The Ripple Effect 7.20.07: The Christmas In July Awards (Part Two)

It is July the 20th, and I’m just now starting to experience the summer.

Those of you living in the south might know what I’m talking about. From the time the school year ended until about a week and a half ago, the entire state of Oklahoma (and most of the neighboring states) were absolutely douched with rain. Whereas in most summers people are concerned with massive drought, this year people are just wondering what to do with all this damn water. I remember going to my last final in May and being a little sad that I didn’t get to experience a day of sunshine. I had no idea that it would continue for the next fifty days.

But now the sun is out, and the days are just as unbearably hot as they were last year. I’ve made a promise to myself that I would be more active than I was last summer, and now I finally have a chance to get outside. I’ve played golf four times, laid out by my apartment’s pool, and developed quite the farmer’s tan. It looks like I put my arms halfway into a tanning bed and sat there for an hour.

Make no mistake though, the sunburns on my fingers will not stop me from delivering the best wrestling talk I can produce. Let’s get into some e-mail…

Pimpin’ Ho’s Nationwide

In response to the first half of the CIJ awards last week, we have Justin Baker, sharing his opinion on just about every nominee, which is both condoned and encouraged:

I enjoyed your idea to give out awards for the first half of the year and decided to give you my picks.

Tag Team of the Year- Hardy Boyz

I have to give this award to Matt & Jeff for being the most over tag team in wrestling by a large margin and for having some outstanding matches with teams like MnM, London & Cade, and the World’s Greatest Tag Team. It was fun to see one of my favorite teams of the past 8 years back together again and still competing at a very high level. I don’t see them teaming much for the rest of the year due to both guys seemingly on the verge of strong singles pushes (which in Matt’s case is YEARS overdue).

Other Thoughts- London & Kendrick have been solid all year and I feel they are close to really breaking out as big stars (think late ’99 Hardys or E &C). I think they just need that one big match and their made.
Cade & Murdock have grown on me and I feel they are doing a good job as the top heel team.
LAX has lost a lot of their momentum and I’m not sure what the future holds for them.
I’m not a Team 3-D hater like the always annoying TNA Orlando crowd, but with that being said, they NEED to be heels at this point. I think they do a decent job, but I’d pay good money to see Bubba Ray cut an old-school ECW heel promo on those Orlando geeks.

Non-Wrestling Personality- Hornswaggle (Little Bastard)-

The Coach can be funny at times, but I feel his type of character is so played out.
James Mitchell is very inconsistent. He alternates between cutting really good “evil” promos and being a completely over the top cheesy horror movie villain.
I detest everything about Konnan, and think he’s one of the most unlikeable people in all of wrestling. I’m not at all sad to see him out of TNA.
I was a huge Jim Cornette over the years, and I think he is still good at times, but he just doesn’t seem to have the magic of 80s-1996 classic Jim Cornette.
That leaves Hornswaggle. He is at least able to pop the crowd during Finlay’s rest-hold intensive matches. (I’ll never understand the appeal of Finlay to the Internet crowd. Their have been some strange Internet fads over the years, but “Finlay is one of the best wrestlers in WWE” has to be the strangest.) The crowd doesn’t pop for anything Finlay does, yet go crazy when Hornswaggle makes an appearance. That gives the little guy my vote in this category.

Feud- HBK vs John Cena

There have been a lot of good feuds in the first half of the year. MVP-Benoit, Harris-Storm, and Undertaker-Batista were all fantastic, but I have to vote Cena-HBK because it was the feud I was most interested in. It was well booked for a 3 month period and gave us 2 very good matches. It’s just a shame that Michaels didn’t get to win the title.

Announcer- Jim Ross

I don’t think Good Ol’ JR is as consistently fantastic every week as he used to be, but when he really gets going, he’s the best in the business. As long as he is calling matches I’ll probably vote for him in this category. I don’t hate any of the current big time announcers though.
JBL comes the closest to being an announcer that I don’t like. JBL the wrestler/character was my favorite over the past 5 years, but as an announcer I find him more annoying then anything. His hyperbole is just too much, even for pro wrestling, with statements like; “Edge is the greatest of all time.” “The ‘Legendary’ Fit Finlay” “London & Kendrick- one of the greatest teams ever” etc. He’s also inconsistent. He’s supposed to be a heel announcer, but sometimes he bashes the heels (Sylvain, The Miz, early MVP) and idolizes the faces (Benoit was the best example of this) Worst of all, even with all his over the top comments, he still manages to put himself over more than the wrestlers. With that being said, he does come off with some hilarious one-liners and has good chemistry with the always underrated Michael Cole.

Indy- N/A

I was a big Indy fan from 2001-2005 but I lost interest, and since I haven’t seen any 2007 Indy stuff I’m not voting in this category.

Wrestler of the Year- John Cena

I didn’t really want to, but I had to vote for John Cena. The promotion is built around him, and despite his critics, he has delivered in spades this year. He’s been involved in my two favorite matches of 2007 (vs. Umaga at Royal Rumble and vs. HBK from Raw), main evented every Pay Per View, and most importantly he brings the money in. I still find his character annoying, but I don’t see how somebody could NOT vote for Cena in this category.
I have to give props to HBK & The Undertaker who were both awesome the first four months of this year before injuries sidelined the two legends.
Edge also deserves a mention for going well into his second year as the best heel in wrestling.
Finally I’d like to mention Matt Hardy who in the great tradition of Angle, Benoit, and Eddie, has been carrying the Smackdown brand with fantastic matches nearly every week.

Thanks for all the thoughts, Justin. I agree with about seventy percent of what you’re saying, but you make good arguments for everything. And you almost had me swayed on some.

The Hardys really are the most over tag team in the United States. They’ve proven themselves marketable over a period of about eight years, and they have decorated singles careers as well. Jeff will always be a crowd favorite, and Matt is inching his way toward main event status as we speak. As far as excitement goes, I would have to concur with this pick. We’ll have to see if they’re my official pick for the best though.

It seems the two of us share the popular Internet opinion that Little Bastard is AWESOME. Unless they turn him heel or something, that will remain true.

I too think HBK should’ve gotten a short (or long) title run out of the Cena feud. Michaels hasn’t held the WWE title since his injury almost ten years ago, and you can’t say he doesn’t deserve it a little bit. He’s been the most consistent performer of the past twenty years and hasn’t shown any noticeable decrease in ability. And let’s not forget, they still put him in the biggest match of the year after all this time. But that’s not really your point, so I’ll stop there.

Although I am of the majority who think JBL kicks ass as an announcer, you do have a point with the hyperbole thing. I wouldn’t go so far as to say he doesn’t get anyone over but himself, but I agree that he tries to self-promote a little too much sometimes…especially about how great the APA were.

As if the WM video packages didn’t emphasize it enough, John Cena is THE man in WWE right now. He’s the new cornerstone around which everything else is built. There have been occasions this year in which the SD title PPV match was more intriguing, but they still always went with Cena for the main event slot. Sometimes you just don’t mess with what works.

Thanks again, and do read on to see how accurate your picks are!

And now we have “The Outcast Legend” The Wolf, who might give Ringgo Alexander a run for his money in the “best RE e-mailer name” race. I do have to question a “the” nickname when your apparent regular name also starts with “the” though…less is more, Wolf:

TT of The Year:

Although I almost went with the Dudleys (Uh Team 3D no need to get sued here lol) and TWGTT is the best in ring group of the bunch, and Cade adn Murdoch play up the redneck part very well, I found myself torn between the flashiest teams of the group, and left with The Hardys who basically were a big part of the Brand UNsplt, and the team that held the belts for damn near a year!. It’s hard to argue success, even if their opponent’s weren’t the greatest:

London and Spank…Uh Kendrick

Non-Wrestling Personality of the Year:

If this were ten years or more ago, the winner’d be Cornette HANDS DOWN! But I don’t think that him being the babyface authority figure is anything but interchangeable. Just about anyone who the fans buy as a legit face could slip into the role. That’s not to say that Cornie isn’t doing a good job, just that others could do it just as well. Having The Coach wander out from the back long enough to be the catalist of whatever angle they are trying to jumpstart (A couple of weeks back with the “Beat the clock” matches comes to mind) isn’t enough to give him the nod here. Little Bastard plays his role so over the top it’s VERY hard not to like him and enjoy his heelish ways, but Finlay could do just about everything he’s done (aside of the MITB set-up, that was CLASSIC!) if given a chance (and who’dve thought we’d be talking of Finlay in 2007?) so since he and Coach seem less important in their roles, and Cornie could be interchanged, that just leaves the managers of James Mitchell and Konnan. (Although it’d’ve been a NO CONTEST if ARMANDO ALEHANDRO EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSTRADAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH had been around more, he was the true push behind UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMAGAAAAAAAAAAAAA) So with another tough toss up, I look at who has done more with less, and although Abyss should be at the top of the card, and Mitchell is a BIG reason why that is, when LAX debuted (granted that wasn’t this year, but you get what I’m saying) They weren’t exactly tearing things up, and with Konnan on the stick he got them into being the team to beat in TNA.

Konnan

Fued Of The Half Year:

Well, this one seems a bit strange in my head, I liked the HBK/Cena fued, but it seemed rushed at both ends of things (If Trips were healthy he’d have been the Rumble winner/runner up and placed in this match. and to me at least the end seemed slightly off, prob. because we all know who would’ve won the HHH/Cena fued) This match-up brought in some great matches, but it seemed like a back-up all the way (even if it was a god back-up)

CM Punk/Elisha Burke is one of those feuds that are great and natural, what with the fact that they seem to click in the ring and are pretty much all of what is left in ECW. The problem is the WWE’s lack of support to the fued. Sure, it’s been drawn out like it’s one of the most important feuds that they have (and in truth it kinda is) and it’s been engaging the entire time, on a show that has been very off since it’s start, but the problem is that on their “C” show, they can’t be bothered to put the “ECW World” title(I refuse to honor it with out the ” because Rhino will always be the last ECW Champ!) around the waist of either of these men, and in fact, when they had the PERFECT chance to put the match together on a ppv, they blew it not once, BUT TWICE by setting up (what would’ve been a FANTASTIC match between Punk/Benot) a face/face match-up, and then when Benoit was out, by not only placing JOHNNY NITRO into the mix, but by giviing him the WIN! If they were as behind this fully, then it would’ve been Punk/Burke all along for that match and one of them would be champion, or at least Punk would’ve won the belt and carried things on better. Great storyline, could’ve been much better! (RANT OVER)

Also filed under “missed opportunity” is Cage/Abyss. GREAT STUFF mind you it could’ve been better, and not as what seemed to be as filler to give Cage something to do until he dropped the belt to Angle. They both (as well as the other bit players like Mitchell and AJ) went all out, as did Sting when he was a part of it all, but it just seems like they never intended for Abyss to be anything but a JTTS.

That leaves Chris Benoit/MVP and America’s Most Wanted. One set up what should be a long run for MVP, the other is a failed angle that was run a second time and run to near perfection. Both were fantastic in everything that the angle ran with, but the MVP/Chris Benoit story ended in a stupid way what with Benoit going to ECW and all, so I give the nod to….

James Storm and Chris Harris.

Announcer of The Half Year:

Don’t care waht you say, Michael Cole makes me want to hit the mute button. BUt there is one reason that I do not, or should I say Three letters: JBL. Tenay’s great, but he tends to shillas badly as his partner does, so the nod goes to

John “Brashaw” Layfield.

INdy act of the half year:

I can’t say because i don’t watch much of the indies.

Wrestler of The Year (Kayfabe)

NOw I am going to go with two schools of though on this. 1) Who the marks would pick, and who had the best, most believable push.

The most believable push goes to Edge, because it seems like he is always on top of his game and where ever he goes, he rises to the top.

NOw as for the fans, that’s kinda tough. Lashley’s out, much to Vinnie Mac’s dismay, because even when they show fans cheering for him, they are few and far between. ‘Taker’s got the edge with the fact that he’s been around forever, and is still a strong favorite among the fans. Angle’s direction has seemed a bit off, and some fans are indifferent to him lately, even with the strap. So that leaves one good guy vs one bad guy (and isn’t that the purest part of this?) Cena vs Edge.

NOw both are worthy of this just by the sheer numbers alone. Say what you will about Cena in the ring, but he’s getting wins and if we are voting on this with ignorance towards “pushes’ and other things that marks know nothing about, then he looks damn impressive. Edge is the better in-ring guy of the two and he has all the heat in the world at his fingertips. BUT Edge’s record is FAR WORSE than Cena’s so here goes:

John Cena.

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on this, and forgive me for the typos and poor grammar, I just don’t feel the need to spell check right now (I’m too lazy is more the truth! LOL) So enjoy and I look forward to hearing/reading your thoughts on this as well.

Again, thanks for supplying your two cents.

There seems to be much support for the HooliganZ among the IWC. Well, imagine that! In all seriousness, the two cruiserweights have done nothing but bring more credibility to tag team wrestling in WWE. Good things are surely coming for London & Kendrick, and I hope they win the titles from the Rednecks before too long. Do they draw the crowds like the Hardys? No. Do they possess the character skills of Cade & Murdoch? No. Do they have more in-ring ability than both of those teams? Maybe.

I really enjoyed your take on the “personality of the half-year” nominees. Like you, I really hope Armando turns up again as Umaga’s crazy Cuban mastermind. I don’t really know why he’s been phased out, but it doesn’t make any sense. Umaga can’t seem to stay over with just his grunts and big ass to help him. As for K-Dog, you can definitely make the argument that he’s been far and away the best manager in the business in the past year. The only problem is, this isn’t an award for the past year.

I was lucky enough to catch the Impact match between Harris and Storm, and it made me believe in the power of the AMW Explosion. The pure hatred these two have portrayed for each other in their matches is the kind of old school heat that doesn’t get enough spotlight these days. In the Impact match, and at the PPV beforehand, they just beat the everloving shit out of each other. It was glorious!

The problem with Michael Cole is that he has no identifiable character. He plays the straight man through and through. He says what the straight man says, and he reacts the way the straight man reacts. Sure that doesn’t translate to lots of fun, but with the right color man (namely JBL) it can really work.

The natural rivalry between Edge and Cena has been one of the more interesting in recent memory. They’ve both come on very strong in recent years, and they seem to be hot at the same times. I think they should eventually have a WM match, whether or not it’s for the title. That said, you’ll have to read on to see which of the two I’ve picked as kayfabe Wrestler of the Half-Year. No more shilling, I promise.

Keep them coming, Wolf. And for God’s sake keep that name!

The RE “Christmas In July” Awards

One week ago we started up what is sure to be the most revolutionary awards this site, nay, the Internet has EVER SEEN! Now, we unveil nominees for six more awards.

Last week, we looked at my picks for the following categories:

Tag Team of the Half-Year

Non-Wrestling Personality of the Half-Year

Feud of the Half-Year

Announcer of the Half-Year

Indy Act of the Half-Year

Wrestler of the Half-Year (kayfabe)

To find out who takes home (figuratively) the first batch of awards, check out next week’s column. As for now, let’s examine the very worthy candidates for the second half of the first annual RE CHRISTMAS IN JULY AWARDS!

You don’t have to applaud so loudly.

Pay-Per-View of the Half-Year

Honorable Mention – TNA Destination X

WWE WrestleMania 23

Does this year’s installment of Mania rank with the very best of all time? Not really. Does it stand up to anything WWE has put on in the past five years? Definitely. With a chaotic MITB that featured perhaps the bump of the year courtesy of the Hardys’ hatred for Edge, a coming out party of sorts for SD’s franchise playa, a Taker/Batista match that made me literally jump out of my seat (more on that one later), and a main event whose quality no one can seem to agree on. There were lots of fun goodies along the way (the dance party, Donald meeting Boogey, etc.), and nothing bombed on any level. It wasn’t the best of all time, but it just might be the best of 2007.

TNA Lockdown

I have to admit, I’m a sucker for concept-based shows of any kind. I dug how they made Vengeance into the “Night of Champions”, I dig the idea of Cyber Sunday/Taboo Tuesday (even though they’ve decided to axe it), and I dig having a PPV with nothing but cage matches. Although Lockdown didn’t set the world on fire, and some of the matches didn’t deliver as promised, it was still a satisfying show. The fact that neither big company has put on very good shows this year does this one a favor, but it had its merits. The Lethal Lockdown match with Christian, Steiner, Angle and Sting was lots of fun, and it featured a semi-historic moment as Team 3D finally captured the tag titles. Don’t pass this one up if you see it on the shelves, to be sure.

WWE Backlash

Many consider this to be the best show WWE’s put on this year, and it’s hard to argue with that argument. It was less complicated, more compact, and better executed than Mania, though without the “big show” feel which hurts it a little. All the rematches built on their predecessors, including Benoit/MVP and Taker/Batista, and people seemed to be on their game moreso than usual. Vince won the ECW title at Backlash, which has to be considered historic, even if for the wrong reasons. Without question, April’s “little PPV that could” most definitely deserves a spot on this list.

TNA Slammiversary

The PPV’s from TNA have been a very mixed back in 2007. Some say the Russo influence has ruined the spirit of the shows and are turning away from the product altogether. But some still have faith, and spectacles like Slammiversary are part of the reason why. This show possesses a bit of everything that makes TNA what it is. It features a J-list celebrity in Frank Wycheck, it delivers a good number of solid matches, some weird decisions are made, and a WWE alum goes over the TNA originals. It doesn’t really differ from the norm at all, but it’s still satisfying for what it is.

WWE Royal Rumble

Fans tend to put the Rumble on a very tall pedestal when looking at the year in PPV’s. This year will most likely be no different. This half-year is surely no different. It started out with a very strong tag match between the Hardys and MNM, it continued with a solid Kennedy/Batista title match, it kicked into high gear with Cena vs. Umaga, and it hit a raging climax with the Taker/HBK final two showdown. The San Antonio crowd went absolutely nuts when Shawn dumped Edge out of the ring and stood toe to toe with Taker. It was like we were all safe with those two handing the big-time moment. The Rumble didn’t disappoint this year and must be considered a contender for this award.

The RE Award

I should explain the basis for this one. Since I started this column in December, my focus has been on the matches and moments that start a wrestler down the road to success. This can include a rookie, an established superstar, or a legend coming back for another sweet ride. This award goes to the guy I feel exemplifies this concept more than anyone else. Call it “rippler of the half-year” if you will.

CM Punk

Some say Punk hasn’t shown any of his true potential since coming to the new ECW. I say that given the chance, he could prove to be that breakout star everyone wants him to be. He started out 2007 on a very low note, seemingly bereft of the push that saw him stealing DX’s thunder and main eventing his first PPV. His momentum was all but shot when he qualified for the MITB match at Mania, and he’s only gained it back since then. If you look to one guy to be the symbol of ECW, it has to be Punk.

The Briscoe Brothers

For my money, there is no hotter tag team in wrestling than Jay and Mark Briscoe. I haven’t been fortunate enough to see them a bunch, but I’ve been impressed by what I have seen. They’ve made a huge mark in 2007, with multiple championship victories and a great deal of support from members of the IWC (this writer included). They currently hold the ROH and FIP tag titles and are currently regarded as the premier team in indy wrestling. To me, they embody what the RE is all about.

Montel Vontavious Porter

MVP started out the year with a less than kosher reputation. He hadn’t really delivered on all the hype surrounding his HUGE contract signing. One feud later, he’s showing all of us that we judged too soon. His run of matches with Benoit were among the most important of the year so far, as you could see his improvement with every passing match. The fact that a rookie can make the US title seem more legitimate says a lot about how much people are behind his character. His strides make him a perfect nominee for the RE award.

Dusty Rhodes

If the criteria for this award include a wrestler making significant increases in on-air role and popularity, then the Amewican Dweam certainly qualifies. From his induction into the Hall of Fame, in which he was the featured legend, to his backstage role at ECW, to his recent resurgence in front of the camera, Dusty has bettered his career greatly this year. His name is back in the public consciousness, and the fans get the treat of hearing his promos for at least a little while. What more can you say, good for the Dweam.

Boner of the Half-Year

Honorable Mention – WrestleMania: eight matches, six thousand vignettes

Vince’s “death” overshadowing the Draft

For some unknown reason, WWE decided to run two huge angles on the same edition of Raw. People were going to tune in to see the Draft picks anyway, but Vince decided this wasn’t enough. For this special three-hour edition, he would pull the most outrageous stunt of his career, seemingly blowing himself up on national TV. I wasn’t even one hundred percent against the death angle, but why did they have to make the Draft look unimportant in the process?

TNA giving away PPV-caliber matches on free TV

One thing we learned during Russo’s run with the WWF and later with WCW was that absolutey NOTHING is sacred in his eyes. He had a transvestite go down on Mark Henry, he put the WCW title on David Arquette, and he ran the very first Sting vs. Angle match with almost no build on a meaningless episode of Impact. In the quest to build the show’s ratings to a level comparable to WWE, the bookers have overloaded their TV show to a very high degree. Chief among these non-necessities is Russo’s tendency to give away PPV-quality matches.

Vickie Guerrero gains a position of power on SmackDown

In one of the least interesting “authority figure” angles of all time, Eddie’s widow has used an alliance with Kristal to curry favor with Teddy Long. We all assume her goal is to eventually take over Teddy’s job, evidenced by her bitchy streak since Rey dropped the world title. I feel bad for her and her family, but she simply does not deserve to be on TV. I’ve been hoping she would come along and develop those unique Guerrero performing skills, but unfortunately they don’t seem to come with the marriage license.

TNA’s “Motor City Chain Match” complex

Another of Russo’s tendencies as a booker is to gimmick the hell out of PPV matches. TNA fans have seen this taken to the absolute extreme in 2007. Just this year they’ve run a “last rites” match, an “electrified cage” match, a “prison yard” match, and a “double bullrope” match. The unique old fashioned style of TNA has slowly faded away, and these crazy gimmicks are what we’ve gotten in return. My feelings wouldn’t be hurt at all if this trend came to an stop.

Rob Van Dam goes quietly into the night at One Night Stand

Who is responsible for the fallout between RVD and WWE? Well, both parties share some blame; RVD royally fucked up the biggest opportunity of his career and hurt his brand in the process, and WWE showed little support in helping him get his spot back. Both sides seemed uninterested in dealing with each other, and the fans got the brunt of it. So this one doesn’t necessarily go to a specific person/persons, but the fallout represents a big missed opportunity to entertain and make some money.

Clutch Move of the Half-Year

Honorable Mention – The creation of Black Machismo

Booking Cena/Michaels II to go fifty-six minutes

One of the biggest regrets I have from this year is that I skipped the Raw with this match on it. I came home at about midnight, signed into 411, and saw that Monday night’s two biggest stars at the time tore the house down in an epic wrestling marathon. It was such a refreshing change of pace, especially for the storyline-heavy Raw. It even made sense for HBK to go over, considering his well-documented stamina and propensity to always get his wins back. If someone has a copy of this match, please let me know!

Moving Edge to SmackDown and giving him the world title

Mr. Copeland had a spectacular year in 2006 but seemed to get lost in the shuffle leading up to Mania. Fortunately for him, a few well-times injuries led to the bookers anointing him the new king of Friday nights. Edge seems absolutely at home on SD and, more importantly, out of the shadow of Cena, HHH and Michaels. He went over Batista a ridiculous number of times, and until this week I wasn’t sure how he was going to lose the title. The injury might prove to be a ballbuster, but I think he’ll be back without missing a step. He’s proven himself to be a consummate professional, after all.

Christian Cage successfully defends the NWA title against Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe

It would be very easy for TNA to relegate Christian to the mid-card. His physique isn’t very impressive, and he doesn’t really pose a believable challenge to guys like Angle and Joe. But that didn’t stop them from protecting Cage against both superstars. It’s a very good sign that the company sees big money in Christian, and he’ll likely remain a major player for a long time to come. Keeping his name strong amongst big names like Angle and Joe is a huge way to get there.

The final minutes of the Royal Rumble

As I mentioned earlier, Edge’s elimination from the Rumble caused one of the biggest pops heard this year. The year’s most exciting match would now come down to two of the biggest names in WWE history. The showdown between the Undertaker and HBK made both men look like a million bucks, and in the end the Deadman walked away with his first Rumble win. The really crazy part: both men were in the middle of a big hot streak…at age forty-one and forty-two. It may not have been the best move for the future of the company, but it sure made us mark out like six year olds.

Match of the Half-Year

Honorable Mention – King of the Mountain, TNA Slammiversary

Royal Rumble
WWE Championship – Last Man Standing
John Cena © vs. Umaga

When WWE first started hinting that Umaga was on his way to the main event, the majority of ICW members got a little…huffy. The Samoan Bulldozer hadn’t really done much in the past year besides squash jobbers and the occasional mid-carder, and basically no one thought he was ready to go one-on-one with Cena. At New Year’s Revolution, the two put on a very good show, but it was at the Rumble where they really shined. The “last man standing” stipulation provided a good chance for Umaga to inflict some punishment and for Cena to look positively dead. Umaga’s running splash across all the announce tables was a very inventive spot, and the finish (with a chain-aided STFU) put both men over as tough bastards.

Destination X
NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Christian Cage © vs. Samoa Joe

The Instant Classic was in a pretty tough spot when Destination X rolled around. Sure he’d just won the NWA title from Sting, but he was far from a proven champion. His match with Joe, in which he gained the relatively clean rollup victory, went a long way to cement his status as TNA’s best pure heel. Before the show it seemed like Joe was finally going to get his title win, but it was clear that the company wasn’t done showcasing Cage’s ever-increasing mic and ring skills. The match was well executed and featured the fight person going over. What a rarity in TNA these days!

Monday Night Raw
John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels

Perhaps the most talked about match of the year so far, Cena and Michaels took their Mania match, which did not warrant a nod on this list, and turned it into an instant classic. Like I said earlier, I never saw this match because of my tendency to flip the channels too aggressively, but the simple fact that these two were able to go that long and still keep the crowd with them is an accomplishment in itself.

Sacrifice
Texas Death Match
“Wildcat” Chris Harris vs. “Cowboy” James Storm

America’s Most Wanted were probably the best tag team TNA had going in its first five years of existence. When they booked Storm to turn on his longtime partner, fans everywhere were up in arms. It’s not that they weren’t ready to see the two partners feud, but the ADD manner in which TNA ran the angle left a lot to be desired. Luckily for us, their match at the May PPV silenced most of that skepticism. These two pulled out all the stops on the way to solidifying their singles careers, and gained lots of credibility with the crowd in the process. The fact that it took a beer bottle to end this one should tell you something about the brutality of the match.

WrestleMania 23
World Heavyweight Championship
Batista © vs. The Undertaker

Some smarts out there might disagree with this one, but you’d be hard pressed to find a match with better execution this year. As much shit as Taker…takes…for his backstage reputation and subpar matches, he really put himself on display here and upped Batista’s game at the same time. Everything seemed to click, including the entrances, the big spots, and the finish. Throughout the match, Taker pulled off an over-the-top suicida, received a powerslam through the announce table, and continually showed off why he still gets to main event Mania after all these years. The match’s conclusion might not have been in doubt (I think it said a lot about the fans’ expectations when they showed the results of the mobile “who’s going to win” poll and Taker received 82% of the votes), but it still stands as perhaps the most entertaining match of 2007 so far.

Wrestler of the Half-Year (non-kayfabe)

Last week, I went over the nominees for the kayfabe version of WOTHY, and I feel I should distinguish between the two honors. The kayfabe award is intended for the wrestler who receives the most support from the bookers and the fans, the wrestler who could be considered the true top dog in the business. This week we take a more critical focus and honor the superstars who have simply been the best. Again, because I’m only using WWE and TNA guys for the nominations, some of your indy favorites won’t be mentioned. But these five wrestlers have done great this year regardless and deserve to be lauded. I won’t write any blurbs on them, mostly because I’ve talked about them all already. Enjoy!

Honorable Mention – Samoa Joe

Shawn Michaels

Christian Cage

Edge

Abyss

The Undertaker

Remember to send in your votes for the second half of the CIJ awards. I know I promised to reveal the winners of last week’s categories, but those will come in one big batch next week. I hate to pull a TNA and save payoff for a little while longer, but I think it’ll work a little better that way.

My Peeps

Be sure to check out the whole kit and kabootle of columns here at 411 Wrestling. These are the guys who made me want to do this, and I know their words ring true to you guys too.

WOTW

Fact or Fiction featuring Stuart Carapola and Satir

Buy or Sell, featuring Matt Adamson and Samuel Berman

Ask 411 Wrestling with Steve Cook

411 guru Larry Czonka has the 4R’s

Sat & Uncle Trux have High Road/Low Road

Joe Estee has Keys To the Game

Ari Berenstein has Column of Honor…TWICE!

Stuart Carapola has Friendly Competition

Phill Feltham has The Quick Talkdown

Matt Adamson has The Navigation Log

David, Alex & Zach have The Triple Threat

Jordan Linkous has Why I Love Wrestling

Andy Clark has The Shimmy

JP and JT have Hidden Highlights

JT, Adamson and Wilcox have The Fink’s Payload

Samuel Berman has The Independent Mid-Card

Jullian Williams has The Top Ten

Daniel Wilcox has Schmozzes & Screwjobs

Mike Minotti has Can They Be Champ?

Stuart Carapola has That Was Then

Ronny Sarnecky has The Piledriver Report

Matthew Sforcina has Evolution Schematic

Bayani Domingo has Truth B Told

Michael Weyer has Shining a Spotlight

Rob Halden has You’re an Idiot And Here’s Why

Alex Mattis has The Best of the Rest

Ron Gamble has Just S’pose

J.D. Dunn has The Reality Check

So This Is For All You Freaks Out There…

And so ends another edition of the RE. As a present for all the heartbroken Edgeheads out there, here’s a video of the Rated R Superstar’s first WWE match against the one and only Jose Estrada:

And finally, here are my picks for the Great American Bash this Sunday:

Candice over Melina
Jeff over Umaga
Matt over MVP
Randy over Dusty
John Morrison (?) over Punk
Batista over Khali (though I sense a triple threat match)
No Contest for Cena vs. Lashley

Until next week, in the words of our country’s fearless leader, God bless Amurica!