Worst Wrestler of 2012

[Ronnie]

There were 26 people nominated for this award. Only two received more nominations than Del Rio, who received two nominations more than the people in joint fourth place, so it's not an anomaly, even if it makes little sense objectively.

[HarmonicGenerator]

There were 26 people nominated for this award. Only two received more nominations than Del Rio, who received two nominations more than the people in joint fourth place, so it's not an anomaly, even if it makes little sense objectively.

 

Oh yeah, I understand it won't have been an anomaly or anything. I just wondering what he'd done to warrant it, because what I've seen of him is perfectly fine. Or did he just have a run of shittyness in 2012?

[Ronnie]

That was an attempt to provide context rather than grumpiness on my part, HG. I probably should've added a smiley or reworded it slightly so that it doesn't look like I'm reacting to a perceived slight

 

I suppose he must've bored a bunch of people. The two people above him in the nominations received multiple more mentions though, so his third place is far off the pace set by the principal shitehawks.

[HarmonicGenerator]

That was an attempt to provide context rather than grumpiness on my part, HG. I probably should've added a smiley or reworded it slightly so that it doesn't look like I'm reacting to a perceived slight

 

I suppose he must've bored a bunch of people. The two people above him in the nominations received multiple more mentions though, so his third place is far off the pace set by the principal shitehawks.

 

No worries Ronnie, didn't think it was grumpiness anyway!

 

Yes, I'd have to assume it was boredom, he was in a couple of extremely lengthy feuds last year, so that may have been it.

[TheBigBoot]

Del Rio and Swagger are good enough workers but I can see why they bore people.

 

I nominated Berty for the GFO one but not this for that reason. Thought he'd make a good babyface since I rewatched the second Super J cup last summer and also after seeing more of uncle Mil in All Japan and WWF (where he was very over). He really does remind me of both his uncle and father and there haven't been that many true Mexican heavyweights to get a big push.

 

Mainly because he was able to drag Sheamus down to his worst series of matches. Even then I wouldn't call the matches actively bad but they were a clear step down from Sheamus' other feuds (Bryan, Ziggler, Show) or the TV stuff with Barrett, Swagger, Orton, Jericho and Sandow. The out of ring stuff between them was also pretty poor and considering that took up a lot of his year I think it worked more against him than it did Sheamus who had all that other good stuff. I liked the actual matches in his little feud with The Big Show over the IC title although it was the second year in a row they'd done that feud and don't remember anything else about the material so it can't have stood out. Del Rio also spent part of the year working with Sin Cara which is a shame for him. Then after that Del Rio/Orton feud was solid in-ring but not exactly thrilling TV.

 

His matches with Cena (think there were three or four last year) were always good.

 

Since turning face he's been great.

 

I've always thought he was worthless. There was literally one occasion when i thought he might have turned a corner, when he faced Batista for the World belt at a Royal Rumble. It was a good match and he looked decent for the first time ever. It must have been down to Big Dave.

 

I remember Big Dave also thought that match was a carryjob, only the opposite way around:

 

Batista vs. Mr. Kennedy is now up.

 

They only barely beat out the last match based on at least having some selling and a better finish. Then again, a monkey with an etch a sketch could write a better finish then the last match. There was a ref bump, Kennedy used a low blow and made the cover but Nick Patrick was selling. When he recovered, Batista used the Batista bomb for the pin. Kennedy had to work for three men because Batista worked for negative one. He was brutally bad.

 

I went with Tensai. EVERY ChinaWres fan said he was magically ace now, and I had him down almost as an instant Main Eventer. Then it was just fucking Albert like it always was. Fat screaming bag of shite.

The worse thing is, Albert was much better to watch than this waste of space.

 

Agreed. I liked him in his previous WWE run as well. Not all of it, but enough.

 

A lot of people will point to his run as A-Train as when he improved but I think it was from X-Factor through to the early days of the brand split as a Velocity-level bully (actually, going back further I think he showed potential earlier than that as Baldo back in his Memphis days but he was a little rough around the edges when he came up to the big time).

 

I think the difference between A-Train and his previous stuff is it was more focused both in-ring and in terms of his position on the card since he was playing a specific role. Before that he'd go from being pushed as a monster for a couple of weeks to a comedy dancing gimmick the next and none of them would really get over.

 

As Train he had a role - he wasn't Lesnar/Angle (depending on who was top SmackDown heel at the time), Big Show or Cena but he was the guy you had to go through to get to them which gave Benoit, Undertaker, Mysterio, Cena (after he turned face), etc. something to do in between feuds with the Big Boys.

 

Since coming back he hasn't really 'clicked' and generally been a disappointment.

 

I still wouldn't say he's the worst (my pick Sin Cara didn't make it) guy but, like Cara, he's a guy that it hasn't 'worked' for in current WWE.