Reported by Jon Minners of WrestleView.com
On Monday, January 8, 2007 at 11:02 PM EST

Hey yo! I am a little behind because of my vacation and illness, but I did want to post a look back at 2006 and discuss what I thought about the year in wrestling. 2006 was a strange year for me. I am still not sure what to make of it.

The WWE, in my opinion, did not fare that well this year and it is not because of sour grapes over the fact that they didn’t hire me. The company just did not do well; plain and simple.

Saturday Night’s Main Event: Once a special that brought back so many fond memories. The WWE ruined it by allowing it to be in primetime. The WWE isn’t that big anymore. The show would have done a whole lot better at 11:30 p.m. like it did in its heyday. But as big as ego as Vince McMahon has, he is going to keep pushing for primetime exposure when no one is watching. You want mainstream people to watch wrestling and you put it on a Saturday night when mainstream people are preparing for a date or the club. Stick with the niche on Saturdays, but even that doesn’t work. They enjoy wrestling on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, but on Saturday, everyone goes out and the geeks are going to LAN parties to play videogames, not watch what they can see all week long.

Raw: Raw lost some of its edge this year. The show had its moments, but John Cena is not a good champion. HHH is. Edge is. Cena is better when he is chasing the belt and that’s when Raw is a good show. Much of the year, however, focused on Cena with the belt. Outside of that fact, there were some matches I really enjoyed, including Carlito vs. Orton; Hardies vs. Edge & Orton; HHH vs. Orton; every match between Cena and Edge; and Jeff Hardy vs. Johnny Nitro.

Smackdown: This show is edgier than Raw. It has really improved in recent months. Kendrick and London have really ignited a lot of the fire in this show. The tag-team is probably the best we have seen since the Hardies, Edge and Christian and the Dudleys. Also, Matt Hardy vs. Gregory Helms never got old. That was a great feud and one that really elevated the career of Helms on Smackdown. The segments between Mr. Kennedy and The Undertaker were gold. The interactions between Kennedy and MVP were fun to watch. Everything Kennedy did was great. Finley was the MVP of Smackdown. King Booker was hilarious and really demonstrated the versatility of Booker T as a wrestler. He did a tremendous job with the character. Everything involving Chavo Guerrero was great. Batista slipped a little, but I can see him making a comeback in 2007. Miz was hilarious and all the divas on Smackdown are 10 times hotter than they are on Raw.

ECW: The PPV was great. Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton. Cena vs. RVD. Dreamer and Funk vs. Edge and Foley. Even the small match between Sabu and Rey Mysterio kept me entertained. When ECW went weekly, it did not start off too well, but that slowly changed when RVD was screwed out of the belt against The Big Show on July 4. That was when the change for the better occurred and the Originals vs. New Vision was born. CM Punk soon joined the show. We were treated to some great matches between RVD and Hardcore Holly and RVD and Test. Bit Show was a very credible champion and so many stars came through ECW to fight him. The Hardies showed up twice on the program and in a great PPV match. Mike Knox showed that he is a star in the making. I wish we got to see more matches between he and CM Punk. Tommy Dreamer seems to be getting a small push, too. It is still a far ways off from the original ECW, and may have been ruined in recent weeks, but it is probably the second best WWE program on the air right now.

Wrestlemania: This Wrestlemania was not as good as those in the past. The Money in the Bank Match was good. The Foley vs. Edge match was legendary. Cena vs. HHH was surprisingly good, especially after a horrible entrance. Mysterio vs. Kurt Angle vs. Orton was a disappointment. Vince McMahon vs. HBK was great, but the show as a whole lacked that special match that everyone was dying to see. Cena vs. HHH could have been that match, but it was never hyped enough. It wasn’t pushed slowly over many months. It sort of just happened. HBK vs. Vince McMahon had that special feel to it, but without two capable stars, it wasn’t good enough. We needed more. Batista vs. Undertaker is that kind of match. Next year could be that year. I am looking forward to it.

Reunions: DX was great at the beginning and then lost some steam. The Hardies and MNM reinvigorated tag-team wrestling again. We needed that. The World’s Greatest Tag-Team certainly adds to that tag-team scene. They need a better look, but I love that team. Perhaps the best reunion was the one involving the Brothers of Destruction; both with a new look from their previous alliance. I would love to see where that goes. And I would love to see the Brothers of Destruction against DX. How about that? Let’s do it.

TNA: This company had its share of ups and downs.

I loved Christian as champion and hated how quickly they took the belt off of him in favor of Jeff Jarrett, again.

I loved Sting’s new look and how he finally won a championship, but hated how he lost it right away to Abyss.

I loved Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels and how they really dominated the X Division, but hated how they are hurting the division with the Jackass angle and the Paparazzi Challenge.

I loved Senshi as X Division Champion, but hate what they are doing with him now.

I love how the AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels angle turned into an alliance between the two, but hated the Amazon woman that joined them briefly.

Hated LAX in the feud with the James Gang, but love them in their latest incarnation.

I loved the split between Chris Harris and James Storm, but hate the matches where teams are forced to dissolve if they lose.

I love Gail Kim, but hate that she won’t return my calls.

Love Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle, but hate how both men seem to be falling apart before our very eyes.

Love Christian as a heel, but hate him with Tomko.

Hate the angle between Rhino and AJ Styles, but love how intense their action is.

Loved the Naturals’ new look; hate how quick that push was dropped.

Loved Team 3D; hate how they keep going to Japan and interrupting storylines.

Love Ron Killings; hate Ron Killings and Lance Hoyt.

Love this column; hate how long it is getting. Got to go. What were your memories of 2006? Let me know. I will post them in my next column. Until then…peace.