Was CM Punk truly the wrestler of the year for 2011?

Within all aspects of sports and entertainment, year end lists are typically a point of controversy that divides opinion. However, this year in the wrestling world, there was a pretty unanimous opinion that CM Punk was the wrestler of the year for 2011. 

The problem with year end awards and lists is how quick we are to forget everything that has happened over the course of the year, tending to focus on the big stand out moments that happen in the second half of the year. In the wrestling world, The Miz for example, wasn't near anybody's annual list of top wrestlers, despite the fact he headlined WrestleMania and held the WWE title for the first four of five months of the year. If the end of year poll had been taken around this time, The Miz would surely have been voted as the number one star at the time.

I myself, am guilty of this, not including The Miz in my own top 10 stars of the year list. One other wrestler I did not include was CM Punk, as I felt he had a much weaker year than everyone else did. "Really?" I can hear you saying in an sardonic, Miz-imitating manner. But hear me out, as I go over the past twelve months and look at what CM Punk was doing in each of them.

January - April

After a period on guest commentary at the end of 2010, CM Punk returned to the ring and took over the reigns of the Nexus, the heel faction that dominated wrestling television for the past year. However, by that time, Nexus was dead on its legs and bringing in CM Punk to replace Wade Barrett provided nothing more than a short-term boost which was dead within a few weeks. Punk had looked ready to make the jump to main event after the Straight Edge Society was over, and though WWE creative may have thought putting him in the Nexus would have been the key to do this, it was not to be.

A brief rivalry between CM Punk and John Cena in January was put off until the Summer, in favour of a program with Randy Orton which went into WrestleMania and beyond. Despite their best efforts to give the feud heat, referring back to a moment in 2008 when Orton punted a babyface CM Punk in the head, their feud was nothing more than a mid-card rivalry at best - filler. They had some of the best PPV matches together at the time, being two of the best workers on the roster, but never did they steal the show and propel their feud up to main event status as it could have been. While Punk's heelish and drawling shout of "Randal" every week was amusing, it was barely enough to get the feud over - especially during a time when everyone was more excited about The Rock and John Cena.

May - June

All the while during Punk's feud with Randy Orton, the newly renamed "New Nexus" was little more than a background cast. They were to come more to the forefront in May as CM Punk began tagging with Batista Mason Ryan in a dull feud over the worthless tag titles with Big Show and Kane. This was one of the lowest points of the year for Punk, taking beatings from Big Show on a weekly basis almost and quickly losing the star power and momentum he had gained in 2010. Rumours of CM Punk leaving the WWE as his contract was up were circling on the internet and it looked as though Punk was going to put over Big Show and Kane of all people on his way out the door.

After the unsuccessful Tag Team Title challenge at Over The Limit, Punk started a brief rivalry with Rey Mysterio which culminated in a match at Capitol Punishment in June. Punk and Mysterio had only feuded just under a year ago on Smackdown, and so this was nothing new or special to fans despite the two being amongst the best in-ring workers in the company. With rumours of CM Punk leaving becoming more fervent, beating Mysterio at Capitol Punishment raised questions as to what WWE had planned with him for the future.

July

Though the past six months had barely been a memorable time for CM Punk, all that was to change in July as the leader of the New Nexus became the number one contender after a series of victories. But CM Punk challenging John Cena for the WWE title at Money in the Bank was not to be any ordinary match. In an effort to create a buzz as ratings were sinking, WWE had Punk cut a half shoot promo at the end of an ordinary episode of Raw in which he lambasted everyone in the WWE from John Cena to John Laurinaitis, claiming to be leaving and leaving with the WWE title. Punk turned an ordinary B-level PPV in Money in the Bank into an A-show, hyping up a must watch match between the challenge and champion in a series of cutting promos. This was the CM Punk that everyone had been waiting to see over the course of 2011, having shown his promise on Smackdown, especially on the microphone. Punk was finally about to make it. And he did, beating John Cena for the WWE title in what would be the undisputed match of the year, a thirty minute bout in Punk's hometown of Chicago, in front of a rapturous crowd. WWE had created a true buzz like they had the summer prior with the Nexus storyline, but like that, everything that was exciting and fresh about Punk capturing the WWE title and leaving was to wither into a typical WWE program and quickly become stale.

August

The first mistake WWE made was creating a second WWE championship belt and having an eight man tournament for it on Raw the night after Money in the Bank. The second mistake was having John Cena, who was supposed to be fired (recalling a storyline from only 7-8 months before that he was supposed to be fired and never left TV) beat the eventual winner of that tournament, Rey Mysterio - adding fuel to the fire that was the negativity surrounding Cena within the WWE fanbase. The third mistake was having CM Punk return two or three weeks after "quitting" and going back into another program with John Cena so quickly. The buzz that was created around Punk in July was because of the aspect of realism in everything that happened. Though we knew all the promos Punk was cutting were scripted to an extent, it was easy for us all to suspend our disbelief, idealising Punk as the cool outsider, like Scott Hall and Kevin Nash (more on him in a moment) had been in the nineties when they left WWF for WCW. Seeing CM Punk come back with a brand new theme and a new t-shirt was a turn-off, outing Punk as just another corporate yes man of the WWE, the John Cena for teenagers and young adults. Punk and Cena would try throughout August to recapture the magic of July, and in a sense some of it was great, including another great match at Summerslam, but the introduction of Triple H and Kevin Nash into Punk's story was what caused it to all come crashing down.

September

After Kevin Nash cost CM Punk the WWE title at Summerslam, a confused and tired angle between Punk, Nash, Triple H and John Laurinaitis began, culminating in a match between Punk and Triple H at Night of Champions after a series of cutting promos. Punk and Hunter continued the style of the past two months, making insider references in all of their promos in an attempt to make the feud seem real, but Triple H came across more as the sympathetic character despite Punk being the new top babyface of the company they were building. Punk's natural arrogance that comes across in radio interviews and his Twitter started appearing on the screen. Punk was the angsty, teenage child and Triple H was the man, pissed off at the young upstart who did nothing but run his mouth every week. And when Triple H finally ran his mouth back, he cut Punk down to size, calling him out for all his hypocrisies and bullshit and painting him as the spoilt brat he had become.

Punk was becoming an unlikable babyface quicker than Cena ever dreamed of, mixing goofy comedy, such as a fake puking at Kevin Nash which lasted a whole minute and drew no laughter from the crowd, with biting shoot comments that served only to downplay his opponents as real life goofs, putting over neither himself or his opponents. Though the crowd were still cheering his name, the viewers at home were not. Punk calling Kevin Nash a ratings killer in an uncalled-for comment live on Raw came back to haunt him, and the "click" sound he had mockingly referred to as people turning over the channel when Nash was on the screen, was in fact happening to him. Segments involving Punk were down and it appeared as though the casual audience were turning off to him, despite becoming the biggest t-shirt seller on WWEshop.com and live events. The audience was divided, like they had been for Cena vs. Punk, but not in a good way.

Triple H and CM Punk went on to have their match at Night of Champions, headlining the card in a long and dull street fight that had a WCW-level of run-ins, igniting a rivalry between Punk and Triple H with Awesome Truth that would play out over the next few months.

October-December

Though the Triple H and CM Punk feud had been a bitter and personal one, they were buddies by the end of the next month and teaming up against Miz and R-Truth who would interfere in two main events in a row. A triple threat Hell in a Cell match with Punk, Cena and Del Rio was a fun match, but served only to advance the Awesome Truth storyline. Punk was becoming a part of the background cast and the popularity he had gained in the Summer was waning, despite his popular "Best in the world" t-shirt still selling in high numbers. Online, fans were beginning to turn on him, some calling him boring and undeserving of his recent push, unimpressed with his work since becoming a main event player on Raw. There were other factors to be added to this, however, such as Punk shooting on Rock in several radio interviews, inadvertently putting himself in the Team Cenation camp, an unpopular choice amongst older fans. Bad booking was another problem. But Punk was not entirely without blame and as Punk went into a short program with Alberto Del Rio for the WWE title, cutting down Del Rio in a shoot-style promo as "boring" and "repetitive" which only served to make Del Rio look worse. His comments decreased momentum going into their Survivor Series match, and by virtue of that, made himself look worse in the process. And though their Survivor Series match was good, it could have been a lot better if Punk had put his opponent over as a threat instead of cutting him down, which had become his style. Another match at TLC took place between Punk and Del Rio, this time with Miz thrown in to the pot. It was just another match, with no special feeling and certainly no element of danger in Punk losing his title. All the while during this time, CM Punk's feud with new Raw GM John Laurinaitis was developing, an ongoing storyline on Raw. Though Laurinaitis is the clear heel in their feud, Punk keeps coming across as brattish and annoying in his promo delivery, making spiteful, heelish, shoot comments that turns people off from him. 

The year of 2011 was a huge year for CM Punk, by far the biggest year of his career, but it was a year that we watched Punk evolve from the exciting outsider heel we loved to cheer into the boring, corporate, babyface champion that cuts spiteful promos that cut into the wrestler's real persona rather than his on-screen character. The Raw after TLC saw CM Punk align himself with new champions Daniel Bryan and Zack Ryder in a nauseating trio of "internet darlings" against a heel team of Miz, Del Rio and Ziggler in the main event. The match was the lowest rated main event on TV for the whole of 2011. That right there pretty much sums up Punk's year for me and is exactly why he was not the wrestler of the year for 2011, merely an internet fan's favourite who got his moment in the spotlight and almost blew it. After six months of mediocrity at the start of the year, Punk had an exciting couple of months in the Summer that will be one of the most memorable moments of this era when we look back on it in the future, but things hastily fell apart and the "Summer of Punk" became a cold and unrepenting winter. Was CM Punk the wrestler of the year for 2011? Quite simply, no. The year in wrestling revolved around one man, the true wrestler of the year - John Cena.

Super 20 - 2012, Week 4

Super 20 - the top 20 wrestlers this week in wrestling.

Week 4 of 2012

A revolutionary week this week, as 11 newcomers make it into the chart, some returning faces, a couple of brand new stars and the very first ever NXT entries.  Read on to find out...

20 new		Titus O'Neil After a decent match with Darren Young, Titus O'Neil cut a hilarious and random heel swerve promo for seemingly no reason.  The first ever NXT entry onto the prestigious Super 20.
19 new		Mickie James A great match with Madison Rayne this week on Impact, TNA knockouts keep showing the WWE barbie dolls how it's done.  Mickie James is probably the best female in-ring worker around, an underrated talent.
18 new		Jack Swagger That two minutes of Swagger beating the crap out of Zack Ryder and then pinning him to steal the U.S. title was one of the most satisfying things on Raw as of late.  About time that farsical run came to an end.  The U.S. title suits Swagger perfectly.
17 new		Vickie Guerrero If you didn't see Vickie Guerrero daning on this week's episode of Smackdown make sure you find it on Youtube. She's had some funny moments in her career, but this was amongst the best of them. She also played her part well on Raw in the opening promo, laughing in Mick Foley's face as Laurinaitis told him he couldn't be in the Rumble.
16 -13		Gunner A big win over AJ Styles for Gunner this week on Impact, but unfortunately no DDT to the concrete.
15 +2		Cody Rhodes After posting my Top 5 Hornswoggle moments article this week, I got a kick out of Cody Rhodes going after the little troll and beating on him until Justin Gabriel made the save. They had a decent five minute match, Cody showing how talented he is in the ring as always.
14 -10		Chris Jericho Jericho falls down 10 places, but his performance on Raw was still gold, walking out in the middle of the tag team match after hyping up the crowd. Still no idea where this is all leading to, it's keeping us all glued to find out week after week - great writing
13 new		Eric Young EY was hilarious as usual and his "match" with Angelina Love. He keeps finding news ways to make his grapple spot funny, even though we've all seen it 100 times already. His chemistry with ODB is amazing, they should become a legit tag team.
12 +3		Sting The boss of Impact was great in his role as GM, as he has been every week the last couple of months. A feud with Bully Ray could make for some great matches and promos.
11 +3		Mark Henry The WSM running down Teddy Long and his Vegas wheel on Smackdown was priceless. His match with Bryan wasn't so good, but that was down to bad booking more than anything. Desperate to see Henry take the gold against Bryan and Big Show at the Rumble - he deserves to main event WrestleMania.
10 new		R-Truth As I go through the list it feels like there were lots of great comedy segments in wrestling this week.  Truth's photoshop slideshow at Disneyland was brilliant, and the "I'm not even sure if that's PG" line was hysterical. I though R-Truth as a babyface might be terrible but it's actually turning out better than him as a heel.
9 new		Garrett Bischoff The training video of Garrett Bischoff on Impact this week was hilarious and epic, channelling the spirit of Rocky Balboa and Tony Montana with a cheesy 80's movie style montage. Just who is Bischoff's trainer?
8 new		Sheamus Sheamus and Wade Barrett put on a spectacle of a match on Smackdown this week and one of the best TV matches in a while, with their tables match. Less leprchaun and Irish comedy and more intensity like this from Sheamus and he will find a regular spot in the illustrious Super 20.
7 new		Wade Barrett Barrett just about gets the nod over Sheamus, but he had the benefit of enjoying the previously mentioned promo with R-Truth to get him there. The win over the Irish fella helps too. He seems like one of the odds on favourites to win the Royal Rumble in a few weeks.
6 new		Dolph Ziggler Mr. Ziggles has truly arrived. His promo destroying Mick Foley was incredible and for the first time ever Ziggler felt like a bonafide main eventer, with the mic skills to match his stellar in-ring work.
5 +13		John Cena Cena showed a side of him we haven't seen for a long time this week on Raw, physically decimating Jack Swagger in revenge for his assault and title win over Zack Ryder earlier in the night. He looked great as the pissed off tough guy and even showed heelish tendencies in his assault, Swagger coming off as kind of sympathetic. The Rise Above Hate angle continues, but where will it lead to?
4 -2		James Storm It's stupid that James Storm had to fight another #1 contendership match this week - this time against Jeff Hardy - but nevertheless Storm looked like a legit main event star on the mic and in the ring. He has it all to be the lead face of TNA and take them to next level, I believe - as I wrote in this article.
3 -2		Bully Ray If Storm is the top face in TNA right now, then Bully Ray is the top heel. A fantastic backstage segment with Sting showed off a great chemistry with the Insane Icon and the post-main event beatdown on Storm and Hardy with his trademark chain was a mark-out moment. After a feud with Sting, Bully deserves a PPV world title match sometime in the next few months.
2 new		Michael Cole Any Cole Miners out there who didn't watch this weeks episode of NXT: Redemption - go and watch it. Cole was good on Smackdown and heeled it up to his usual high standards, but on NXT he gave a blistering performance. He destroyed everyone and everything associated with the show, all in typical Cole fashion and turned what would have been a terrible, unwatchable wedding angle between Johnny Curtis and Maxine into a work of art with the gift of his voice. Vintage.
1 +11		John Laurinaitis John Laurinaitis becomes the first ever star to win the historic Super 20 for a second time, after a blistering performance on Raw. If the Ziggler-Punk title match at the Rumble had no heat going into it, that all changed after Laurinaitis completely sold the match with his brilliant promo work. Credit has to be given to Punk for his promo against Laurinaitis also, and he narrowly misses out on the top 20 this week - but Laurinaitis was on another level with his end promo, finally snapping after weeks of back-and-forth with CM Punk. His mannerisms when he finally snapped were amazing and I had flashes of early Vince Mcmahon, fixing the tie and wiping down his suit. Decking Foley with the microphone was a touch of class to finish the show. If CM Punk can keep his game up, this feud could be the next Austin-McMahon - and hopefully they will have some matches down the line.

Most Improved Star Of The Year Award - Washington David Awards For Excellence In Sports Entertainment

This Washington David Awards For Excellence In Sports Entertainment award, the Most Improved Star Of The Year, goes to the most improved wrestler or wrestling personality in the last year.



6. Bully Ray

Bully mother f'n Ray.  The best promo guy in the wrestling business, officially.  Brother/Bubba/Bully Ray was always a great trash talker as part of The Dudleyz/Team 3D, but he has really come into his own as a singles wrestler this year since turning heel on D-Von.

And while you could say Bully Ray is one of the best on the mic, it would be foolish to say he is a bad in-ring worker.  Having gotten into shape and dropped a lot of fat this year, The Bully - as Mike Tenay affectionately refers to him as - has had quite a few top matches including a match of the year candidate with AJ Styles in their last man standing bout.

After a great career as a tag team wrestler, Bully Ray has found his niche as a singles star and elevated himself to a position where fans are craving to see him win a world title.  As The Bully said in a backstage promo during his initial push earlier this year, in other words: "I would love to win the World Title.. can you imagine how pissed the wrestling world would be if Bully Ray was World Champ?"

While many smarks would have been pissed off at the time if that had come true, even smarks have some sense and they too have come around to Bully Ray being one of the best wrestlers in the business today.  Who says only push youth?

5. James Storm
While Beer Money were the best tag team of 2010, the former TNA tag team champions got over on their superb wrestling abilities in their long series of matches with the Motor City Machine Guns.  Everyone knew James Storm and Bobby Roode could go in the ring - but what everyone did not know was just how good James Storm was on the mic.

Clearly the Shawn Michaels to Bobby Roode's Marty Jannetty, James Storm was the breakout star of Beer Money during the Bound For Glory series finale - in which Bobby Roode undeservedly won.  Just like Bully Ray is currently doing, James Storm carried Bobby Roode as a singles wrestler via his microphone skills, putting over his tag team partner in the build for his TNA World Title match at Bound For Glory with Kurt Angle.  It became obvious who the real talent of the group had been all that time.

Though Storm is not as ripped as his former tag team partner, part of his appeal is his everyman look.  A little on the fat side he may be, but it doesn't stop him from looking twice as tough and a more legitimate threat in the ring than Roode does since his cliched and uninspired heel turn.

Winning the world title, albeit for a brief amount of time, was clearly the highlight of Storm's year and his whole career.  Roode may have stole his thunder for now, but when the TNA bookers realise Storm has more potential to be a main event player, he will be right back up there with the best of them.  A win over Kurt Angle at the latest PPV shows he isn't done on top just yet.

4. Cody Rhodes
When Cody Rhodes first appeared on Raw all those years ago, getting slapped by Orton before being schooled by Hardcore Holly - it seemed that the current Intercontinental Champ was just another undeserving and pathetic-looking 2nd generation star who had got a WWE contract through family links alone.

How wrong was I, as Cody Rhodes has since elevated himself to become an almost permanent fixture in my fave five.  While he was decent in Legacy, Rhodes really took off in 2010 when drafted to Smackdown - debuting his "Dashing" gimmick.  After cutting a hilarious semi-shoot promo on the fat, wasting Matt Hardy, people began to take notice of Dusty's son.

But he'll never be as good as Goldust, they cried.  How wrong they were.  While the "Dashing" gimmick was fun, the best was yet to come - as at the beginning of 2011 the new Cody Rhodes was born.  "Hideous" and "Grotesque" were the words standing out from his titantron video.  After legitimately breaking his nose, Rhodes was forced to wear a protective mask which he worked into his character and so began a 4-month feud with Rey Mysterio in where Cody showed his real signs of being a future world champion.

Since his "Undashing" gimmick, a series of excellent matches and brilliant promos, Rhodes has emerged as one of the brightest talents in the WWE and for sure a world champion sometime in 2012. He has elevated the status of the IC title, just as he said he would do and brought more credibility to that belt than Daniel Bryan has reduced credibility from the world title.

Now unmasked and with plenty of character depth, Rhodes has all the freedom and potential to move up to the next level.  A long feud with a legitimate main eventer such as Randy Orton or John Cena in 2012 will take him there.

3. Mark Henry
When I try to think of the worst aspects of WWE in the past few years, the tag team of MVP and Mark Henry often come to mind.  While MVP was brilliant as the heel U.S. champion on Smackdown, tagging with Mark Henry in matching red outfits after a big losing streak was the sign of his demise, which would eventually see him leave for a new challenge in NJPW.

But Mark Henry didn't even have that period in his career he could look back on that MVP had.  A feud or two with Undertaker and a run as ECW champion was okay, but nothing people would remember in 10 years time.  No, Mark Henry would undoubtedly be remembered as the guy who got Mae Young pregnant and subsequently became the proud father of.. a plastic hand.

Then, the 2011 draft came and Mark Henry was moved to Smackdown as one of the "big moves" shown on the draft edition of Raw.  A collective groan was emitted within the wrestling world, as a draft pick was seemingly wasted on the happy-go-lucky guy in the big red Kool-Aid outfit.  But their groans were about to be proven erroneous and short-sighed, as Mark Henry turned heel that very same night, clotheslining John Cena.

Big deal, we cried - Mark Henry sucks heel or face.  But how wrong we all were.  The world's strongest man went on to become one of the biggest draws of the year in WWE and the Smackdown ratings went in the opposite direction to Raw's - they rised.  Of course, there was more to that than just Mark Henry, but he was a vital ingredient in the success of Smackdown this year.  His feuds with Sheamus, Randy Orton and Big Show were all incredible and featured surprisingly good matches - a rare feat for such a big guy (especially 2 big guys, when it came to his matches with Big Show).  It was the first time in a long time the fans got to enjoy a dominant heel destroy everything in his path, and suddenly with his tough bastard ad-libbing and slapping up WWE production staff, Mark Henry felt fresh.  Then he became the World Champion and you know the rest.

2. Gunner
If you told me this time last year than Gunner would become one of my favourite wrestlers in TNA, I would have said: who's Gunner?  Oh, that guy who acts as security for Jeff Jarrett and Immortal?  He's a wrestler?

Fast forward to twelve months later, and Mr. Intensity is piledriving Garrett Bischoff onto the exposed concrete.  Concrete exposed by his new manager Ric Flair, no less.

He held the TV title for a while, but Gunner really had his breakout moment after pinning Mr. Anderson and Sting 2 weeks in a row, both of whom were the world champion at the time of defeat.  It seemed like he was about to break out as the next big thing in TNA and perhaps even wrestling as a whole.  His backstage promos were cold, calculating and believable.  His in-ring work was hard-hitting and exciting.

But his push was put on hold and not even featured in the BFG series, a (fake) undefeated streak (17 wins and 3 losses) that Gunner deserved was given to the drab, boring Crimson.  When a wrestler is named after the colour of his hair, you know he has no distinguishable charisma.

Still, Gunner has re-emerged towards the end of the year and now being managed by Ric Flair after Immortal has crumbled into ashes, a big feud with Garrett Bischoff going into 2012 is just the ticket to get him back on the map.  Do I smell a World title next year?

1. R-Truth (Winner)



If a heel turn ever saved someone's WWE career, it was R-Truth in 2011.  The phony "What's Up" rapping entrance, which was boring from the moment it was conceived, gave way to one of the funniest and most charismatic superstars in wrestling today.

John Morrison was hit with the Jannetty curse for a 2nd time, as after Miz had gone on to greatness after Miz 'n' Morrison, R-Truth went on to main event another 2 PPV's this year after turning heel and blowing smoke in his former tag team partner's face.  Having already been in 2 main events (if you count the Royal Rumble) - R-Truth took his tally to an impressive 4 PPV main events after turning heel - a WWE title match with John Cena at Capitol Punishment, the PPV which was built around Truth himself.  And then being involved in the Survivor Series main event against the returning Rock as part of The Awesome Truth with The Miz.  A dream year for a guy who this time last year was rapping to fat kids in the audience "What's up?" to which they would reply in their high-pitched voices, and off-time with the music  "...What's up?"

But it isn't just Truth's stellar mic work and gimmick that needs to be recognised - his in-ring work has for a long time been great.  He just needed this gimmick and the feuds he has had this year to compliment his wrestling abilities.  Now that he has been suspended (for smoking weed presumably), he could come back as heel or face and his gimmick would work either way and suit his in-ring style, such is the genius of his new creation.

And so I could go on about how funny Truth's promos were and how he was the greatest thing in wrestling for a number of months - the reason to tune in  to Raw every week - but the best thing I could do is post up a video.  So here it is:



One last thing that really shows how high Truth set the bar this year - he actually made the "WHAAAAAT?" chants become something funny to appreciate and laugh along with, instead of being tired and old.  Dont what me!