No Chance – Looking Toward the New Year

Columns

Ah the New Year. What a wonderful time. A time to forgive and forget the mistakes that have been made in the past and instead focus on being hopeful about the upcoming days. For the WWE that means 52 episodes of Raw, 52 episodes of Smackdown, and 13 PPVs that all have the potential to blow us away with stunning feats of wrestling, compelling mic work and thrilling, captivating storylines that we look forward to continuing week in and week out. Of course that won’t be what happens, so I’m cutting my expectations down a little bit. As follows are just a few of the things I would like out of the WWE this year. Not too much, but just a couple of things, that if done right, could make 2012 a year worth watching.

Commentary: I’ve said it before many times, some of them in this very column; if there is one thing that I could change about the WWE it would be the current state of the commentator’s booth on the programming. I don’t mind having a heel announcer, and I don’t mind the announcer’s having disagreements or even occasional arguments. But please try to remember that usually this happens when there is a match happening in the ring. And that your job is to put over the guys in the match, not think of clever new insults that don’t conflict with the PG rating.

Undertaker’s 20th: Assuming that Undertaker can make it back for WrestleMania this year, we’re looking at his 20th win, and, according to some rumor mills, what will likely be his last match at WrestleMania (or ever?) If this is the case, please make sure that this one is one that is truly worth remembering. A nice buildup, a worthy opponent and please make sure that Undertaker is up to giving us a worthwhile match. I’d rather let him rest for another year and have his swan song match be a memorable one, then have the whole thing end in a whimper of a match this year.

A Grand Return: For the past two years someone has returned to the company that I never thought I would see in a WWE ring again. 2011 was the Rock, while 2010 was Bret Hart. So is there any chance of another amazing return that I never dared to hope for? Brock Lesnar would be the obvious choice, what with his recent retirement from UFC, but there are a few names out there that I would love to see get called back into the ring for one more match. (Because this was written prior to the January 2 reveal, that may fulfill this request to satisfaction.)

Championship for Champion sake: Too often these days major matches are built around personal grudges and the two wrestlers hating each other. And while I love those matches, I miss when people wanted the title for the sake of being champion. Big Show wanted the title because he was mad at Mark Henry. Even CM Punk wanted the title because he was mad at the company. How often do two people just want to be champion at the same time anymore? When was the last time that the title was enough motivation all by itself and we didn’t need a grudge feud to go along with the storyline. I would love to see competitors shake hands after a competition again. Not all the time mind you, I still enjoy a good grudge feud, but maybe on occasion.

Second chances: For the past two years, several up and coming wrestlers made a huge impact with their debut had a few weeks that were very impressive and then wrere shuffled down to the bottom of the card, where they have been ever since. NXT is partially to blame for this, but many of them have potential to be great wrestlers who are being shoved to the side because a main event guy wants another title run. Toward the end of 2011 this was starting to be fixed. Otunga is a surprisingly good fit for the whole “Dave the Wrasslin’ Lawyer” gimmick, and on the very last Smackdown of the year, Drew McIntyre actually got his first match in who knows how long. As we’re seeing more and more main event guys get injured or even forced to retire, it’s time to seriously start thinking about the future rosters of the company.

One Match: How many matches am I going to watch on TV this year? About fifteen seconds of math in my head suggests that I will probably watch at least five hundred matches over the next year if not more. In all those matches I want just one. Just one of them to be so good, so amazing that I sit watching it stunned by the quality match I’m watching. So good, that I have to spend hard earned money on whatever DVD it ends up on just to own this one specific match. So good, that I can take this match show it to friends who don’t watch wrestling and say “This. This is why I watch wrestling every week. For moments like this.” In all the year is it possible to get just one match like that?

Don’t mess up now: 2011 ended with some of the best guys in the business holding all the belts. These were guys who had worked and clawed their way to the top and who had fan support despite getting minimal support from the company. As a result some of the segments toward the end of the year were the most entertaining and well-done segments since July. The only problem is that the TV ratings weren’t great. So to the WWE, who always seems to look for the instant success, I begging, please don’t bale on this now. It make take a while for the ratings to catch up, but you have a chance to put out some quality programming this year. Don’t give up on that opportunity to go back to the safety of same old same old.

Unrelated thought: While the bulk of the article is a look forward, I wanted to take one more quick look back at one of the biggest storylines of WWE in 2011. Other than Punk’s whole thing, I think what has really shocked me the most this year is the success of Zack Ryder. Probably the best display of Ryder’s success is this picture that had been made by a gentleman of the internet comparing the first episode of Z! True Long Island Story and the 46th episode. It’s amazing what that guy has done this year.

Joel Leonard reviews the latest movies each week for Inside Pulse. You can follow him @joelgleo on Twitter though he's not promising to ever tweet anything from there. Joel also co-hosts the Classy Ring Attire podcast and writes the No Chance column on Inside Pulse as well.