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411’s 2006 Year End Wrestling Awards (PART 2)
Honorable Mention: Carlito (5), Bobby Roode (6), Snitsky (1)
3rd Place: Viscera – 17 points – Not much was entertaining about Vis. He’s big and he’s used, but in no way does that mean anything.
2nd Place: Boogeyman – Boogeyman – Sometimes, the spoils are worth the means. Chalk a little victory up to JT, because Boogeyman contributes nothing to the product other than a T-shirt here and a sign there.
And your winner is: The Great Khali – 80 points
Michael Bauer: I am actually I little surprised to see him here. I mean, he did a great job beating up people for Adam Sand… oh wait, my bad, that was 2005. In 2006, The Great Khali was anything but great. His matches with the Undertaker were so bad that they had to pull it off of Pay per View and have the match on the Smackdown before it, because of course, that’s where crap belongs. And when he wasn’t doing that, he was squashing Rey Mysterio in horrible fashion. At least in ECW, he shouldn’t get many chances to fight (at least we all hope so) and that is a good thing for all of us. Here is to Khali, the WWE’s version of the gift we wish we could return.
Ari Berenstein: Before I big chop this big man down, I will say this one positive first: Great Khali’s interviews were perversely entertaining and fantastically funny viewing. God knows what the man was trying to express in his promos other than “RRRRRRRRRAR!” Now, as far as wrestling goes, my god does Great Khali suck. His finishing move throughout most of 2006 was a big chop. A BIG CHOP. That wasn’t a believable finisher in 1986, much less twenty years later. When you have less mobility than an old school G.I. Joe action figure, you know you’re a stiff load. What is even more frustrating than the fact that WWE pushed YET ANOTHER FAILURE of a big man wrestler down the fan’s throats for months on end…only to cut the push short and get the guy out of the spotlight… was the fact that The Undertaker lost to Khali. That Undertaker wouldn’t or couldn’t job to the current “man” in WWE, John Cena but he took a rare loss to Khali is possibly one of the greatest mind boggles in WWE history next to who raised the briefcase at King of the Ring 1998. The Great Khali was so horrible that he couldn’t even wrestle in his own supposed TRADEMARK match the “Punjabi Prison Match”…and what a horror THAT turned out to be even without him. Ladies and gentleman, it doesn’t get much worse, which is why The Great Khali IS the exemplification of the worst in wrestling in 2006.
Steve Cook: Let’s go down the list…he can’t wrestle. He can’t talk. He can’t draw money. Nobody gives a flying fuck about him…they even tried putting him over the motherfucking Undertaker, who never puts anybody over, and that didn’t work. I don’t want to waste another keystroke on this waste of oxygen, so I won’t.
Matthew Sforcina: ‘Worst Wrestler’ is such an odd award, when you think about it. I mean, realistically, one would imagine that you could find the single smallest, shabby, worst run indy fed in the world, and find their jobber, and odds are, they’d be pretty damm bad. But then, who would know who El Perdedor Al-Azar or Grossista Al Senza-Valore or The Massive Q was. So we need a slightly different critera to merely just being a bad wrestler. And the one that is used is mainly effort V talent, at least it seems that way. The award goes to the guy who got the biggest push, the most air time, the biggest wins, the largest effort by the company behind him, and yet had the least amount of talent. And not since Mr. Gigante-Gonzales as there been someone like Khali. He can’t talk. He can’t fly. He can’t wrestle. He can’t ooze charisma. He can’t do anything except look tall, and even then he needs a bit of help from the cameras. And yet, in one of the most shocking, dissapointing and above all stupid moves the WWE has ever done, he beat The Undertaker. Not escaped by the skin of his teeth, not cheated his way to a tainted victory, not won a gimmick match due to outside interferance. HE PINNED THE UNDERTAKER WITH ONE FOOT. Compared to that, giving the World Champ one move in their match that he doesn’t even sell is minor. Can you imagine what a Kennedy, or Edge, or Punk, or hell anyone in the WWE with even a smidgen of mic skills could have done with that much of a win over Taker? A rare Clean Loss by Taker, and it’s waisted on a guy who at best, is nothing more than silent muscle, and they can’t even do that right. That is why Khali gets the worst wrestler award. Because of lost opporutunites. That, and he sucks.
Honorable Mention: Gymini (17), Seratonin (3), Cryme Tyme (10)
3rd Place: Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Eugene – 22 points – Can’t say this is a surprise. They blew, period. Way to waste a legend and someone who could actually be good for you if you let him out of that gimmick.
2nd Place: Viscera and Charlie Haas – 25 points – Again, a stupid teaming that went nowhere. The most important thing they did was fight over (and eventually turn on) Lillian Garcia.
And your winner is: Voodoo Kin Mafia – 80 points
Michael Bauer: The James Gang became the Voodoo Kin Mafia on November 16th, during TNA’s 2 hour prime time special. The moment they said the words Paul Lévesque and Michael Hickenbottom, they secured the title for worst tag team of the year. As the James Gang, they didn’t do much anyway, but this moment showed just how bad they are. Every time they do one of those horrible promos, they break the #1 rule of wrestling: Never, EVER, admit that anyone else is out there. And it doesn’t matter how truthful you may be, you still will always look like shit. That is what the VKM is all about, trying to make the WWE look like shit, but doing it to themselves 100 times worse. I guess VKM is appropriate for them: Visibly Killing Me.
John Meehan: Hands down, the Voodoo Kin Mafia are EASILY the single most uninspiring, unentertaining, and unoriginal tandem to have been borne of TNA’s booking braintrust to date. In concept, the erstwhile James Gang was “repackaged” to (get this) be a “knock off of a knock off,” as they declared “war” on the WWE’s newly-reunited dX tandem and took their bombast to an all-time high claiming that THEY (and not Shawn Michaels or Triple H) were the reason behind the “original” dX’s success. Nevermind the fact that the “ORIGINAL” dX didn’t even consist of Kip and B.G., or the fact that the “new” dX is headlining international tours, moving merchandise by the truckload and making WWE money hand over fist while the “VKM” toils away in independent shows across the country and makes a few extra bucks hawking autographs outside of a high school gymnasium after the show. The James Gang was tired enough (and “Nobody Moves… Nobody Gets Hurt CARES!” certainly didn’t help matters, but a dX retread to parody a dX retread? Man, that’s like buying the dollar store version of “Pyrates of The Carriboon” when all the official, Disney-liscenced DVDs are sold out over at Wal-Mart. And if *you’re* the kid on Christmas morning who opens his stocking expecting to see Johnny Depp and company only to receive the swashbuckling DVD adventures of “Captain Mack Parrow?” Well, you can understand why TNA fans have found themselves greeting the Voodoo Kin Mafia with a collective groan as they make their way to their local “no thanks, can I return this for store credit please?” gimmick exchange line.
Steve Cook: I have a hard time getting behind this one because really, when do these guys ever wrestle? I was much more offended by teams like the Spirit Squad that went out there every week, had shitty matches and still got pushed for no reason at all. The Voodoo Kin Mafia (man, that name sucks) just does corny skits. I dunno, I don’t see what the big fuss is. But they were a hell of a lot better in the late 90s, that’s for sure.
Matthew Sforcina: “He Beats The Big Guy With 3 Superkicks.” That one sentance can directly lead to this result. Which seen from a distance, seems bizarre. How can a team that was once the New Age Outlaws, one of the hottest non-Hogan/Austin/Rock acts in WWE history, a team that saved Tag Team Wrestling from total death in the late 90’s, and got it to the point where the Hardyz/E&C/Dudz could take it to the next level, a team with such history, chemistry together and just basic tag team knowledge be the worst team in 2006? Simple. They’re constantly talking about the opposition. WWF and WCW and ECW, when all three were big (realtivly) and fighting each other (technically), couldn’t do business in a vacuum. They had to recognize the opposition, be it in questionable but intelligent actions (giving away results) or just plain stupid deals (Billonare Ted). After all, if you acted like you were all that was there in the world, that would come off as concieted and egotistical, plus if you hired someone from the opposition, while you’d rebuild them slightly you did need the fan base to at least recognize them, so you could try to lure them over. But that was when things were equal. Now, neither WWE nor TNA should be saying anything about the other. WWE because they ARE the only major thing and thus can afford to ignore everything they don’t own since that’s such a small amount, and TNA because they aren’t anywhere near WWE’s level. And yet, here’s the badly named tag team, wasting time talking about guys they’ll never in a billion years get to fight (outside a rehire and DX vs. NAO fued), when they could be brawling with LAX, or attacking Angle, or beating down Eric Young, or doing something, ANYTHING, involving guys ON THE FUCKING ROSTER. That is why VKM got this award. Sheer stupidity. And alas, there’s no end in sight…
Honorable Mention: There is no honorable mention, this is cut and fucking dry.
3rd Place: Royal Rumble – 9 points – I actually liked the Rumble, but I can see what some people disliked.
2nd Place: Cyber Sunday – 71 points – This PPV sucked, period. Complete waste of my forty bucks.
And your winner is: December to Dismember/ – 109 points
Larry Csonka: There is justice in the world! This was, without doubt the worst show in the year 2006. This was the public execution of the ECW brand, which is sad. Four of the six matches were at or below the quality that we get on Raw from week to week, actually probably worse. They were filler matches, almost squash matches on PPV, a PPV that they asked you to pay $40 for. A PPV that ended almost 30-minutes earlier than it should have, it was just pathetic. In the end I went with a 1 out of 10 for the show. That’s right, ONE out of 10. It gets a 1 for the good opening tag, but other than that…BULL FUCKING SHIT! Cyber Sunday at least had a “semi” excuse for not having things fully laid out due to its gimmick, but this was just piss poor planning by management. This was the public execution of the ECW brand. While not the worst PPV of all time as many were saying, it was the worst of the year, which is an amazing turn around from ONS II, which was one of the best PPV’s this year. And since I an ranting about the horrible PPV, I BEG fans of this company to not take this shit anymore. Voice your displeasure with your remote and PPV dollars. The WWE continually tells you to fuck off by providing horrible PPV’s that cost you $40 of your hard earned money. I tell you to let them know that you are done. You take the chance to tell them to fuck off and turn off the shows, don’t buy the PPV’s and hurt them where it counts. The recaps will be here for you, the opinions will be here and you can share yours with us. Make it happen. Don’t buy this show on PPV, don’t get the DVD, stay away for your own sanity. I am now off to therapy.
Stuart Carapola: I think there were a lot of factors that went into why this PPV was so bad. It wasn’t the worst PPV ever from a pure workrate perspective. Both the Hardyz-MNM match and the Elimination were solid to good matches. The main problem as I see it is that with only one hour of TV each week, ECW doesn’t have enough time to properly build up enough of the guys to put together a compelling PPV, especially when you’re throwing the top six guys into the Elimination Chamber. I understand that they thought the Elimination Chamber would be a big draw for the PPV, but by doing it all in one match instead of breaking it up into another 3-4 matches to flesh out the card more, they may have shot themselves in the foot. Sometimes less really is more. The bait and switch with Sabu didn’t bother me too much because, realistically, Sabu isn’t as important to the brand as he was 4-5 months ago. I think there have probably even been worse PPVs just this year, but people have such expectations out of the ECW name that there’s no way they could have delivered with the setup they have now. Then again, I also think that people should have known better than to expect a blowaway PPV when the top guys not already booked into matches were guys like Matt Stryker and Daivari.
Steve Cook: Simply put, if you’re going to have your PPV only last 2 hours and 15 minutes, don’t expect everybody to love your show. I watched it a week or so ago, and I’ve already forgotten whatever happened on it. I think the highlight was the closeups of Big Show sitting in the pod of the Chamber slobbering all over the place. Tremendous.
Scott Slimmer: Watching December to Dismember was like watching a train wreck in slow motion. I knew there was going to be trouble as soon as I saw the arena. That wasn’t an ECW venue. It was too big, too bright, and a couple thousand miles too far south. The opening match was great, but it featured a sum total of zero ECW wrestlers. That just felt like a slap in the face from Vince McMahon to all the ECW fans. We then slogged through a series of utterly forgettable matches that each would have been much more at home on the under-card of ECW’s weekly television show. Then, of course, we ran headlong into the Extreme Elimination Chamber, itself a structure larger than most of what I consider to be legitimate ECW venues. Oh, and I seem to have forgotten to mention that a true ECW legend had been removed from the match earlier in the evening. Turns out Vince McMahon was scared to have too many popular wrestlers in the same match. That might lead to, I dunno, people actually enjoying the match or something. Anyway, the match eventually began, and of course the only two men that the crowd was supporting were eliminated rather early. Later, the ending of the match saw one distinctly non-extreme wrestler pin another rather non-extreme wrestler to become the new ECW Champion. Seriously, it’s like whoever was booking this show was high. Or maybe just clinically stupid. We all know that bad pay-per-views happen, but most of the time they’re forgotten the next day. This year, December to Dismember transcended being merely “bad” by actually being insulting, disrespectful, and downright depressing. My friends, that’s not just “bad.” That’s the Worst Pay-Per-View of the Year.
Honorable Mention: Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Orton (4), Ariel vs. Kelly Kelly on ECW (1), Boogeyman vs. Booker T at WM 22 (12)
3rd Place: TNA’s Reverse Battle Royal on Impact – 23 points – A bunch of guys trying to get themselves into the ring. Yay.
2nd Place: Kane vs. Fake Kane – 33 points – What a disaster this was. You all saw it.
And your winner is: The Great Khali vs. The Undertaker – Judgment Day – 36 points
Larry Csonka: No sir I did not like this, I did not like this at all. I suppose that I should preface this by saying that this match was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I thought that this match would SUCK and easily be the worst match of the year. I will admit that I was wrong there as it was not nearly that bad, but that is all credit to the Undertaker. The Undertaker worked his ass off, hell, he worked for 12-men in that match and that is the reason that the match was as “good,” and I use that term loosely, as it was. It was just there, but yeah, bad. But besides the match being bad, here is my problem. To me the Undertaker doing a job is important, as he doesn’t job that often and when he does it is not always clean, because it takes like 12 people to bury him or they have to run him over with a car. But, on the occasions that he does lose in a regular fashion it is important, and it does mean something because of the legacy that has been crafted. To me if he is going to lose so clean and be beat down so badly it SHOULD have been someone that the company has a huge future for. Hell, Brock Lesnar did not get to beat Taker down so bad, Big Show has never got to beat him down so bad. But they did this and BLEW their load on this 7 ft tall piece of shit that can barely talk and definitely cannot wrestle. This was horrible. Khali can’t work, he can’t sell and he can barley move that well. But Taker worked his ass off, bumped like he was channeling Curt Hennig and lost as clean as possible to one of the ugliest boots ever. And to add on top of this, Khali pins him with the one-foot deal. He pinned the Undertaker with a foot. This was beyond ridiculous to me as someone else that they were or will be building up could have used this victory so much more. Hell, there was talk of dropping Khali as soon as the PPV was over, but that changed. I am just not for what happened here as it was wasted on a Giant…piece of shit.
John Meehan: Booking 101 says that if you’re going to make a money-feud out of a longstanding beef between two performers, then you’d better give fans a reason to believe that EITHER man could win the match at a moment’s notice. From there, rematch-booking 101 says that if you’re going to make fans tune in for the second (or third, or fourth, or…) match between two performers, then the first one should have ended in a manner where one guy *JUST BARELY* eeked out the win over his rival in their last encounter, once again giving fans every reason to believe that EITHER man could win the (re)match at a moment’s notice. But when you look at Judgment Day 2006, the first in a series of not-so-epic showdowns between WWE Legend The Undertaker and WWE newcomer bigman “The Great Khali?” Sadly, the duo’s first encounter left EVERYTHING to be desired as it threw “smart booking” out the window in favor of seeing Khali hand the Dead Man a DECISIVE victory — with a match-ending one-foot pin for the three count, no less! Never before in Undertaker’s career had the Phenom been so soundly thrashed by an opponent, and though this might lead you to believe that fans had all the more reason to tune in next week to see if this bona-fide “Legend Killer” was really the company’s next big thing, a quick attention to Khali’s actual in-ring ability would prove just how wrong you were. Not only did the Punjabi Giant lack ANY knowledge of a wrestling hold outside of a throat-toss (at this point, he’s giving Tiny Lister a run for his workrate money) — but WWE officials actually found the big man’s overall abilities to be so atrocious that (get this) THEY DIDN’T EVEN TRUST HIM TO COMPETE ON LIVE PAY-PER-VIEW EVENTS thereafter! That goes a LONG way in not only destroying any fan interest in Khali himself, but also in tearing down what remaining mystique and “ass-kickin’ cred” that his poor opponent, The Undertaker, might have once had going into the feud. Thankfully, ‘Taker is ALWAYS going to be a draw so fans are willing to forgive the bad match along the way (Concrete Crypt, anyone?) — but as for Khali? Sometimes, “winning” still turns out to be no better than “losing” in the end, and looking at his relative success rate following his infamous one-footed pinfall victory over The Dead Man? Well, let’s just say Khali ain’t looking so “Great” after all.
Steve Cook: This was just a bad idea all around. Letting Great Khali go over Taker was a bad idea. Even worse than that was the idea of having him in a match longer than five minutes. Fortunately WWE learned from this mistake and he didn’t even wrestle Undertaker at the Great American Bash. Well, that probably had more to do with his elevated liver enzymes than the fact that he couldn’t work his way out of a paper bag, but after viewing this match, it was obvious that Khali didn’t have what it took to be something. And it sure wasn’t Undertaker’s fault, he tried his best to salvage the match. But sometimes you just can’t salvage things, and this was one of those times. On the bright side, it was funny to watch Khali try to give offense that looked like it hurt.
Daniel Wilcox: 35 punches, 5 kicks, 4 clotheslines, 2 big boots, 1 old school, 1 whip into steel steps and a pair of chops. That’s all the offence that was in this match. What ever sequence you put those moves in, your not going to get a good match, whoever the participants. But when one participant has had about a total of four wrestling matches, and the other is rarely motivated enough to pull out a good match, then your heading for a disaster, and that’s what this was. We all knew Khali had no right to be in a WWE ring, and this just proved that point.
Honorable Mention: Jay & Mark Brusoe (7), RKO (1), Austin Aries & Roderick Strong (20)
3rd Place: Kings of Wrestling – 31 points – Won not only the CHIKARA Pro Wrestling but also the Ring Of Honor Tag Team titles in 2006.
2nd Place: Hooliganz, London & Kendrick – 47 points – Kept the tag team division alive in the E and have put on one HELL of a show all year, despite the teases of dissention in the ranks. They’ve also held the tag team titles for the better part of eight months.
And your winner is: LAX – 93 points
Larry Csonka: While they had a slow start to the year, and I was skeptical and panned them early on, LAX (Homicide, Hernandez y Konnan) turned the corner and quickly became the hottest act in wrestling. Konnan, with his injuries, Konnan, with his injuries, had to be transitioned to the mouthpiece of the group and that was really a blessing in disguise. While it doesn’t allow Homicide to say much, he has been able to showcase his in ring talents and that is great to see. Hernandez really stepped up and played the power man perfectly, and also has shown the agility he possesses, which for a big man he moves really well. Everything clicked and clicked well, including the “rebellious” entrance and rouge announce table with “the border.” They won the NWA Tag Team Titles two times this year, and as of this writing are still the champions. They went through AJ and Daniels, and they are no more and won a match that caused AMW to break up forever. That’s a long way from arm wrestling cage matches and whippings afterwards.
Some notable PPV matches they had from the year are:
Stuart Carapola: Although they got off to a rough start and went through a few members before settling down with Hernandez, LAX has been on a terrific roll this year. When they first got started, I was really worried that they were destined to be another “I’m being held back because I’m not white” act that would die a quick death in under six months. See Hassan, Mohammad. But instead, we got some of the most heated feuds and best matches of the year. I was happy enough to see Homicide finally getting a big push in a national company, but I also thought that the final pairing of LAX added up to a great team. I think they’re very reminiscent of the original Hart Foundation, where you have Homicide, the small, agile guy who can fight as well as wrestle, and then the big power guy in Hernandez who can outmuscle anybody on the roster. As good as they are in the ring, they’re enhanced even more by having Konnan as their mouthpiece. LAX surprised the hell out of me with the success they’ve had this year, but they deserve every bit of it.
Theo Fraser: In a year that has seen the break up of AMW and seemingly the end of The Naturals, tag team wrestling in TNA looked a little bleak. Thank God for LAX then! Austin Aries and Roderick Strong had better matches as a tag team in ROH, Styles and Daniels were the dream team of the year, but LAX were the ones who presented the total package. A terrific manager in Konnan, a great dynamic between Hernandez and Homicide, one of the best entrances since 1998 DX, and a string of decent matches cemented LAX at the top of the game this year. The heated Phenomenangels/LAX feud was one of the most intense and exhilarating feuds we witnessed all year, throughout all the major companies, and went a long way in placing LAX as TNA’s most valuable team.
Matthew Sforcina: Take a Mexican Legend, well known in North America, with a history of gimmicks revolving around street life, thugging, Mexican life and occasional periods of being not a very nice person. Add in an ROH legend, a small but brutal man, a guy who can just as easily put you in a spinning reverse inverted atomic headlock into a bridging small package reverse pin with a double leg hook underarm knuckle lock than he could pour Dranio down your throat. Then add, after a few test runs, a larger Hispanic man who has done some minor work here and there but never really given a chance to show his stuff, stuff he got from training under Shawn Michaels. Stir in a large dose of Ethnic Tension, a few choice street references, and a couple of classic heel stable tactics and stylistic touches. Allow to simmer for a bit, then bring to the boil, feeding in AJ Styles and Chris Daniels, America’s Most Wanted and the best gimmick matches TNA has to offer. Garnish with a couple of title reigns, and you have the constantly multiple star goodness that is LAX. Serves plenty. Keeps well too.
Honorable Mention: ROH Supercard of Honor (10), TNA Sacrifice (6), WWE Armageddon (2), BONUS: Better Than Our Best (18)
3rd Place: WWE Unforgiven – 20 points – Not a bad PPV at all, and worthy of at least being on the top 10 list.
2nd Place: ECW One Night Stand 2 – 39 points – The one that started it all apparently. Some said there was too much WWE going on, but it did lead to the rebirth of ECW, so that seems a mute point now.
And your winner is: WrestleMania 22 – 65 points
Arnold Furious: Wrestlemania is often the most memorable card of the year regardless of whether that card is any good. The WWE has had a hard time with some of its bigger PPV’s during 2006 not getting good vibes going for the Royal Rumble, Summerslam or Survivor Series. None of which delivered. Wrestlemania is different though. The McMahon’s always push the boat out and try to leave the fans with something memorable. At Wrestlemania this year they had Mick Foley surprisingly deliver his “Wrestlemania moment” some six years after retiring. Foley’s on-off return to the ring has generally been to put over younger, more athletic wrestlers. His desire to sacrifice himself for the greater good of the business has always impressed me. At Wrestlemania he sacrificed his body for the career of Edge. The two of them put on one of the great hardcore matches and a match I personally felt was the best the WWE put on all year. The rest of the card held up in places. Shawn Michaels did a broomstick carry job on Vince McMahon dragging him up to probably his best singles match ever without Vince ever doing anything. John Cena retained his WWE title in an entertaining bout against Triple H. Mickie James captured the women’s title in a hot match with Trish Stratus featuring a vaginal claw complete Mickie’s utterly psychotic finger licking. The big story from Wrestlemania however was Rey Mysterio being given the World title over on Smackdown. Beating Randy Orton and Kurt Angle in a rushed and spot heavy triple threat match Rey became the smallest man in the history of the WWE to hold a world title. At the time it seemed monumental but looking back we can see how poor his title run ended up being. Still, it was an interesting moment at Mania where he claimed the title belt. A mixture of all this made Wrestlemania the most entertaining PPV of the year.
Larry Csonka: WrestleMania was a good show this year. A lot of people I think get blinded by the WrestleMania mystique, and are quick to give it an automatic pass as a great show. In my opinion the show felt short in terms of “The biggest show of the year” but as an overall show it as good, and the junk was kept minimal. I went with a 7.0 out of 10 for the show, and a solid recommendation to get the DVD, especially with all of the extras. In my opinion this is surely one of the top 5 PPV’s of the year, but for me it was #5 in terms of ranking them. Good show though, just not great in my opinion, but the staff differs and that is why it was awarded PPV of the year.
Stuart Carapola: The fact that this show made PPV Of The Year kind of bothers me because there were at least three or four TNA PPVs this year that I thought blew this away. Simply put, this wasn’t as good a show as you might think and survived on name alone. First, the undercard blew ass, so to give it the benefit of the doubt, let’s shove all that under the carpet right now nad just conentrate on the key matches. We’ll also forget that a pillow fight was the semi-main event. Let’s start with the top title matches. John Cena beat Triple H to retain the WWE Title in a match that was only notable because everybody thought Triple H would win. Rey Mysterio had the inspirational moment of the night when he won the World Title, but the match wasn’t even ten minutes long and started one of the most painful to watch title reigns in recent memory. It could have been better if it was longer, but it wasn’t. Undertaker won a casket match against Mark Henry. Next. Shawn Michaels beat Vince McMahon in a match that was mostly notable because it showed that Shawn Michaels can still carry nearly anyone to a good match. RVD won Money In The Bank, which was also a good match. Mick Foley and Edge had their little match with the flaming table. That’s the match everybody is going to remember from this show, but they’re going to remember it for the same reason everybody remembers Foley vs Michaels from Mind Games and Foley vs Sting in the Falls Count Anywhere match: because Foley goes around telling everybody how great the matches were and because people like Mick Foley, they feel like they have to agree. It wasn’t that great a match. So basically, we’re left with MITB and Vince vs Shawn as the only two really good matches on the show. And those matches weren’t great, they were just good. Nothing on this show, even the flaming table, really felt like a Wrestlemania moment. There was nothing on the scale of Hogan slamming Andre, Shawn making his entrance on the zip line, or Austin bleeding to death in the Sharpshooter. This show was a Wrestlemania in name only.
Scott Slimmer: In a sense, WrestleMania has a “champion’s advantage” when compared to all other pay-per-views. In order for any other pay-per-view to be recognized as the Pay-Per-View of the Year, it has to beat WrestleMania, not the other way around. There may have been other pay-per-views this year that rivaled WrestleMania 22, but none of them outshone it enough to come out the winner in the end. There will be those who say that WrestleMania 22 won by default, but in my opinion WrestleMania 22 earned its title. I’m not saying that every match on the card was a five star classic, but it certainly had its moments. Think about Shelton Benjamin’s ladder assisted somersault plancha and how it once again proved that Benjamin is the most underutilized wrester on the WWE roster. Picture the Undertaker saving his entire match against Mark Henry by defying all good sense and several laws of physics when he flew over the tope rope and the adjacent casket. Remember how Shawn Michaels cemented his title as the greatest performer in WrestleMania history by literally dragging a sixty year old man through an alarmingly entertaining match. Savor the irony of Rey Mysterio, the ultimate underdog, winning a World Championship on the same night that Triple H, quite possibly the most politically powerful wrestler in the industry, jobbed out at the third WrestleMania in a row. Finally, I dare you not to get chills as you recall Edge and Mick Foley flinging themselves through a flaming table just to create a WrestleMania moment for the ages. In a year that history may come to regard as lackluster, WrestleMania 22 gave us a handful of moments that will never be forgotten and thus earned itself the title of Pay-Per-View of the Year.
Honorable Mention: LowKi vs. Necro Butcher (5), LAX vs. Phenomenal Angels Cage Match (18), Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuiness (11), BONUS: ROH vs CZW Cage of Death match (12)
3rd Place: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe at Turning Point – 29 points – And to think, this is only the middle match. We haven’t even seen the payoff yet.
2nd Place: Edge vs. Mick Foley at WrestleMania 22 – 45 points – It really was a fantastic match; if you haven’t seen it, watch it. Both guys really laid it all on the line to put on the match of the night.
And your winner is: The Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle at No Way Out – 47 points
Larry Csonka: This match summed up the No Way Out PPV perfectly. It could either be really bad or really good. Really bad because Taker is getting old, wrestling less and in theory has nothing to prove. Angle is slowly falling apart and just went through the hell of trying to work with Mark Henry. That is a recipe for disaster there folks. But, Taker and Angle have worked together very well in the past, but that was a few years ago so really, who honestly knew what we would get? The match itself started rather slow, not bad slow, but slow to build to a long match, to set things up. Some people hate Taker and his Psuedo-MMA deal, but in the right match, say with someone like Angle it plays perfectly in my opinion. These guys busted their asses in hopes of having a classic. Angle himself has said he feels he and Taker could have one, and while this wasn’t a “classic” in my opinion, it was an excellent match and way beyond expectations. They worked some sweet reversals, and built to a great climax. Taker really was on his game as he was in good shape and didn’t seem totally tired as one would expect. In the end there is very little to complain about.
I wasn’t cool with how they played the ending in some ways. It was simple really; Angle was in the triangle and then flipped into a jackknife pin and wins. But then they have the announcers act like Taker may have won, why? Cause Taker can’t lose perfectly clean. It’s a fact of life folks; they have to make it seem almost controversial instead of straight forward. Taker losing to anyone, especially Kurt Angle doesn’t hurt him in anyway. They almost did to many reversals, which in a way weakened Angle a bit, but considering that this is how Taker is always booker, I can’t complain too much. Other than that, it was a really good match, Taker’s best singles match in I can’t remember how long. While not MY match of the year, it was a damn fine match and showed that on the right night, with the right person that Taker could still go.
Ari Berenstein: Well, this certainly WASN’T my choice for match of the year, but I have no problems in admitting that among NON Ring of Honor matches, this certainly ranks up there. How ironic is it that Undertaker is involved in 411’s picks for BOTH the best match of the year and the worst match of the year? It goes to show two things: when Undertaker wants to bring his “A” game, he is more than able to do so, but most importantly, it takes two to make a great match possible. This match wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t Kurt Angle doing what he does best to go along with Undertaker doing what he does best.
Samuel Berman: I used to be a HUGE mark for WWE. Seriously, I watched pretty much every RAW for like a decade. And then, mostly out of laziness and disinterest, I got away from watching most of their product over the last couple of years. However, the hype and positive reaction to Kurt Angle defending his title against the Undertaker had me so intrigued that I actually went out and bought a WWE DVD for the first time in a while. I knew it was a one-match-show, and even so, I wasn’t disappointed. For all the bad matches he’s had in his career, it’s easy to forget how good the Undertaker can be when he has a strong opponent to work against. And just like the old days when Shawn Michaels would carry the Undertaker to some truly special matches, Kurt Angle was able to pull another incredible performance out of the dead man. I’m not sure it’s the match of the year, but it was something special, and a reminder of what Angle, the Undertaker and WWE are capable of.
Theo Fraser: Again, this wouldn’t be my personal pick for Match of the Year, but with regards to matches seen on a large scale, there’s no doubt that this gets top honours. The thing that really made this a stand-out match for the WWE this year was the fact that it surprised almost everybody by how good it actually turned out to be. Take, for example, a match that many hardcore fans declare to be the match of the year in terms of workrate; Bryan Danielson vs Kenta. Everyone and their grandmother knew that it would be an instant classic. Undertaker vs Angle, however, had no such expectations. It took place a mere 3 months after the untimely passing of Eddie Guerrero, and soon after Eddie’s death there were reports of another top WWE athlete being placed on what was known as “death watch.” It was quickly surmised that this “death watch” was in reference to Kurt Angle, who seemed to look worse and worse as the months passed. The Undertaker was considered by many to be passed his prime, and his stint of matches against Randy Orton towards the latter part of 2005 left a lot to be desired. Add into that equation the fact that the feud had very little build, if any, and the match on paper didn’t look too bright. But what resulted was a tremendous battle of agility, ring awareness and technical warfare. Angle and Taker took each other to the limit, and their differing styles meshed together wonderfully. The closing minutes were particularly well booked, as Angle counters everything Undertaker throws at him into the Ankle Lock, but Taker just won’t submit. Finally, Angle reverses the Triangle Choke into a jacknife hold to pick up the victory, and on that day Kurt Angle was just the better man. In a year that saw endlessly repetitive handicap matches and God’s wrestling debut, the No Way Out main event was far and away the best that WWE had to offer us.
Honorable Mention: Chikara Pro (1), AAA (3), CML (5)
3rd Place: TNA Impact 33 points – Found themselves in a position to not only move to another network, but got a primetime slot.
2nd Place: WWE SmackDown – 61 points – Showed up BIG TIME this year, and overtook RAW as the best WWE show on television right now.
And your winner is: Ring Of Honor – 87 points
Stuart Carapola: You’re not going to get any argument from me on this one. ROH had what we voted the Feud Of The Year against CZW, but there was so much else going on this year. For one, no titles changed hands until August. There is no other promotion that’s been able to say that for years. Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, and Aries & Strong beat all comers convincingly. A lot of great Japanese talent, most notably KENTA, came in and had some great matches. BJ Whitmer finally started making a name for himself by participating in some of the most hellacious brawls in ROH history. Homicide’s long road to the ROH Title finally ended when he beat Bryan Danielson at Final Battle 2006. There were some excellent additions to the roster this year in Chris Hero, Davey Richards, Irish Airborne, and the returning Briscoe Bros. In between all of this, ROH continued to have the best straight up wrestling product anywhere in the country. ROH has also been smart enough not to try and overextend themselves, they have gradually increased the number of shows they run, but haven’t been marks for getting on TV, doing PPVs, and going national. They’re happy providing a niche product and surviving instead of trying to go national and crumbling like ECW did. They have the best booker around in Gabe Sapolsky, and as far as I’m concerned they could do no wrong in 2006.
Ari Berenstein: Ring of Honor is professional wrestling company and in this day and age, if you bring professional wrestling fans professional wrestling, then you are already ahead of the game. It is such a simple thing, but it is amazing how much it is overlooked in this day and age by WWE and TNA. Ring of Honor is basically a regional independent promotion, but the quality of the work by everyone in the company has made it THE most respected United States independent promotion by far. ALL of their titles have meaning and respect, which in the age of devalued title belts means that much more. A crowd of 500 or 1,000 fans in attendance at an ROH show can sound as loud and crazy as a packed WWE show (and sometimes louder). The fans are passionate, the wrestlers and even the staff are passionate about the product and it clearly shows in the wrestling and the storylines. 2006 saw the incredible ROH vs. CZW feud, the dominance of Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness and the team of Austin Aries and Roderick Strong in defending their respective championships, Dragon Gate and NOAH wrestlers making an impact, an active and vital tag team division (which was revitalized WAY before WWE ever got their act together) and the amazing rise to prominence of Nigel McGuinness, Delirious and Matt Sydal as important components to the company’s roster. And that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of why Ring of Honor ruled so hard this past year. Ring of Honor is the fed of the year because of all the promotions out there, it is the one with the most heart, the most soul and the most understanding of what professional wrestling is supposed to be about.
Steve Cook: Honestly, if it wasn’t for ROH and the shows I get to go to once every few months, I’d be ready to give up on this wrestling nonsense. Raw is complete bullshit. Smackdown is good sometimes but has enough ridiculous nonsense going on to make me not watch it on a regular basis. TNA used to be a wrestling show, but now Impact is even less of a wrestling show than anything WWE puts out. ECW…don’t make me laugh. The mainstream wrestling scene sucks. Ring of Honor is in a place where they can capitalize on hardcore wrestling fans growing disillusioned with the main companies out there. Without television, their workers can go out there and have 10-20 minute matches or even longer, and there aren’t commercial breaks to take all of the action out of them. Sure, buying $20 DVDs all the time is a good way to end up in the poorhouse, but really…isn’t that better than buying all of WWE’s ridiculously priced PPVs? ROH had the best in-ring action of 2006, and had the least amount of bullshit out of anything that I saw on a regular basis. That, to me, equals Fed of the Year.
Samuel Berman: This was the best year yet for the little Independent that could. After last year saw ROH bring Kenta Kobashi to American soil for his now-legendary matches against Samoa Joe, Ring of Honor seemed determined to top itself this year by bringing in stars from both Pro Wrestling NOAH and the Dragon Gate promotion for multiple shows spanning the entire year. The GHC Heavyweight Title was defended outside of Japan for the first time in its history, and surprise, surprise, it was on an ROH show. Ring of Honor continued to mix some of the top stars in wrestling (Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, Christopher Daniels, Homicide) with new blood (Davey Richards, Matt Sydal, Delirious, Claudio Castagnoli) to absolutely tremendous results. Without Pay Per View or even a regional television deal, Ring of Honor has managed to become not merely a niche company, but a vibrant and important part of the wrestling mainstream. In a wrestling world where Independent promotions often don’t make it past their sixth show, it is a testament to everyone involved in the promotion that Ring of Honor has been able to not just survive, but thrive as it gets ready to enter its sixth year.
Theo Fraser: 2006 has been extremely kind to ROH. From the red hot war between the company itself and CZW, Homicide’s quest for ROH gold, to Danielson’s incredible title reign, Ring of Honor has had its most exciting year to date. Add to that the fact that the company made its first trip overseas for a two night UK tour, and you have proof that ROH is getting bigger every day. Heck, TNA is seen as the second biggest promotion behind the WWE, and even they haven’t had an overseas tour yet. Ring of Honor is on the up and up, and that was displayed as clear as day back in March, when the company drew its biggest crowd to date with 1,800 fans showing up for Better Than Our Best. This was in the midst of the Milestone Series; a collection of 7 shows that celebrated various ROH landmarks. And those 7 shows just so happened to be some of the finest shows in the company’s history. Not only have ROH produced some incredible cards this year, they have also been host to an absolute ton of legitimate match of the year contenders; far too many to list.
In 2002 we had the Ki-Daniels-Danielson triple threat. In 2003 we had London vs Danielson. In 2004 we had Joe vs Punk II, and in 2005 we had Joe vs Kobashi. But in 2006, we have seen Danielson-Kenta, Danielson-Nigel, Danielson-Joe, Danielson-Storm, Marifuji-Nigel, the Dragon Gate 6 Man, and the Cage of Death, and those are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to great matches ROH has put on this year.
Honorable Mention: Prince Nana (24 points), Kevin Nash (1 point), Sharmelle (35 points)
3rd Place: Armando Alejandro Estrada – 41 points – Arrived on RAW, and now has his only client, Umaga, in the title hunt.
2nd Place: James Mitchell – 43 points – Took Abyss to his first ever NWA World Championship.
And your winner is: Konnan – 56 points
Matthew Sforcina: Konnan. 10 years ago, 5 years, hell, this time last year, when LAX V1.0 was just forming, the idea of Konnan being Manager of the Year would be laughable. And yet, here we are. So why is Konnan manager of the year? Simple really. He did his job. A manager’s job is to build up his client, to help them get over, keep them over, and generally improve the product. Konnan, especially in the past few months, has been doing that every second that he’s on the screen. Konnan, with his passionate promos, has gotten LAX over, as much as if not more so than the in-ring matches. He’s held his ground with the best talkers in TNA, and damm near incited riots in the Impact Zone. For a man with a busted hip and in need of a kidney transplant, he’s doing amazingly well. Konnan has shown what older stars can do to improve and help the industry, and how that can then help themselves. Good work K-Dawg.
Larry Csonka: I will admit that that I was personally very torn on the issue of Manager of the year. In the end it came down to Mitchell and Konnan. Both were very instrumental to their charges and both cut great promos all year long. In the end, I am very happy that Konnan was selected as the winner. While Mitchell has been tremendous in his role, Konnan has been as well. As the mouthpiece of LAX he has taken a negative (destroyed hip) and turned it into a positive with his great/militant promo style. Konnan has the charisma of 10-men and it shows as he can rile up a crowd at the drop of a hat. LAX ran the risk of being too over as the cool heels, but have played off of the Nationality issues and have stayed over as the biggest heels in TNA. LAX was one of if not the hottest act in wrestling in 2006, and Konnan was a huge part of that.
John Meehan: Going into 2006, TNA’s tag ranks were in a bit of a holding pattern. America’s Most Wanted had spent the better part of a year with the tag straps around their waists, Team 3D was more “Dud” than Dudley, The James Gang was still trying to convince everyone that they were as relevant as they were in 1996, and The “Newly-Franchised” Naturals were still a haircut and a makeover away from their first big win. Not exactly a circuit worth writing home about, but one that was destined for a shakeup — thanks in no small part to the Latin American eXchange. While Hernandez and Homicide handled the heavy-lifting in the ring, somebody needed to step it up on the microphone to give the tandem some much-needed street cred. Enter Konnan. Years removed from his in-ring heyday, K-Dawg seemed the *least* likely alum of the Four Live Kru to make a dent in the wrasslin’ business in 2006. But while The James Gang traded on old memories and Killings cut battle raps about Cena and smoking, Konnan stepped up his game on the microphone and outside of the ring and brought the newly-christened Latin American eXchange to TNA prominence. Brilliant work on Konnan’s part to play the race card in a fresh, edgy and (gasp!) controversial way that didn’t resort to weekly flag burning attempts (though there were a few of those) or the standby knocks on Dubya (that was WWE) to hammer the point home. And for their troubles? LAX walked out of 2006 wearing the NWA Tag Team belts. Here’s hoping Konnan stays healthy in ’07 long enough to finish what he’s started with this remarkable stable.
Stuart Carapola: In 2006, Konnan went from tired old wrestler that people just wanted off their screen to one of the most interesting non-wrestling personalities in the business. Agree or disagree with his personal politics, they are his own and he has the ability to successfully convey his message that the Latinos in professional wrestling have been held down for far too long. In addition to being a colorful personality in his own right, he has taken LAX, which started 2006 as an entry-level joke of a tag team, reshaped it into one of the hottest tag teams of the year, and led them to two NWA World Tag Team Titles. He even managed to make a pit stop in ROH on Homicide’s behalf to convey his message to then-ROH Commissioner Jim Cornette, albeit in a much more profane fashion. It is not just Konnan’s ability to talk for LAX and their success as a tag team that has made Konnan our Manager Of The Year, but also the success he had in reinventing himself in an entirely different capacity than we had been used to seeing him in up to this point.
Honorable Mention: Lita (7), Lovely Lacey (4), Cheerleader Melissa (8)
3rd Place: Victoria – 9 points – Victoria has caught serious steam heading into 2007, and has worked her way into a title shot.
2nd Place: Mickie James – 70 points – Really made a name for herself this year, and has stepped up and become one of the E’s top women in the wake of losing both Trish and Lita.
And your winner is: Trish Stratus – 84 points
Matthew Sforcina: First off, I just need to state this. Victoria Was Robbed! Thank you, now onto the blurb. There is a feeling, a general body of opinion in Pro Wrestling that women don’t draw. Nope, women are not money makers outside of soft-soft-soft-core porn. They’re only good for running around in little clothing and acting like sluts. And certainly, if the influx of models the WWE is looking to get in the new year, that may well be true someday. But today, the opinion still stands. Nope, women don’t draw. Of course, you have to make exceptions for Wendi Richter, (possibly the Jumping Bomb Angels), Elizabeth, Lita and Chyna. But nope, women don’t draw. Enter Trish Stratus. Or rather, Exit Trish Stratus. 2006 marks the end, at least for the short term, of Trish’s saga as Undisputed Queen of Wrestling. No Woman has ever done more for the company, the division, and indeed the industry than she has. Trish began as a model, then became the Perfect Model Employee. Hardworking, talented, friendly, charismatic, productive, the works. And thus, it’s with a heavy heart that we wave farewell to Trish. Yes, she’s still around, anyone who passes her up is a fool, but the fact that Trish won’t be around to make Raw that large bit better brings a tear to me, and many people’s eyes. Goodbye and Good Luck Trish Stratus. But please, come back soon. And bring Rock and Jericho with you.
Matthew Bauer: For the better part of the past decade, we have seen Trish Stratus go from the hot piece of T and A of T and A to the greatest Women’s wrestler of the past decade, if not of all time. In the year 2006, Trish Stratus was nothing but brilliant, even staying involved in her feud with Mickie James while injured. She entered the year as champ and lost the title at Wrestlemania in what was one of the greatest women’s matches I have ever seen. While she did step into the background for a little while and make Carlito look like a player, she ended her career the way very few do, by winning the Women’s Title in her hometown. Trish, the wrestling world misses you.
Steve Cook: What can I possibly say about Trish Stratus that millions of Internet stalkers haven’t already said? Quite possibly the greatest women’s wrestler in US women’s wrestling history, if nothing else probably the most decorated. That doesn’t sound quite right…anyway, Trish had a pretty good year for her “last year”, having entertaining feuds with Lita & Mickie James and having some of the more entertaining matches on Raw. Will she be back? I dunno, but if she is finished she had one heck of a run.
Daniel Wilcox: Trish Stratus, arguably the greatest Women’s wrestler of all time, had a fantastic final year in the WWE. In the early part of the year, she was involved in of the best women’s storylines ever, when she was stalked by her “biggest fan” and newcomer Mickie James. Trish’s reactions to Mickie’s craziness certainly helped put over that rivalry, and to cap it off, they put on great match at WrestleMania 22. However, when Trish injured her arm in April, that rivalry was ended abruptly as Trish took time off to heel up. When she did return in the summer, long-time rival Lita was Women’s Champion. In her final match at Unforgiven, Trish broke her own record and became a 7 time Women’s Champion in her own town! Not many superstars get to go out on top of their careers, so it was just a sign of how great Trish was that she went out on top.
Honorable Mention: Mistico (9), HBK (3), King Booker (22), BONUS 1: Homicide (1), BONUS 2: Edge (35)
3rd Place: John Cena – 39 points – Say what you will, Cena had himself a hell of a year and was the face of the company for all of 2006.
2nd Place: Bryan Danielson – 44 points – American Dragon held the ROH World title for the entire year, finally being dethroned on December 23rd by Homicide. His reign lasted 15 months. To add to that, he has been battling with two torn tendons for the last four of those months.
And your winner is: Samoa Joe – 61 points
Ari Berenstein: Joe’s 2006 was really the story of his rise all the way to the top of TNA. Joe was the dominant X-Division champion in the beginning of the year and he had high profile wins against big name wrestlers in the second half of the year. Joe has power and intensity yet can be fast and graceful for a big man, and he proved that the X-Division could be a big man’s game when he held the championship. Then he wrestled against and defeated Sabu, Scott Steiner and even Jeff Jarrett twice in matches over the course of the Spring and Summer. Of course the year in TNA ended with a rushed yet still important and impressive series against Kurt Angle. Joe defeated Angle at Turning Point to cement his reputation as the marquee name in the newest generation of professional wrestling. Samoa Joe in Ring of Honor was no slouch either, with constant title matches against Bryan Danielson and high profile involvement with Pro Wrestling NOAH’s KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji and in the ROH-CZW feud. Joe was a constant main event wrestler in TNA, ROH and all across the independent landscape. Despite nagging injuries, Joe always gave his best in whatever capacity he was used. Let’s face it, there’s no one cooler and there’s no one badder in the wrestling world right now than Samoa Joe.
Samuel Berman: I think my favorite thing about Samoa Joe actually has very little to do with his work in the ring. He’s easily one of the most talented workers in the world, and has had great matches with opponents as diverse as Scott Steiner, Bryan Danielson and Delirious. But what really sets Joe apart in my mind is his ‘lobby walk’ before Ring of Honor shows. Recently I attended Ring of Honor’s The Chicago Spectacular, and while standing around with some friends before the show, we all occasionally looked around in anticipation of Joe’s traditional walk from the locker room to the merchandise table. You can’t tell me that Joe couldn’t get someone to relay a message or grab something for him. For whatever reason, arguably the biggest star on the modern Independent scene decides before every show (or at least every show I’ve attended) to make himself available to his fans for autographs, handshakes and pictures. The next night, by the way, he was in the main event on Pay Per View against Kurt Angle, who for the life of me, I’ve never seen walk the lobby.
Theo Fraser: I think people will look back on 2006 as the year that Samoa Joe became a household name. Joe rocketed onto the TNA scene in mid-2005, but this year he cemented himself as a key player for the company, earning himself the title of ‘Mr TNA 2006.’ Joe has gone from his X-division title feud against AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels at the start of the year, to opening up the very first Impact on Spike TV with another match against Daniels, to main eventing the No Surrender PPV in a high-profile Fan’s Revenge Lumberjack match against NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett, to competing in 2 Match of the Year candidates against veteran Kurt Angle. And throughout all of this, Joe has given his all, never wrestling in less than a 120% capacity. Name one event this year where Joe has “phoned it in.” You won’t be able to, as it didn’t happen. Phenomenal matches aside, Joe has also delivered some of TNA’s best promos of the year, in particular his words of hate for Scott Steiner back in the summer. But lest we forget that 2006 for Samoa Joe was not just limited to TNA. Joe had a strong showing in ROH, being a big part of the feud with CZW as well as a heated rivalry against former champion Bryan Danielson, both of which produced Match of the Year candidates. Joe was also involved in one of the hottest segments on the independent circuit this year, when he brawled with NOAH’s top young attraction, Morishima, at the Glory By Honor V Night 2 event, no doubt setting up a future contest between the two in 2007. Joe is well on his way to winning World Championship gold in TNA, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him show up in the same category this time next year. He is Samoa Joe, he is Pro Wrestling, and he is your Wrestler of the Year.
Stuart Carapola: Samoa Joe was a major part of both TNA and ROH, two of the top wrestling promotions in the US, and had an excellent year in both. In TNA, he started the year in the midst of his excellent feud for the X-Division title with AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels, and then after he was out of the X-Division picture, he moved up the card and showed that he could hang with the big boys. He wrestled and defeated major names like Scott Steiner, Monty Brown, Jeff Jarrett, and got the biggest win of his career by defeating Kurt Angle. Meanwhile, in ROH, he was a top soldier in the war against CZW and then segued into an ROH Title feud where he actually defeated Bryan Danielson in a non-title match. Throw in that he was wrestling for most of the year with a bad knee and sciatica, and you’ve got one awesome wrestler who has the drive, ability, and performance history to be Wrestler Of The Year and a major name in the business for years to come.
