Welcome to Part 2 of the 411Mania.com 2011 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: Jim Ross

Worst Announcer of the Year: Michael Cole

Overall Rookie of the Year: Obariyon

Major Fed Rookie of the Year: Tony Nese

Breakout of the Year: Mark Henry

Comeback Wrestler of the Year: The Rock

Disappointment of the Year: C.M.Punks Post Money In The Bank Return

And now that we have that out of the way…

411MANIA’S WRESTLING YEAR END AWARDS 2011!
Part Two

WINNER: Pro Wrestling Guerrilla DDT4 – 13 Votes
1st RUNNER-UP: Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Eight – 11 Votes
2nd RUNNER-UP: Chikara King Of Trios 2011 – 9 Votessize=+1>

RYAN BYERSsize=+2>
For some reason, there’s a group of people (or perhaps it’s just one person under multiple names), who, over the course of the past year or so, have lit up the comment section of 411mania wrestling articles any time indy groups are mentioned, always making the argument that this website constantly posts news about Ring of Honor and CHIKARA but doesn’t give Pro Wrestling Guerrilla its fair shake. I don’t think that’s necessarily true. Yeah, the site doesn’t talk about PWG as much as ROH or CHIKARA, but that’s just because PWG doesn’t do as much as the other groups. They run once a month if you’re lucky, whereas other groups do shows more frequently and run a lot more angles via the internet to bridge the gap between their shows. PWG isn’t covered here less because of a bias, it’s covered here less because there’s less to report on. In any event, today is the day for the slighted PWG superfans (or superfan) in the comment section to rejoice, because their company has taken home the award for Best Indy Show of the Year with DDT4 . . . and deservedly so. Think about it: The Kings of Wrestling. The American Wolves. The Briscoe Brothers. The Young Bucks. Kevin Steen & Akira Tozawa. How could you take this lineup of talent and produce a tag team tournament that was anything other than spectacular is beyond me. The real genius of the tournament, though, is that it delivered quality in-ring action in a way that differentiated PWG from other independent promotions. Yes, they could have taken the lineup of talent that they had and booked a tournament that made the Briscoes the highlight of the night or that had the Kings of Wrestling or the American Wolves coming out on top. That’s not what the promotion did. Yes, those teams all played key roles, but they were being featured heavily elsewhere and had been for several years. Instead, PWG made a smart move by taking Steen & Tozawa and the Young Bucks – teams who technically are seen elsewhere but feel much more like “PWG exclusive” teams than the other main event acts in the tourney – and booking them into the main event, meaning they had more matches on the show than any of the other teams. The result was a show that was not just match-for-match better than any independent card in the United States this year but also one that stood out in a crowded indy marketplace and gave fans something unique for their money.

ARI BERENSTEINsize=+2>
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla has been on a tremendous roll for the last few years, with almost every show being at least good and many shows at a “must-buy” or “should-buy” level. Without spoiling anything, they were also stiff challengers for promotion of the year as well. Seriously, if you are a fan of independent professional wrestling and haven’t given them a shot yet, you absolutely need to buy some of their 2011 DVDs, including “WrestleReunion 2” (which I voted for but did not place here), “All Star Weekend 8” (both nights) “Eight” and this year’s overall winner for Best Independent Show (non-PPV or non-iPPV), DDT4. This is PWG’s annual tag tournament, with either their tag titles or a title shot on the line (this year it’s the latter). The two major reasons the show excels is the two-track build towards the finals—The Young Bucks (still a.k.a. Generation Me at this point in the year) are at their heelish best, bound and determined to get back to the championship position; secondly is Kevin Steen, who is on a tour-de-force here teaming up with the indy darling of 2011, Akira Tozowa as the Nightmare Violence Connection. They are such an incredible tag team and show it in their three matches in the tournament (yes, sort of spoiling the finals for you there, but hey, it’s been eight months). Their chemistry as a team is through the roofs and it plays out in a major way in the finals. Throw in a packed tournament field that included all-star teams like The American Wolves, The Briscoes and The Kings of Wrestling and altogether it’s one of the most quality spotlights on talented independent tag teams around in 2011. Plus, you’ll never guess who wins the Joey Ryan Invitational and is invited to wrestle Joey Ryan! Actually, if you’re versed in PWG-history you will be able to guess, and it’s a fine and fun addition to the undercard especially for those who have paid attention to Candace LeRae’s career in the promotion. Meanwhile, if you’re a Kevin Steen fanatic, then PWG Eight is certainly the DVD for you as Steen once again mans the hell up and wrestles three times on one show and in the process earns himself the PWG Title at the very end of the night. CHIKARA’s King of Trios 2011 tournament was one of the better shows of the year, and while I’m not sure anyone ever specified which nights of the show was being voted upon or if it was done collectively, pick a night, any night, and you’ll find a tremendous show worth the purchase. With the trios tournament (and the finals a reprise of The Colony vs. F.I.S.T. rivalry) and the Rey de Voladores singles mini-tourny featured as well (coming down to Sean Waltman, a.k.a. 1-2-3 Kid against El Generico), there’s a lot to love about those shows.

GREG DEMARCOsize=+2>
The world of independent wrestling is blessed with so much talent, and so many shows. Each show is normally loaded with potential, and some shows really hit the mark. Three shows stood out in that area this year, CHIKARA’s King of Trios 2011, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s Eight, and PWG’s DDT4.

King of Trios has the advantage of being a three-night tournament, flying in talent from all over the world to converge in Pennsylvania. This year also featured the return of The 123 Kid, much to the surprise of many. PWG’s Eight was the event that pretty much launched Kevin Steen from one of the true indy greats to THE man on the independent scene.

But PWG’s annual Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament delivered in a big way in 2011, and earned the distinction of Best Indy Show of the Year. The World Tag Team Champions (El Generico & Paul London) were not entered into the event, as it was used to determine their #1 contenders instead. The eight tag teams involved included The American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards), Brandon Gatson and Willie Mack, The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe), The Cutler Brothers (Brandon Cutler and Dustin Cutler), The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli), Nightmare Violence Connection (Akira Tozawa and Kevin Steen), The RockNES Monsters (Johnny Goodtime and Johnny Yuma), The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson). In the end, it was The Young Bucks who appeared in their third straight DDT4 finals, and their second win in the past three. Their finals win was over the team of Kevin Steen & Akira Tozawa, collectively known as The Nightmare Violence Connection. The Bucks had previously held the PWG World Tag Team Championships for nearly two years, and this won vaulted them back into the titleholder role, and solidified them as the great heels they’ve come to play today.

T.J. HAWKEsize=+2>
In 2011, WWE all but abandoned the concept of a tag division, TNA treating the tag titles like shit this year on PPV (Mexican America, Crimson/Morgan, and even Beer Money had terrible opponents), and ROH’s Tag Title matches dropped off in quality terribly after Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas won the titles in April (Although the rest of division picked up the slack there). Naturally, the best wrestling company on Earth, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla had their annual Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament, which was awesome this year, and my pick for best indy show of the year. The show perfectly captured the great wrestling environment of Reseda, California and featured a number of great matches. Akira Tozawa and Kevin Steen, The Nightmare Violence Connection, continued the long DDT4 tradition of a thrown together team having great chemistry and making it to the finals (like PAC/Roderick Strong, ¡Peligro Abejas! and Hybrid Dolphins before them). They had awesome matches with The Briscoes and The Kings of Wrestling. The Young Bucks reestablished their PWG dominance by reaching thin finals and defeated the Nightmare Violence Connection in the best match of the show. If you are starved for great tag team wrestling, look no further than this show

++++

WINNER: RAW 4 Jan ‘10 Falls Count Anywhere: The Miz vs. John Morrison – 21 Votes
1st RUNNER-UP: RAW 21 Nov ’10: C.M. Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler – 19 Votes
2nd RUNNER-UP: RAW 25 July ’10: Rey Mysterio vs. John Cena – 17 Votessize=+1>

WES KIRKsize=+2>
The 2nd runner-up was for the supposedly vacant WWE Championship after CM Punk walked out on the company with the title. Mysterio and Cena actually put on a very good little match, although the entire point of it was moot when CM Punk headed out with the WWE title and a brand new contract right after Cena won the title, which diminished this match and its importance in the rankings. As for the second one? Ziggler tries way too hard to be a good heel whereas CM Punk is a natural at anything he does and helped school Ziggler in a great match on RAW last month when the US Champion took on the WWE Champion for Punk’s gold belt. Ziggler is a capable athlete with a good amount of skill in the ring but he’s nowhere near as great as he seems to legitimately believe he is, but CM Punk is every bit that good and more. Ziggler raised his game big time, but ended up taking a nap at the hands of the WWE Champion. As for our winner, this is not the match that Miz and Morrison had recently where Morrison was finished off by the Miz and written out of the WWE, but the one earlier this year in which Morrison was still being given a good push and nearly pulled off the upset win over Miz for the title. This match showed why for so long many people believed Morrison would have the best future of their tag team when they split up, but as usual Miz was able to surprise a lot of people and deliver in this one. Odd, no TNA X-Division matches or Roode vs. Storm for the title here? Big surprise.

JACK STEVENSONsize=+2>
It’s a testament to the quality of the winning bout that, despite taking place on the first Raw of the year, it still remained so firmly in the collective minds of the 411 writers when it came down to nominations. This felt like a fresh, exciting WWE Championship match when it first happened, and it didn’t disappoint. There were tons of creative spots, some high impact offense, and a few scorching sequences that led to a satisfying conclusion. Despite his defeat, this performance made it seem like Morrison was on the precipice of greatness, which makes it all the more shocking that he went on to have a dreadful year and ends it having been fired by John Lauriniatis. But if this is indeed the last we will ever see from ‘the Shaman of Sexy’ in the WWE, then Morrison can bow out safe in the knowledge that he helped kick off 2011 in the best way possible. It’s been a significantly better year for the Miz, whose reign with the WWE Championship was superb in most respects, and concludes the year firmly back in the main event scene, having spent a summer in the wilderness with the Cena-Punk feud dominating Raw. In terms of in ring action though, this match was probably his sparkling achievement of 2011.

SCOTT RUTHERFORDsize=+2>
We all know the reigh of The Miz was a crock of shit. I’m not talking about his credibility as potentially being the champ or the greatness of how he won it. What I’m talking about was everything after that. He was booked to lose and going into WM The Miz had all of three successful televised defences under his belt. He was a weak champion and NO ONE gave a shit about him. However, for a brief shiny night, we had a glimmer of what could be. WWE booking is so ass backwards that people in the main event are booked to lose as somehow a way for them to get over. John Morrison had actually been on a min-win streak leading into this match and actually had built up a tidylittle storyline to boot so interest in the match was actually quite high since we the fans, actually had something to give a shit about…namely a guy on a hot streek get a chance to beat the undeserving champion. Give the match a stip that plays into the spot-making hands of Morrison and himgivingungodly effort to get thematch and Miz over, we got something special.

Must give special mention to Rey/Cena whiched proved that Rey is ungodly good even with a couple of crap knees. One day, hopefully soon, Vince will give him a serious push as the top guy with the title because Rey has certainly earnt it. As for Punk Ziggler, I think this match, while really god, is no where as good as what people made out. They had two very noticeable botches with one of them being the ending. I can take the odd missed move but to fuck the ending up on a match is an automatic drag down.

GREG DEMARCOsize=+2>
One trend that grew during 2011 was the increase in high quality matches featured on free television. That make this category one of the most hotly contested categories of the year. John Cena’s WWE Championship win over Rey Mysterio was exciting, and featured a memorable moment in the end. It was a PPV level match, one that likely should have main evented Summer Slam. CM Punk was challenged by Dolph Ziggler in a free TV match on a November RAW that was given plenty of time and really solidified Dolph Ziggler as a future star in the WWE.

But it was a January RAW that saw WWE Champion The Miz face his former tag team partner John Morrison in a falls count anywhere match, hosted in Phoenix, Arizona. Many people viewed Morrison as the future of the company at the time, but in reality he was headed down a path that would see him shun Trish Stratus at WrestleMania, tread water for months and ultimately have his contract expire. But this match had people believing that Morrison—the Prince of Parkour—could be a main event player in the WWE. In fact, it had people screaming for Miz-Morrison at ‘Mania (when Punk-Cena was also expected). The stipulation played to Morrison’s strengths, and Miz played his role perfectly as well. It was a perfect storm and a great showcase for these two former tag team partners.

++++

WINNER: The Rocks Return – 56 Votes
1st RUNNER-UP: Sinclair Broadcasting Buys ROH – 12 Votes
2nd RUNNER-UP: WWE Starts Own Network – 11 Votessize=+1>
DIMITRI DORLISsize=+2>
Of all the categories available for us to write blurbs about, this was the one I most wanted, because I knew there was no way the Rock’s return wouldn’t win this. I didn’t want this because I’m a huge Rock fan, or so that I could talk about how great his return was short-term and how bad it will end up being long-term. No, I wanted this so I could provide a different perspective. See, while the rest of my colleagues were watching this at home, transfixed to the television as the Most Electifying Man in all of Entertainment announced his long-awaited return to the WWE, I was at the Honda Center, sitting third row, as the Most Electrifying Man in all of Entertainment announced his long-awaited return to the WWE. I can guarantee that no one in that arena, myself included, could have guessed that the special guest host for Wrestlemania would be the People’s Champ, and the explosion of crowd noise as the Rock’s music hits tells the story far better than any of us can even hope to.

RYAN BYERSsize=+2>
It feels a bit odd to me to sit here and try to justify why the Rock returning to WWE is the biggest wrestling news story of 2011. There’s part of me who wants to say, “It just IS, okay? And, if you don’t get it, you don’t get professional wrestling.” Then again, there were some people who weren’t happy to see the Rock back and I’ve already had to correct them once, so maybe some justification is necessary after all. Let’s start with the basics: The Rock is one of the biggest stars in professional wrestling history. Period. Point. Blank. He was the number two guy behind Steve Austin in the WWF during the business record-setting “Attitude Era” and had to step it up to number one during the periods that Austin was out of commission with various injuries. Subsequently, he’s launched a movie career which has made him into a bigger mainstream celebrity than anybody currently in the wrestling business and arguably a bigger mainstream celebrity than anybody ever in the wrestling business in the United States. He doesn’t need professional wrestling anymore. He doesn’t need it to add to his star power, and, though all reports indicate that he’s making good money off of his WWE return, it’s certainly not money that, strictly speaking, he needs. Instead, the Rock came back to professional wrestling simply because he had a desire to come back to professional wrestling. This was the business his grandfather made a living off of, the business that his father made a living off of, and, for a period of time, even the business that his mother made a living off of. (It’s not talked about as much as the male Maivias’ contributions to the sport, but Rocky’s mom promoted a wrestling territory in Hawaii for several years.) As such, the man wanted one last run, one last opportunity to entertain his fans while he’s still in the physical shape to do so to the best of his ability. And, when Rock came back to do this in February 2011, both the fans and World Wrestling Entertainment benefited. The audience received some ridiculously entertaining promos from one of the best mic men in history, and WWE saw all of its business indicators go on the uptick for several months, including a big Wrestlemania buyrate. Yet, in my mind, perhaps the most impressive thing about this story is that it just kept getting bigger. At first, the idea was just that Rock would show up to host the 2011 version of Wrestlemania. Then, after further consideration by Rocky and some additional negotiations, it was decided that he would come back in 2012 to face off against John Cena in the ring. Then, after even further consideration and negotiation, we got a Survivor Series main event out of the Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment. Though I doubt that we’ll ever get anything resembling a full-time schedule out of the Rock ever again, he has already given back in a big way, and the vast majority of wrestling followers have been very happy to see him once more.

TONY ACEROsize=+2>
What the shit!?! Seven long years, and any plethora of interviews where The Rock minimized the importance of the WWE and exenterated his love for Hollywood created an idea that The Rock in a WWE ring was highly unlikely. The Rock changed his name, created some family pics and destroyed any hope that we may have had to see him in the ring. It was all but a lost cause, something we as fans pretty much just left to the “never will be” box. Imagine the surprise when The Rock appeared on the screen, promising us that he was back…and for good! The Rock was home! For that minute, us long time fans felt something that hadn’t existed for quite some time. It was surreal, it was amazing, and it was powerful! The Rock was back and kiss my ass, he was going to wrestle! Ok, ok, once the sheen and sheer was gone, we saw this for what it was…a ploy. A cheap cheap ploy! haha. But damnit to hell, it still made us excited. All of us.

This, coupled with the announcement of the WWE Network actually coming to fruition was marking for an amazing year of 2011. I mean, an entire fucking network?! I, for one, cannot wait, and am willing to switch my cable provider if need to be, just to see what all the fuzz is about. This is definitely in its infancy and will have to do a lot of work to become successful. There simply aren’t as many fans of wrestling as one NFL or NBA Network, but I am hopeful that it will become every bit as fruitful as some of the WWE’s better products…at least, I hope.

ARI BERENSTEINsize=+2>
Again, that The Rock would agree to return has to be the defining story in professional wrestling for 2011 and certainly one of the biggest surprises in the offing (though there was big buzz in the week leading up to the announcement of the Wrestlemania XXVII host it wasn’t until The Rock himself posted a picture behind the scenes the night of his Raw return that anything was leaked about it). Once The Rock returned, almost everything that was happening in WWE was sucked in towards his gravitational pull…and while whether or not that was a long-term positive can be debated, in the short-term everyone was talking about him and about his role in Wrestlemania…and that he stated that he was back and wouldn’t leave….and about Fruity Pebbles…and about Boots to Asses… and you get the picture. The Rock added eyes to WWE and Pay Per View buys to Mania…and just the mere fact that he was once again associated with WWE boosted the house show business for months on end EVEN THOUGH he had never been advertised to appear on any of them. For long-time fans, it was great to see The Rock perform in WWE and his return was the huge story for the business.

++++

WINNER: Randy Savage Dies – 24 Votes
1st RUNNER-UP: Matt & Jeff Hardy’s Downward Spiral Continues – 24 Votes
2nd RUNNER-UP: Larry Sweeney Takes His Own Life – 17 Votessize=+1>

JACK STEVENSONsize=+2>
Sadly, this was one of the toughest awards to pick, with plenty of ‘worthy’ winners. Larry Sweeney’s death affected me the most, as I adored the always-entertaining wrestler/manager and hoped he’d be returning to the business in some capacity in 2011. It was also difficult to see the careers of the Hardy Boys implode in the slowest and most painful fashion imaginable, although Jeff at least seems to be getting his back on track. And, as a dark horse candidate, Barry Windham’s health problems at the tail end of the year left one of the toughest stalwarts of the NWA having to relearn the most basic human functions. I wish him the fullest recovery possible. However, at the end of the day there was always going to be one likely winner, and that would be the death of one of wrestling’s all time greats. Randy Savage’s death didn’t hit me too hard, as I was too young to appreciate him in his late-eighties WWF prime, but there’s no denying that it’s heart wrenching to know that Mach went in one of the most unlucky and unfortunate ways possible.

Very few people absolute embody pro wrestling like Randy Savage did. His promos were often surreal and occasionally incoherent, yet always captivating, his in ring outfits filled with color and vibrancy, and his skills in the ring absolutely first class. Whether a maniacal rule breaker or a plucky fan favorite, Savage played the part brilliantly and delivered the goods time after time; plus, he got out of the business before his legacy could be truly sullied, despite some iffy performances in his later years. Randy will go down in a very select group of true masters of the art; a flawless performer, his death resonated around the world, with all manner of media covering the death. For having touched so many lives, and dedicated his to professional wrestling, Savage deserves his death to be recognized as the tragedy it was.

CHAD NEVETTsize=+2>
I was at work when I read about Randy Savage’s death. I work in an office with very open cubicles, so not much privacy, and I didn’t know how to react. In private, I might have let out a string of obscenities, a loud sigh, maybe more… I can’t say. But, in the office, you keep it together (something that wouldn’t be an issue for almost anything else that happened in wrestling this year). An hour or two later, someone else mentioned reading it online and, soon, everyone knew and, while I’m one of the few in my office that watches wrestling right now, Savage’s death seemed to cast a dark shadow over everyone. Everyone knew the Macho Man and, it seemed, everyone had a fond memory or two of him. Not many people can produce that sort of reaction, especially in wrestling. While I’m disappointed over never seeing Savage enter the Hall of Fame or possibly even return as a Legend to cut promos on the current crop of guys, what still bothers me most about his death is how unfair it seemed. He’d lived a pretty messed up life as a wrestler and, finally, seemed to find some peace and happiness, and, then, he’s dead before he has enough time to enjoy it (is there ever enough time?). What can you say about that? It was the worst thing to happen in wrestling this year.

WES KIRKsize=+2>
On the day this occurred, I had turned on FOX News earlier than usual and rolling across the bottom of the screen was the announcement that Randy Savage had been killed in an automobile accident. I was in absolute shock and couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and checked online to make sure somebody hadn’t made a mistake. Sadly, the news of his death was all over the place and Twitter was featuring a RIP Macho Man topic trending as the news came pouring in that he suffered what appeared to be a heart attack while driving and ended up crashing into a tree. Savage was the very first wrestler I saw, and his death came as a big hit just as Miss Elizabeth’s did years earlier. We will miss you more than you know, Macho Man! As for the Hardyz… Maybe it was more than a marketing gimmick when Matt and Jeff entered the WWF as The Jynx Brothers because they certainly have seemed jinxed more times than not in the last three years. When we enter the year 2011, Matt Hardy had signed with TNA after successfully getting himself thrown out of the WWE and Jeff was the world heavyweight champion. Within three months, Jeff showed up to Victory Road intoxicated and unable to perform and a 90 second main event was the result, leading to his suspension from the company that should have been an outright firing. Matt wasn’t as lucky, ending up suspended for his behavior and fired in the summer, taking his firing in stride as he began getting arrested almost every week for substance abuse and driving while intoxicated. After failing the Breathalyzer at rehab, Hardy was sent back to jail and had to pay a huge bond to get released while Jeff returned to TNA and started returning to his usual routine despite the objections of many fans, including myself, which he was allowed to come back at all. Who the hell knows what will occur in 2012? As for Larry Sweeney, whenever anybody dies under the age of 35 there is always something horrible behind it and in this case it was no different when the cause of death was revealed to be suicide. Larry Sweeney was a charismatic wrestling manager and quite honestly, he could have made it in the big leagues but due to an illness that wasn’t dealt with properly or caught in time, the world lost another wrestler that left us far before he should have.

++++

WINNER: Summer of Punk – 56 Votes
1st RUNNER-UP: Randy Orton vs. Christian – 12 Votes
2nd RUNNER-UP: Mark Henry – Hall of Pain – 11 Votessize=+1>

RYAN BYERSsize=+2>
The movie industry gets a lot of criticism these days because, instead of putting out original stories, their big projects seem to consist primarily of remakes, sequels, relaunches, and other fare which indicates that either there isn’t a lot of creativity left in Hollywood or the people who make the decisions don’t have faith in truly original ideas making money. Against this backdrop, it’s somewhat ironic that perhaps the most critically acclaimed professional wrestling storyline of the year is, essentially, the sports entertainment version of a “remake.” In 2005, CM Punk first put pen to paper on a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment, signaling the end of his run with Ring of Honor. Then, in a storyline that harkened back to the first episode of ECW on TNN with the WWF-bound Dudley Boys winning the ECW World Tag Team Titles, the Punker upset Austin Aries to become the ROH Champion for the first time. Punk then went on a run of shows referred to as the “Summer of Punk,” at which he held the title hostage and threatened to eventually lay it down at the feet of Vincent Kennedy McMahon, who is the hardcore ROH fan’s own personal Satan. Of course, Punk did lose the belt before going to WWE and went on to have a huge babyface sendoff match against longtime friend Colt Cabana. (Which, oddly enough, was the main event of the first and only ROH show I’ve attended live.) The whole thing received copious amounts of praise from the folks who were watching ROH at the time, and, as a result, it’s no big surprise that the internet started buzzing again when, in June of this year, Punk cut a scathing worked-shoot promo on the entirety of WWE and particularly on the McMahon family, letting us once again know that his contract with the company was expiring and that he was going to leave with its championship, this time after winning it at Money in the Bank. In the ensuing weeks, Punk continued with a string of high-level promos also involving John Cena and Vince McMahon, but there was no resolution to his kayfabe contract situation before the start of the PPV. At the time, I was convinced that this would be a very watered down version of the ROH story, with the threat of Punk leaving just being used to garner a handful of extra buys for the MITB pay per view and ending in John Cena pinning Punk clean in the middle of the ring at the end of the evening. However, WWE surprised me by doing right by Punk and not only having him go over Cena but also by having him escape an attempted briefcase cash-in by Alberto Del Rio to earn the championship and seemingly “walk out” on WWE in storyline terms. This lead to a couple of weeks’ worth of highly entertaining stuff from Punk, including his now-infamous invasion of a comic book convention and his Twitter pictures of the WWE Championship belt at baseball games and in his refrigerator. Sadly, WWE’s version of the “Summer of Punk” storyline wasn’t as consistently good as ROH’s, as it slowly fell apart with Punk being reintroduced back into the company too early and the addition of Kevin Nash and Johnny Ace to WWE television as regular characters before Punk, seemingly out of nowhere, became a traditional babyface and got all nicey-nice with John Cena and Triple H, who were his hated rivals at the beginning of the angle. Though the finish was as flaccid as flaccid could be, those few weeks over the summer when this angle was hot were the best thing going all year, and that’s why Summer of Punk II takes home top honors from 411.

WES KIRKsize=+2>
The Summer of Punk was basically the WWE’s top summer angle for 2011, in which CM Punk set the world on fire with a sudden, out-of-nowhere worked shoot promo on Monday Night RAW in which the boundaries of the wrestling world were pushed beyond their limit. Punk showed himself to be entertaining, interesting, and transcended the traditional heel or face limitation placed on talent so often. Finally, here was a guy people could get behind and believe in as he believed in himself and practiced what he preached. The problem is, this is also the angle that was voted Disappointment of the Year so let us go ahead to the other two. Wait, Mark Henry becoming world champion is seriously the number three choice out of everything that happened? And the other one is Randy Orton taking on Christian for the world title? I’m with you guys in the comments section when the BS chants begin.

TONY ACEROsize=+2>
Props must be given to CM Punk for being able to be a part of the biggest disappointment of the year while simultaneously being in the Feud of the Year AND they being of the same fold. While the distaste for the return of Punk was as immediate as his return, the work previous to it was beautiful. His bashing of Cena and McMahon as well as his “Promo Heard Round the World” were things of beauty that not only escalated a feud, but did it in a refreshing manner that had even the biggest cynics on the edge of their seats, clamoring for more. This wasn’t the first Summer of Punk, but it was for damn sure, the better one. Punk just has the it factor that those fans of his before WWE knew he had and those who didn’t know he had it were soon exposed to the greatness that is Punk. He’s one of those guys that I don’t recall anyone calling him overrated, because he’s got the talent to back it up. When he speaks, you listen and when he spoke during the Summer of 2011, we all listened. While this topped the cake of the year, there were plenty other layers to enjoy, namely the matches between Orton and Christian and the uprise of the Hall of Pain! Orton and Christian were able to create and recreate the same match in so many different ways, using gimmicks to only enhance the match rather than hurt it and storylines of the simplest accord to create a feud that will most assuredly become a classic.

JACK STEVENSONsize=+2>
How could a rivalry that spawned both the promo of the year and the match of the year not at least be considered for feud of the year? The Summer of Punk was always the favorite to win in this category and, despite losing some steam as the Summer wore on, there were still more than enough outstanding moments in this storyline to make this a fully deserving winner. From the initial promo that rocked the wrestling world to the Punk and John Cena (whose contribution to this feud is criminally underrated) match for the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank, and even the following night’s episode of Raw, which was one of the more genuinely unpredictable episodes of recent times, this feud provided moment after moment to savor. A pity, then, that it ended with Punk receiving a Powerbomb from Kevin Nash, but you can’t have everything.

++++

WINNER: Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler – 44 Votes
1st RUNNER-UP: Winter Drugs Angelina Love – 15 Votes
2nd RUNNER-UP: Sting vs. Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff – 12 Votessize=+1>

WES KIRKsize=+2>
Angelina Love and Winter had some type of odd lesbian romance going on in which it appeared at varying times Winter was a time-traveling reincarnated witch vampire who cast a spell over a reincarnated Angelina Love to turn her into a zombie of sorts, but at least this thing had two hot girls kissing and rubbing against each other. Sting taking on Bischoff and Hogan has been going on since 1996, and although right now it is nowhere near as good as it was back during the nWo days it still has some semblance of interest going on. But not the winner!

Michael Cole is an announcer, and a horrible one at that. The forty-plus year old Cole has never been an athlete and a sixty-two year old broken down wrestler who competes once in a while is not really the best choice to carry that hack in a fourteen-minute match at WrestleMania. That older man is also not the choice to put in a Country Whippin’ match tag teaming with another sixty-something year old with health problems up the kazoo. When JR and Cole collided, that ended up being a bigger tragedy than anything Shakespeare ever wrote. The worst part of the whole thing was that it was SO DAMN SIMPLE: Lawler gets a thrashing up until WrestleMania with Cole and Swagger on him all the time, Lawler starts showing a little life right before WrestleMania with Austin as the guest ref, and then Lawler beats the ever loving hell out of Cole, who gets Stunnered along with Swagger and the King finishes him with a piledriver and Cole is carted out on a stretcher to sell for a month or so. Easy, right? Well, they managed to muddle it so terribly that a match involving Steve Austin got boring chants and a very bad reaction. And the real icing on the cake was all the time it took away from the actual wrestlers who needed to build to their big moments at WrestleMania too.

TONY ACEROsize=+2>
Even with the TNA-crapfest of 2011, WWE still seemed to be the one to beat, and I would like to think that the Cole v Lawler feud won by a landslide, not just a small margin. This was crap. Pure and utter crap. Even when a wrestler was involved (Jack Swagger), it did absolutely nothing for him, and in fact, may have just hurt him a tad. Swagger was berated by Cole and I don’t recall him ever really getting his payback, or at least not in any satisfying type of way. Some would like to think that a foot in the mouth meant the end of this entire charade of Cole being important, but that only makes this all the worse, because it wasn’t the end. It was only a continuation that allowed Cole to keep being Cole. If anything, this storyline only helped to fuel the fact that the Cole character isn’t going anywhere, and that just makes me sad.

CHAD NEVETTsize=+2>
It wasn’t that it was a feud between announcers that made this feud awful. A little feud between announcers could be entertaining if kept brisk and as a way to shake things up. The Michael Cole/Jerry Lawler feud was neither brief nor used to change anything. They began as an announce team and they’re still an announce team. There were no consequences! So, what point did it serve? It sure as hell wasn’t entertaining with matches that often lasted past the two minutes that they should have gone, a WrestleMania match that seemed to be the blowoff that ended on a technical win for the heel, and a segue into Cole feuding with another announcing — one who has even less wrestling ability than he! Maybe if this feud went to ‘Mania and ended there with Lawler defeating Cole, Cole seeing the error of his ways and changing a little, this would have been a mediocre feud that was only brought up again when Wrestlecrap needed a new induction. But, it kept going on and on, dominating segments that had nothing to do with it because the announcers wouldn’t shut up about it, and it never really ended. Cole is the exact same character, Lawler is the exact same, and they just seem to have convenient amnesia about the whole thing. If only we all could as well.

JACK BRAMMAsize=+2>
How is it possible for one man to solely be responsible for worst feud of the year? Through no fault of their own, Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross for that matter were inexplicably dragged into an excruciatingly long feud with Michael Cole that is STILL going on. There have been heel commentators in wrestling for decades, but normally they were color commentators (Brain, Jesse, Lawler, Heyman, JBL, etc.) and they had competent straight men doing play by play to rein in their eccentricities and extravagances (Gorilla, JR, etc.). But Cole is perhaps the first ever heel lead commentator and because of this he is able to monopolize the broadcast to almost no one’s benefit than his own. Other than Miz, Cole’s bathetic rantings have favored only himself and made a lot of viewers just mute the television or worse change the channel. He consistently buries (or tries to bury) faces, other commentators, champions, and even some heels. Even as the mouthpiece for the RAW GM, Cole ranted and raved for a mystery man that never existed and the whole proposition was just another way to put heat on Cole. But the worst part of all of it, Cole’s rants on Ryder, Danielson, JR, Lawler, etc. — the blowoff for the faces has been so sporadic, inconsistent, and disproportionate to the amount of “fuck you” heat that Cole is allowed to generate. At this point, I don’t think there is anything any face could do to Cole other than give him a Muhammed Hassan-style erasure from kayfabe existence to pay off this storyline.

++++

WINNER: TNA – 43 Votes
1st RUNNER-UP: CZW – 23 Votes
2nd RUNNER-UP: WWE – 14 Votessize=+1>

DIMITRI DORLISsize=+2>
You know, there is a reason everyone gives TNA grief. It’s because they could be SO GOOD if it didn’t seem like they were actively trying to sabotage themselves. For every good thing they do, something bad has to happen. For a great Robert Roode push, you had him lose at the biggest ppv of the year, then watch his tag team partner win the title the next night, to turning him heel 2 weeks later on television in order to win the title. For every great match that the X-Division would have, you would have Crimson beating up Samoa Joe, who at one time was the biggest thing in TNA. For every solid match by the women’s division, you would have Karen Jarrett, a non-wrestler, pushed to the foreground instead of the actual wrestlers. And yeah, WWE does pull these kinds of things as well. But the difference between the two is that WWE is an established company, while TNA is being run by people who ALREADY DESTROYED ONE COMPANY. They’ve had years to get their act together, and have time and again failed miserably.

But there’s one big reason that TNA is right here in my mind, and it’s how they handled the Jeff Hardy situation at Victory Road. Instead of pulling him from the show like most sane people would have, they sent him out to the ring. Then they had their Heavyweight Champion, Sting, who is one of the most respected men in wrestling, go to the ring as well and pin him in 90 seconds, a good 60 of which were spent having Jeff pretend to throw his shirt to the crowd. And instead of firing Jeff that night for showing up to work the way he did, they waited a few days before suspending him. Just an all-time bad situation, and TNA brass was to blame for the whole thing.

RYAN BYERSsize=+2>
Among those who follow this website closely, I’m somewhat infamous for not watching TNA. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, I’ve seen exactly one episode of TNA’s wrestling show in 2011. So, some people might question why I’m qualified at all to provide any commentary on it being the worst wrestling promotion of the year. The answer is that, though I’ve not followed TNA’s in-ring product at all, I have kept tabs on the company’s business through resources such as our very own 411mania news section and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, and the fact of the matter is that, if you look at what a pro wrestling promotion is traditionally supposed to do, TNA has done a worse job of it than any other company in the world this year. The traditional model of a wrestling company, going all the way back to the 1950s, is simple: You give fans a weekly television show for free, and, at the same time that you entertain them with the TV product, you simultaneously convince them to do things which, unlike the TV show, provide you with a significant source of revenue. In other words, the TV show is a carefully disguised infomercial. It could convince fans to buy merchandise, it could convince them to purchase live event tickets, or it could convince them to order a pay per view event. TNA does have a weekly TV show, and it’s arguably got the second-best television distribution of any wrestling promotion in the United States. (I say “arguably” because it’s been a while since I’ve taken a look at the number of people in the US, mostly immigrants, who watch lucha libre on Spanish-language cable stations, which, if I recall correctly, is much higher than many would initially think.) However, despite the fact that it has excellent television clearance, TNA has throughout its life consistently failed at – and still fails at – converting those television viewers into paying customers. Unlike WWE, TNA does not publicly release its pay per view buyrates, but those who cover the wrestling industry and have ties to pay per view providers report that many TNA PPV shows are only doing 7,000 to 8,000 buys, while house show reports from around the country rarely indicate that more than 1,000 people attended and, more frequently, the number is only a few hundred. This is all despite the fact that TNA Impact, on a weekly basis, averages over ONE MILLION viewers. Having a television audience of one million and convincing only 300 in any given city to come to a house show or convincing only 7,000 on a nationwide basis to buy a pay per view is outright sad, and I think that it justifies calling TNA the worst promotion of the year regardless of any considerations about the quality of their television product.

WES KIRKsize=+2>
It is 411, did you expect any company to get worst fed of the year other than TNA from these guys? I’m going to defer to the other three carnivores writing in the year end awards to do what they do best and make TNA look like a horrible company but frankly I’d rather focus on the runner-ups. CZW is an abomination and the worst kind that makes professional wrestling look bad. People in CZW have died because of the dangerous, ridiculously over-the-top hardcore wrestling they put on, which really is no wrestling at all. There were times reading through some of the match reviews that I winced just reading how stupid and deadly these CZW matches really are, and frankly they don’t deserve anything but being shut down before more impressionable teenagers think swinging a barbed-wire bat makes them a wrestler and go get themselves killed. As far as the WWE, there are five reasons to put this company as the worst of the year. For one, they refused to lower their prices during a recession economy and actually increased PPV and ticket prices. Secondly, several of their storylines and wrestlers are in the worst of for this year, which shows a total lack of quality. Thirdly, they are steadily losing viewers and interest and had two shows cancelled from networks this past year due to a lack of interest namely Superstars and NXT. Fourthly, they have the worst two announcers in the business if you look at the other award category calling wrestling matches involving some of the worst wrestlers in the business. And finally, the WWE has long since changed from being edgy entertainment to being a cookie-cutter promotion that tries new things now and then but settles for status quo at the end every single time. How many new stars since 2002 have been able to rival The Rock and Stone Cold for mainstream status and recognition? None. WWE has failed to provide the next generation, failed to have a boom period for the first time in four decades, and frankly… WWE sucks.

CHAD NEVETTsize=+2>
Once again, TNA is the worst wrestling federation of the year. If you look at the rest of the ‘worst of the year’ categories, the WWE shows up a lot. More than TNA by around twice as much. Logic would dictate that the WWE is worse. That’s misleading. People expect quality from the WWE. Maybe they shouldn’t, but they do, so, when the WWE sucks, it actually registers. When TNA sucks, it’s business as usual. It’s TNA being TNA. Hell, most of us don’t even watch anything TNA. 2011 was the year where I followed in the steps of Ryan Byers and decided to write TNA off completely. I had reviewed Impact for almost two years on the site and I couldn’t take anymore. Blown opportunities, pushing has-beens because they made their names elsewhere, baffling booking… it was the same shit over and over and over and over and over. It wasn’t even fun to make fun of anymore. TNA is a bad joke that everyone got tired of laughing at long ago. TNA is the worst promotion of the year because it’s the second largest in North America and no one cares. It’s been so consistently bad that no one notices except when they do something so stupid and unprofessional like… well, everything involving Jeff Hardy, really. The WWE may have its faults )and they are many), but, here’s the thing: take every ‘worst of the year’ award WWE won this year and have the same things happen in TNA and it would be TNA being TNA. Being the worst is just business as usual.

++++

COME BACK TOMORROW FOR PART THREE OF THE WRESTLING YEAR AWARDS!!