Time for my year-end awards, now that we’ve gotten Ziegler’s version and Kyle Fitta’s Version, along with the Top 100 matches of 2010. So, here’s my picks for the major year-end awards.
Match of the Year – Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker (WWE Wrestlemania XXVI).
I’m in the minority that have this as a superior match to their Wrestlemania XXV encounter. The build was better, for starters, without the JBL, poorhouse nonsense, and the emotion far greater, with Shawn’s career on the line rather than simply relying on a ton of near-falls for the drama. The story was much better put together, with Shawn desperate to defeat his invisible foe, with a steady build to an incredible climactic moment, with Shawn clawing his way up and refusing to just lose until he had no choice. From build to psychology to character moments, this is a five star match and a fitting end to Michaels career and, it seems, a coda to Taker’s as well.
Runner Up: Tyler Black vs. Davey Richards (6/19/10, ROH Death before Dishonor 8).
For my money, this is Richards best ever performance. Sure, he’s had matches nearly as good, but they were with KENTA and Bryan Danielson. In this, he was the clear star, with his fast striking and intense psychology playing off of Black’s awesome selling and timing of spots. Black has, for years now, been what he is. He’s amazing when a guy can dish out a punishment and take his awesome spots as a comeback. To Davey was left the rest of the match and he put on a classic.
Women’s Match of the Year – Tables Match: Beth Phoenix and Natalya vs. LayCool (12/19/10, WWE TLC 2010).
This is, simply, my favorite women’s match since Gail Kim and Awesome Kong were tearing the house down in TNA a few years back. Beth and Natalya managed to parlay great selling and sick bumps into structure in a tables match, which usually would have none, allowing LayCool to put heat on the dangerous duo. The sheer power of the spots allowed Natalya and Beth to have heat on them, while not looking any less dominant, and the creativeness of the comebacks really lifted this to another level.
Runner Up: Mickie James vs. Tara (12/9/10, TNA Impact).
Feud of the Year – John Cena vs. Nexus (WWE)
There is really no other choice that’s viable here. From Nexus’ debut in June, Monday Night Raw has become about their feud with John Cena. The sheer viciousness of the initial assault, gaining the upper hand numerous times, Cena being fired and re-hired, headlining Summerslam and Survivor Series and TLC, Cena nearly going heel and, finally, the year ending with Nexus grabbing a new leader, well, Cena and Nexus ripping one another apart is the best, most heated, and most unexpected great feud this year.
Runner Up: CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio (WWE).
Punk took a disliking to Rey’s hiding behind a mask and how kids looked up to him. While leading the Straight Edge Society, Punk was in no mood for such idolatry, and so he took it to Rey, feuding over the mask and hair, even verbally assaulting Rey’s family:
Promotion of the Year: WWE.
WWE did not have a banner year in terms of match quality or in doing business. What they did have a banner year in, though, was pushing new talent and taking risks. Pushed to prominent spots include: Wade Barrett and the Nexus, Sheamus, John Morrison, The Miz, Alberto Del Rio, and Daniel Bryan. The long-term heel characters of Edge and Randy Orton were turned face, Bret Hart returned to be pushed to prominence, and the character of their cash cow, John Cena, was nearly turned heel and had a ton of depth added. These are long-term moves and truly excellent for the future of the company, keeping WWE interesting with fresh faces and new ideas as the likes of Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Triple H and Undertaker step back from the spotlight.
Runner Up: ROH.
I’ve all but stopped watching my former favorite promotion (stupid Cablevision and HDNet), but I have followed enough to know that ROH has finally figured out how to make their television work and create new stars. Between Steen and Generico’s huge feud, the return of top talent like Chris Daniels and Homicide, and the emergence as viable main event stars like Davey Richards and Roderick Strong, ROH has become a place that can stand to lose top talent like Austin Aries and Tyler Black far better than they could a year back with Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness. A lot of that credit goes to new booker, Delirious, who should immediately bring Jimmy Jacobs back to really up the stakes and force me to find a way to watch once more.
TV Show of the Year – ROH on HDNet.
Well, we knew it would be special when ROH figured out how to utilize their TV format. Now they have and the episodic television is top notch, with excellent matches and consistently great storyline development. It’s a shame, once more, the exposure is so low.
Runner Up: Tie: WWE Raw and WWE NXT.
WWE Raw had some amazing moments and memories on it this year, from King of the Ring, the return of Bret Hart and the debut of Nexus, as well as HBK’s goodbye, but in between there were amazingly boring and terrible doldrums (remember Santino and Hornswoggle?) that keep the show from the heights it could otherwise reach. NXT, meanwhile, was a huge success, giving us Daniel Bryan, Wade Barrett and Nexus of Season 1. Any show that gives us that many stars is top notch. In fact, NXT would be the clear runner up, but Season 2 winner Kaval was released, and the less said of Season 3 the better. Still, NXT was an experiment that worked and one of the more intriguing shows of the year.
Major Show/PPV of the Year – Death Before Dishonor VIII
As awesome as Wrestlemania always is, this not only had Black vs. Richards, the runner-up MOTY for me, but Kings of Wrestling vs. Briscoes, Kenny Omega vs. Chris Daniels, and Kevin Steen vs. Generico. That’s a top notch tag match, a great, fast-paced exhibition, and a part of a major blood feud. That variety and quality makes DBD 8 the epitome of what a major show should be.
Runner Up: Wrestlemania XXVI.
The Match of the Year, a match in the runner up for Feud of the Year, the return of Bret Hart to a WWE ring, the exit of Triple H and HBK, a great Cena vs. Batista match and the start of Orton as a face… this was an important and excellent Wrestlemania that history will be kinder to than we all were as it happened.
Promo of the Year – CM Punk.
Punk got the year started off in style with what remains arguably the best promo of the year at the Royal Rumble, mid-Rumble match.
From there we got the awesome Rey Mysterio stuff, as previewed above, and then the Straight Edge Society vs. Big Show, full of great moments of Punk pissing everyone off. After this, he was brought over to WWE Raw where he was seemingly going to feud with Daniel Bryan, but an injury instead lead him to the Raw announce crew where he showed he had the potential to be the best color man in years, and, finally, closed the year by attacking Cena and cutting great promos.
Runner Up: John Cena.
Cena ruled this year. He began with his big Batista feud, which was notable in making Batista one of the hottest heels in years, but also because Cena continually managed to avoid being blown away by a guy doing the best work of his career. After that, we moved to the Nexus feud, where Cena finally got to show versatility, mixing intensity, confusion and humor at various points to where he finally put out two of the better promos of his career – when he was fired, and his big return.
Worker of the Year – Davey Richards
Richards busted onto the wrestling scene as the next big thing, winning major tournaments and hyped to all hell. Well, he’s finally living up to the hype this year, with numerous MOTYCs and a unique style that mixes indy pace and high spots with near-WWE worthy psychology. If only he were a little more consistent. For the record, he is not the best worker of the year, but he’s had the best work this year, thanks largely to the most opportunity.
Runner Up: Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson.
Danielson managed to really pull up a ton of rookies on NXT, but he also managed some really good matches with veterans, notably his NXT debut with Jericho. After that, he was pretty much immediately fired where he put up some amazing matches on the indies again, my favorites being with Minoru Sawa and Shingo, before returning again to WWE and putting on yet more MOTYCs with Dolph Ziggler and matches just a step below with Jack Swagger, the Miz and Ted Dibiase.
Moment of the Year – The Nexus Debut and Destroy WWE Raw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLrUmWwvrYc
This seriously caused me to just freak the fuck out.
Runner Up: Bret Hart Returns to Raw, Reconcils with HBK.
Bret Hart, after the Montreal Screwjob, the Death of Owen Hart, and over a decade of bad blood, on January 4, finally returned to WWE. Upon returning, he pretty much immediately reconciled with Shawn Michaels, in a truly astounding moment that would have been #1 in any other year.
Breakout Star of the Year: – The Miz.
From a joke character to a top mid-carder to Mr. Money in the Bank, World Champion and potentially the face of the company going forward. There is nothing more you could ask of Miz at this point in his career. He’s not the best wrestler in the world, but he’s quite carryable, over and regularly improving.
Runner Up: Sheamus.
I know he was WWE Champion last year and that’d seemingly be his breakout, but the man went from an also ran, sometimes main event wrestler to a guy who could elevate an opponent by being in a serious program with him. That’s legitimate, full-time main event quality. Add in that he was in a MOTYC with John Morrison and got the huge “put out Triple H for the year†push and he’s seemingly going to be on top for a long, long time.
Debut Star of the Year – Wade Barrett.
The leader of Nexus for the year was so over that he not only dominated WWE NXT Season 1, but he also was able to hold his own in a main event feud and main event promos every single week on Raw. That’s a lot of time to expose a debuting wrestler, but Barrett rose to the occasion to where his best match was his last of the year at TLC against Cena in the main event.
Runner Up: Alberto Del Rio.
In most years he’s the runaway winner, a very good worker and very good promo, he’s reminiscent of cocky heel Terry Taylor from his Mid-South days. I think he’d have the Smackdown World Title now were he not so similar to Raw champion, the Miz.
Announcer of the Year – None
There was a dearth of good announcing this year in wrestling. The ROH crew was solid, but often annoying. TNA continues their trend of terrible jokes and over-explaining everything, while WWE has Michael Cole being as bad as ever and Jerry Lawler rarely caring. Matt Striker can be good, but he can just as often be incredibly whiny. Where are you, Jim Ross?
Tag Team of the Year – Motor City Machine Guns.
The Guns went out and were absolutely dominant in TNA, having amazing matches with Beer Money and the Young Bucks until the year ended and fans were clamoring for them to have a main event slot. Well, they don’t get that because they’ve regressed as promos, but they’re extremely over and incredible in the ring, so that’ll have to be enough.
Runner Up: The Kings of Wrestling.
ROH re-united Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero, my pick for their two best workers, as the Kings of Wrestling and then set them loose on the tag division, leading to numerous MOTYCs and dream matches with MCMG and The World’s Greatest Tag Team. Add in an epic Briscoe’s feud and you have a team far closer to #1 than most would expect.
Babyface of the Year – John Cena.
Through the Nexus feud, John Cena was able to finally get the high majority of fans behind him and it lead to some of his most compelling character work. He’s now a flawed character with several different promo types and personality facets who’s worth rooting for rather than a bland, one-dimensional superhero, and he accomplished this without giving up his credibility with kids or his huge merchandise sales.
Runner Up: Daniel Bryan.
A face on NXT, he was going to be a heel with Nexus when he was fired. What came next is why he is here above other top contenders like Kurt Angle (went away too much) and Randy Orton (took a bit to find his sea legs as a face). The internet practically exploded with demands that Bryan return. When he did return, it was a major program with Nexus, then the Miz as a surprise in a top spot at Summerslam and beating a man cleanly who was scant months from a WWE Title reign.
Heel of the Year – the Miz.
No one dares say it, but his title run is already working like that of a Ric Flair or Tully Blanchard, where he’s having great matches, but getting away because he has more than one way to cheat to win. This is after bullying and screwing over Daniel Bryan, after screwing over Orton to win the title, and, of course, after backing his way into a MitB win. What a prick.
Runner up: Matt Hardy.
Matt, with his absurd internet diatribes on YouTube and via twitter, became the most hated man in wrestling, revealing himself to be a colossal prick that it was easy to root against both personally and professionally.
Wrestler of the Year Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson.
Yes, I’m a Danielson fanboy, but hear me out. Bryan began the year on NXT Season 1, being one of the major reasons to watch the show. His top notch matches, losing streak or not, kept viewers tuned in, as did his heat with his pro, the Miz, which has lead to an issue that is still brought up today. That, in turn, lead to Bryan proving he could actually draw fans on NXT as he began to punk Michael Cole, leading to NXT getting similar ratings to Impact and one of the more intense and memorable moments of NXT’s existence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcqNJiax6Jw
After that, he was a huge highlight of NXT becoming Nexus to attack John Cena and Raw, before being fired. Being fired, he managed to draw more attention to the indies than ever before while putting on MOTYC’s with Minoru Sawa and Shingo. During this, he was the focus of a groundswell of support for his re-hiring, one of wrestling’s few real grassroots moments.
Upon being re-hired, he was put into the main event of Summerslam, a big four PPV. He rounded out the year adding prestige to the US Title and having some of the best singles matches in the career of the Miz, Jack Swagger, Ted Dibiase, and Dolph Ziggler.
So, sure, he wasn’t a top guy in WWE, but he did absolutely everything else notable from being a draw to great matches to elevating opponents and even awesome promos and being memorable. That’s a wrestler of the year to me, fanboy or not.
Runner Up: John Cena.
In almost any other year Cena would have won here. His Batista feud was fantastic, but more about Batista’s transformation than Cena himself. His later feud with Nexus was even better and that’s what nearly won him this award. Unfortunately for Cena, as good as he was, his matches weren’t quite as memorable as they have been in the past, and that, barely, costs him the award.
