AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com
As 2010 ends, it’s time for the 14th annual AS I SEE IT Year-End Review. As usual, I should note that my selections are based on what I’ve actually seen this year, either live, online, on TV, or via tape/DVD; which primarily means North American wrestling.
2010 PROMOTION OF THE YEAR:
Ring of Honor – Even without Gabe Sapolsky, the promotion has returned toward a direction of workrate-based matches, while trying to figure out how to fit them into a TV/PPV format. The promotion has the best tag team division of any promotion in the United States, featuring the Briscoes, Kings of Wrestling, Charlie Haas/Sheldon Benjamin, All Night Express; as well as the best blow-off to a feud this year with Kevin Steen-El Generico at Final Battle 2010.
2010 WRESTLER OF THE YEAR:
Bryan Danielson (aka “Daniel Bryan”), Dragon Gate USA/EVOLVE/independent/WWE – Few wrestlers were in wrestling news more than Danielson this year. Danielson (as ‘ Daniel Bryan”) was on WWE’s NXT show. Danielson was portrayed as the underdog, “mentored” by The Miz, but with more than one comment suggesting he was a better in-ring talent than Mizanin. Danielson was released by WWE in June after Danielson choked out ring announcer Justin Roberts when NXT jumped the ring in the NXT attack on a June Monday Night RAW, with many feeling it was too reminescent of the Chris Benoit murder/suicide incident. This created a firestorm of criticism from wrestling fans, demending to know how a storyline violent attack could be “too violent”, with many seeing the firing as an attempt to protect the image of US Senate candidate Linda McMahon.
Danielson spent the summer working for independents such as Dragon Gate USA, EVOLVE, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. befeore returning to WWE in August at SummerSlam. he currently holds the WWE version of the United States heavyweight title.
2010 WORST WRESTLER OF THE YEAR:
Lacey Von Erich, TNA – In a way it seems unfair to pick on someone who was trying to live out the family dream, but there have been very few who have been put in such a position that they clearly weren’t ready for, and clearly didn’t have the talent for…at a time where women like 75% of the SHIMMER roster and Sara Del Ray aren’t working for a major promotion. To her credit, she acknowledged as much, gave notice to TNA and said she’d try some other things. Here’s hoping she finds success in another field and more happiness than many in her family ever did.
2010 TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR:
Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero/Claudio Castagnoli), Pro Wrestling NOAH/Ring of Honor/Pro Wrestling Guerrilla/CHIKARA – This pair has worked more consistently across multiple promotions at the same time; with programs in ROH as Tag Team Champions, and concluding the year against the Briscoes; as CHIKARA Tag team Champions; as well as Castagnoli holding the PWG Championship.
2010 ANGLE/FEUD OF THE YEAR WINNER
Kevin Steen vs. El Generico, Ring of Honor – Once upon a time, wrestling feuds were put together in a way that they actually meant something. Promos weren’t done with nothing but catch phrases and for comedy/entertainment value. They were designed to further a storyline so as to get people to put their asses in seats, and later to buy PPVs. Few feuds this year on any level in any promotion did this with as much intensity as Steen-Generico. The award-winning tag team was split in a way where there was one clear hard heel, and one clear victimized face. When El Generico’s mask was stolen, the series of shows built to where there was logically only one way to blow-off the program, which was the Final Battle 2010, which featured violence to tell a story, not strictly violence for the sake of shock value….and did it with a great blow-off earlier this month in Manhattan.
2010 WORST/MOST TASTELESS ANGLE OF THE YEAR
“Stand Up For WWE” as a stalking horse to deflect criticism of Linda McMahon’s US Senate campaign- WWE fans had to watch and see this crap jammed down their throats (along with the “PG” product), when what Vince McMahon really wanted to say was “Don’t pick on my wife”. Somehow, being that straight up about it….I would have dealtv with it a lot better, and probably even agreed with. But to say that WWE is being attacked because a company’s former CEO is using her role in the company as a selling point to elect her..yet says at the same time that this experience can’t be used to criticize her because it’s only a fictional portrayal…is totally hypocritical.
The sad thing is that many of the things that the campaign shows WWE as doing; such as Make A Wish, the Support the Troops events and other charitable events…are 100% true and deserved to be known. But the real erason for that campaign wasn’t that, but a response to criticism, fair or not, of Linda McMahon and what some believed to be her failings as a candidate…or at least disagreement with her politics. Since FEC rules limit what can be said by a company on behalf of a candidate…this is the nonsense we got.
2010 MATCHES OF THE YEAR:
WWE: Undertaker- Shawn Michaels, WWE WrestleMania 26, March 28, 2010; Shawn Michaels had decided it was time to end his full-time career in WWE, and what better place to do it than Wrestlemania, giving it everything he had while he still could telling a graet story and kicking it in the ring.. There are few prime-time players better than Michaels and Undertaker. In 2010, that’s a blessing for WWE. As 2010 moves into 2011, it may be WWE’s curse, as the promotion develops new talent, but doesn’t yet have someone who can capture this level of showmanship, excitement and ring work all roilled up into one.
Independent: Bryan Danielson vs. SHINGO, Dragon Gate USA, July 24, 2010. It tells you that a show and a match is pretty damned good when I cut a day off of my vacation to get home to come to a show and a killer main event like this. Even with Bryan Danielson allowed to do as much so far in WWE, I like my Danielson straight up with no Diva comedy chaser. This match featured false finish after false finish. Even though the crowd was exhausted and dehydrated…this was the match the crowd came to this show to see. The show ended with Danielson offered his services to the World-a faction and the show closed with “Final Countdown” playing and the crowd singing along to close the show.
2010 CARD/PPV OF THE YEAR:
WWE: Wrestlemania 26, March 28, 2010, Glendale, AZ – Between Shawn Michaels-Undertaker, Chris Jericho-Edge. Rey Misterio-CM Punk. and John Cena-Batista on top; Wrestlemania was again the destination PPV for mainstream wrestling fans.
Independent: Dragon Gate USA, Enter The Dragon, July 24, 2010 (aired on PPV on September 10) – As said above, a show had better be pretty damned good to get me to cut a day off of a hard-earned vacation to get home to come to this show; between Danielson-SHINGO, CHIKARA Sekigun (Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, Hallowicked, Masato Yoshino) vs. Kamikaze USA (YAMATO, Akira Tozawa, Gran Akuma and Jon Moxley); and BxB Hulk b Masaaki Mochizuki
2010 WORST CARD/PPV OF THE YEAR:
TNA Turning Point 2010, November 7, Orlando, FL- Well, Let’s have Jeff Hardy (who no one wants to see as a heel…to the point it’s hurting house show business) as the new designated heel Champion of the Bischoff/Hogan faction against Matt Morgan. Raise your hands if you took Matt Morgan seriously as a contender. OK, well, neither did anyone in Orlando. Then, there was the 10 man cluster. with “Fortune” against the ECW v. Lord only knows what.; which saw Sabu being “fired” as the result of a match stipulation. It might have worked if the fact that Sabu had been released wasn’t widely known online days before the PPV. Followed by that was the yearly burial of Samoa Joe by TNA…this time by Jeff Jarrett, MMA expert. GSP is no doubt quaking in his boots as you read this. Then of course the “retirement” of the Dudleys that no one believed in either…only to feature a Bubba Ray-Devon feud that no one wants to see except TNA’s booking committee.
2010 BEST TV SHOW OF THE YEAR:
ROH on HDNet, HDNet – There’s no way you can give this award to RAW with a good conscience after watching Michael Cole turn all too many episodes of RAW into a really bad drinking game where viewers take a drink after each time Cole mentions “and I quote”, “WWE Universe”, “Bryan Danielson is a nerd”, “WWE superstar”, and “Vickie Guerrero is sexy”.
On ROH on HDNet, where I’ve been able to watch most tapings of at the Asylum (ECW) Arena…the storylines have been clear and logical, there have been no mystery cyber-general managers, or announcers putting themselves over at the expense of the in-ring action. Sadly in 2010…what a wrestling TV show SHOULD be… has made it stand out as exceptional.
2010 WORST TV SHOW OF THE YEAR:
TNA Impact, TNA- Where would you like to start? The constant on-air putting over of Dixie Carter Or is it the Bischoff/Hogan//Nash/Flair NWO v 5.0? Or another attempt to re-create ECW? The blowing off of the six-sided ring and the telling of a live crowd that they’d take the changes and like it? The Jersey Shore copy of “Cookie” and Robbie E.?
You get the general idea. Wrestling fans want SO badly for Vince McMahon to get some honest-to-God competition so as to keep him honest and force him to be creative…and TNA keeps failing to deliver it over and over. But TNA’s fans drink more Kool-Aid than ECW fans at their worst…and ignore the kinds of things I’ve mentioned.
2010 TV ANNOUNCER OF THE YEAR:
CM Punk, WWE – Punk was thrown out there on TV due to an injury, yet proved far better at getting over storylines through being entertaining and through shooty comments than Michael Cole did on a month of Sundays and with Vince McMahon screaming in his ear (then again, maybe that was part of the problem).
2010 WORST TV ANNOUNCER OF THE YEAR:
Michael Cole, WWE Monday Night RAW: In a shocking upset, Michael Cole repeats as the worst heel announcer of all time. A heel announcer needs to be the color announcer, while the the play-by-play announcer needs to get over the match and storylines. Instead, Cole’s main jobs seemed to be calling Bryan Danielson a “nerd” and telling us how horrible he was rather than getting him over as an underdog, interfering during his broadcast partner’s matches, and primarily serving as mouthpiece for the single most irritating storyline device I’ve ever seen not named Eric Bischoff…the “anonymous RAW General Manager”, which only spoke to “the WWE Universe” via e-mails over a laptop.
2010 WRESTLING NEWS STORIES OF THE YEAR
Linda McMahon’s failed United States Senate campaign, the consequent attacks on wrestling by politicians and mainstream media for past storyrlines during the Attitude Era, as well as steroid and other drug deaths were featured all over msintream media during 2010…increased awareness by WWE and TNA of the long-term effect of concussions (including the possible effect they may have had in the Benoit family tragedy)….with the retirement of Shawn Michaels and Undertaker and HHH off of TV; WWE finally started a long-overdue youth movement with major pushes for The Miz, CM Punk, Sheamus, Bryan Danielson, and John Morrison. TNA failed miserably at another attempt at Monday Night Wars, getting clobbered in the ratings, before going back quickly to their usual Thursday night taped program.
show business, PTC forced to surrender, NWA-TNA, Philadelphia independent wars
Until next time…
If you have comments/questions/event announcements/results, if you’d like to add the AS I SEE IT column to your website, or if you’d like to add advertising on PWBTS.com (the flagship website of this column), e-mail me at the address above. Advertising consists of banner ads, available for $400 for one year. These ads would appear on each newspage appearing on the newsboard. Cube ads are also available for $200 for one year, which would be placed on the main newsboard page.