear, and the reactions from “non-wrestlers” are great.
Winner: HHH/Undertaker/Shawn Michaels embrace after HIAC (Wrestlemania 28). You don’t often get to say this, but this moment was four years in the making. This was the culmination of four excellent (ok so the WM 27 match wasn’t excellent but it sounds better than three excellent matches and one very good match) matches between three guys who time has passed. The match was the perfect ending and the hug at the end summed up the years amazingly well.
Other: Brock Lesnar Returns (Raw after Wrestlemania). This is ruined by one thing: the fans knew he was coming. The fans started chanting WE WANT LESNAR and then here he is. If I remember right this was spoiled earlier in the day which holds back the surprise. You can’t factor in the stuff that came after it, but just having Lesnar back even for a little while was absolutely shocking and made you realize we were in for a big summer.
So that’s it. If you want my take on anything else, ask in the comments.
Merry Christmas,
KB
This came up on my forums earlier today and it made me think a little bit.Right now, wrestling is clearly trending downward. Ratings are going down and it’s clear that public interest isn’t what it used to be. Among many other things, I think people forget how big a role the Benoit incident plays in this. It’s by far and away the biggest mainstream story you’ll see in wrestling arguably ever and it sent shockwaves through everyone. People looked at wrestling and saw a monster who was about to win a title murdering his wife and son before killing himself. That was a wakeup call for a lot of fans and it made people walk away from wrestling. The importance of this to the modern product hasn’t gone away and isn’t going to for a very, very long time.
To begin with, this is going to be a WWE heavy list. I only watch WWE and TNA and there’s a lot more WWE out there than TNA, so there’s a bigger selection of matches for WWE to pick from. Also I’ve always been a WWF/E guy and it’s a natural bias for me. Also this is a combination of my favorites and what I found to be the best matches of the year, so your stances on them may widely vary. Let’s get to it.
10. Austin Aries vs. Bobby Roode – Destination X
This was a match where the build to the match worked better than the overall match, even though the match itself was quite good. The story behind the match was Aries cashing in the X Title to get a guaranteed world title match here. This is where things got interesting, as you had Aries as the unbeatable X Division Champion facing the longest reigning world champion in company history. The idea was simple: take two guys who are perceived as unbeatable and put them in a match. The fact that the match was great helped a lot too.
9. Big Show vs. Sheamus – Hell in a Cell
This makes the list for the simple reason of how shocking it was. By shocking, I mean people were expecting a horrible match but we got a great showdown instead. Sheamus playing the giant killer worked very well for him as he’s strong enough to be able to move Show around, but at the same time he’s small enough to make Show’s offense look good. This turned into the heavyweight slugfest, as in a match where both guys use their biggest power moves possible and the last man standing wins. Those can get very fun in a hurry, and this got excellent by the ending.
8. John Cena vs. The Rock – Wrestlemania 28
This isn’t on here for the match, but rather the buildup. Cena vs. Rock was one of the only matches ever where I knew it would be good, but no matter how good it was I absolutely had to see it. I don’t recall a match ever before where that happened other than maybe Rock vs. Austin II. The match itself is very good but I wouldn’t call it great. Cena losing is still a questionable move, but it’s not the worst decision of all time. On top of that, a match that draws a million PPV buys has to be doing something right.
7. CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan – Over the Limit
The idea here is simple: take two guys that can work almost any style and give them 25 minutes. The match was good and the fans reacted to it. I don’t have much else here because I actually don’t remember much of the match, but the ratings I have for it seem to say I really liked it, so here’s a spot for it.
6. Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus – Extreme Rules
This was another war, with Sheamus’ arm being such a factor that you couldn’t tell if he was going to survive or not. This wasn’t really a rematch but rather the first match between them, as the first match is the infamous 18 seconds match. It was 2/3 falls because that’s EXTREME of course. These two beat the tar out of each other and it turned into an incredibly entertaining match. This match was also a part of the eventual Daniel Bryan anger management story, as he snapped in the first fall and kicked Sheamus long enough for a DQ. I like Sheamus a lot and this match was a good example of why.
5. James Storm vs. Bobby Roode – Lockdown
This was a bloodbath and seemingly the perfect blowoff for this feud. Naturally since this is TNA the feud continued over the summer and finally ended at Bound For Glory, but that’s another story. The majority of the match was an excellent brawl with both guys bleeding like crazy. Storm kept beating on Roode until he couldn’t take anymore, but the superkick knocked Roode out of the cage to keep the title on him. The problem of the match at the end of the day was there was no reason for Roode to keep the title here other than to extend the feud. If this was the blowoff, it likely would have cracked the top three.
4. Shield vs. HELL NO/Ryback – Tables Ladders and Chairs (TLC Match)
That’s likely high for this match but it blew my mind at TLC. This was the Shield’s debut match and to say they delivered is the understatement of the year. It was a 25 minute war between six guys that looked like they wanted to maim each other. There were some huge spots, with the biggest one being Rollins going off the huge ladder and into a pile of tables, somehow without breaking his neck.
On top of that, the psychology was excellent here. The idea behind the match was Shield pounding down one guy at a time, giving them a 3-2 advantage at any given time. This was played up for the entirety of the match and it worked very well throughout. The match was all about a (non) blood feud and it came off feeling like a war rather than a match. On top of that, the idea of it being pinfall or submission made things even better. I’m surprised I rated this so high actually.
3. Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk – Wrestlemania 28
If this wasn’t on this card, it would have been the best match of the night by far. This was built upon the Punk is Drunk story with Jericho pushing the idea that Punk is an addict no matter how straightedge he is. This set Punk off, setting up a war here. Much like Wrestlemania 25 though, they decided that if the champion got disqualified, he would lose the title. In other words, we need a 22 minute wrestling match from Chris Jericho and CM Punk.
What followed was a classic, with both guys showing some insane psychology and the finish coming from Punk hooking the Anaconda Vice for the second time. Earlier in the match, Jericho had kneed Punk in the head to escape the hold, so to end the match, Punk leaned his head forward to prevent the knees. I’m a huge fan of people learning during the match and adapting to it later to win. Excellent match here.
T-1. Undertaker vs. HHH – Wrestlemania 28 (Hell in a Cell)
T-1. Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena – Extreme Rules (Extreme Rules)
I tried and tried but I can’t decide between the two of these. They’re different kinds of matches but they both were home runs in what they were going for. In wrestling, there is more than kind of great story and great match to end it. These two matches were prime examples of two very different kinds of stories and we’ll look at them a bit here. We’ll start with the battle of the legends in the cage.
To begin with, when I refer to the first HHH vs. Undertaker match, I mean the one that happened in 2011, not the one from eleven years ago.
This match might have the longest buildup for a match in the modern era. Think about it. This match was legitimately built up for over three years. The Shawn matches were more or less forerunners to this match, as was the match at last year’s Wrestlemania. It helped that all three of the previous matches ranged anywhere from good to excellent. Every part of the final match was great, starting with the buildup.
The stipulation for the match was set up on an episode of Raw after HHH and Undertaker had spent a few weeks glaring at each other and cutting overly dramatic promos. At the end of the day though, a stipulation was promised. My guess was that it was going to Streak vs. career again, but in something that hasn’t happened in years, HHH offered a Hell in a Cell match at a point in the year other than the HIAC PPV.
This showed what is lacking from the HIAC PPV. As opposed to the PPV, this match felt natural and a logical progression and ending to the feud between Undertaker and HHH. On top of that, having the match come out of nowhere rather than being the inevitable conclusion makes the match feel bigger. The match fit the feud rather than the feud being made to fit the match, which you can’t get at the PPV anymore.
Now let’s get to the actual match. With Shawn as the referee, the question became could the Streak actually end. The problem with Undertaker matches at Wrestlemania is making people believe the Streak is in jeopardy. The second Shawn match and the first HHH match couldn’t get over this issue: at no point did I ever feel that the Streak was in jeopardy. The matches were good, but they didn’t hit that higher level. On the other hand, the first Shawn match and the second HHH match had me freaking out over the near falls. That’s not something that often happens, but when it does, things get awesome.
The match itself was an all out war with a ton of drama the whole way through. Between HHH massacring Undertaker with a chair and Shawn nearly stopping it to the DX finisher of a superkick into a Pedigree only getting two to Undertaker not being able to finish HHH despite using finisher after finisher. After finally finishing him with a tombstone, we got perhaps the image of the year with the three legends embracing. I’m not sure what era this ended, but it was a great way to end that era.
Now let’s move on to the next month and the other match of the year. The night after Wrestlemania, Brock Lesnar returned and laid out John Cena with an F5. They brawled a few times over the next few weeks until we got to their Extreme Rules match, appropriately enough at Extreme Rules. The bell rang and the war was on.
This match was a war from the bell and was the most physical match I’ve seen in years. John Cena took one of the worst beatings I can ever remember but he stayed in the match somehow. This match was all about violence and it worked amazingly well. It was more of a fight than a match, which is something we haven’t seen in the company in years. These two beat each other up and the place was losing their minds over it.
On top of that, and I know this isn’t the most popular opinion, but this match was a testament to John Cena, as was the match the previous month’s battle with Rock. Cena has reached the point where no one on the regular roster can give him a legitimate challenge, so they had to bring in one of the biggest stars of all time and the former UFC World Heavyweight Champion. That says a lot about where Cena is on the all time greatness scale.
Overall, 2012 had some great matches, but the problem was getting between those matches. The TV shows are beyond watered down at this point as there’s too much TV going on. The good thing is that the PPV matches can be quite good, but the TV continues to get worse. Between the AJ saga and Aces and 8’s and Del Rio vs. Sheamus, these stories just go on too long. Still though, some matches were excellent and are well worth checking out again.
I only remember seeing this twice and it hasn’t happened in over 25 years.Back in 1986, Hulk Hogan and Paul Orndorff had a HUGE feud. During the course of this, Orndorff started to use Hogan’s legendary Real American song as his own, claiming that he (Orndorff) was the true Real American.
In 1987, the Young Stallions formed and started using a song called Crank It Up. Jimmy Hart, the writer of the song, was angry because he wanted the Hart Foundation to use it.
Why don’t we see theme music as a feud starter anymore? I know a lot of the songs are generic and could be interchanged, but given how similar a lot of the feuds are anymore, this is as a good an idea as anything else for getting people not liking each other.
As usual, it’s about taking it back to the past.When Ricky Steamboat debuted, he was billed as the nephew of a popular local wrestler named Sam Steamboat. Shane Douglas was the nephew of Paul Orndorff when he started. Kane is Undertaker’s brother. Why not do this more often? They harp on how important being a second generation guy is all the time now, so why not make it up? It’s ok to lie to up once in awhile, so why not try something like this?
Simple idea: what do you want from Xanta Claus for Christmas? My list:1. Less 50/50 booking.
2. Better stories.
3. Less Hogan.
4. Eve Torres
Your lists?
The old version has since been replaced by Vickie Guerrero Heat where people boo her simply because that’s what you do when Vickie is on screen. My question about it, as well as X-Pac Heat:what difference does it make why the people are booing? Isn’t that the desired goal? Who cares if it’s X-Pac/Vickie Heat or regular heat?
Watching a Nitro from 1997 and it made me miss something.It’s the night after Bash at the Beach 1997 and Heenan is talking incessantly about how you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO see the encore. That’s something you NEVER hear anymore about PPVs. Anymore today it’s basically “here’s what we’ve got, buy it. Please?” Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan were masters at sounding like used car salesmen or carnival barkers, where after hearing them talk for 20 minutes you had to buy the PPV, just because you had heard so much about it.
Another thing you hardly ever heard said anymore about WWE PPVs: the date of the show. Watch an old WWF TV show and you’ll hear the date of their next PPV probably 10 times. That’s done for a reason: you hear the date so often that you start counting down to it in your head and on the day or before it, you snap and order the show because you NEED to see it. Now it’s always “in just under two weeks” or whatever they say anymore, which is something easier to forget.
Don’t beg us to buy a PPV. Sell it to us.