The Contentious Ten 01.02.12: Top 10 Images of 2011

Hello, and welcome to The Contentious Ten! My name is Nick Bazar, and I thank you for clicking.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I have always agreed with that. In fact, I’ve come to realize that often times, a single image can say more and elicit more emotion out of a person than a high definition video with surround sound audio. That in mind, I thought we’d take a look at the year 2011 in wrestling through images. This list counts down the best wrestling images of the year that highlighted the biggest and most memorable moments of the year in a way that rivals all other forms of media. And so, the Top Ten Wrestling Images of 2011…

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Collapsed: The Sequelsize=6>

Following Mark Henry’s conquering of both Randy Orton and his coveted World Heavyweight Championship, The World’s Strongest Man moved on to a new challenge in the form of The World’s Largest Athlete, The Big Show. Initially, many saw it as a quick feud to give Henry even more credibility before moving on to a different babyface challenger, but one battle between the behemoths led to a couple more, and before long, we had a full blown three month rivalry on our hands. In that time, we were treated to surprisingly good matches, knockout blows and a showering of steel chairs. However, none of those events rivaled the image of Show and Henry lying knocked out on the mat with a collapsed ring beneath them. It’s what happens when Henry decides it would be a good idea to superplex Show off the top rope. The shot of the ring collapsing as the two monsters made contact with the mat was just as awe-inspiring as it was eight years ago when Show went through the same thing with Brock Lesnar in 2003.

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The Kidsize=6>

Thanks to a combination of his grating on-screen personality and his troubling off-screen issues, Sean “X-Pac” Waltman managed to become one of the most hated men in the wrestling business. While he carried that reputation with him for years, it started to straighten itself out in the year 2011. Through his communication with his fans via social media and his appearances on YouTube videos and online interviews, people began to see him in a different, more positive light. That brings us to his resurrection of the character that made him a household name to millions of wrestling fans 15 years before: The 1-2-3 Kid. The event was Chikara’s annual tournament known as King of Trios back in April. Waltman shaved the trademark beard, put on the classic Kid tights and delivered one of the best feel-good moments of the year with a couple of very entertaining matches that showed he still had it. It also provided us with this great image of the event, depicting Waltman shaking hands with Jinsei Shinzaki, also known as the former Hakushi.

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Still Running Wildsize=6>

On night where TNA fans were treated to a great X Division match between Austin Aries and Brian Kendrick, a fun brawl between Bully Ray and Mr. Anderson and Kurt Angle screwing Bobby Roode out of the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, perhaps nothing was more memorable or provided more excitement than the closing minutes of the grudge match between Sting and Hulk Hogan. Despite much criticism directed to the idea of this match taking place in the year 2011, the two legends had the crowd in the palm of their hands on a level no one else even came close to reaching that night. It built and built until the audience finally erupted when Hogan began ripping the shirt off his back signaling the return of Hulkamania. It was a legitimately memorable moment that gave us this fantastic image of the classic Hogan pose with an elated crowd in the background. It’s the kind of image that not only makes TNA look “big time”- something TNA is often criticized for lacking- but also manages to capture the energy of the moment.

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WWWYKIsize=6>

Heading into the Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view, Zack Ryder was on one of the most unique rises up the wrestling ladder anybody had ever seen. It was a journey that saw him put forth a level of dedication and ambition that we don’t see out of people too often. It was a journey that was filled with lows in the form of not being featured on television and being lucky to get a match on rarely watched Internet shows, and highs in the form of finally capturing a comfortable spot on Monday Night Raw and interacting with John Cena’s character on an almost weekly basis. There really could be no better way to end the year than with a PPV victory over the long-reigning United States champion, Dolph Ziggler, and that’s exactly what happened. The match was one of the best of the night, and the crowd was vocally supportive of Ryder the entire time. At the conclusion of the match, when Ryder finally scored the 1-2-3 to win his first singles championship in the WWE, you couldn’t help but be happy for the guy. The icing on the cake was the shot of his proud father in the audience jumping up and down with a Broski headband on his head. The celebration was a fantastic image- one of the best of the year.

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Finally…size=6>

The main event of Survivor Series 2011 was the second most anticipated match this year for me, just behind CM Punk vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank. Why? Because The Rock was stepping back inside the ring as a wrestler for the first time in over seven years. At the time, I read everyone bitching about the fact that the WWE didn’t build The Miz and R-Truth up as strong enough opponents for the seemingly unbeatable team of The Rock and John Cena, but I really didn’t give a damn. I was just excited to see one of my favorites back in the ring. And really, what could the WWE have done to bring Miz and Truth up to the level of Rock and Cena in the eyes of casual fans? Not much. So the match took place, and for the short time Rock was in the ring, it seemed as though he hadn’t missed a step. I wouldn’t compare it to the performance Shawn Michaels delivered after four years of being away from the business, but it sure gave everyone watching something to be excited about (and let’s face it, something to mark out for). Plus, anything that gives us an image of Rock about to drive his elbow into Miz’s chest with a People’s Elbow is okay in my book.

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Best in the Worldsize=6>

As I’ve stated many times before, I don’t follow independent wrestling nearly as much as many of my colleagues here at 411mania. However, I did make a point to catch ROH’s Best in the World iPPV when it came out during the summer to watch my favorite Indy guy at the time- Davey Richards- hopefully capture the ROH World Championship for the first time. I’m glad I did because his match against Eddie Edwards was one of the best of the year, and the post-match celebration was one of the most touching moments I’ve seen in wrestling in a long time. You don’t even need to know a thing about Davey Richards, ROH or even wrestling in general to appreciate the emotion behind the newly crowned ROH World Champion Richards looking at the sky and proclaiming to his grandparents that he had finally done it. The image above shows the tears in his eyes as he was flooded with the emotion of reaching the top of the Independent scene and what some hardcore fans consider the pinnacle of “real wrestling.” In short, it’s an image that captures one of those rare moments of real emotion in professional wrestling.

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Mission Accomplishedsize=6>

At the beginning of 2011, it had already been two years since Christian had returned to the WWE. He spent a large chunk of that time trying to make a fledging ECW brand relevant again, and the rest was taken up by some mid-card work on Smackdown. Basically, he was back to where he was when he left the WWE back in 2005. No upward movement, no realistic signs of a main event push and it seemed as though he would end his career without a much deserved World Championship run. Things started to look up when they made Christian a central point of Edge’s feud with Alberto Del Rio heading into Wrestlemania 27. He scored a couple of big wins over the Mexican Aristocrat in the weeks prior to the big show, and helped Edge destroy Del Rio’s prized automobile to open Mania. It looked even better for Captain Charisma when he was inserted into the Extreme Rules Ladder match against Del Rio for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. At the conclusion of the match, Christian symbolically climbed that ladder and retrieved the wrestling championship that had eluded him for nearly 20 years. It provided one of the several big mark out moments of 2011, and a memorable image of his best friend at his side holding his arm up in victory.

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No Wordssize=6>

Just looking at this image brings me back to that great night on the Road to Wrestlemania when both The Undertaker and Triple H made their long-awaited returns to wrestling on the same night. Out first was Taker, revealing himself to be the subject of the mysterious 2.21.11 videos that many had optimistically connected to Sting. Then, before the crowd in the arena and the fans at home were able to fully take in the return, Triple H’s music hit and out came The Game who had been gone for nearly a year. No words were exchanged, no blows were struck- all they had to do was stare each other down and look up at the big Wrestlemania banner at the top of the arena. That painted and hyped up the eventual Mania match more effectively than any words could have. You had two of the biggest and most respected stars in the industry setting the stage for a clash at the biggest wrestling event of the year. An awesome image in time that shows us some of the great stuff we can come to expect out of Wrestlemania season.

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Here is how great this image of Michael Cole’s face crushed up against the side of his ridiculous “Cole Mine” is: it almost makes the entire Jerry Lawler/Michael Cole feud worth it. Almost, but not quite. Still, that’s a lofty ambition but this came close. And really, what you see in that image above is all the Lawler vs. Cole match should have been- Lawler embarrassing Cole in his Cole Mine, and delivering a quick Piledriver to end it. Instead, we had to sit through nearly 15 minutes of Cole trying to “wrestle” Lawler before eventually beating him via disqualification. Insanity! This image was the silver lining of that horribly booked match, and literally made me laugh out loud when it happened. I mean look at it. It’s priceless. I could go into a long diatribe about how much I hate Cole’s character, but instead, I’ll be nice and give him credit for giving us that hilariously contorted face. It’s probably the best thing he’s ever contributed to the wrestling industry.

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It’s only fitting that my image of the year depicts the height of one of the best things to happen to wrestling in a long time. Let’s forget for a second how this angle was botched just a few days after this picture was taken. Let’s go back to that point in time when CM Punk had just defeated John Cena in a 30 minute classic at Money in the Bank, and was running out of the arena with the WWE Championship. Personally, I felt as if I had just witnessed not only one of the greatest matches of the past 10 or 15 years, but a moment in time that would be replayed and replayed over and over again by wrestling fans for years to come. Taking that one night into account, I still feel that way, and this image sums it up perfectly. It’s everything the CM Punk character is about; it’s a brilliant graphic description of why wrestling fans were so excited for the product once again during that time. Punk sending a sarcastic kiss to Vince McMahon as he holds the “John Cena” engraved WWE Championship hostage. It is, in my opinion, the best wrestling image of 2011.

Before you go, relive Christmas with Michael Ornelas’ new comedy short! My bad for forgetting to put this up last week when it was a tad more relevant…