You know what’s a great idea? Filling in for a coworker when they need you to. More work means more money plus you get on the good side of you boss and now a coworker owes you a favor. It really is a great idea. You know what’s not such a great idea? Doing that same thing on a Sunday night when there’s a PPV and you already know that you’re going to be watching Raw on a delayed viewing schedule anyway. See, I found that out because it results in having an article due at midnight on a Tuesday when you have yet to see the most recent six hours of WWE, which include TLC and the Slammy awards. So that’s where I’m at right now. How do I write an article about wrestling when everyone’s seen a whole bunch of (most likely) very important footage that I haven’t seen yet? Well thank goodness it’s December because that means we can get away with some year in review things.
At the end of last year I wrote an article about what I wished would happen in 2012. I’ll do a similarly themed article for 2013 in a few weeks, but this week I want to look back over that wish list and see how close the hypothetical wrestling fairy came to granting my wishes for 2012.
Wish 1- Improved Commentary: Well I think this was granted in 2012, but at what cost? Unfortunately, almost every improvement to commentary this year can be traced to Jerry’s heart attack a few months back. And while no, that doesn’t make it what any of us wanted or “worth it” the fact is that commentary now is light years better than where it was a year ago. Cole’s almost instant face turn from that night has allowed him to be able to work with a wider range of color commentators. And now, JBL is full time for Smackdown and giving us weekly examples of how a heel commentator can actually work despite Cole trying to disprove that idea for over a year now. But what is actually really amazing is when these three men (Cole, Lawler, and JBL) work together on commentary, a surprisingly well developed chemistry has started to form and wonder of wonders, it’s one that actually allows for the in ring action to get called.
Wish 2 – A Memorable 20th victory for ‘Taker: The year off between WrestleMania 27 and 28 seemed to do wonders for the Undertaker. And with an improved Undertaker, we got an improved feud this time around. Every ball that was dropped in the buildup to WM27, was picked up and dusted off for their battle this year. The personal quest for victory angle this year worked much better than last year’s “I guess these guys should fight now” buildup. And the working in of Shawn Michaels that we expected last year finally happened this year. And then when it comes to the match itself…I’d still like to see someone beat Undertaker so that they can carry the title of “Streak Ender.” but if Taker riding off into the sunset undefeated is how you want to end this, there are few swan song matches that will be able to top the one we saw this year.
Wish 3 – A Grand Return: Last year it seems that we got the biggest return of them all with The Rock, so I was kind of reaching for the stars asking WWE to try and mach a moment like that the very next year. But bless them they sure tried. Lesnar would be the obvious answer to this wish. (Though if the Internet spoiled the Raw accurately for me and Ric Flair came back he would be a good contender as well) I don’t think a year ago many of us ever expected to see Brock Lesnar make any kind of return to the company, but there was one return this year that I was even more excited about. Getting to see Paul Heyman return, live and in person was easily the wrestling highlight of the year for me, and so, because of that, for me at least, Heyman is the answer to this wish.
Wish 4- One great match: Though I didn’t come outright and say it in the article last year, what I was really asking for was another Cena vs. Punk at MiTB here. And matches like that just don’t come along on a yearly basis. Cena and Punk is a match that I hold up alongside Undertaker and Mankind at Hell in a Cell in that these are matches that I show to non-wresting fan’s to explain my enjoyment of the medium. And really what make that match so truly great last year was the storyline, the characters, and the ability to get me invested in the outcome, something that is very rare in today’s wrestling world. Were there great matches wrestled this year? Sure. On a whole the average match of 2012 could have very easily been better than the average match of 2011, and any fan could quickly rattle off half a dozen matches from the past year that would all be reasonable and worthy contenders for Match of the Year. But then that’s where the debate begins. No one match, no one storyline, stood head and shoulders above everything else the company did for the entire year like that storyline did. And really, that’s ok. Their rarity is part of what makes them as great as they are. You simply don’t get matches or feuds like that every single year. But hopefully for 2013’s sake, you get them every other year.
