Super 20 - 2012, week 5

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

Week 5 of 2012

Week 5 of 2012 and the week of the Royal Rumble! With Sheamus winning and going on to WrestleMania, will he claim the #1 spot in the even more important Super 20 rankings?

20 -16		James Storm Storm is great but I think that TNA are pacing him to a big one on one finale with Roode which will likely take place at Lockdown. Starred in a great Tables match with Roode, Hardy and Bully on Impact.
19 -6		Eric Young EY's routine seems to be ongoing every week, but I still keep balling with laughter at everything he does. His chemistry with all the knockouts is great and it would be hilarious and Russo-esque if he ever got a shot at the Knockouts title, or even the Knockouts tag team titles with ODB.
18 -7		Mark Henry The WSM is doing great to get by on the Super 20 on his promo strength alone, as he simply can't wrestle matches at the moment because of his injury. Cutting down Big Show and Bryan on Smackdown was great, especially saying Bryan has a "Napoleon complex". He still put on a half-decent match at the Rumble too, against Big Show and Bryan, but unfortunately Bryan retained the gold.
17 new		Hunico He kayfabe broke DiBiase's wrist on Smackdown which was great and his entrance on the lowrider bike with Camacho is still awesome every time. Would liked to have seen more from him in the Rumble, but there was a lot of comedy and nostalgia spots to cover.
16 -2		Chris Jericho After an intriguing Highlight Reel on Raw in where he promised the "end of the world" at the Royal Rumble, anything less than a Nexus-like shock angle would fail to meet expectations. The fact nothing happened sucked, but Jericho redeems himself for putting on a great finale to the Rumble with Sheamus.
15 new		Mick Foley The Cobra vs. Mr. Socko was the match that has been waiting to happen for the past year since Santino debuted his green sock puppet and we finally got to see it in action at the Royal Rumble. Foley looks out of shape but he still has the charisma to pull off fun spots in matches like this.
14 new		Aksana The debut of Aksana on the Super 20 has been coming for a long time, with all her Teddy Long cut-scenes full of innuendos that barely pass for PG. What did it this week was her entrance music for her first match on Smackdown, using the cheesy saxophone jazz and blue lighting that comes on when she is with her "Teddy bear."
13 -11		Michael Cole When Cole was berating Booker T and Jerry Lawler for entering the Royal Rumble, I had the feeling he would be entering also and my wishes were met as he entered and got comically eliminated by the returning Kharma. Also love the fact he still continues to run down Daniel Bryan despite his recent heel turn - he still sucks. Vintage Cole.
12 new		Santino Marella Sometimes Santino's comedy irritates me, but he was particularly hilarious this week - first walking into Natalya's fart on Smackdown and secondly his previously mentioned Cobra vs. Mr. Sock lock-up with Foley at the Rumble.
11 +9		Titus O'Neil Heel Titus stays on the Super 20 for a 2nd straight week, an amazing achievement for any NXT wrestler and especially when it was the week of the Royal Rumble AND he moved up 9 places. Anyone who isn't watching NXT should be to see this great star in action. A draft to Raw or Smackdown after WrestleMania is in order. A great match with ex-tag partner Percy Watson was a highlight of the week.
10 new		The Miz Lasting over 40 minutes in the Rumble, The Miz looked like a real star until he was unceremoniously eliminated by the Big Show near the end. I want to see The Miz in a high profile angle going into WrestleMania and lasting that long in the Rumble shows WWE still have faith in him.
9 +3		Sting A weekly fixture in this list, Sting is gold on Impact right now and he feels like a legitimate general manager with the way he goes about things, in his own crazy way. A brewing feud with Bully Ray has high potential of something great leading into the big Lockdown PPV in a couple of months.
8 -7		John Laurinaitis Big Johnny getting on his knees and telling Zack "woo woo woo, you know it" like he was a make-a-wish kid in his wheelchair was classic, as was his selling of the GTS on Raw, looking straight down to the floor. I wanted him to see him screw Punk out of the title at the Rumble and get his revenge, but I'm sure that is to come later.
7 new		Ricardo Rodriguez Double R was fantastic in the Rumble, and in one that was littered with comedy spots he stood out the most. The arena popped when they heard Del Rio's music, but Ricardo coming out in a banged out old car and donning Alberto's scarf was hysterical, as was his square off with Santino. It was cool to see him get a join elimination with Mick Foley.
6 -1		John Cena Despite his cringe-worthy constipation face on Raw this week, Cena was great in his role and had a stellar match with Kane at the Rumble. Shame that it went to a double count-out, but it makes sense if they want to prolong the feud to the next PPV.
5 new		Kofi Kingston So you think Kofi Kingston is first up in the fave five this week because of his awesome handstand walk at the Royal Rumble? Well, that would be the main reason - but a solid match on Superstars with Michael McGillicutty also showed me the Kofi Kingston we have been missing since his unfortunate pairing with the inept Evan Bourne in Air Boom. After 'Mania, a solid singles run near the top of the card should be in order for Kofi, after putting up with years of crap.
4 -1		Bully Ray Impact is starting to feel like the Bully Ray show, and on any other week the hardcore legend would have probably been number 1 in the list again, but he had to contend with the Royal Rumble - no mean feat. His brawl with Hardy to open Impact, as was the tag team tables main event at the end and the prospect of a Sting-Bully feud has me excited.
3 +12		Cody Rhodes Despite going out with a whimper, Rhodes was one of the biggest stars coming out of this year's Rumble - lasting over 40 minutes and eliminating many of the legends and nostalgia acts. He will be the next top heel in wrestling, possibly after WrestleMania.
2 new		Kane Unfortunately, Kane did not get to keep up his long streak of consecutive Rumble appearances, dating back over a decade - but he did break Ryder's back (kayfabe) and hopefully force him off TV for a while. The look on his face as he tombstoned Ryder at the Rumble PPV was priceless
1 +7		Sheamus The undisputed number 1 for this week, I was shouting at the TV in the final five minutes where Sheamus and Jericho went one on one at the end of the Rumble. As much as I love Jericho, Sheamus was the perfect winner here and this victory should be the one that propels him to real main event superstar levels. Though he has held the title twice before and had good feuds, main eventing a WrestleMania headline match should kickstar his career as a real big draw, which he can be for the WWE.

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

This Washington David Awards For Excellence In Sports Entertainment award, the Breakout Star Of The Year goes to the best newcomer to a promotion within the last year.

5. Austin Aries
As Austin Aries made his way down the Impact Zone ramp donned in some kind of shit purple cape for the first time, me and my friends thought - who is this guy?  Another lame skinny loser from ROH who thinks he's a big shot.

Then the match started and off he went, proving us all wrong.  Finishing off some jobber with a sick-looking brainbuster, the saviour of the X Division was finally here.  A little guy who actually carried himself like a main eventer, who didn't look nervous when he spoke, who could get away with his size because he acted like a man and not a boy.

What the X Division was lacking was someone like Aries, someone to give the division credibility.  And sure enough, he became X Division champion within a couple of months of debuting - and rightfully so.   While Kendrick had his funny moments through the year (calling Hogan a reptilian being the highlight) his in-ring style was bland and looked weak and ineffective.  Aries hits much harder and his stiffness paid off for him.

But unfortunately Aries has fizzled out towards the end of the year after his impactful debut.  The returning Kid Kash began to steal his spotlight and looked like the real star of the X Division, the new alpha male.  Hopefully next year things will pick up for him again and it would be nice to see Aries against some bigger opponents.

4. Mason Ryan
"OMG BATISTA HAS JOINED THE NEW NEXUS WTF" were the collective thoughts of the Raw viewing audience as Mason Ryan made his debut attacking [insert whoever Punk was feuding with at the time here], and no doubt if WWE was as obsessed with Twitter as they are now then "Batista" would have been a trending topic popping up in the bottom left corner of the screen.

But it was not Batista joining the New Nexus that fateful night, it was Mason Ryan.  While his debut year has been far from impressive, with no notable feuds or matches to speak of, the potential in Ryan is what sees him enter at number 4 on this list.

The big man from Wales has all the qualities to get a big push in the next year - i.e. he is one of the most muscular guys the WWE has ever seen.  You can only imagine what he would have looked like during the 80's and 90's when everyone was on steroids.  If guys like Evan Bourne and R-Truth can get busted on the Wellness policy and Ryan can't, then I don't know what he is eating for breakfast.

3. Garrett Bischoff
In one of the top contenders for match of the year (Hulk Hogan vs. Sting, Bound For Glory), Garrett Bischoff had his star-making moment.  Like Clark Kent turning into Superman, the lowly referee Jackson James became the rebellious son of Eric Bischoff, Garrett.  And not only was Garrett no longer a referee, he was the breakout superstar for TNA in 2011.

Flashing the Bischoff crest on his left pec with pride was another defining moment for the young star, standing up to his father for his evil wrong-doings in Immortal.  And so begins the father-son feud between the two Bischoffs which will likely (hopefully) run long into the next year.  One can only hope TNA brings in David Flair, son of Ric, to have a dream feud with Garrett Bischoff, son of Eric.  Perhaps in 2012?  Sometimes dreams do come true (see: Kevin Nash returning to the WWE).

2. Hunico
The lights dim down to a golden hue, the ethereal new age music begins, summoning spirits of the Aztecs, the rich heritage of the luchadors, the soul of Mexico.  The trampoline is in place for the big entrance.  And here he comes, Latin America's biggest wrestling superstar and the man that the all-mighty, all-knowing Wrestling Observer newsletter (more like MMA Observer these days) dubbed the "Wrestler of the year" back in 2006.

And then Sin Cara, a.k.a. Mistico, botches his ring entrance.  Then he botches in his debut match.  And again, and again.  And then he fails the wellness test.  Then he fucked his leg up with an injury.  And the big project, designed to be the next Rey Mysterio to shift cheap masks to kids, completely fails.

But fortunately WWE has a plan.  In comes Sin Cara Negro, the arch-nemesis of Sin Cara.  And it turns out this guy is better than the real Sin Cara, much better in fact.

While Sin Cara was out for smoking weed, or whatever he did wrong, Sin Cara Negro was making the Sin Cara character look good.  And so one of the worst feuds of the year began, Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara - then quickly ended, with Sin Cara Negro being unmasked in the end, who then became Hunico.

Hunico already looks like one of the best workers in the WWE today already and it would be a crime if they let him slip under the radar now.  He has already had good matches as the fake Sin Cara and as Hunico - and being one of the last 4 in this years Survivor Series match was a mark-out moment for myself personally.  If WWE want another guy for the Mexican audience to enjoy, here is your man.  Dump Sin Cara and let him go back to Mexico, or the TNA X Division.  Hunico is the next big thing.

1. Booker T (Winner)

WHUT DA HEYYUULLLL!

And with the greatest of ease, Booker T comes in at number one, the winner of the prestigious Breakout Star Of The Year Award!  Of course, he makes this entry for his commentary career and not his wrestling career (which incidentally starts again this Sunday against Cody Rhodes for the Intercontinental title).

First, let me take you back to last year.  As the cameras rolled for NXT Season 3, the all divas season, and Michael Cole was just getting into full swing with his comedy heel character - things were good, but he needed someone to bounce off.  The good guy to be the butt of his jokes - just as he had been for JBL years ago on Smackdown.  Josh Matthews couldn't be that guy - though he has brilliant chemistry with Cole, he is simply too quiet and unopinionated.  Though Josh is great, he works best as the subtle troll announcer - but that's a whole other article in itself.

So after turning up at the Royal Rumble and being one of the trainers for this year's Tough Enough, Booker T landed himself a commentary position on the Smackdown announce table.  With cliche after cliche, smarks complaining online in droves about his ineffectual commentary and Cole ribbing him throughout the whole show, a new era of Smackdown was born.  Smackdown became the absolute best wrestling show on TV this year, surpassing Raw and Impact.  Of course, Orton, Christian, Mark Henry, Cody Rhodes, Sheamus and others were a big part of that - but it would not have been the same without Booker, Cole and Matthews calling the action.

To celebrate the first ever Breakout Star of the Year award winner, let us take a look at this very special clip of the man we know as the five time, five time, five time dubya C dubya champion, Booker T.  Oh mah goodness!