Picking This Year's Wrestling Observer Awards (WWE)
by Gravity on Dec 23, 2011 6:02 AM EST
Email
Print*Asterisk*'s brutal attack on Michael Cole has opened my eyes to the fact that it is the time of year where we celebrate all that is good, and bad, in the world of professional wrestling. Throughout the years, few publications have done this better than the Wrestling Observer, well known for having some of the most prestigious awards in the business. Now while it's safe to say I do not have near the credibility of anyone at the Observer (the lack of RoH in my daily life might kill it off), it's always fun to project just who or what will earn these awards is it not? Let's do a quick rundown of the WWE and see what kind of candidates they've got running around.
Wrestler of the Year: Randy Orton
No joke. Despite having a fair lack of charisma, Orton has stunned me (one of his biggest critics) with perhaps the most captivating year of his career. Orton spent much of the last few years snoozing his way through feuds with guys like John Cena and sleepwalking through matches. No more in 2011. Orton quickly made a statement with an inspired fued with CM Punk, leading to two stellar matches at Wrestlemania and Extreme Rules. He then had a dazzling series of matches with Christian that lasted much of the summer, many of which are legitimate match of the year candidates. Since then, Orton's made a habit of having great TV matches with guys like Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes, and Wade Barrett, and has even given each of those guys at least one win against him. Not only were all of the matches good, but he's giving the rub to talent in ways a guy like John Cena just does not do. Add a nice little World Title reign in there, and Orton's had one hell of a 2011. Runner-Up: CM Punk
Most Outstanding Wrestler: Dolph Ziggler
Last year's winner Daniel Bryan didn't have quite enough TV time to properly defend his title this year. Instead it's Dolph Ziggler who has bloomed on the midcard as a serious US Champ and a guy who can be called on for a great match week in and week out. With stellar TV matches with CM Punk, Randy Orton and more, as well as some great curtain jerkers on PPV, Ziggler is easily the best up and coming wrestler on the roster. Runner-Up: CM Punk
Feud of the Year: John Cena vs. CM Punk
Really the only thing this feud didn't have going for it was longevity. Despite being settled in just two months, the opening weeks of this one created a barnburner the likes of which the WWE hadn't seen in years. Starting with CM Punk's famous shoot promo, hitting it's stride with great promo work from Vince McMahon and John Cena of all people, and capping with two stellar matches from Punk and Cena, this was the biggest feud WWE has had in years. Shame they burned it out so quick. Runner-Up: Christian vs. Randy Orton
Tag Team of the Year: Some guys in ROH, Probably
I'm not gonna look at you guys seriously and say any major league tag team deserves this award. Surely some RoH watchers have seen much better tag matches this year. Runner-Up: Some guys in CHIKARA, Probably
Most Improved: Cody Rhodes
Cody has been stellar in all of 2011, since adopting his "Dashing" gimmick in late 2010. His feud with Mysterio ramped his character up to supervillain levels, and he's spent much of this year cutting excellent promos and putting on great matches with great guys. He just beats out the strangely appealing R-Truth on this one. Runner-Up: R-Truth
Most Charismatic: CM Punk
Cena's held this award for the last five years, but at last someone has usurped his crown. Punk exploded into the public eye with his shoot promo in June, and has since continued to spit some of the most inspired, or at least interesting, promos in the biz. While Cena continues to go back to his usual wells of cliches and raised voice promos, CM Punk has reminded WWE fans what a real charisma machine can do with a mic. Hopefully this will be his award for the next five years. Runner-Up: R-Truth
Best Technical Wrestler: Daniel Bryan
Who are we kidding here? Runner-Up: CM Punk
Most Overrated: Alberto Del Rio
The man won a Royal Rumble, Money In The Bank, and two WWE Championships in 2011. So where's his standout moment? Where's his legendary promo? Where is his MOTY candidate? Nowhere to be found. While Del Rio is still nice in the ring, he needs a bit more work before he starts living up to his resume. Runner-Up: Big Show
Most Underrated: Dolph Ziggler
I know he spent the majority of the year as a midcard champ, but he's got the potential to be so much more! Runner-Up: Wade Barrett
Match of the Year: CM Punk vs. John Cena - Money In The Bank
This one really doesn't need explained does it? Runner-Up: Christian vs. Randy Orton - Over The Limit
There's plenty more awards you can look up, as well as past winners, on the WON Wikipedia page! Who do you think should win these awards, WWE or otherwise?
The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.
12 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Most Overrated: Alberto Del Rio
Do you not have any idea what this award actually represents?
It’s supposed to represent the guy who was given the biggest, steadiest push that year, and failed at living up to it in the biggest way. At no point was Del Rio given a steady push by WWE, he lost almost all his major matches cleanly and decisively, never main evented a PPV in a one on one match, never looked strong on TV, and was given one semi-clean win over a meaningful opponent throughout the entire year (CM Punk at HiaC).
Ordinarily I’d give the award to Mark Henry, because the buyrates from every PPV Henry has been on have been atrocious, his matches have been awful, and he’s pushed harder than any heel in WWE since that godawful Kane push last year, but even by those standard, Michael Cole far and away takes the cake.
Cole gets more airtime than anyone else in WWE history, never recieves comeuppance for anything he does, is constantly given 20 minute promos and segments to get his character over, buries every wrestler who’s match he commentates except for Cena, Orton, Undertaker, and Triple H, and has yet to put over anybody except Jerry Lawler in that one Over the Limit match, whoopdy fucking do. Meanwhile, the ratings and buyrates from the last year have been utterly terrible when Rocky isn’t involved.
Why on Earth are you defending Michael Cole in the first place?
He did win...
Win the Royal Rumble, have a world title match at WM, win Money in the Bank and then become a WWE champion.
Overall, that’s a year most wrestlers would kill for.
by Sergio Hernandez on Dec 23, 2011 8:21 AM EST up reply actions 2 recs
I’ll give you the Royal Rumble, but let’s be honest, the Smackdown championship doesn’t count as a world title. Not to mention that he lost said “title match” clean as a sheet in the opening match of Wrestlemania, he didn’t even get 15 minutes for his match. He squeaked out an MitB win, but it doesn’t matter, because he cashed in the briefcase in the lamest MitB cash in ever, lost the title clean in his first PPV defense via submission, and had another title reign that went almost the exact same way. Not that it matters, because all the titles in WWE are meaningless props to begin with.
He was never placed at the top of the cards in a way that was different from the way R-Truth was earlier this year at Capitol Punishment. All that separated Del Rio’s push from Truth was that he got to win two meaningless world titles on his way.
If you insist on bringing this garbage back up
Why on Earth are you defending Michael Cole in the first place?
I’m going to note this once, and drop it again, I was never defending Michael Cole. In my original post on the subject, I said I agreed with a good many of your points. I merely had a problem with one of them, and contended that it was inaccurate.
Regarding Del Rio, you’re gonna tell me a guy who had a World Title match at WM, two WWE Championship reigns, a Royal Rumble win, a MITB win, and overall was in a main event match at 8 of the 13 PPVs, wasn’t given a steady push? Or was he just not given a steady push that fits your preferred definition?
Beware my tiny electric fury.
2 title reigns, 84 days combined
And one of those was only because the E was touring Mexico, and he lost the belt immediately after. Doesn’t sound like a “push” by any definition.
Gillberg...Gillberg...Gillberg...
by GoForthAndDie on Dec 23, 2011 4:47 PM EST up reply actions
I think winning the World Title
Still qualifies as a push. Maybe not a good one, but they don’t just hand that belt to people they don’t give a shit about.
Either way, Del Rio’s resume is really impressive on paper. Some may not agree with my assessment, but that’s why I open the floor to everyone to suggest their own winners. Opinions and such.
Beware my tiny electric fury.
I think winning the World Title still qualifies as a push. Maybe not a good one, but they don’t just hand that belt to people they don’t give a shit about.
Either way, Del Rio’s resume is really impressive on paper.
Saying that Del Rio’s resume is impressive on paper is the equivalent of saying George W. Bush has a good resume because he was President of the United States.
Del Rio’s title reign meant nothing, just like countless WWE champions meant nothing. Just because WWE gives someone their top belt doesn’t mean they’re pushing them in any way, especially if it’s after a weak MitB cash in, and WWE never lets said guy main event a PPV in a singles match, or even close that nights RAW without John Cena being in the mix.
Del Rio is a good candidate for most overrated because he has been given all of these in-storyline accomplishments that have already been noted yet he is still a huge jabroni. When a guy that has won a Rumble, a MITB, two WWE championships, and wrestled in a World title match at Wrestlemania has barely any more heat than Jack Swagger, he can be accurately described as overrated.
Michael Cole sucks and is the worst thing about the product. He is so bad yet is given so much TV time and influence on the show that he is clearly also extremely overrated.
I think the choice comes down to whether or not you are willing to include non-wrestlers for this award. If so, then Cole probably wins. If not, Del Rio or Miz or Henry probably take it.
Del Rio is a good candidate for most overrated because he has been given all of these in-storyline accomplishments that have already been noted yet he is still a huge jabroni. When a guy that has won a Rumble, a MITB, two WWE championships, and wrestled in a World title match at Wrestlemania has barely any more heat than Jack Swagger, he can be accurately described as overrated.
This would only be true if winning those world titles, the MitB, the “world title” match at Wrestlemania, and winning the Royal Rumble actually mattered, and they don’t. What matters is whether or not a guy is getting pushed, and Del Rio hasn’t been given a push this entire year, winning a couple of meaningless accomplishments doesn’t change that. It’s like saying TNA was pushing Samoa Joe by giving him a win at the turkey bowl.
It’s different for Henry though. Even though the WWE Smackdown world title means almost nothing, steamrolling the roster for nine months always means something, and seeing that WWE gave that to Henry when he’s the worst worker in the company, Henry easily counts as the most overrated.
You have a good point. I wonder why WWE even wasted the Rumble win and the WWE Championship wins on ADR if they had no intention to make him look strong at some point. It turned out to be a huge waste of time as well as a lost opportunity to use those vehicles to help out another performer in the company.
I can definitely agree that Henry is the most overrated wrestler this year. I don’t get why there is so much love for Henry around here. His matches are awful and a chore to sit through, his feud with the Big Show was the epitome of boring, and it turned out that his title run was a huge waste of time and did nothing to elevate the next champ (Big Show) who had the title more just a few seconds. I had hoped that they could use the monster push of Henry to at least get somebody over in a big way (like Bryan) but they couldn’t even get that done correctly. I don’t get it.
I find it funny that many wrestling fans (including me) love to discuss our “dream Wrestlemania” card around this time of year, yet for all the Henry love out there I rarely ever see Henry mentioned in any of these dream cards or scenarios. I don’t think I have ever looked forward to watching a Mark Henry match. And now with Kane back it seems that Henry is redundant. I can deal with a Kane match at Wrestlemania, but I don’t want to see Kane and Mark Henry both have separate singles matches on the big show. No thank you.
Even if you hate his work, Henry’s title win turned around the falling Smackdown ratings and house show crowds. It worked, so you can’t really say he didn’t deserve it.
by ThisOneGoesToEleven on Dec 26, 2011 1:01 PM EST up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
