The Reality of Wrestling: Best Stories of 2006 (Part 4)

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The Reality of Wrestling: Best Stories of 2006 (Awards Pt. 4)
By Phil Clark & J.D. Speich

Note: The voting period for these awards was December 1, 2005 to December 1, 2006

P.C.’s Top 10 Stories of 2006

10th Place: Yoshihiro Takayama returns to the ring two years after suffering stroke
As a moment, there was no better in 2006. As a story, it barely makes this list. However, this was a big deal as Tak’s career was dead and buried as of August 2004. The anticipation for his return match gave NOAH a great main-event for their July Budokan show, one that could’ve been a disaster with Kobashi’s cancer announcement soon after. Still, July 16 was a night for one man and that man was the one sporting the “No Fear” shirt.

9th Place: Vince Russo takes over as head of creative for TNA
This was quite the shocker. TNA was ready to announce the acquisition of Kurt Angle and had momentum due to The E’s bad year producing quality PPV’s. To most, Vince Russo was the last man they thought they’d see at the helm of TNA’s creative. TNA had been able to separate themselves from the Sports Entertainment driven madness that Russo represented, but considering his friendship with Jarrett, the axing of D’Amore and Tenay from creative, and the fact that Dixie Carter obviously knows nothing about wrestling, you can never count anyone out.

8th Place: TNA has first non-Impact Zone PPV since moving to Orlando in Sep. 2004
A step in the right direction for a company on the rise. When TNA ran their first ever house show in Detroit early in 2006, it did well drawing-wise. That basically sealed the deal that a PPV would be there, the only question was when. That question was answered on October 22 when TNA held their first non-Orlando PPV since the Nashville era. That PPV did well (like the house show) and made Bound For Glory TNA’s version of Wrestlemania.

7th Place: Brock Lesnar leaves NJPW with third generation belt days before Green Dome show and booked title loss, enters MMA
The only people apparently who didn’t see this one coming were the Inoki’s. Putting the IWGP title on Brock Lesnar was a risk in itself, but when he announced his intention to go into MMA in May, the signs of a double-cross were there. When the time came for Lesnar to drop the belt to New Japan’s young hope Hiroshi Tanahashi at the company’s July 17 Green Dome show, what were people expecting? Lesnar’s refusal to job and subsequent firing sent shockwaves through the Japanese wrestling community and proved that the Inoki’s were indeed chumps when it came to their high-priced talent. To this day, Lesnar still hasn’t given the belt back to New Japan.

6th Place: Matt Cappotelli forced to retire from wrestling due to brain tumor
It’s never good to see a career ended early. It’s an even worse thing to see one killed before it really gets started. This was the case with Matt Cappotelli whose career was cut short on February 8 when he surrendered the OVW title ending his wrestling career. At this time, Cappotelli’s career seems to be over as he awaits symptoms of his cancer to show before he begins therapy.

5th Place: UFC PPV’s outgain WWE’s
After the MMA revolution of 1993-1995 that saw the UFC rise to prominence and get on the nerves of every PPV company in the U.S., few thought that another golden period would come for MMA in the U.S. UFC would find that 2006 was their year as their PPV’s easily out gained The E’s PPV’s, a feat that the company had never experienced. The popularity of UFC was undeniable in 2006 as Courture/Liddell III (UFC 57) had about 300,000 buys, Gracie/Hughes (UFC 60) ended up with about 600,000 buys, and UFC 61 (Shamrock/Ortiz II, Sylvia/Arlovski III) set the company’s record with about 700,000 buys.

4th Place: Kenta Kobashi diagnosed with a kidney tumor
Kenta Kobashi was in the middle of a year that saw him take on the task of elevating just about everybody he faced when cancer stopped it all. Kobashi was booked to team with Takayama in his return match when he was diagnosed with a kidney tumor. As of that point, Kobashi had elevated KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji by having competitive matches with them at Budokan Hall shows and was supposed to job to Jun Akiyama at NOAH’s September Budokan show to give Akiyama’s title reign the shot in the arm it needed. Thankfully, the tumor was successfully removed and at NOAH’s December 10 Budokan show, Kobashi announced that he would return full-time to pro wrestling.

3rd Place: WWE’s Wellness policy gets tested before Great American Bash PPV
Whenever Vince McMahon talks about his employee’s well being, it becomes a gag for many writers because few take it seriously. That sentiment may have gotten a little less fire when The E took great measures before the Great American Bash PPV in July. The day before that show a number of E wrestlers including Bobby Lashley and The Great Khali were diagnosed with high enzyme counts in their livers, a very serious health threat. Instead of ignoring his wrestlers medical troubles as McMahon has done in the past, he did the right thing and pulled the wrestlers and the show went on. The fact that The Bash ended up being The E’s worst show of the year is irrelevant. What is relevant is that The E did the right thing in a situation where health would usually come second.

2nd Place: Kurt Angle released from WWE, signs with TNA
Ah, Kurt, what the f*ck was up with this year? Despite still being one of the best wrestlers on the planet and possessing a work ethic unlike any other in this business, Kurt Angle made plenty of headlines in 2006. With all the details given in a Jeremy Botter article on Kurt’s backstage falling out with The E, you would’ve thought that his release from The E would be the biggest story involving him this year. However, if you thought that you’d be wrong, you’d be damn wrong. Kurt was able to top that when he signed with the competition making his TNA debut at the conclusion of the promotion’s No Surrender PPV. He would then go straight into a still going on dream feud with Samoa Joe providing Internet fans with one of the few dream matches still remaining in North American wrestling.

1st Place: Yakuza crackdown causes PRIDE and any DSE associated product to be taken off Fuji TV
How could I not put this story at number one? For two weeks during the summer, the entire Japanese wrestling community was basically held hostage when a crackdown on the Japanese yakuza revealed that Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE) had mob ties. Fuji TV, one of Japan’s biggest TV networks immediately pulled Pride and HUSTLE from its network putting Pride’s future in doubt. They also sent out a decree that any companies associated with any DSE product risked being kicked off the network as well. This was interesting because HUSTLE had numerous wrestlers from other companies coming in and out of the promotion (most notably Zero-One MAX’s Shinjiro Ohtani). The most daring example of another promotion sticking with HUSTLE post-scandal was (at the time) Triple Crown champion Satoshi Kojima participating on a major HUSTLE show risking All-Japan’s involvement with Fuji TV. In the end, DSE turned out to be the only casualty of the scandal, but what an interesting few weeks that was.

J.D.’s Top 10 Stories of 2006

10th Place: Yoshihiro Takayama returns to the ring two years after suffering a stroke
This was another feel good story of the year as one of the best wrestlers Japan has to offer came back to the ring after two-year hiatus. Not only was it great to see him back in the ring, but the fact that he came back after a stroke was a compelling sight.

9th Place: Brock Lesnar leaves NJPW with third generation belt days before Green
Dome show and booked title loss, enters MMA

This was kind of a shock in my eyes because I never thought Brock Lesnar would pull the same shit twice with two different companies. After the way he walked out on the WWE, who could have foreseen him pulling another walk out job on New Japan to pursue yet another career option.

8th Place: Rob Van Dam and Sabu get busted for drugs
This was a tough story to swallow for me personally because I am an RVD fan and, even though it is well known that RVD likes to smoke the refer, because his traffic stop came at the worst time possible. It was because of this incident that RVD was stripped of both the WWE Title and the ECW Title leaving him suspended for 30 days and dropped back to the upper half of the mid-card ranks, where he has been for the past four years.

7th Place: UFC’s Pay-Per-Views outgain WWE’s
This one isn’t higher up on my list because it was only a matter of time before UFC was going to overtake WWE as the top grossing company as far as pay-per-views go. The way the nation has taken in MMA fighting over the past three years foresaw that UFC would soon come of age and become the top competition for the WWE.

6th Place: TNA has first Pay-Per-View outside of Orlando since 2004
It was another crucial step for TNA to justify itself as legitimate competition to the WWE. The move to increase their status nationwide was just another leap in the many they had in 2006.

5th Place: Kenta Kobashi diagnosed with kidney tumor
This was devastating news to the Internet community and anyone who is familiar with Japanese wrestling because Kobashi is one of the top wrestlers to come out of Japan. The upside to this 2006 story is that Kenta made an appearance in December and stated that he will be coming back to wrestling.

4th Place: Matt Capotelli develops a tumor in his brain
Another devastating story for 2006. This one was even worse than Kenta’s because the tumor turned out to be cancerous and has now ended Capotelli’s short wrestling career. A wrestler who many thought had a lot of potential and was on his way to joining the WWE roster was cut down before his prime. Not only was he the Tough Enough 3 winner, but he also was the OVW Champion at the time that this story developed. It was definitely a shame to read on the Internet, and even a bigger shame to see the youtube video of him giving up the OVW Title with tears in his eyes.

3rd Place: Vince Russo joins the TNA booking committee
What a shocking story to hear about this year. Knowing the history that Russo has with James Cornette, and knowing the history Russo has with his booking problems, many people were left questioning as to what TNA’s motives were behind hiring him. In my opinion this was the only step that TNA took in 2006 was negative.

2nd Place: WWE’s wellness policy comes full circle
This was one of the top stories of the year as, due to a high enzyme count, many of WWE’s wrestlers were held out of action. Not only was this bad for WWE as a company because about half of their Smackdown roster tested negative, but this was also very bad because the test results came literally 18 hours before a Smackdown only pay-per-view and gave WWE no choice but to put Raw and ECW wrestlers on the card.

1st Place: Kurt Angle gets fired by WWE and hired by TNA
This has to be the number one top story for 2006 for many columnists because this was thought to be unheard of. No one expected the WWE to fire Kurt Angle, no matter how battered up and insane he was acting. The WWE even dropped Angle down to the ECW roster and I thought that that might be as far as they were going to go with threatening Angle with being fired. I was wrong however, and WWE did the unthinkable by firing arguably their best wrestler, only to have him immediately signed by TNA, WWE’s new rival company. The repercussions of this move to WWE have been great, in my opinion, as Angle has been nothing short of spectacular in TNA and has lived up to the high expectations that so many people hold him to. All I can say is Angle will soon be the NWA Champion in my eyes, and then will drop the title to Joe later in the year.