wrestling / Columns

411’s 2007 Year End Wrestling Awards: Part 2

January 2, 2008 | Posted by James Thomlison

Welcome to Part 2 of the 411wrestling.com 2007 Year End Wrestling Awards. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Part 1!

REVIEW: Before we get to it, let’s take a look at the winners we’ve already announced to this point:

Announcer of the Year: John Bradshaw Layfield – WWE SmackDown! (99 points)

Rookie of the Year: Santino Marella – WWE RAW (67)

Breakout of the Year: Montel Vontavious Porter – WWE SmackDown! (89)

Comeback Wrestler of the Year: Shawn Michaels – WWE RAW (49)

Disappointment of the Year: Samoa Joe fails to win the TNA World Championship despite multiple builds (66)

Best Indy Show of the Year: ROH Good Times, Great Memories – 04.28.07 (58)

And now that we have that out of the way…

Honorable Mentions: Shawn Michaels vs. Edge – Street Fight (WWE RAW – 01.22.07 – 10), ECW Originals vs. ECW New Breed (WWE ECW – 04.03.07 – 1), Samoa Joe vs. Chris Sabin vs. AJ Styles (TNA iMPACT – 11.22.07)

3rd Place: Team 3D vs. The Phenomenal Angels (Styles/Daniels) vs. LAX (TNA iMPACT! – 07.05.07) – 21 points – This match was given a full twenty minutes, and was voted for in the Match of the Year category.

2nd Place: Chris Harris vs. James Storm (TNA iMPACT! – 06.07.07) – 57 points – This match was given almost twenty minutes, and was also voted for in the Match of the Year category.

And your winner is…: (…and one vote from a unanimous decision…)

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John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE RAW – 04.23.07) – 56 minute match – 138 points

Daniel Wilcox: The Heartbreak Kid and the WWE Champion had both been on a hell of a role in terms of tearing it up in the squared circle in 2007, and they’d had a great match together a few weeks earlier at WrestleMania 23, so it was inevitable that they would have a great match when Raw rolled in to London, England. What the fans weren’t expecting was to witness arguably the two greatest in-ring performers of the moment go for nearly an hour. When the match began mid-way through Raw, fans were disappointed because they assumed that there would be some sort of screwy ending involving Randy Orton and Edge (the two men who would fight HBK and Cena in a Four Way Match at Backlash, and who were scheduled to fight each other that same night), but alas, the fans in the arena and at home were treated to one of the best matches of the year, and on free TV nonetheless. Much like at Mania, the two went back and forth, exchanging counters and counters to counters and kept the fans in the palm of their hands all the way as each wrestler went for their respective finishing moves on a number of occasions. In what I thought was a very nive touch, Michaels went over cleanly after hitting Sweet Chin Music, making these two 1-1 heading into the title match at Backlash. It’s rare that two men go an hour on WWE or TNA television (or pay-per-view for that matter) these days and it was amazing to see two guys pull it off in such spectacular fashion. The fact that I was able to witness live coupled with it being an amazing match in it’s own right, makes this my personal match of the year, and easily the best match on television this year, probably ever.

Chris Lansdell: In Ric Flair’s excellent autobiography, he laments the death of the one-hour match. They just don’t happen any more, right?

Wrong.

Late April, the WWE are in London. Due to his own stupidity and immaturity, Randy Orton does not make the trip, thus scuppering his planned and advertised match with Edge. Thank you, Randy, for being an immature little prick. This having been reported, right here, on 411wrestling.com!!! (cheap pop), I was wondering what filler matches we would get instead. Then when they announced HBK and Cena, with Orton-Edge as the main, I expected a screwjob ending, or it becoming a tag match. Not like that never happened before, right?

Wrong. Again.

Shawn Michaels and John Cena proceeded to put on 56 minutes of mat wrestling tuition. The pacing, the psychology, the storytelling, the finish, HBK going over non-title…everything about this match was perfect. In a shameful admission, I have to say that I fell asleep about 10 minutes in, and when I woke up, and the match was still on, I presumed it was the West Coast replay. When I looked at the clock, I was shocked, and immediately set the PVR for the replay. This match would have made Flair and Steamboat proud. It made Michaels-Hart look boring. And IT WAS ON FREE TV. We all knew Michaels could go for an hour, but for Cena these were uncharted waters. The fact that he pulled it off without looking like he was dying just goes even further to show that Cena gets a bad rap (pun intended) from the IWC.

For all of us who saw, and voted for, this match…we may never see its like again, on free TV or PPV. You witnessed a rarity, and a special one at that. We have been blessed.

Larry Csonka: It’s funny, the Cena hate is still thick these days, and the poor guy isn’t around! As most of you know I don’t hate Cena like a lot of people do. I will admit that there are times where he looks rough still in the ring, but also John Cena has his nights, and those nights became way more the norm in this past year. Most of the time he holds up his end of the bargain, and without a doubt he did so here. And people have their own little comments that annoy me, but let me clarify this. John Cena did not carry Shawn Michaels. Shawn Michaels did not carry John Cena. Speaking of Shawn Michaels, this man is amazing; let me say again, he is amazing. This man has a piece of shit back, his knees are shot, he needs time off and he went out there with John Cena and had a 56-minute match. Not only did they have a 56-minute match, but also they had a 56-minute match without any blood, there were no run ins, there were no gimmicks used, this was a FUCKING wrestling match. And not only was it a wrestling match, but as mentioned, it was a 56-minute wrestling match! Let me tell you, I have been DYING for something like this for years! You see, I remember back watching the old NWA on Saturday’s. I remember seeing Flair and Windham go to a 45-minute time limit draw. I remember watching Flair vs. Garvin go the whole one hour show and Ronnie pulling it off just as the show went off the air. Now, these were not only great matches, but they were long ones that you had NO CLUE were going to go that long. It made it special. I remember seeing Ric Flair vs. Ricky Morton go 40-minutes at a HOUSE SHOW! Did I expect it? No, because I was young and Morton was a tag worker, but he took it to Flair and I thought Ricky was going to win, for moments I thought he could win. I love Iron Man Matches; I think Hart vs. HBK was great. I liked HHH vs. Rock and HHH vs. Benoit. But, if I really wanted to I could just wait until the last 10-minutes because I know I am guaranteed 60-minutes. The drama isn’t there; the art of going “Broadway” is almost dead. Almost. Ring of Honor has worked to bring this art back, with Samoa Joe and CM Punk and then recently (before injury) Bryan Danielson. ROH gave me that Broadway I had wanted, and NOW WWE has done it. I have been begging WWE and or TNA to do this for years now, I want to be surprised, I want to see a match go Broadway and I want to see something special, and damn if this wasn’t. They worked and built to the finish, and when HBK nailed the superkick and fell on him for the pin everything was great. Shawn Michaels is fucking great, John Cena was fucking great, this match was fucking great and in the end I was a happy man. I have no problem awarding this free TV match of the year.

Ari Berenstein: WWE, welcome back to professional wrestling, emphasis on wrestling. See, sometimes WWE does realize it’s important to go out there and do a wrestling match that focuses on the sport rather than the entertainment aspect. They had two men who they could trust enough to do a long match and the right circumstances around which they could build the match (the lead in to the Four Man title match at Backlash). The match was exceedingly well paced and you could sense it would go a long time, but you didn’t expect it to go right to the very end of the show. In that respect WWE was very smart that they advertised this the right way and “sold” the possibility of an Orton vs. Edge match later on in the program. That made real the drama of this match going to a near draw. Cena and HBK both did their job tremendously; it was an exciting finish AND it was all for free, and you can’t name a better price than that.

Honorable Mentions: Kenta Kobashi returns to in-ring action with ROH after beating cancer (12), Sting wins the TNA title from Kurt Angle (5), Fans help pay for Konnan’s kidney transplant and help save his life (8)

3rd Place: WWE offers rehab to formerly contracted talent (WWE) – 29 points – A gesture born out of the Wellness Scandal, but a gesture nonetheless. To date, only one wrestler has taken Vince up on his offer: Jake “The Snake” Roberts. We wish him the best.

2nd Place: TNA lands a second hour of iMPACT! (TNA) – 54 points – This was supposed to be the savior of TNA, as two hours was going to give us longer matches, deeper storylines, and allow for more talent to receive TV time. They certainly haven’t made the most of two hours, but it is a big step for the company regardless.

And your winner is…:

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ROH makes the jump to Pay-Per-View – starting with Respect Is Earned (ROH) – 98 points

Michael Bauer: Towards the end of April, Ring of Honor had made this huge announcement that they would start tapings for their shows to be on Pay Per View. This one announcement had major implications around the wrestling community as it truly made the feud and split between RoH and TNA come to life. On the day of that announcement, all TNA performers were pulled from the Ring of Honor roster and most rosters of Indies as a result. From that standpoint, it was the right move to make for TNA, but a wrong one for the Ring of Honor. But instead, it made Ring of Honor shine with the best wrestlers in the business from a pure wrestling perspective, instead of a “known commodity” perspective. They elevated those like Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuiness into a younger, if not better, likes of Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair. This was even more so after Driven, when those two men put on what quite possibly was the match of the year in the Indies, if not all of the wrestling. These Pay Per Views showcased the Briscoe Brothers, a hard hitting, fast paced Tag Team that welcome the challenge of the Steen and Generico is a brutal ladder war. Most importantly though, these Pay Per Views showed us all that wrestling should be just about that… wrestling. While 2007 has been the year of the false finish (aka Larry’s favorite DQ finish), Ring of Honor showed us exactly how a top notch match should end. It should be clean, without dispute or controversy. To date, three Ring of Honor Pay Per Views have aired and all three of them are among the best Pay Per Views of the year, regardless of federation. A fourth one has been taped and the fifth one will happen on December 29th in New York City, which will show the world Nigel McGuiness taking on Austin Aries for the Ring of Honor Title, a title he won on the fourth Pay Per View. In the end, this was the next logical step for Ring of Honor and while it may have cost the company some great talents, it allowed them to show the United States some new talents and new wave of wrestling.

Ryan Byers: For the last five years, a small yet dedicated group of fans have helped Ring of Honor grow from being just another upstart independent promotion to the place to work for American wrestlers not featured on national television. The expansion of the promotion has been slow yet steady, as they first ran exclusively in the Philadelphia area and then branched out to Boston and then to New York before spreading to the midwest. As the promotion’s geographic scope expanded, so did its financial base, with DVDs flying out of ROH’s Bristol, PA based warehouse at a rate which made them profitable long before certain larger companies who began at the same time (ahem, TNA). Just when it looked like ROH had plateaued and would not be making any major expansions for the next several years, out of the blue fans were shocked with the announcement that the promotion would begin airing a handful of pay per view shows a year. Since that time, ROH has produced three PPV events, each of them being two hours long and each of them receiving perhaps more critical acclaim than any other pay per view event in history. Though the jury is still out on whether these shows are actually helping ROH make money, the fact of the matter remains that they are definitely helping to maintain the promotion’s reputation for producing some of the best in-ring action in the United States.

John Meehan: There’s an old saying that one need not blow out another’s candle to make their own glow brighter, and perhaps Ring Of Honor took their cue from this old chestnut in 2007. See, while WWE saw its “light” fade in the face of Wellness scandals, wrestler injuries, and the fallout from the Benoit Family Tragedy; and TNA’s “light” dimmed tremendously as the company found itself stuck in a rut and unable to gain any forward momentum *despite* many a big-name acquisition, 2007 was a banned year for Ring Of Honor — so much so, in fact, that many a wrestling fan would simply have to admit that the promotion’s candle glowed brighter than ever before. Sure, they lost their TNA crossovers (so long, Joe!) and spent most of the last 365 without many a cornerstone star that really helped put the promotion on the map not so long ago (CM Punk comes to mind, as does Homicide) — but this “little indie that could” made a HUGE leap in scoring themselves some long-overdue credibility and respect within the wrestling industry, thanks in no small part to their critically acclaimed pay-per-view debut… fittingly titled “Respect Is Earned.” Whether 2008 will prove as kind to this third major U.S. promotion is anyone’s guess, of course (especially with resident big-dogs like WWE churning out a billion-dollar PPV industry each year) — but on the heels of some majorly impressive PPV showings throughout 2007, it’s a pretty good bet that ROH most definitely has momentum working in their favor as we ring in the new year… an intangible that folks up in Stamford or down in Orlando would absolutely *kill* for, these days.

Scott Slimmer: I won’t pretend to be a ROH mark or claim to understand what it means to ROH fans to finally be able to see ROH on pay-per-view. But I have been a fan of professional wrestling for long enough to have learned two things. The first is that pay-per-view is the promised land in the world of professional wrestling. Anyone who has seen the speech that Paul Heyman gave to the ECW roster before Barely Legal knows that a wrestling promotion’s first pay-per-view can be the single most important night in the history of the company. Pay-per-view has made ROH a nationally available promotion, and the increased exposure from pay-per-view will almost certainly open the door for ROH to run successful live events in previously uncharted markets. But the second thing I’ve learned is that competition drives the evolution and innovation that have defined some of the greatest eras in the history of professional wrestling. From the WWF vs. the NWA in the 80’s to the Monday Night Wars in the 90’s, the national success of multiple wrestling promotions has often necessitated the development of new stars and an increase in the quality of wrestling programming. And that’s why I’m most excited about ROH signing a pay-per-view deal. Maybe WWE will adopt some of what makes ROH great as they did when ECW signed a pay-per-view deal ten years ago. Maybe they’ll remember that the second “W” still stands for “Wresting.” Or maybe TNA will remember that they are the promotion that was supposed to be the national alternative to WWE. Maybe they’ll fight to regain the promise of excellence that became tarnished during the past year. Either way, I have to believe that ROH on pay-per-view will help to usher in not only the next stage in the growth of ROH, but also the next era in the history of professional wrestling.

Honorable Mentions: TNA pays Adam “Pacman” Jones to “wrestle” (5), Multiple injuries plague the WWE and ruin huge momentum throughout 2007 (HBK, HHH, Cena, Taker, Edge, Lashley, Kennedy, King Booker, Matt Hardy, etc – 11), Hardbody Harrison involved in human trafficking (1)

3rd Place: CNN edits footage of John Cena to create bias towards steroids on their documentary into professional wrestling (WWE/CNN) – 13 points – We’ve all seen it, it was ridiculous.

2nd Place: WWE suffers a major blow when the Wellness Policy is proven to be a fraud through the Signature Pharmacy scandal and suspensions as well as the Congressional investigation (WWE) – 73 points – Story after story after story kept breaking, seemingly to no end. The wrestling business took a big hit this year from all of this, but not nearly as big a hit as it took from our winner…

And your winner is…: (…and one vote from a unanimous decision…)

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The Chris Benoit Tragedy (Benoit murders his wife and child then takes his own life) – 140 points

Michael Bauer: Ultimately, the Chris Benoit tragedy can be remembered as the way that steroids would forever be brought out into the open in the world of wrestling once and for all. What it did was show that the WWE’s Wellness Policy was not as good as it should have been and force the WWE to book backwards out of their ass for about a month and a half. It killed the pushes of Kennedy and Morrison (even as it just started) and sent shockwaves down the wrestling world. The reason it was so bad, beyond his death and the killing of his family, is that it changed wrestling and it split the thinking of those around it. For the fans, it did one of two things and I know people have heard me say it before. For some fans, fans like me, we still celebrated his twenty year career and will always shed a tear when we watch the end to Wrestlemania XX. It took many fans, who were crying at the thought of Benoit being dead and turning their notions around at the snap of their fingers, much like the WWE did. The WWE held a tribute show for Benoit the next night, just to then turn around and have to apologize for it. They also then removed Chris Benoit’s name from EVERY Pay Per View listing the guy had ever been on, including Wrestlemania XX, the night he won the WWE Title. But no matter how evil an act that one man did, you can not go back and rewrite the twenty years in the business Chris Benoit had. You can NOT ignore the fact that he was a WWE Champion, no matter how much you wish to believe it didn’t happen now. Chris Benoit was and will always be one of the greatest in ring performers, but depending on you are, it will never be that way. It’s like with Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin. Those who love their music know that they died by overdosing on drugs, but don’t stop hating their music because of what they did. We know what Benoit did and I won’t repeat it, but as far as we all know, we will never know the reason as to why or what caused it. But it doesn’t change the fact that he was great and that is how I will always remember him.

John Meehan: Without question, doubt or hesitation whatsoever, the Benoit Family Tragedy is easily the single worst story of the wrestling year… perhaps even the single worst story in the long and often checkered history of professional wrestling. Though this senseless and horrible tragedy has left many a fan and critic alike scratching their heads and asking any number of seemingly unknowable questions, the bottom line is that for WHATEVER reason — and despite what WWE or the mainstream media might tell you (as there was most certainly more than just one single reason for this event) — the fact remains that one of the greatest professional wrestlers ever to have set foot in a squared circle is dead. And even more tragically, his wife and son are likewise dead as a result of this man’s actions. Truly, the Benoit Family Tragedy is an earth-shattering landmark of an event that will forever be etched in the hearts and memories of wrestling fans, promoters, performers and — yes — critics alike. Perhaps Eric Bischoff said it best shortly after the tragic events of this summer: may God bless Nancy and Daniel, and may God forgive Chris Benoit.

Scott Slimmer: It’s six months later, and I still don’t even know where to begin. I can’t figure out if there’s nothing left to say or if we’ve only just begin to discuss the myriad of issues brought to light. There are days that I think all the critics of this industry we love are right, and there are days that the industry’s response only serves to reaffirm my love of it. And then, of course, there is a lifetime’s worth of matches from one of the greatest professional wrestlers to ever step into the ring. I’ve finally started watching them again. It took a few months. But I finally started watching them again. The Triple Threat Match from WrestleMania XX is still the hardest. I’ve made it through a few times, but I always stop it as soon as Triple H taps. I’m still not ready for the confetti. I’m not ready for Eddie to climb into the ring and embrace his best friend at the pinnacle of their careers. We all lost something six months ago. The families lost the most. Wrestlers across the world lost a man than many had come to call a friend. The industry lost one of the greatest in-ring performers it would ever know. The fans lost a hero. And I lost my favorite wrestling moment of all time. Those precious few minutes of tape after Triple H tapped used to be my shining beacon of all that could be right about an industry that could, at times, be so wrong. But now, six months later, I still don’t even know where to begin.

Samuel Berman: I asked to be on the list to discuss this topic because I thought that it would be good for me to have to think about and reflect on Chris Benoit’s death with six months of perspective. As I sit to write this, I find myself with surprisingly little to say outside of that I have yet to watch a single match featuring Benoit since his death, and that while some may react to the story with anger and frustration, I tend to just shake my head, disappointed that the legacy of one of my favorite performers had to be so permanently tarnished. I want to someday be able to watch Chris Benoit’s many great matches again and enjoy them as I did for years, but I’m not holding out much hope that it will happen anytime soon.

Honorable Mentions: Abyss vs. Christian Coalition (TNA – 12), Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer (ROH – 5), John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE RAW – 29)

3rd Place: Batista vs. Undertaker (WWE SmackDown!) – 38 points – These men put on some GREAT matches this year, better than I think any of us thought they were capable of.

2nd Place: Matt Hardy vs. MVP – Friends, Enemies, Tag champs? (WWE SmackDown!) – 55 points – While they didn’t necessarily have great matches, the psychology and build for the pay-off has been fantastic; Hardy is out for three months and instead of moving on, we can’t wait for him to get back to see how this all unfolds.

And your winner is…:

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The Briscoes vs. El Generico & Kevin Steen (Ring Of Honor) – 66 points

Thanks to J.D.Dunn for the photo

Randy Harrison: The days of the slow-burning feud have seemingly come and gone as have the days of feuds being based on pure, unadulterated hatred, without any cutesy booking or over-the-top dramatics. That’s what I thought until it was about three months into the epic feud that Gabe Sapolsky and ROH had put together between the Briscoes and El Generico & Kevin Steen. Just when I thought that it couldn’t possibly continue, or that it couldn’t possibly keep picking up steam and intensifying and getting better, all four men would prove me wrong with great match after great match, and a logical step by step progression through the feud. The continuity involved from all four men to continue to play off of what had happened previously, using that to foreshadow what was to come, and to keep the sometimes hard to please ROH fans entertained for the better part of 2007, speaks not only to how well-booked the story was, but to how well the four performers were able to embrace it and run with it. They took a real-life aspect of Mark Briscoe’s concussion and turned it into another twist in the storyline, blurring the line between shoot and work, but not in the usual ham-handed way of announcing that “this is a shoot, brother”. Some of the best and most believable storylines in wrestling history came from successfully being able to blend what is happening to the performers in real life with what the people want to see happening to the performers in the course of the program. People kept wanting to see the Briscoes vs. Steenerico either in straight tag matches, any combination of one-on-one matches, street fights, cage matches, and any other type of match that ROH could possibly come up with because as each match progressed, the hatred grew, the violence level was ratcheted up and the matches became more intense and more meaningful as a result. The ladder match that was the blow-off for this feud was probably the best ladder match of its kind and will probably be just as influential to the next generation of wrestlers as the Edge/Christian vs. Hardy Boys ladder match in October of 1999 was for the current crop of young wrestlers. The days of the slow-burning feud and feuds built on hatred have not passed, quite the contrary. To Ring of Honor, and more specifically to the Briscoes and El Generico & Kevin Steen, a feud can mean something incredibly important while still being based on something so simple as who is the better man.

Theo Fraser: I can’t remember the last time a lengthy feud produced quite so many consistently outstanding matches. In all honesty, I don’t think ANY feud came anywhere even close to matching the intense rivalry that these four men had with each other. Originally, Generico & Steen were brought in for a one-shot deal at Fifth Year Festival: Philly to take on the Briscoes, but after a terrific response from the crowd and rave reviews for the match, the decision was made to bring them back, and the feud was born, lasting right the way through until the Man Up pay-per-view taping on September 15th. And it’s a testament to all four individuals that it was able to be sustained for the best part of 7 months. A large part of that was due to Mark Briscoe’s untimely concussion, which ended up being a godsend for this feud. Kevin Steen was able to assert himself as “The Uber Dick” of ROH, continually focusing his attacks on Mark’s injured head, thus spurring on the Briscoes to seek revenge in any way possible. For those who haven’t seen the feud and are interested in checking it out, I will say that you’ll benefit SO much from watching it in order. The matches flow so well into each other, constantly building upon the last as the hate between the two teams reaches fever pitch. What’s particularly amazing is that the feud went from the all-out brutality of the Boston Street Fight at Death Before Dishonor V: Night 1 and the bloody Cage Match at Caged Rage to a simple 2 out of 3 Falls match at Manhattan Mayhem 2…and yet it still felt as if the feud was getting more and more violent at each turn. That right there is a credit to their style of wrestling and how well they match up against each other. The talking point of the feud is of course the blow-off match; the Ladder War from Man Up, where Jay, Mark, Kevin and Generico fittingly took each other to the absolute limit, putting on easily one of the best Ladder matches in recent history. I’ve had an absolute blast watching these guys tear each other apart, and their feud has been the single best thing to happen to professional wrestling in 2007, bar none.

Samuel Berman: There is little or nothing about the feud between Jay & Mark Briscoe and Kevin Steen & El Generico that I didn’t absolutely love. I’ve actually been a fan of both Steen & Generico for a long time now, but both were met with stunning indifference during their first runs in Ring of Honor in 2005. That’s why I was so glad that their first match with the Briscoes in February was so well-received and that they were given future bookings. The foursome would go on to put on some of the best tag team matches of the year in a variety of styles, including a Cage Match, a 2/3 Falls Match, a Streetfight, and a death-defying Ladder Match that ranks amongst the best contests in wrestling this year. Also a part of the feud were a great tag title affair on ROH’s second Pay-Per-View and a storyline-heavy match that originally included Erick Stevens in place of the injured Mark Briscoe. That match ranks as one of my favorites this year and was just one of many examples why this feud left all others in the dust in 2007.

Michael Bauer: Now, it may shock many people who don’t know anything about wrestling outside of the WWE and TNA, but this feud was not just good, it was amazing for more than half the year. It started during the Fifth Year Festival back in February, where the Briscoes won, just a week before they won the Tag Titles for the first time this year. Two months later, after Mark Briscoe got a major concussion, Steen attacked Mark and declard themselves worthy of a title shot. The next night, Steen and Generico beat the Briscoes, despite the fact Mark should have never been there. Then the feud really kicked off with Steen and Generico calling out then brawling with The Briscoes after a title defense at Respect is Earned. After staying apart until Driven, The Briscoes defeated Steen and Generico to defend the titles. Now fast forward to August, after months of talking, every card for the month would involve The Briscoes taking on Steen and Generico. The first weekend, Steen and Generico won all 3 matches in different versions of No DQ Street Fights. The second weekend, The Briscoes twice succesffuly defended the titles against Steen and Generico, once in a Cage and one on a Two out of Three Falls matches. That led to one more attack and one more match… the first and apparently last Ladder War that main evented the Man Up Pay Per View. This feud had everything you could ask for and is was spread out over enough time where the matchup never got old. These teams put on several top matches of the year, including what to me was the Tag Team of the Year. What made this feud so good also, was that both teams were amazingly over with the crowd at all times. It seemed like that no matter who won, the crowd would love it. Throw in the whole team dynamic of Kevin Steen’s brawling heelish side with Generico’s high flying style and it just added that little something that kept every type of fan happy.

Honorable Mentions: Delirious vs. Hangman 3 (ROH – 1), Voodoo Kin Mafia vs. Christy Hemme (TNA – 23), Melina vs. Ashley Massaro (WWE – 2)

3rd Place: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe (TNA) – 33 points – See aforementioned.

2nd Place: Robert Roode vs. Eric Young (37) – points – The feud none of us thought was EVER going to end, and in the end it did absolutely NOTHING for either men or for TNA. What an ugly mess this was (thank goodness it’s finally over!).

And your winner is…:

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The Vince McMahon Saga (WWE: Who killed Vince? VKM vs. Trump! Lashley Death Angle! Who is his kid?) – 88 points

Michael Bauer: To explain the Mr. McMahon saga in a different way, allow me to bring the idea of pop culture into play here. When a new song comes out, everyone loves it because it is fresh and new. Give it about two months and people say it is overplayed, boring, and just annoying to listen to sometimes. That’s kinda how Mr. McMahon is in the WWE. For a while, he was off of our television sets and then last year he came back to battle Shawn Michaels and God. But just when we thought he was done, he came back for whole year worth of being overexposed and in our faces too many times. It started with the Battle of the Billionaires and having his head shaved by Donald Trump. While that was okay, he then turned around and beat Bobby Lashley to be ECW Champion, which was lame as all hell. So when he loses the belt, he goes psycho, everyone torments him, and then he “fakes his death” by having his limo blown up. Thankfully, that was ended by a real tragedy and Mr. McMahon came back to our television sets… or unfortunately, however you want to think about it. So when we think it is all done, we find out he has a bastard son, who really ends up being a little bastard, and they have been playing off that since the fall. And while at times it has been funny, all in all, it has made people like Coach, Regal, and Carlito just look like total idiots and wastes of time and money. Honestly, any one of these alone would be enough. But all of them together just means that I am sick and tired of seeing you, just like I was of hearing the Macarena.

Brad Garoon: Let’s start at the very beginning of Mr. McMahon’s terrible year. First he makes us sit through his ego-driven feud with Donald Trump, resulting in the worst match of the year (the “Trump” vs. “Rosie” match on RAW). Then as a result of that mind-numbing feud we get to watch McMahon put himself into a program with the worst main eventer in WWE. That’s right, for my money Lashley is more worthless than Khali. Not only do we have to sit through a feud between a non-wrestler and the worst wrestler, but McMahon gives himself the ECW title. And it isn’t in the same almost-acceptable fashion it was when he beat Triple H for the title back in 1999. No, this time around it felt a lot more like Vince Russo winning a wrestling title.

So after losing that belt Vince gets sad and blows himself to up to see who’d try to benefit from the tragedy. Only problem is Chris Benoit went ahead and dragged WWE into the biggest scandal in the company’s history and the angle had to be aborted. But rather than forget about it entirely we got to sit through weeks of Vince avoiding his newly discovered bastard child. What resulted has been mildly entertaining. Hornswoggle has done his best to make the most of his status as the newest McMahon. Unfortunately, after a year of relatively little McMahon (which made everyone happy) we had him shoved down our throats to the point of nausea this year. Here’s hoping next year he’ll take more time off.

Ari Berenstein: Ah Vince, Vince, Vince. Sometimes he can be very entertaining. Sometimes I wish he never would have become Mr. McMahon. Most of the time I wish he stayed off the television and allowed me to watch his wrestlers instead of his dysfunctional family soap opera. He still hasn’t learned that this is professional wrestling, not an appointment with his therapist.

I didn’t think Mr. McMahon could top the offensive and over the top behavior of 2006, what with his going insane and trying to tempt Shawn Michaels into hell while committing blasphemy and using “God” in a wrestling angle. Well, surprise, surprise, look who’s managed to lower even the lowest of expectations?

I did enjoy all of the McMahon-Austin stuff. It was predictable, but it always works with the crowd and I usually laugh out loud. I also liked that he allowed himself to be shaved bald.

On the other hand…for being responsible for having a Donald Trump vs. Rosie O’Donnell taking place on Raw, for once again placing himself in a position to win one of his championship belts and look like he could take on one of his wrestlers, for faking his own death and having that backfire big time, for making out with elderly women (good God that was awful) and for wasting our time with the whole bastard kid angle, he deserves this award and then some.

Matthew Sforcina: It’s funny, this whole thing has a lot of good, positive aspects to it. The entire McMahon saga is, on paper, great. You take a very over, charismatic talent, you feud him with a celeb for major press, you parlay that into a feud with a regular wrestler who needs help to be brought along, you then make a shock twist that gets everyone talking, then when forced you manage to salvage the storyline, take it in a new direction, and you end up elevating someone. All the components made sense. But it still sucked major, major balls. Really. It was boring, repetitive, cliched, no buy generating ego stroking. You can have all the right parts, but just put it together wrong. And this didn’t have all the right parts (Vince as ECW champ while Shane was RIGHT THERE, Donald Trump’s sudden removal from history, Hornswoggle), hence it gets the award, although really, what could top it? No other angle ran as long and had so much attention on it, which was part of the problem really…

Honorable Mentions: CZW (17), ROH (2), NJPW (3)

3rd Place: Wrestling Society X (WSX) – 50 points – Given a whole three weeks to gather an audience before MTV yanked the rug out from underneath it by pulling the show.

2nd Place: WWE ECW (WWE) – 68 points – While there have been a couple of really good things to come out of ECW this year, they are nowhere near the number of bad things to come out of ECW this year.

And your winner is…:

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Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) – 96 points

Daniel Wilcox: It’s a sad fact, but I don’t know where to begin here. The booking would be obvious point, but I’m more disappointed with TNA’s wrestling this year. Sure, there have been a few gems, but I can remember a time when every aspect of TNA delivered in the ring. The tag division was as good as any tag division of any promotion of any era, with the likes of AJ and Daniels, America’s Most Wanted and LAX putting on amazing matches on a weekly basis. In 2007, the highlight of the tag division has been a feud between Team 3D and The Steiners, a sign of how bad things have become. Of course, TNA had to go the WWE-esque route of having rivals as tag champs when Angle and Sting won the belts, and then it got worse by switching them to Ron Killings and Pacman Jones. And what about the X Division? Remember when that was fun? Now, the guys don’t get anywhere near enough TV time and when they do, they’re usually getting beat up, beat down and generally beaten by guys who have no right going over them. What was once the highlight of TNA is now probably it’s weakest aspect. Then there’s the world title picture that has been as pathetic and frustrating as anything I’ve seen this year. How many times can the title be decided in a tag team match? How many times do we have to not give Joe the gold? How hot is Karen Angle?

And then there’s the booking. Reverse battle-royals, feast or fired and chamber of blood matches aside, you would be forgiven for thinking a complete idiot had booked TNA in 2007. Wait, Vince Russo? Oh snap. That man’s obsession with overcomplicating even the easiest of booking decisions has really made TNA’s product a thousand times worse than it’s ever been and Jeff Jarrett is a fool for allowing it to go ahead, but I guess they’re tight so it’s OK. Hell, I wouldn’t mind so much if they just got a little bit decisive. Are you pushing Chris Harris or not? Is Christian a heel or a face? Do you want guys like Hall and Nash main-eventing, or Kaz and Eric Young? Not even a cameo appearance by Andrew ‘The Punisher’ Martin could save TNA’s horrible booking this year.

Then there’s their newer superstars, you know, huge draws like Black Reign and Rellik who are clearly worth the money paid to bring them in. Of course, you could make some money out of those guys if you actually had a clue how to book them. And really, do people really care about Abyss’ parents any more?

Still, at least this year they put an end to that Roode/Young rivalry!

Ryan Byers: In 2007, I have written roughly fifty-two columns that pointed out TNA’s inadequacies on a weekly basis. Because of that, I had some difficulty paring down my thoughts on the promotion in to a paragraph that could be presented here. But, after some thinking, I managed to boil down my frustration with TNA to two simple words: Wasted potential. From top to bottom, TNA has a roster of wrestlers which is on average more talented than the roster of any of WWE’s three “brands.” Despite that fact, if I were to rank the four major wrestling shows in order of quality, TNA Impact would come in fourth for most weeks in 2007. (And they would’ve come in fifth for those few weeks that WSX was on the air.) Why is this the case? It’s because the promotion features a creative team that couldn’t book their way out of a wet paper bag. This isn’t just a situation in which I personally am not entertained by the angles. This is a situation in which the booking is demonstrably ineffective. In 2007, we’ve seen WWE, UFC, and even boxing using compelling storylines on free television programs to coerce hundreds of thousands of fans in to buying pay per view cards. Despite the fact that TNA has slightly over a million fans watching Impact every week – a number equal to or greater than the number that watches UFC’s Ultimate Fighter show – they struggle every month to get even 30,000 PPV buyers. This can be traced directly to the promotion’s inability to put together angles of the sort that fans are proven to want to see in the twenty-first century. Viewers want two wrestlers who are given a simple, easy to relate to reason for disliking each other. They then want those wrestlers to win a bunch of matches en route to fighting each other. They don’t want complicated tournaments with six “stages,” reverse ladder matches, War Games matches in which the babyfaces have the advantage the whole way through, or main events featuring bickering tag teams. Unfortunately, this is exactly what TNA has given them. It is for that reason and for that reason alone that the promotion will continue to be a miserable failure despite the large number of top notch matches produced by their skilled roster.

Jerome Cusson: TNA is the worst company in professional wrestling in the year 2007 for so many reasons, I literally cannot sit here and give you all of them. Watch every iMPACT from this year and every Pay-Per-View. You’ll come with a list so long that you could run out of memory on your computer. And if you do watch all that TNA, I think your IQ might drop ten to fifteen points too. The best way to start deciding why TNA is the worst just requires you to look at the end of the year awards. Christy Hemme as a manager? She doesn’t even make good eye candy. Pacman Jones as a wrestler? First off, he didn’t even get in the ring yet got to pin the legendary Sting in a match and held the TNA world tag team titles. Those same belts were held by one wrestler on multiple occasions throughout this year. The X-division, a shining light of this company when internet fans actually cared, has been relegated to opening and comedy level matches. The talented Jay Lethal is doing an impersonation of a wrestler half of the audience likely never saw compete.

My journalism teachers always taught me to “show, don’t tell.” The above is just short list of problems. I could go on and on just listing. I’ll let other 411 writers give analysis as to why TNA is what they are. I just want to point out one final thing.
Look, WWE had a bad year. But despite everything that went on, they had a number of shining lights. They found a way to deal with the Chris Benoit situation and have pretty much recovered. TNA, if they had come up with a real drug policy and had shown any initiative whatsoever in combating drug use in professional wrestling, could have slapped WWE in the face. Instead the only faces they slapped the whole year were the fans that actually wasted their time and money on this lousy company.

Scott Slimmer: I should probably start by admitting that there may technically be worse promotions than TNA. I’m sure there are small independent promotions all across the country who pay weekend warriors to put on shitty matches in community centers and VFW halls in front of the dozen or so drunken rednecks that are politely referred to as fans. But the difference is that nobody expects anything of those crappy little indy feds. They may put on bad shows, but nobody expects them to put on good shows, and so nobody leaves the shows disappointed. And that’s what sets them apart from TNA. Because what truly makes TNA the worst promotion of the year is the fact that it is without double the most disappointing promotion of the year. Just think about the resources available to TNA. They have a man who is an Olympic gold medallist and one of the most talented in-ring performers in the history of the industry. They have two of the three most decorated tag teams of all time. They have three rising stars who set the independent scene on fire, made the X-Division Championship one of the most prestigious belts in the world, put together a six month serious of absolutely amazing matches, and could be the biggest stars of tomorrow. They have a rabid and knowledgeable crowd that actively looks for reasons to still love the promotion. And, well, they have the freedom of not being WWE. They have all of that and so much more, and for many fans that means TNA should be well on the road to greatness. And that’s why it’s so mind-numbingly maddening when TNA continually lets bad decision-making and outright stupidity prevent them from rising to the success they seem to deserve. Instead of building the stars of tomorrow, TNA has focused on yesterdays has-beens. Instead of showcasing the best in-ring action in the world, TNA has highlighted inane storylines and nonsensical angles. Instead of actually becoming the alternative to WWE, TNA had seemingly done everything in their power to become the most watered-down second-rate carbon copy of WWE imaginable. And instead of giving the fans what they want and reminding them that professional wrestling can be rewarding to watch, TNA has continually found new and innovative ways to kick their fans in the nuts. Time and time and time again.

Honorable Mentions: Michelle McCool is lovin’ life! (WWE SmackDown! – 15), Voodoo Kin Mafia challenges Vince Kennedy McMahon (TNA iMPACT! – 5), Angle Family Thanksgiving (TNA iMPACT! – 11.22.07 – 9)

3rd Place: Christy Hemme becomes a feminist, name drops Chyna, and wants to wrestle (TNA Final Resolution – 02.11.07) – 39 points – It was a chore to watch then, and it was a chore to watch this time around as I debated linking it. You’re all welcome. AWFUL promo.

2nd Place: Sting & Father James Mitchell go on a dinner date (TNA iMPACT!) – 40 points – Fortunately for me, I seemed to have missed this and can’t find it anywhere online. If the voting is any indication though, it was most definitely a horrible, cringe-inducing sight.

And your winner is…:

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Junior Fatu buries Robert Roode & The TNA Fight For Your Right Tournament (TNA iMPACT! – 10.25.07) – 69 points

Ryan Byers: When I talk to professional wrestling fans these days and ask them what they think a good promo is, they usually say something to the effect of “Well, it’s supposed to entertain me . . . usually it should make me laugh.” What these fans don’t realize is that they’re missing half of the point of a successful promo. As the name implies, the goal is to PROMOTE something, usually an upcoming match. To promote something, you generally have to make it sound as though it is important. This is why Rikishi “Junior” Fatu’s promo on the October 25 edition of Impact was an unmitigated failure. Fatu was scheduled to face Bobby Roode in the first round of TNA’s Fight for Your Right (To PAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTY!) Tournament. Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that Fatu had never heard of Bobby Roode before, and he may have heard of the tournament for the first time five minutes prior to cutting the promo. Fatu referred to his opponent as “Rick Rude” (who in fact has been dead for several years) and barely seemed aware of the fact that by beating “Rick” he could eventually win a shot at the company’s World Heavyweight Title. I’ve had some people attempt to convince me that this was Fatu’s attempt at humor . . . that he was trying to come off as a wrestler who was too cool for school. However, whether he was joking or whether he was honestly confused is irrelevant. If it was the latter, the promotion should’ve smartened him up. If it was the former, he broke one of the cardinal rules of professional wrestling: That you never make your opponent sound like he’s inferior to you. After all, if you do that and you beat him, it diminishes your own accomplishment because you beat a nobody. If you do it and your opponent beats you, you look doubly stupid because you just lost to a guy who was portrayed as a goof. This promo was a failure on virtually ever level, which made me all the more happy when Fatu walked out on the promotion weeks after it was taped.

John Meehan: Four major problems with this particular abortion of a promo:

  • 1) WHY give mic time to somebody who’s not even a contracted member of your roster?
  • 2) WHY have somebody who’s not even on your contracted roster absolutely bury a guy who IS?
  • 3) WHY have a non-contracted wrestler absolutely bury a tournament for a shot at your company’s World Title?
  • 4) WHY IN THE BLUE HELL WOULD YOU EVEN AIR SUCH A SEGMENT ON A *TAPED* PROGRAM!?!

    This pro-“oh-no”-mo by Rikishi/”Junior Fatu” typified everything that is 100% wrong with TNA wrestling these days: fly-by-night “name” superstars coming in, being made to look like a million bucks (at the expense of homegrown talent/titles), phoning in their work for the sake of a paycheck, and splitting town altogether shortly thereafter — leaving the company in the EXACT same place they were in (but with a bit more damage control to explain away) just a few weeks earlier. This promo was an absolute mess from top to bottom, and every single person remotely involved with allowing this turd to make the TNA airwaves should be ashamed of themselves.

    Scott Slimmer: You’ve almost got to admire any human accomplishment that can suck so fiercely in so many different ways at once. But seriously, Junior Fatu’s infamous Fight for the Right promo sucked with such mind boggling resonance that you almost have to stop to ask if it was a work of art or just one of the greatest clusterfucks in the history of human civilization. If you take the promo at face value, then it was just a disaster. Fatu clearly didn’t give a damn about the tournament and hadn’t even bothered to learn his opponent’s name. However, if you believe that Fatu was going for faux-Rock coolness, then the promo was just a sad display of an untalented hack trying to leech off of someone else’s popularity. There is only one Rock, and the fact that we still can’t figure out if Fatu was trying to be serious or not only underscores the fact that he can’t pull off a Rock promo even if he tried. But it my mind, what really pushed this little gem into a new and exciting realm of suckitude was that it was shown on a pre-recorded show. I mean, we all know that shit happens, and sometimes you just can’t avoid it on a live show. But the fact that TNA taped a piss-poor promo and STILL decided to air it shows how little they care about their own programming. So yeah, you really do have to marvel at how one little promo can manage to bury a rising star and an important tournament, make an established veteran look like an unmotivated amateur, AND expose the underlying carelessness and lack of pride in an entire promotion. But in the end, I’m just amazed that a man like Junior Fatu could ever do anything so incredibly half-assed.

    Matthew Sforcina: There are two main points to a wrestling promo. Be entertaining, and sell something. Your character, your stable, your rival, your match, your PPV, your merchandise, your company, something, anything. A promo that’s not selling something is wasted. But a promo that actively turns people off something, and is not in the least entertaining, was Fatu’s ‘promo’ on that night. He made himself, Robert Roode, the tourney, the show, the title, the company, everything looked bad. There was not one redeeming property about the promo, especially given that it was on a taped show and thus TNA could easily have cut it out. But nope, they aired it, so shame on them. But mostly shame on Fatu. Terrible, terrible promo. Just terrible.

    Be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 3. Part 4 will be posted on Friday!

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    James Thomlison

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