Welcome to Part 4 of the 411Mania.com 2011 Year End Wrestling Awards. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3!

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

Best Indy Show of the Year (non-PPV) : PWG DDT4

Free TV Match of the Year: RAW 4 Jan ‘10 Falls Count Anywhere: The Miz vs. John Morrison – 21 Votes

Story/Surprise of the Year: The Rock Returns

Worst Story/Surprise of the Year: The Death Of Randy Savage

Feud/Storyline of the Year: The Summer Of Punk

Worst Feud/Storyline of the Year: Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler

Worst Fed of the Year: TNA

Worst Promo of the Year: The Michael Cole Challenge

Worst Pay-Per-View of the Year: TNA – Victory Road

Worst Match of the Year:> Sting vs. Jeff Hardy – Victory Road

Worst Manager of the Year: Cookie

Worst Tag Team of the Year: David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty

Worst Women’s Wrestler of the Year: Kelly Kelly

Worst Wrestler of the Year: The Great Khali

Let’s get to the penultimate installment…

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

WINNER: CHIKARA – 34 Votes
1st RUNNER-UP: WWE – 29 Votes
2nd RUNNER-UP: New Japan – 13 Votessize=+1>

JEREMY THOMASsize=+2>
Let the hate fly, guys. Chikara wasn’t my first choice for Fed of the Year but I am also not going to disagree with it. I hadn’t seen a single Chikara show before 2011; I just don’t have the time or the right schedule and unfortunately they don’t get out to the West Coast for me to see them live. Finally this year I managed top catch some shows and I loved them. Is it high production edge of our seat sports-entertainment? No, but it also doesn’t fall on its face or have segments that make me want to walk away nearly as much as most other promotions either. What’s more, the company saw some good solid growth in 2011 as it debuted on GFL.tv as a major part of the rise of the i-PPV, then crowed its first ever Grand Champion. The promotion is a great product that can be enjoyed by people of all ages, the match quality is often exceptional and I have never been sorry that I ordered a show from them. That’s something I can’t say for any other promotion I’ve ever seen with the exception of SHIMMER, and that is easily enough to get them my support for Fed of the Year.

WES KIRKsize=+2>
I was shocked to read that CHIKARA won the best federation for a bit but then I remembered exactly why so many people have been talking about the company. It is fun, puts on over four star matches on a regular basis, has people who not only can do those “flips and flops” but also actual wrestling talent and has some unique ideas and concepts and also, music by STAN FREAKIN’ BUSH! How WWE could be considered in second place considering its viewership has declined since last year, buyrates declined since last year, and overall interest in the company is basically stagnant I have no clue. New Japan has continued to put on some interesting matches and used former stars like Giant Bernard and MVP better than the WWE ever did, which is why so many wrestlers improve after going to Japan because they have to just to keep up with the status quo.

T.J. HAWKEsize=+2>
Professional wrestling, like all art, is subjective. You can’t calculate quality by some sort of quantitative analysis. You certainly can’t just decide whatever company made the most money is the best company. Award shows don’t decide that the highest grossing film is the best film of the year just because it made the most money, and there is no need to do that with wrestling either. WWE had many opportunities this year to deliver big time matchups that would draw money and make their fans emotionally invested in their programs. In my mind, the WWE only successfully did that twice this year (HHH/Taker at Mania and Punk/Cena at MitB). Meanwhile, Chikara managed to do that consistently throughout the year. The year started with another chapter in the emotional Eddie Kingston/Claudio Castagnoli feud. They quickly followed that with the incredible King of Trios and the Chikarasaurus Rex shows. Chikara’s 2011 was highlighted by the 8 month 12 Large Summit to determine the first Grand Champion. Chikara causes fans to be emotionally invested in their product during and in between shows like no other promotion going today. Chikara set the standard for long-term storytelling in 2011, and they are absolutely worthy of winning this award.

RYAN BYERSsize=+2>
I was pleasantly surprised when the results of our staff voting were announced and it was revealed that we collectively selected CHIKARA as the best professional wrestling promotion of the year. I’ve been a big fan of the company ever since they first popped up onto my radar, but I never thought that they would have gained enough momentum among the whole of our staff to upend perpetual favorites like WWE and Ring of Honor, who have won this category in each of the prior five years that 411 Wrestling has run its annual Year End Awards. What exactly has CHIKARA done in order to gain this momentum? If I had to answer that question in as few words as possible, I would probably say something to the effect of, “CHIKARA’s wrestling is the most fun.” Yes, certain people complain because they don’t like the idea of wrestling ants or invisible hand grenades, but is that really any more ridiculous than two of a wrestling promotion’s top stars being an undead zombie and his demon brother? Or a leprechaun being granted the ability to speak by Santa Claus? CHIKARA has some wacky aspects, but that’s not a reason to write off everything that they do any more than the wacky aspects of WWE, TNA, or even Dragon Gate are reasons to write off everything that those promotions do. The gimmicks are over the top and the storylines are straight out of the pages of a comic book, but, once you accept that you’re in an environment where tag teams can appear out of wormholes to ancient Egypt and marching band drum majors for some reason have an interest in wrestling, everything as it’s booked in CHIKARA’s universe makes sense, pays off over the long term, and comes the closest to making you feel that wrestling is as it was when you watched it as a kid. (At least if you were watching wrestling as a kid at the same time that I was.) On top of that, the company has what I would have to peg as being one of the best wrestling schools in the country, which has regularly produced trainees who rapidly become top-flight young wrestlers and go on to have insanely good matches against each other and against the promotion’s established stars like Mike Quackenbush and Claudio Castagnoli as well as their frequent guest stars like Colt Cabana and El Generico. So we’ve already got logical storylines and great wrestling action, but there’s still one more aspect of CHIKARA that sets it apart from the rest of the pack, and that is innovation. They’re still the only pro wrestling company that I’m aware of that hosts a weekly video podcast in order to promote its shows, they regularly integrate new concepts into American wrestling such as the lucha libre “torneo cibernetico” match, and they’re not willing to take a chance on unconventional shows, such as their importing a large number of female wrestlers from Japan this year for their “JoshiMania” series. Simply put, CHIKARA has fired on all cylinders this year, and this is a very well deserved honor.

++++

WINNER: C.M. Punk “I Don’t Hate You John…” – 55 Votes
1st RUNNER-UP: The Rock Returns – 29 Votes
2nd RUNNER-UP: The Briscoe Brothers: “Day One” – 17 Votessize=+1>

WES KIRKsize=+2>
I didn’t see the Briscoe promo so I’ll just pass over that one for the other two I most certainly did watch. The Rock’s return in and of itself was the shocking moment that Rock had time to prepare for, but not all of us who think we know everything that will happen in wrestling. When The Rock walked out, everybody went insane just to see him and it was minutes before the applause and cheering died down and The Rock delivered an intense promo serving John Cena an ultra-large glass of shut up juice and talking up how important this year’s Wrestlemania was going to be. CM Punk decided to show off his own considerable skill when he took his seat indian-style on the ramp and discussed as calmly as possible that he was leaving the WWE after his title match whether he won the belt or not and then started to rant about the wrongdoings in the company, bashing the McMahon family, and even taking cheap shots at USA’s original programming. The fact this came out of nowhere was one of the reasons people were talking excitedly for days afterwards and one person supposedly legitimately quit his job using some of the lines in that promo!

JACK STEVENSONsize=+2>
I think it is fair to say that a lot of wrestling fans are creatures of habit. We tune into Raw, Smackdown and Impact week after week, despite many of us being dissatisfied by the product we are being fed. We stare blankly at our television screens, barely blinking an eyelid as tasteless mulch is shoveled down our throats by the ‘big two’ wrestling companies. And, week after week, as we digest said mulch and wipe it’s remains off our lips, we ask ourselves “why don’t we just stop watching?” And the reason is because of promos like the one we are honoring here; occasional chunks of deliciousness in among the inexorable tide of greyish-brown crap. Punk’s promo sparkled with life and innovation. It was bombastic, stinging and utterly spellbinding. It voiced the frustrations of countless wrestling fans, capturing their jaded imaginations, and, if only for a few weeks, had them talking in a positive way about their favorite quasi-sport again. The promo sent off a seismic wave of momentum that carried the feud to an electric conclusion in Chicago, where two of the greatest wrestlers of the modern era faced off in front of a fiercely partisan crowd that roared at the simplest of maneuvers. Death defying high spots, blood, and profanity, none of it was needed; CM Punk’s promo breathed new life and enthusiasm into the WWE, and deserves to be honored for that.

TONY ACEROsize=+2>
Damn you, Punk! Damn you for making things so interesting that the world expected nothing but greatness thereafter! This promo was laced with nods to us, you, the reader of this, and we the writers of it! It was simple enough for the casual fan to understand that something big was happening here while complex enough to impress the most jaded wrestling fan. Damn you, Punk! With one cross-legged promo atop the ramp, Punk created a moment that will live on forever. That is not an exaggeration. There are promos in this business that transcend it, moments that live on forever, and this is one of them. Punk, in one year, created enough memories in six minutes to assure his place in wrestling history. In a year where The Rock returned to wrestling and cut a promo in the same vein of his Attitude Era moments, it’s gotta be impossible for anyone to beat him on the microphone but damnit, it happened. Punk bested The Rock on the mic in 2011 and that’s a damned odd thing to say.

DIMITRI DORLISsize=+2>
When CM Punk took a seat at the top of the ramp on that fateful Raw, you could tell something was different. CM Punk had already acknowledged that his contract was expiring, which you don’t really do in professional wrestling. Give WWE credit here for turning it into a storyline, when they could have just jobbed Punk out and not renew his contract. But back to the promo, this is quite possibly the best-worked shoot promo in history. It had just enough references to backstage happenings that the IWC went into a fever pitch over what was being said, while the average fan could tell that something different was happening. And the best part was that Punk was still talking about wrestling and the WWE Championship that he was fighting for. This wasn’t just a promo about how underutilized CM Punk felt, but how he was using that as motivation for winning the title. THAT is the real reason this promo is so great.

++++

WINNER: WWE: Money In The Bank – 55 Votes
1st RUNNER-UP: WWE: Survivor Series – 15 Votes
2nd RUNNER-UP: CHIKARA: High Noon – 14 Votessize=+1>

DIMITRI DORLISsize=+2>
CHIKARA’s High Noon was a great show that was exactly the showcase that CHIKARA needed to put on for its first iPPV. When you combine that with the fact that CHIKARA also crowned its first singles champion on the show, and it became the biggest iPPV of the year. Survivor Series had the distinction of showcasing the Rock’s return to the ring, but it also had some great matches in the WWE Title match between CM Punk and Alberto Del Rio, plus an entertaining traditional Survivor Series match, but the best thing the ppv did was have no single match be bad. Even the diva’s match was memorable for the super Glam Slam that Beth delivered to Eve.

However, there was no way that Money In the Bank wouldn’t win this category. It had two phenomenal Money in the Bank matches featuring the usual slew of insane spots (Sheamus powerbombing Sin Cara through a ladder, Evan Bourne’s Air Bourne off a ladder on the outside) and good choices for winners in Alberto Del Rio and Daniel Bryan. The Divas match was an inspired effort from two subpar performers, which was really just a sign of how good the rest of the night would be. Mark Henry’s utter domination of Big Show was a great precursor to his World Heavyweight Championship reign. The Christian/Orton match, which ended up being another solid outing by these two, had a logical conclusion for where the story had gone. And this is all without saying a word about the WWE Title match between Punk and Cena (which I’ll talk about in that section). Having the ppv in Chicago certainly helped it, but the WWE put on a ppv that rivaled WM X7 in terms of how good it was, and that’s why it won here.

ARI BERENSTEINsize=+2>
Money in the Bank was a seminal WWE Pay Per View where everything seemed to click together and create an epic top-to-bottom show—right city, right moment in time, right main-event, almost all the right decisions in who won the matches. WWE doesn’t usually go with crowd-pleasing results throughout an entire show, but beginning with Daniel Bryan winning the Smackdown Money in the Bank and ending with CM Punk winning the title was a sign that WWE knew what the fans wanted to see. The main attractions were incredibly crowd-pleasing, from the dual Money in the Bank ladder matches and the Smackdown title match (another hotly-contested Randy Orton / Christian combination) to the main-event that everyone wanted to see in hometown boy CM Punk taking on the system (and John Cena) in order to win the WWE Title on his way out of the promotion. The Chicago crowd was on fire throughout the entire night, but they were absolutely on fire for Punk-Cena. The undercard matches such as Kelly Kelly-Brie Bella and Mark Henry-Big Show were kept short and sweet (and in the case of the latter match, was a very good big man bout, much better than it looked to be on paper—which would set the stage for more good matches between the two later in the year). The way Alberto Del Rio won Raw Money in the Bank by unmasking Rey Mysterio was dastardly, but he also got his at the end of the show when Punk kicked him in the head and left a free man, with the WWE Title in his possession. That was one of the best cliffhanger endings of the year in any wrestling promotion. As usual, when WWE wants to put on the show of the year, they can do it—they just have to want to do it.

SCOTT RUTHERFORDsize=+2>
This PPV was like a perfect storm. Hot main event, interesting semi-mains, awesome gimmick match(s), hot crowd, white-hot buzz…everything culminated on this one night. Wrestling has been craving an edgy storyline and when C.M. Punk fired off his worked-shoot promo on RAW that tore the WWE a new asshole from Vince McMahon down it was like he reached into the mind of every smark and laid out exactly what we though. Us, the fans, never dreamed that in this day and age that the WWE could actually pull this PPV off and from the first match EVERYTHING clicked. The effort from everyone involved was laid out there for us to see and each match was different to next and nothing ever got boring. You cap it off with one of the best storyline-based main event matches since Steve Austin vs. Dude Love from Over The Edge 1998 and we were all there. To give you an idea of just how much everyone was into this PPV…this B-show that should have pulled a low number only did about 25,000-30,000 less buys that the A-show Survivor Series which had the in-ring return of The Rock. Think about that for a while…

++++

WINNER: Money In The Bank: John Cena vs. C.M. Punk – 53 Votes
1st RUNNER-UP: Best In The World: Eddie Edwards vs. Davey Richards – 17 Votes
2nd RUNNER-UP: SummerSlam: Christian vs. Randy Orton – 10 Votessize=+1>

WES KIRKsize=+2>
Randy Orton and Christian took place during the stipulation part of their feud, this one being No Holds Barred and anything goes. Although it was a very good match, Orton was able to sneak the title away with his usual RKO although this was one taking Christian down from mid-air. Edwards and Richards I have not seen so I can’t comment on it, and the Cena vs. Punk match I can comment on. I didn’t watch the full match until it was available on WWE 24/7 and when I did, I had to wonder why anybody thought this was so incredibly special that it warranted match of the year. I mean, back in 2006 Chicago gave a very similar response to CM Punk when he’d just signed with the WWE a couple of months earlier and yet he out-popped a returning DX! Obviously any match featuring Punk in a high-level contest was going to get molten heat! Match wise it was just the battle of attempting to hit an AA vs. the Go To Sleep and it was finisher, reverse, attempt finisher, and so on with the usual finisher-kickout routine for a bit and then McMahon and Johnny Ace ran down and disrupted things until Cena clocked Ace and then walked in, distracted, and took the Go 2 Sleep for a pin and the WWE title went to CM Punk. The one great visual, though, was McMahon looking ready to cry as Punk gave him this nasty shit eating grin and waved while on the rail and headed into the crowd. Honestly this whole thing was more about Punk’s ability and emotion and Vince’s charisma than anything Cena contributed to the match, you could have replaced him with virtually anybody and the crowd there would have reacted the same. OVERRATED!

ARI BERENSTEINsize=+2>
It wasn’t a “perfect” match per se, as there were a few instances of blown moves and a clunky sequence or two in-between the highlights. It also wasn’t a “five-star” match, as some (including myself) would rate the Ring of Honor Best in the World 2011 showdown between Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards. However, a “Match of the Year” should be about more than “Perfection” and the vaunted five snowflakes (*****); it should speak to a moment in time when a match spoke to the masses, had a relevant story both in the ring and out and a match that in the end had a satisfying conclusion or an ending one never expected but completely worked. CM Punk and John Cena had that kind of match at WWE Money in the Bank this past July. The circumstances of CM Punk’s planned departure, his final title match happening in his hometown of Chicago and the threat he issued (like he did six years ago in ROH) of leaving a promotion with its main title around his waist, all coalesced into that kind of context, that kind of moment, that kind of story and that kind of conclusion that makes a Match of the Year. Punk and Cena had a lot of help from the fans in attendance in creating the kind of electric atmosphere that would feed into what they wanted to do in the ring. The battle between the two to put on the Attitude Adjustment or the Go To Sleep (both moves start from the same position) gave the fans those moments of baited breathe that create drama. That CM Punk actually won the match, was able to get the big win in his hometown and escape the building still the WWE Champion (and at the time “without a contract”), capped this great quality Pay Per View and demonstrated, just for a second (as with the beginnings of The Nexus angle during the previous year) that when WWE took big risks that they also earned great rewards. It’s too bad the follow-up to the previous six weeks of booking and this match could not live up to what came before it, but the Summer of Punk was a fantastic time for story-telling in professional wrestling
.
DIMITRI DORLISsize=+2>
Randy Orton and Christian’s final ppv match at Summerslam was the perfect end to one of the best feuds of the year, and was a damn good match at the same time, with both guys utilizing the extreme rules to their advantage. Edwards vs. Richards may have been the best pure wrestling match of the year, putting on a wrestling clinic while telling a simple story of Richards using his last shot at the RoH World Title against his former partner.

But wrestling is more than about having a polished wrestling match. The prefect-wrestling match is a mix of skill and spectacle, and nothing captured that more than the WWE Title Match at Money in the Bank between CM Punk and John Cena. The storyline leading into the match was written to perfection, with Punk threatening to leave with the WWE Title in tow, while Cena the last hope for Vince McMahon and the WWE. The Chicago setting also played into the match, with the crowd rallying behind their hometown hero against the man who began his WWE career in that very arena. Hell, Punk had been a part of Cena’s entrance for Wrestlemania 22, which was held in Chicago. Everything came to a head in this match, and they didn’t disappoint. If there was one thing I hated about this, it would be Lawler suddenly having no idea how the wrestling business worked, but beyond that even the commentary for this match was above-par, which was a hard thing to have happen in the WWE in 2011, but that’s a story for a different column. The real story here is how the WWE, for one small moment, managed to do everything right and created the spectacle that needed to occur.

JACK BRAMAsize=+2>
After watching Davey-Edwards III at Final Battle 2011, I was a bit under whelmed by the main event. I thought it was a fantastic match but not the class I thought they were capable of delivering. It nagged at me that I couldn’t quite pin-down what didn’t work for me. The storytelling was not as good as the 2nd match here from Best in the World, but was still very good and Davey embraced a viciousness akin to Bret Hart at Wrestlemania XIII to put away his good friend. He showed in a sense that victory was more important than his friend’s well being. Still, though, I didn’t love the match and wanted to explore why not.

As a thought experiment, I came up with a list of seven (admittedly arbitrary) attributes that a classic match, a 5 star match if you will, most of the time has.

1. A belief that either person could win
2. A reason to care about the finish
3. An amazing ending
4. Minimal screw-ups or botches
5. Stakes, something needs to be on the line
6. Something unexpected should happen, the match can’t be completely predictable
7. An amazingly hot crowd

While true to varying degrees for a lot of matches this year including the 2nd place match between Davey and Eddie, no match better exemplifies that list of qualities from 2011 than CM Punk vs. John Cena at Money In the Bank. Going into the PPV, there was palpable tension in the air mainly due to the mystery surrounding Punk’s worked shoot promo and his contract situation. Would the WWE really let Punk go over Cena? Was this just a ploy to pop a buyrate for an exiting Punk rather than a genuine attempt to recreate the Summer of Punk? Would a MITB briefcase winner try to cash in?

More “felt” like it was on the line than your typical WWE title match, especially at an off-month PPV. It seemed this would be a match for the future of the WWE’s soul, a possible moment to re-ignite an Attitude Era type character revolution. If they let Punk cut a promo for the ages, perhaps the days of writers and scripts were coming to an end. With Vince’s backstage role allegedly being scaled back so Triple H could rise in prominence, anything and everything seemed possible, but not necessarily likely.

All of the speculation fueled a rabid crowd in Chicago and helped produce one of the great spectacles in wrestling history. The crowd was parts WM VI (Hogan-Warrior), WM XVIII (Hogan-Rock), WM XXII (Triple H-Cena), and ONS II (RVD-Cena) with lots of spontaneous cheers and ovations that were hard to predict. When Punk stepped through the curtain in a new shirt to commemorate the evening and shouted one more time, “IT’S CLOBBERING TIME!” and the crowd exploded, you had to know you were in for something special. After Cena demanded a clean finish by taking out Johnny Ace and Punk pinned clean after the G2S, I still felt a bit uneasy that things weren’t quite done yet. Even Punk himself had been the beneficiary TWICE of taking out world champions after matches or beatdowns (Edge, Jeff Hardy). Vince himself called out Alberto Del Rio to cash in. However, Punk disposed of him with an enzuigiri and then exited through the crowd. For one of the few brief moments in years, when CM Punk jumped the barricade to escape into the Chicago night with the WWE Championship, you thought, “I have no idea where this is going but I’m going to love getting there.”
Although later months have seemingly squandered some of the potential of that one night, the WWE can never take that match away from us and they can never take that night away from CM Punk.

++++

DON’T FORGET TO COMEBACK TOMORROW TO SEE WHO TAKES HOME WRESTLER OF THE YEAR!!