wrestling / Columns

The Contentious Ten 12.12.11: Top 10 Underachievers of 2011

December 12, 2011 | Posted by Nick Bazar

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

We’re almost two weeks into December so I figured now was a good time to begin looking back at 2011. We begin by looking back at the underachievers of 2011. Pretty straightforward- wrestlers who failed to reach their potential for the year. Wrestlers who failed to remain relevant throughout the year whether it was by not winning championships or participating in relevant storylines and matches. And so, the Top Ten Underachievers of 2011…

X color=red>size=8>
Johnny Curtissize=6>

Much like Kaval last year, Johnny Curtis showed some promise by winning NXT, and then went on to do nothing. Hell, at least Kaval was able to challenge for the United States championship on a major pay-per-view. Curtis hasn’t even been able to challenge for the Tag Team championship on an episode of Superstars. Well, I guess I shouldn’t say he’s done absolutely “nothing.” I mean, he did participate in those countless pun-filled vignettes that aired on Smackdown leading up to his debut. Unfortunately, this segues nicely into a discussion of his eventual Smackdown debut in which he was demolished in a squash match by Mark Henry. I don’t remember if he’s been in any other Smackdown matches this year, but if he has, it hasn’t been many. He has been on the latest never-ending season of NXT: Redemption, but let’s face it, that’s basically like not being a part of the WWE at all.

IX color=red>size=8>
D’Angelo Dinerosize=6>

Here is D’Angelo Dinero’s 2011 in one sentence: He lost a bunch of times to Samoa Joe for the first six months then spent the second six months in a “feud” with Brother Devon. Seriously? What a waste of a supremely talented guy. Here’s a wrestler who has everything you could ask for: the look, the workrate, the mic skills and most importantly, a unique, marketable character. It’s unfortunate that someone with those credentials ends up on an “Underachievers of 2011” list, but 2011 was severely lackluster for The Pope. He was misused in the WWE, he’s been misused in TNA, and capping off the year still stuck in a needlessly meandering feud with Devon, it doesn’t look like he’ll reach his full potential any time soon. Let’s hope I’m wrong, because he’s the kind of character that can give a company a great identity.

VIII color=red>size=8>
Douglas Williamssize=6>

From one misused TNA wrestler to another, Douglas Williams began the year 2011 going downhill and it still hasn’t picked up for him some 12 months later. And this one is especially unfortunate because he had such a great 2010. If you remember, he was a huge part of the X Division for the better part of that year before moving into the Television Championship picture; you know, the one that still had an ounce of credibility left in it. However, despite a couple of star-making performances against AJ Styles toward the end of 2010, Williams got off to a horrible start in 2011, losing the Television Championship to Abyss at Genesis, the first pay-per-view of the year. Here’s the kicker: Abyss wasn’t even his originally scheduled opponent! After that debacle, Williams was nowhere to be found for months, before reuniting with Magnus to reform The British Invasion. They were nowhere near as successful or impactful as during their first run together, and have been used sparingly since. Talk about a guy who just dropped off the face of TNA this year.

VII color=red>size=8>
Samoa Joesize=6>

Samoa Joe signed a brand new TNA contract at the end of 2010. Because of that, I foolishly thought he would have a strong year this year. However, for reasons I still fail to understand, it seems like Samoa Joe has been making lists like this one for years now. We always get a hint that the “old Samoa Joe” is coming back- the one that destroyed everyone in his path and was one of the hottest guys in the business- but we are letdown every single time. 2011 was no different. Sure, he gained a few victories over the aforementioned D’Angelo Dinero, but what did that get him? He just remained at the same level he was before he started. That feud did absolutely nothing for either guy. It can actually be argued that the feud hurt Joe because after its conclusion, he went on a losing streak. Not only did he go on a losing streak, but he went on a losing streak during the Bound for Glory Series. As a result, he was constantly at the bottom of the standings. Guess what followed. But of course, another “the real Joe is back” storyline. And of course, it ended with him on the losing end of Crimson. It sucks to say this, but the Samoa Joe ship has sailed.

VI color=red>size=8>
Alex Rileysize=6>

This is one I did not see coming, and is probably the most surprising name on this list. I really thought this would be a great year for Alex Riley- shows how much I know. He began the year as The Miz’s little bitch. That was a good thing though, as it got a large wrestling audience invested in Riley’s character, an essential factor that is needed for any successful face turn. And let’s be honest, his eventual face turn was very well received. The night Riley finally snapped and started to destroy Miz was a great and memorable moment in his short-lived career. The crowd loved it, they were behind Riley and it worked. Not only that, but he would go on to defeat Miz on pay-per-view. Those two events don’t really sound like they belong to an underachiever, but they were two isolated positive blimps on Riley’s 2011 as opposed to trends. In other words, his successes pretty much ended there. Since then, what has he done? The crowds mellowed on him, he was off Raw for a while, and upon his return, he has been relegated to Superstars. For a guy who had a fantastic head start, his character has really gone nowhere.

V color=red>size=8>
John Morrisonsize=6>

Like Samoa Joe, John Morrison has always been one of those guys who I’ve waited for to truly breakout and become a main event star. Morrison has always been good and reliable as a trusty mid-carder or secondary champion, but his main event spot was always in question. Coming into 2011, I figured this would be the make or break year for Morrison- the year that would determine whether he was a mid-carder for life, or the newest addition to the main event scene. It started off on a good note with a memorable performance against The Miz on Raw followed by another memorable performance in the 40-man Royal Rumble. However after that, he fell right into the same pattern. They finally had something great going with his character, but for whatever reason, he failed to capitalize on it. He spent the majority of the year doing nothing of relevance, unless you count a losing streak storyline as relevant. By the end of the year, he had lost whatever steam he gained in January and rumors of his contract status began popping up. Soon enough, he suffered a loss to Dolph Ziggler on pay-per-view and was quickly beat down by The Miz on Raw. His future with the WWE, or lack thereof, was clear.

IV color=red>size=8>
Kanesize=6>

Here’s another wrestler who went straight downhill following a dominating 2010. As we all know, Kane had one of the best years of his career in 2010, enjoying a lengthy and well-deserved World Heavyweight Championship reign. It was great to see. For some reason though, all that success came to a screeching halt at the beginning of 2011. He wasn’t the champion anymore, and he wasn’t involved in any feuds. Basically, he was in that dreaded limbo state. Before long, he turned face again and formed a tag team with Big Show. They found some success, winning the Tag Team Championship, but the reign was short-lived and a far cry from the main event status Kane had reached the previous year. From there, the year would end early for the Big Red Machine as he fell at the hands of a rising Mark Henry, and he hasn’t been seen since. The future does look bright for Kane though, as 2012 looks to be the return of the mask. Can’t wait.

III color=red>size=8>
Rob Van Damsize=6>

What happened to this guy? He has completely checked out this year, and it has showed in every area of his performances. He’s gained a bunch of weight, he sleepwalks through his matches and he never seems to care about his promos. I know his character has always been the laid back cool guy, but the RVD of 2011 has been one of the most blatantly unmotivated guys I’ve ever seen in wrestling. If you look at it from his perspective, he hasn’t been given much to work with this year. While in 2010 he was the face of the company for a large portion of the year, he has been in inconsequential feuds all throughout 2011 that haven’t hurt or helped him. He hasn’t move up the ladder, he hasn’t moved down the ladder- he has remained stagnant all year long. I don’t remember enjoying any of his matches this year, or really, anything he’s been a part of. After his level of performance this year, it’s clear to see that if RVD and TNA part ways soon, it would be a benefit to everyone involved.

II color=red>size=8>
Sin Carasize=6>

Sin Cara ranks so high on my list because he had such high expectations coming into 2011. This was Triple H’s first big hiring. This was the guy who was supposed to be the successor to Rey Mysterio. This was the guy who got a huge press conference to unveil his brand new mask and had numerous vignettes prior to his debut to hype him up. He was supposed to be a big deal. Instead, he constantly underperformed and never seemed comfortable in a WWE ring. In spite of that, they kept giving him chance after chance to impress. What resulted were more poor and botch-filled performances and two big injuries. I’m actually surprised they stuck with him as long as they did. Who knows what 2012 has in store for Sin Cara, but 2011 was a bad start to say the least. Oh, and that unintentional dick t-shirt! They really couldn’t get anything right with this guy.

I color=red>size=8>
Matt Hardysize=6>

I don’t see how anyone but Matt Hardy could take the Number One Underachiever of 2011 spot. The biggest thing to understand here is that there is no one to blame but him. At the start of the year, he put all these grand expectations on himself; he claimed 2011 would be his year because the chains were finally off. Matt Hardy wasn’t going to be held back anymore. He was going to reach his true potential. He was going to change the wrestling business. Those were all his self-imposed ambitions. It was all his self-imposed hype. Was he able to back it up? Of course not. The only difference we saw was a ripoff of his brother’s hair and a few pounds lost. His matches weren’t up to the quality of his WWE stuff, his promos were boring and after a few weeks, he was back to being a mid-card afterthought. Soon after that, he was fired. Let’s not even get into his out-of-ring struggles this year; I’m looking at Matt Hardy the wrestler. Matt Hardy the wrestler is without a doubt the underachiever of 2011.

NULL

article topics

Nick Bazar

Comments are closed.