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Movies have the Oscar. Television has the Emmy. WWE has the Slammy. We here at My 1-2-3 Cents have the Centy. Yes, we've decided to come up with some year end awards to present for the best and worst in professional wrestling, aka sports entertainment. We'll each weigh in on the category as to why we picked the winner. Some may be duplicate thoughts, but Chad has a much more extensive knowledge of the independent scene, so this could be interesting...
Wrestler of the Year:
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| Eddie Kingston |
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| Michael Cole made us all cringe |
Chad's Pick: Michael Cole. Hands down the "Michael Cole as heel commentator" is one of the worst ideas the WWE brain trusts have ever thought put on TV. How anyone in charge can't see or not understand how damaging Cole is to the overall product is beyond me. His constant burial of now World Champion Daniel Bryan tells fans they shouldn't take Bryan serious. With WWE seemingly shifting attention to a new generation, all focus should be on creating and establishing new stars not telling the WWE Universe the Superstars getting airtime aren't worth being on television. Dishonorable mention would also go to Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan. 1997 called. They want their lead heels back. 2011 is not the time for heelish authority figures who shouldn't ever be in a wrestling match.
Promo of the Year:
Chad's Pick: Eddie Kingston's Road to High Noon promo. While I had already made plans to order Chikara's first Internet PPV as soon as they announced the date, the Eddie Kingston promo Chikara posted a few days before the show guaranteed I was going to order the show twice. This promo did exactly what it needed to do. It stressed how important the match Eddie was having against Mike Quackenbush was to Eddie personally and how much winning the Grand Championship would mean to Eddie. This is honestly the only promo I can remember that gave me chills each time I watched it. While CM Punk's Kickoff to the Summer of Punk promo was also really good, in the world of "If it's on TV it's been approved by management," the promo lacked the organic realness of Kingson's promo.
Angle of the Year:
Chad's Pick: While the follow up was botched, it's hard to deny the Summer of Punk redux wasn't the most talked about event of the year. WWE had a storyline that had fans genuinely interested in and unsure what was going to happen next. Unfortunately, WWE didn't get the post title win time to build and make Punk's return really impactful.
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| McGuire vs. Allwardt (courtesy Adam Testa) |
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| Randy Orton (from WWE) |
Chad's Pick: Randy Orton. For the life of me I can't figure out the appeal of this guy. Actually Most Hated is probably to strong and gives Orton too much credit. He's more like Most Useless Waste of Space. Orton is a John Cena in training. Guy who gets beat up a lot but ultimately wins in the end. I really do want someone to logically explain to me his appeal. And his tattoos are stupid. In a Most Hated in a Fun Way it has to be Icarus. The guy has been on the ChikaraChikara roster. How he can stay so hated on a roster where fans appreciated everyone is a testament to his heelish talent.
Most Under appreciated:
Chad's Pick: Until the past month I would have said the TNA Originals. But it appears TNA may actually be starting to give them the spotlight. I guess I'll say the WWE tag team division. Though I don't know if it's under appreciated or just under used.
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| Natalya at the Royal Rumble (from WWE) |
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| (from ROH) |
Chad's Pick: Davey Richards. As much as I don't see the appeal of Randy Orton, the fandom of Davey Richards completely baffles me. I went to a PWG show back in January with a friend who had gone to a show with me back in 2007. My friend doesn't follow wrestling and hadn't seen a show since the few shows he saw in 2007. When Davey Richards came out to a chorus of cheers, he was stunned. "Isn't this the same guy everyone booed and called an oompa loompa?" he asked. I don't get the appeal the Strong Style form of wrestling. As much as I like watching wrestlers pretend to hurt each other, I greatly dislike seeing wrestlers actually hurting each other. When Richards won the ROH World Title, he allegedly didn't know the match was over and couldn't remember the last half of the match due to a concussion. Given the number of concussions in wrestling and the lingering effects they can have one a person, wrestling promoters should encourage a style that is less harmful on wrestlers not more harmful. Outside of his personal wrestling style, compared to Davey Richards, Randy Orton looks like Ultimate Warrior on the charismatic scale. I was happy when Davey said he was going to retire at the end of 2010. I wish when wrestlers talked retirement they would actually stick to it.
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| Zack Ryder vs. Dolph Ziggler (from WWE) |
Chad's Pick: I'm not really sure I want to go with him, but Zack Ryder is the only wrestler I can really think of for this category. I'm still on the fence on if his cult popularity can be sustained by his in ring skills or if he's going to be a flash in the pan. Plus, I think WWE has mishandled Zack by taking him from guy not on TV to US Title in such a quick fashion. I will give Zack credit for creating his own destiny.
Kevin's Pick: Good choice, but I'm going with Dolph Ziggler. He shined in his series earlier in the year with Edge and proved he can be a main event player in my book. Dolph had his ups and downs throughout the year, but he won the U.S. title and held it for nearly six months which is quite a feat. He also did a couple of double duties on WWE pay per views this year. I still think 2012 is going to be an even bigger year for Ziggler.
Only in Wrestling:
Chad's Pick: Santa Playa and Hornswoggle the Elf. Viewers of WWE's TLC PPV got to see one of the lamest and probably borderline racist and other ISTs promos with Teddy Long dressed as Santa Claus and Hornswoggle as an Elf. I really want to know who came up with the idea and who decided it should be shown on TV. I don't think you'd see anything like this anywhere else except for maybe on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia or South Park.
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| Snooki with the win (from WWE) |
Show of the Year:
Chad's Pick: Chikara's High Noon. Chikara made their Internet PPV debut and put on a stacked show from top to bottom. While Money in the Bank had the Match of the Year. I don't remember much of the undercard. High Noon on the other hand was the culmination of stories that spanned a year or longer. High Noon was what Wrestlemania used to be. The crowning of Chikara's first Grand Champion was ten years in the making and lived up to the hype.
Kevin's Pick: I didn't see a whole lot of pay per views this year, so it may not be totally fair for me to make a pick here. However, I felt like Money in the Bank was the best of what I saw.
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| Ophidian (from Chikara) |
Chad's Pick: Ophidian. While Ophidian had a losing record after his partner Amasis was injured early in the year, I think 2012 will be his breakout year. Ophidian attacking Amasis at High Noon after Amasis announced his injuries were so severe he wouldn't be able to ever wrestle again was the stepping stone for Ophidian's singles career. I am curious to see what Ophidian does during Chiakara's Season 11.
Female of the Year:
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| Del Rey & Kharma, from Shimmer |
Kevin's Pick: Kharma. Her time with the WWE was brief, and I still think she'll be back, but has there ever been so much buzz about a Diva before her first appearance? I loved the vignettes the WWE put together and how Kharma came in and destroyed all the women who got in her way. I'm really curious to see where the angle was headed, but Kharma has been on the shelf, preparing to deliver a baby. I expect big things from her in 2012 and I hope she and my choice for honorable mention, Beth Phoenix have some type of program against one another.
So, what do you think? Who would you have awarded with a Centy? Post your thoughts here or on Facebook, Twitter, or even YouTube.
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