TheBigBoot

I know. Even after five years I used to regularly forget my ex-girlfriend's birthday, but I remember that Butch Reed Mark hates Big Ron and Heavy D.

TheBigBoot and Pity have been great all year, but I voted for the Pity, because he has nice eyes. After 12 months of "give him time, Hogan will turn the ship around" posts, I'll be happy if I get a Europa League place. Dirty Eddie and Tiger Rick should be in there, though, I felt. Always open a thread when there names pop up on the screen.

I actually managed to go a whole month/four week period this summer without posting. To be fair you aren't alone on the Hogan thing, at least initially I actually thought Hogan coming in would make a difference as well. Not quite to the extent that they'd turn things around (long term) but I did think they would create at least a short term spike in ratings, merchandise sales and PPV buys (which always seemed to be TNA's problem) in terms of getting more of the existing audience to buy a few simply because I hadn't heard that many people talking about TNA ever at that point. I enjoy reading Rick and Eddie's stuff as well.

But Ian bums the Armstrongs and asked X-Pac a question on a YouShoot and is top mates with Scott Norton, so I've gone with him.

I'd be highly suspicious of anyone who didn't.

I mean how can you dislike the Armstrongs (especially Brad). It would be like not liking Bobby Eaton or Marty Jannetty. I just can't imagine the type of deranged person who would fit that description. Now if you'd said he was top mates with Ice Train I'd have voted for him.

In all serious, I'll admit it: I was curious to see how things were going and nulled my vote. Don't know who I would have gone for, to be honest. I don't really follow MMA. Then again I don't think I've got into any new sports since I was a teenager, so its not a case of 'disliking' it (I quite like what I have watched) I just haven't been able to get into it emotionally the same way I did team sports. Maybe I need to watch more. Obviously not going to vote for myself. So it would have to have been between Carbomb, Ian and Pity for me. All different types of posters in terms of style/content which is a good thing and I couldn't decide.

Thanks for the compliments Butch, bAzTNM, SmokeSoapBar, Max Power, Mab, Legend Killer, Carbomb and Curry Angel. And thanks to whoever nominated/voted for me.

Has Abyss really been that bad?

 

I haven't had much chance to watch TNA, so wondered what's gone so wrong? He didn't seem that bad before.

He's wrestling Cancer.

 

Any time TNA puts out a decent episode of TV or solid PPV, Abyss is the bollocks exception. His 80s, cartoon act is a fucking embarrassment and sticks out like a shitty sore thumb in TNA's otherwise quite good product.

 

His promos are so bad I want to leave the room when he comes on, and his wrestling is dire - and not in a "his workrate is poor" kind of way, but in the "he wrestles like a mincing wanker, NOT a badass monster" kind of way. Just fucking awful at everything. Him and Robbie E take a thousand cool-points away from anything TNA ever try and do.

 

I can't believe Nash is winning the 'best wrestler' poll, by the way. I love the bloke, but c'mon. Really??

Spot on. As someone who hasn't followed TNA regularly, I manage to avoid most of his stuff because I normally just watch the most pimped matches (same with Japan, actually) but once or twice a year I'll catch a full episode of iMPACT! and nine times out of ten he'll be the absolute worst thing on it for all the reasons you mentioned. My problem is he always seems to be in a prominent position no matter what the year, I probably wouldn't mind him if he was a jobber or something but I just can't imagine anyone watching him and thinking 'wow, this is good I should tune in next week' - it's a credit to TNA's other talents that some people do watch the show with him on it.

It's a bit of a shame because at times I thought he showed the potential to develop into a decentish big man (thinking around 2005) but when he's at his worst he's absolutely horrible. Not 'horrible' in the sense that people say it about JBL/Big Show/Hogan/Luger/Nash/Goldberg/Kane/Batista/Cena/Henry/Holly/Miz/Hardyz/Dudleys/whoever (guys who are either carryable or are, most of them IMO, actually actively good but not to a lot of people's taste and even then I think most of their critics would admit that at the very least they understand what they are supposed to be doing) but actually looks backyard level bad and having seen him without the mask he might be the least intimidating big man ever and most of the matches themselves all seem like a load of violence with no psychology behind it, that might work on the minor league deathmatch circuit but it comes across like a small time freak show side attraction on what is supposed to be the second largest company.

Went for Bill Shatner singing the WWE theme songs. Second guessing myself already in that maybe I should have gone for Regal.

Either way both the funniest moments of 2010 involved music.

Surprised SmackDown! got on there since I believe I was the only person who nominated it. Was worried I'd be the only one to vote for it as well. From 25th June (week after Fatal Four Way) to 1st October (Season Premiere) I thought they had something really good going on. It's fallen off the cliff a bit post (Stateside) move in TV channels but I still prefer more matches from that show than Raw produced.

Actually, Superstars would likely have gotten my vote if I'd seen it more often but I won't vote for something I only saw a few times.

Debut of the Nexus - great as some of the others are nothing else had that edge of your seat, unpredictable, 'this is a big moment' feeling to it. Regardless of where they went after them having the entire cast of NXT Season One unite to beat up the face of the company, the top heel faction from the other brand and whoever else happened to be in their way showing disrespect for not only the wrestlers but the company itself was the most daring angle they've run in a while and helped shake the 'safe' feel WWE has fallen into over the last decade.

I see Cole walking this one. Vickie has been pretty great as well though.

The hardest category by far. Some really good stuff here that might stand the test of time better than anything else in the other Polls.

I'm torn between Piper, Lawler and JR - three veterans putting in awesome performances and showing the world they can still do what they did best be it cut a promo (Piper), work a match (Lawler) or commentate (JR).

From those available...

Best: John Cena (would have been Rey Mysterio but he's not an option)

Worst: Darren Young

Edit: Interesting that Kevin Nash is beating Cena.

Much as I love The Big Show and would like to vote for him here I went with the obvious: John Cena in the year he seemed to finally get 99.9% of the audience behind him as best babyface and Batista (his opposite number) as best heel.

Gone for Wade Barrett because of: i. What a high profile role he was thrust into right off the bat in terms of being given plenty of promo time, made the lead heel on the A-Show, etc.; ii. The fact he came from literally "out of nowhere" most of the others at least had either been around for a while or at had some experience working for a major organization in front of big crowds, etc.

Bret vs Vince was just terrible and I do think it was worse than I had imagined it would ever be. It just seemed like they went out of their way to book it in the worst way possible.

That said, its not the biggest anti-climax: John Cena as a member of Nexus had the potential to be one of the most interesting stories in years and years and they managed to botch it even in spite of some of Cena's best ever mike work and an interested audience. That gets my vote.

It is between Batista versus Cena and Miz against Lawler for me. Both produced some cracking TV. Both seemed rooted in reality (or at least believable angles) where you could fully understand the motivation for each of the four characters. Both led to some excellent promos. And both delivered some good matches in ring that were probably better than they should have been.

I like Cena a lot more than many and I thought some of the Nexus stuff they did was some of the most interesting TV they've done in years but looked at as a feud overall it was way, way too inconsistent to get my vote.

Beer Money Inc. vs. Motor City Machine Guns were some of the few matches I watched from TNA and I enjoyed all of them. If the promo/angle side of the feud was as good as in-ring then I can certainly see why people would go for that.

Rey Misterio vs. CM Punk was an interesting one because of what it meant for each of their careers. As I said in the Nominations thread, I think for Mysterio him going against Punk was just good feud to add to his back catalogue of good feuds that produced good matches for Rey - no different in that sense than his feuds with guys like Angle, JBL, Guerrero, Jericho, Edge, Ziggler, Swagger, Del Rio, etc. which all had their moments either on the mike or in-ring where you could argue they were one of the better (best in many cases) things going on at each particular time. Same against Punk.

On the other hand for Punk I think it was some of his best work so far both in-ring and on the stick with only the Jeff Hardy feud from last year coming close to that level of his character and in-ring stuff coming together (I thought some of his best promos were in the Undertaker feud but it didn't result in that consistent quality of matches, whilst he had good matches against guys like Morrison and Edge in the past but I don't remember his mike work standing out in those).

Even taking out the sentimental part, Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker was pretty great - I actually preferred it (HBK's obsession with being the man to end the Streak leading to him doing things that were out of character) over last year's Heaven & Hell stuff. Most other years I would have considered it but Cena/Batista was on a different level for me and considering those feuds happened concurrently I think its easy to compare them.

I'm going for Cena/Batista but only because it had longer to develop than Lawler/Miz - I think old Jerry was every bit as good as those two were during that feud, but it was just a bit too late in the year for me.

Interesting to see WrestleMania is up for both 'Best' and 'Worst'.

I quite enjoyed it at the time but haven't rewatched it since. In fact I haven't rewatched any of those events since. I think I'll give it another watch this weekend.

I might be in the minority on this but I thought Taker/Kane matches were okay.

Divas Tag Team Match at Wrestlemania 26.

Ha, that's probably not even in the Top Twenty Worst Diva Matches of the Year. It was basically just a couple of minutes of finishers and a (Vickie) comedy spot.

That said I'm not sure about nominating NXT matches is that fair when it was their first match... but on the other hand if people can nominate McGuillicutt/Kaval/Husky for MOTY (which they have) then I suppose it does count:

Maxine vs. Kaitlyn (NXT 19th October 2010)

Bret vs Vince for me. If you have a stroke victim vs 65-year old with no mobility, complete anti-booking is never going to help matters. But you sort of have to give the match at least 3 stars for Bruce Hart's shades.

Agreed, nominating this as well. We all knew the match wasn't going to be a wrestling classic or even a brawling classic but it seemed like they went out of their way to book it in a way that deliberately made it worse.

Yeah, there was that Kevin Sullivan thing where the heel "kicking Matt's head in all the time" and the heat kept building and the babyface couldn't really get revenge for a valid reason/the heel having all the power

(in this case because he had the owner's stomp of approval) deliberately one-sided thing but with a babyface the audience likes (and Hardy seemed one of the few midcarders the casual fans liked/would relate to) that can work. I do think if that feud had happened in ECW or Mid-South everyone would have been raving about it. It was basically every feud Tommy Dreamer ever had with a bit of Roberts/Savage thrown in. McIntyre is no Jake Roberts and not even any Raven but Hardy, Duggan and Dreamer all worked in that role as working class heroes fighting for what they've got against the cocky young punks who would mock them but unlike a Steve Austin they don't always triumph against their 'protected' enemies. Bad things happen to good people and all that.

The fact that even when McIntyre beat Hardy so badly he was stripped of the title, suspended and fired that his old pal VKM was happy to reverse the GMs decisions gave McIntyre an "untouchable" quality so the fact Hardy couldn't care less about getting fired/suspended if it meant getting his hands on him meant Hardy, who started as someone just trying to do his job, ended up with a guy who has been pushed too far/'brawler who doesn't give a damn' quality. I thought playing off that simple dynamic (office 'protected' heel vs. regular good guy wrestler) led to two of the best mid-card matches of the year and definitely the two most heated mid-card matches from SmackDown! all year: Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre (WWE Fatal 4 Way, 20th June, 2010) where from Drew's handshake with Vince to the finish the pop when Hardy cost McIntyre the I.C. title to Kingston was the highspot the whole match built towards (and did so very, very well); Matt Hardy vs. Drew McIntyre (WWE Smackdown!, 23rd June 2010) from that week's SmackDown! when with Mr. McMahon now in hospital thanks to Nexus Teddy got his revenge by reinstating Hardy, booking them in a heated grudge match (McIntyre's best showing so far) that played off their previous encounters and (for a change in current day WWE) actually ended the feud, and deporting Drew. The fact the actual matches (thinking Drew vs. Hardy rather than Kingston) all looked like fights from the short TV brawls to the big finish, packed with hurty offense, rather than dance routines helped as well.

Forgot about Regal's Rap. Mark me down for that one as well, rick. Thanks.

Here it is:

Part II:

11. Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio

Summerslam main event.

The main event of Summerslam. I know they managed to recover the angle afterwards, but everything was leading to a big Nexus win that never happened.

That might be the only match I can think of I'd be fine with winning both 'Match of the Year' and 'Biggest Anti-Climax' a reminder if ever there was one of how it is possible to deliver the story (match) well but still get the result wrong.

Bret Hart wrestling again. Although... I'm not sure I expected anything more.

I did.

Hogan in TNA. There was so much potential and so much interest, yet after the first week pretty much nobody gave a shit.

TNA. Jan 4th was ok but I didn't bother with Jan 11th.

Those are both good points, it even got me back to watching TNA for a while, http://www.wrestling101.com/blogs/archives/252, and I thought they'd be able to at least create a short term spike. I'll go for the following:

1. Hogan and Bischoff join TNA

Nominating:

1. William Regal in the

In the following areas...

Matches:

1. The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI

WWE Elimination Chamber

WWE WrestleMania XXVI

WWE Extreme Rules

WWE Fatal Four Way

WWE Money In The Bank

WWE Night Of Champions

WWE Raw: 'Old School', 15th November 2010

WWE Raw: King of the Ring, 29th November 2010

Another strong year on PPV for 'New York'

This has been a strong year for this category, much more so than actual matches or wrestlers. I

1. Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk vs. John Morrison vs. R-Truth vs. The Undertaker - Smackdown! Elimination Chamber Match (WWE Elimination Chamber 21st February 2010)

2. Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker

"Entertainment" is fair criteria for a pro-wrestler but it has to come alongside having good matches or drawing money.

 

I couldn't give a fuck who draws what to be honest. If I did, I wouldn't have nominated Kevin Steen, which incidentally hasn't caused one word to be said about it.

 

On the good matches part, who says people haven't enjoyed Kevin Nash's matches?

He's not had a good match all year. You might not care who draws what but it's measurable criteria of how successful a wrestler is. Like in 1998, Steve Austin's ring work wasn't his best but he was a massive draw, hence his position as the top pro-wrestler in the world. If a wrestler is not having good matches and not helping his company make money, he's not particularly successful.

 

I'm not suggesting Loki and Gladstone shouldn't nominate him, they are entitled to their vote. I'm entitled to think it's laughable too.

 

Well, just to stick my bit in, I'd say Austin's rind work was part of what made him so big at the time, just as much so as his character which was off the chain. He knew just how to pace and work the style he did, when to do what to make them get out their seats. Thats just a big a part of it as anything I think, especially as it let him work around injury's and weak spots on his body.

I'm sure some one will pick me up on what ring work is and how pacing and sociology and that aren't part of it or something, but for me those things make a match and Austin knew how to do them match in and match out, he knew how to make what he did matter. That's my take any way.

 

Also on "Entertainment is fair criteria for a pro-wrestler but it has to come alongside having good matches" It could be argued, could it not, that if people have enjoyed Nash's match's then by virtue it must be a good match, as the whole aim is to entertain

 

Any way, I'll go with Shamus, Cena, Miz and Bryan

I tend to look at it as who contributed the most (not just money/ratings/buyrates/merchandise sales - I think it's valid to consider that stuff if you want but it's also a bit boring) to their company in terms of the actual product and then further than that who contributed the most to the industry overall so the entertainment part is the main bit I'm looking at.

I think that can come in a number of ways but I'd tend to go for the guy who had the best combination in terms of good matches/promos/angles and interesting storylines and look at how much they contributed to them (Were they carried? Did they do their job well?). On the other hand even though it isn't all about drawing money I do think about whether those things actually affected the programmes they were on which is why I wouldn't have ever nominated someone like a Disco Inferno (who I was a fan of) over a Bret Hart in 1997 Santino over a John Cena in 2007, entertaining as they might be. If it was just about entertainment in terms of being funny or match quality then someone like Kaval might have even though all them were meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

Or to put it another way if Cena hadn't had good matches that actually meant something this year and had a rule in place that meant none of his matches were allowed to have storylines he just went out there and wrestled for three minutes every other week he'd still be by far the biggest star in the business in terms of drawing money but I wouldn't have nominated him as 'Wrestler of the Year'.

Watching their series with MCMG right now and based on that I'm adding Beer Money to my list. Cheers.

I still think Straight Edge Society had the potential to be every bit as good. Gallows and Mercury got into wrestling in the wrong era, IMO.