Wrestling Rumblings #106
January 15, 2011
By: Jose Marrero of Wrestleview.com
OK, so I took a bit longer than promised and I am a day late with the column but here it finally is…the WWE Year End Reviews and Awards…you’re reading “Wrestling Rumblings”.
Big WWE News Story #1- Bret Hart returns to the WWE
For years it was something wrestling fans wanted and for years we were told it would never happen. Well what is that saying? “Never say never in wrestling” and that held more than true here as Bret Hart became a regular part of WWE television for more than half of 2010 and had many impactful moments such as burying the hatchet with Shawn Micheals, wrestling one more time at Wrestlemania, winning the United States Championship and becoming GM of Monday Night Raw. I have no problem admitting that Bret Hart is easily one of my top 3 favorite wrestlers of all time and even though there were times where I wished he didn’t come back I am glad he did.
WWE Wrestler of the Year- The Miz
I know that there are some people out there that are going to say I am jumping on the bandwagon but when you really stop and think about it did anyone have a better 2010 in WWE than The Miz? He came into the year holding both the United States and Unified Tag Team Championships and would go onto win Money in the Bank and the WWE Championship before the year was over. Sure there were some hiccups along the way such as United States title losses to both Bret Hart and Daniel Bryan but Mike Mizanin was the most refreshing thing on Raw in 2010. What other heel in wrestling could evoke the kind of reaction that we saw from the now famed “angry Miz girl”? Maybe you don’t think he is in fact “awesome” but The Miz is the WWE Wrestler of the Year.
WWE Tag Team of the Year- The Hart Dynasty
I know that no one thinks much of WWE tag teams and with good reason. The titles and the division are both meaningless as of late and with 2009 being a decent year for tag teams with tag team matches even headlining PPV’s I expected more from 2010 but sadly didn’t get it. The only reason I even have the Hart Dynasty on this list is because they were tag team champions longer than any other tag team during the year. So while calling someone a “tag team of the year” may seem like a big achievement in this case the Harts got it by default.
Big WWE News Story #2- Shawn Micheals retires after losing to the Undertaker at Wrestlemania
It’s funny because in the months that have followed I have had many people ask me if the environment at Wrestlemania 26 was similar to the one at Wrestlemania 24 and in all honesty it really wasn’t but it may have been better for different reasons. You see when Ric Flair “retired” many fans, including myself believed it but it was the celebration for the wrestler that the industry (and I) recognized as the greatest of all time. When Shawn retired we were looking at the retirement of the greatest in ring performer in WWE history, a wrestler who never left the company and pretty much grew up inside of it and was night in and night out the best performer. This probably wouldn’t make sense to many people but when Flair retired I was sort of sad on it at Wrestlemania but when Shawn retired it didn’t quite hit me until the next night at Raw. Ric Flair went out a shell of what he was and well Shawn went out when he was still the best in the game and now all I can think of as this year’s Wrestlemania approaches is who is going to be the guy to steal the show? I fear the answer is no one as Shawn was truly one of a kind.
WWE Match of the Year- Shawn Micheals vs. The Undertaker Wrestlemania 26 March 28th 2010
I’ll admit it wasn’t as big as the match they had the year previous but with the build up going in and the hype of Career vs. Streak it didn’t have to be. It was still the best match of the night and in the opinion of many the best match of the year in all of wrestling, not just WWE. I don’t think there has been such an anticipated match up in WWE on as big of a stage in years and it didn’t disappoint.
WWE Show of the Year- Fatal Four Way 2010
I may be a slight bit biased because I was live in attendance for this show but it was my favorite WWE show of the year when I look back on it. It was fresh on the heels of the Nexus debuting and out of the 7 matches on the show 5 were really worth watching including a much forgotten match between Chris Jericho and Evan Bourne. It probably wouldn’t get mentioned in any other year end categories on other websites but it’s my choice for WWE Show of the Year.
Big WWE News Story of the Year #3- The formation of The Nexus
The formation of this group was probably the most talked about debut in years and had many fans buzzing about WWE finally getting an invasion angle right. I don’t know about WWE getting it right but they were consistent in the push of Nexus throughout the year as it would now seem Nexus is influencing both shows.
WWE Feud of the Year- John Cena vs. The Nexus
A long term angle in WWE is something that almost never happens but John Cena has been feuding with The Nexus in one incarnation or another for 7 months now spilling into 2010. A feud in which we saw him cost the WWE Championship, joins Nexus, get fired from WWE, return to get his revenge on Wade Barrett and now in 2011 feud with new Nexus head CM Punk. While I think many fans wanted it to be better I don’t think fans really stopped being interested in the angle, hence the reason it is still going today.
WWE Breakout Star of the Year- Wade Barrett
I’m sure there are going to be many readers who hit me up to tell me The Miz should have won this award but when I thought about it going into 2010 he was already pretty much going strong and just got stronger as the year went on. Then I thought about Wade Barrett who started off the beginning of the year on WWE NXT and basically had to endure what I thought was a train wreck of a show and bad booking for 5 months. He won the show and all of a sudden was pushed to the moon with the debut of Nexus and put into a program with John Cena in which he main evented several PPV’s this year and even after this angle has been moved over to Smackdown where he seems primed to take the top heel spot on that show. When 2010 started no one outside of FCW had ever heard of Wade Barrett and even most fans there looked at him as a commentator, now he is a main event guy for WWE. You don’t breakout much more than that.
So there you have it folks that was the year in wrestling for WWE. To tell you the truth I probably could have added a few more categories and news items but I think I will keep it this way to be fair to ROH and TNA who I have already done pieces on. I didn’t think 2010 was a bad year in WWE even though PPV revenue and house show revenue would dispute that claim and I am really looking forward to seeing what develops in 2011.
On that note I am going to wrap up this week’s edition of the column but before I go I have to give you all something to do. I actually had a pretty good conversation on a variety of things with Sean “The Mic” McCaffrey who while telling me about WSU’s upcoming IPPV on January 22nd was telling me how well the first IPPV did. So what I am going to do is tell all of you to go ahead and check it out on gofightlive.tv for 10 bucks you can see WSU Rumble 3 and well if you’re interested you can check out WSU Fall Live on gofightlive.tv also and be sure to check out WSU The Final Chapter on January 22nd on gofightlive.tv.
So if you like the column, hate the column or just have something to say email me at wrestlingrumblings@hotmail.com. I recognize that I have been pretty slow with some other things like “Outside Interference” and “The Eye Gouge” but things have just been really busy on this end and sometimes it feels as if I barely have time to do this column. I promise to kick things up a notch the first chance I get but until then, I am out.