The Reality of Wrestling: Top 10 Moments of 2005 (Awards Pt. 3)
By Phil Clark & J.D. Speich
Phil has been sidelined with a cold throughout most of the holidays and that has sidelined the article. Now this week, we start the New Year by taking a look back at those snapshot friendly moments that made 2005 great. This will more than likely be the most diverse list we have and is a list that could make its case as the one that draws the most debate.
P.C.’s Top 10 Moments of 2005
HONORABLE MENTION
Matt Hardy “disrupts” RAW (7/11)
This is on there because of how different it was. RAW was, and really continues to be, a very bland show and for someone who had been fired to appear out of nowhere was pretty interesting. Plus, his plug of Ring of Honor was unexpected.
Team 3D’s funeral (TNA IMPACT!, 10/15)
Funniest segment of the year. People with say I’m biased with that statement, but it was as none of the people involved were supposed to be funny, but they were. And please can someone get Abyss a tissue.
Shawn Michaels as Hulk Hogan (RAW, 8/1)
People will say this was the funniest segment of the year. I don’t agree, but it was incredibly f*cking funny. And I’ll tell you, after seeing it, I wanted to see the Michaels/Hogan match. Seriously.
Paul London’s shooting star press off the apron (Royal Rumble)
A perfect way to begin the year: a London bump. Snitsky clotheslining London out of the Rumble would’ve been pretty good, but London adding the shooting star press to the floor AND doing the stretcher job got it at least a mention.
Tower of Doom spot (TNA Turning Point, 12/5/04)
The only reason this one isn’t on the list is because it came after the tightrope walk. AMW & XXX perfectly executing a tower of doom that nearly injured Daniels badly deserves a mention despite being the second best spot in a now-famous match.
10th Place: C.M. Punk wins ROH Title (6/18)
This deserves mention simply because it was the culmination of Punk’s ROH days. Despite the fact that he stayed for two more months, this was really it for him. Also, any fan of ROH recognized Punk’s quest for the gold, including the lost opportunities against Joe, and had to be glad he finally got it.
9th Place: Shawn Michaels’ “Super Superkick” to Shelton Benjamin (RAW, 5/2)
Had it been on pay-per-view, this would’ve broken the top 5. Since it was on T.V., it only stands as another example of the “anything can happen” nature that WWE likes to think it has these days. A great ending to a great match between two great wrestlers.
8th Place: Raven fulfills his destiny by winning NWA Title in a “King of the
Mountain” Match (TNA Slammiversary)
This is a moment like Punk’s title win, except this one was on a larger scale. It was also the most interesting and surprising way for TNA to celebrate three years as a promotion. Plus, Raven has been a HUGE fan favorite since arriving and him finally winning the big one, one he should’ve won at least two years ago, seems fitting of a spot on my list.
7th Place: Paul Heyman’s shoot interview (ECW One Night Stand)
This one is on here just because I’m sentimental towards Paul. I’m not sentimental because ECW folded or he has basically been reduced to grunt work in the E. I’m sentimental because he gave me The Smackdown Six, he gave me ECW, and he stands as one of the best minds in wrestling history. So for him to get his five minutes to vent is the least the E could do. That and it was a pretty awesome interview too.
6th Place: HHH & Chris Benoit hugging after their Eddie Guerrero Tribute Match
(SmackDown!, 11/18)
Never thought you’d see that did you? Well neither did I. But just over a month ago we saw two men who had one of the better feuds of the last couple of years hug in the center of the ring after paying homage to one of the greats.
5th Place: A.J. Styles performing an inside out bump during Ultimate X VI (TNA
Final Resolution)
Spotfests tend to all seem the same after a while. Most fans won’t admit to that or think enough about it to admit to that, but it’s true. In this case, Styles, one of the kings of bumping, went the extra mile and performed a bump that not only was amazing, but was as dangerous as just about anything London does.
4th Place: Kensuke Sasaki & Kenta Kobashi’s 5-minute chop fest (NOAH Destiny,
7/18)
Even though it did run a bit long, it was a fitting sequel to the Kobashi/Akiyama chopfest at the Dome last year. Another of Japan’s many “dick measuring contests” within matches and it paid off. It paid off because it was two men who personified stiffness and toughness in Japan and it fit the match and the situation that these two would go punch for punch. Or chop for chop in this case.
3rd Place: Shelton Benjamin using two ladders as a ramp to clothesline Chris
Jericho (Wrestlemania XXI)
It’s Wrestlemania. It’s the granddaddy of them all. It needed a moment to separate it from every other year. Every Wrestlemania has at least one moment that people can identify with that Wrestlemania. This year, Benjamin setting off more flashbulbs than anyone else at the show gets the nod as that special moment. Trust me, after the repetitiveness that the Ladder Match has become, this was truly something that widened the eyes of just about everybody watching.
Runner Up: Eddie Guerrero’s 10-bell salute (RAW, 11/14)
A moment that may have brought tears to even the most hardened viewer. One day after the death of Eddie Guerrero, RAW started with a salute to Latino Heat himself. It was one that belonged near the top, as it was a moment that was hard to watch for any viewer as men like The Big Show, Kurt Angle, and Rey Mysterio broke down openly. To watch Chavo Guerrero have to be almost held up completely by Dean Malenko is to know that someone truly special had died. And for me, watching Benoit break down, it broke my heart and remains an image that is as clear in my mind as if it had happened last night.
WINNER: Elix Skipper’s tightrope walk across a steel cage (TNA Turning Point)
This however, is what people mean when they use the phrase “poetry in motion.” Few people who saw Turning Point last December will deny that this was the moment of the year; voters on tnawrestling.com would agree with me. While AMW and XXX were having another kick-ass cage match together, Skipper decided on his own (something he later confided in an interview) to give the fans something to separate this cage match from the July 2003 cage match. It did. And for that, it gets my pick for the best moment of 2005.
J.D.’s Top 10 Moments of 2005
10th Place: Sting signs one-year deal with TNA for $500,000
This event just recently happened and I had to put it on my top ten because Sting hasn’t been seen on T.V. for almost two years. Also, it’s the largest contract TNA has given to any wrestler they’ve brought in since the promotion started.
9th Place: C.M. Punk wins the ROH Title
This has to be in the top ten because ROH pulled a WCW by giving their hottest star the belt after C.M. Punk told them he was leaving for WWE, just like Chris Benoit back in 2000.
8th Place: Samoa Joe puts on a submission clinic in his match against Chris Sabin
In only his second TNA pay-per-view Samoa Joe proved that he an all-around wrestler by performing three consecutive submission holds in a row, going from the Boston Crab to the S.T.F. to the Crippler Crossface.
7th Place: Randy Orton reverses, in midair, the chokeslam into a RKO
I put this on my list because I never saw it coming and I jumped out of my seat when I saw it. The fact that it was so unexpected is what made me decide to put on here and it made me appreciate Orton a lot more.
6th Place: Shelton Benjamin runs up two ladders and clotheslines Chris Jericho to the outside
At Wrestlemania we saw an old tradition continued when we had the pleasure of seeing something new and innovative to create a huge spot in a match. Shelton running up the ladders and using his momentum to knock himself and Jericho to the outside was definitely the spot of the night.
5th Place: Paul Heyman says what everyone has wanted to say for a long time
Watching this pay-per-view I was glued to the T.V. when Heyman came out, I knew he had something up his sleeve. Heyman came out and did a shoot interview saying what everyone has wanted to say for over a year, JBL is the worst champ ever. He also dabbled into the Edge and Matt Hardy saga.
4th Place: The 10 bell salute on Raw
I would put this in the number three spot but I feel that seeing HHH and Chris Benoit hugging is just a little bit better.
3rd Place: HHH and Chris Benoit hug at the end of Smackdown
In an ultimate show of respect HHH doesn’t think about himself for once and not only jobs to Chris Benoit, but also hugs him in remembrance of a true legend whose life was cut short.
2nd Place: It’s a tie: Shelton Benjamin gets super kicked in mid-air and Shawn Michaels shoot promo of Hulk Hogan
I needed to put these both on the list and both high on the list because they were both so incredible to see. I personally reviewed the Shelton Benjamin spot and he didn’t even cover his face and took the super kick like no one else has. Then, in the best segment of the year, we see a glimpse of the Shawn Michaels of old as he totally rips apart Hulk Hogan.
1st Place: Elix Skipper walks the top of the cage and delivers a hurricarana to James Storm
Was there ever any doubt that this would be number one? This was an incredible moment on pay-per-view and I feel that this put TNA on the map and made them known to the public on much more larger scale.
The Reality is…we’re almost ready to go back to current events in wrestling. But before we do, we use next week to take one final look at 2005. We do it with the main-event: the best matches in 2005. You think you know what #1 is? We doubt it.
