Ring Crew Commentaries: 2011: Not a Vintage Year

By Dubya

It’s probably safe to say that for everything that happened in 2011, this year will not be looked at fondly for professional wrestling.  It was a challenging year that forced wrestling fans to question their choice in watching mainstream professional wrestling.  It included ups and downs, thrills and chills but in the end it really didn’t leave 2011 in any better shape than when we escaped 2010.

The best comparison to the year for me would be 1995, when WCW launched Monday Nitro but most WCW fans were still dealing with the bitter aftertaste of Hogan vs. Brutus “The Butcher” Beefcake main eventing Starrcade 94.  What also works with the 1995 comparison is that this is when ECW started turning heads and truly getting noticed outside of just being a Northeast independent promotion.  For 2011, Ring of Honor finally found some stability in being purchased by the Sinclair Broadcasting Group.  WWF in 1995 was trying to push new stars but in some of the worst possible ways and subsequently squandered how to properly handle the guys that were headliners.  In 2011, the WWE is sitting with a gold mine of “potential” stars in Swagger, Del Rio, Ziggler and more but they can’t seem to get it out of their head that these guys need to look like equals against the headliners, not jobbers.  It’s opposite of the problem they had in 1995 with Bret Hart fiddling with midcard albatrosses like Jean Pierre Lafitte when he could have been putting opponents for Diesel over.  Or been champion unlike Diesel.  Whatever, even 2011 doesn’t deserve to be compared to 1995.  Sorry 2011.

The Champions at the end of 2011 is pretty telling.  In the WWE, the company has seemed to try catering to a new fanbase, the loud vocal Internet community that is happy to chant and rant but tends to get their PPV viewing from an illegal website.  CM Punk was probably the biggest newsmaker for professional wrestling in 2011 (unless you count Jeff Hardy showing up high on drugs at a TNA Pay Per View) and him ending the year as WWE Champion is fitting.  Unfortunately, what could have been the second coming for WWE fans and something truly special was quickly squandered in a stupid feud against Kevin Nash and eventually Triple H.  Daniel Bryan became World Heavyweight Champion but much like what I previous wrote, he hasn’t really shown himself as a credible champion and the reactions don’t lie.  House show reports in the month of December have had him in triple threat matches and Big Show is still getting bigger pops, despite being the guy who lost the belt in under a minute.  Over in TNA, Bobby Roode went from quite possibly being the first big homegrown star in TNA since AJ Styles before getting his title reign squandered by a Hulk Hogan decision, only for the company to turn him heel and give him his World Title run anyway because they promised media outlets when they sent Roode to them, they were sending the World Champ.  Roode may not be where he should be, but he has still excelled as TNA World Champion in every aspect he has needed to.  In Ring of Honor, Davey Richards has held the title as the face of the company.  Despite awful hair, having the worst headbutt spot in the business (leave headbutts to the Samoans), having a tendency to no-sell the end of matches so he can cut emotional speeches about his ex-girlfriend and attempting All Japan heavyweight matches when he’s better suited for New Japan junior heavyweight matches, Richards has still been a fantastic champion for Ring of Honor and it will be exciting to see what chemistry he has against the biggest individual story for ROH in Kevin Steen.

For independent wrestling, it has been another year of good turnouts despite losing talent like the Kings of Wrestling.  Companies like CHIKARA and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla are doing their best after losing some of their headliners, even if those guys have merely relocated to Florida to work in front of 100 fans who have no idea who they are.  The Rock returned to the WWE and if you love the Rock unconditionally, you were happy.  Otherwise, it’s been intriguing to hear guys like CM Punk and Randy Orton come out publicly on radio and bash the Rock, Orton even coming out and saying that Rock tried to play politics and claim Orton bashed Triple H *and* Rock just because he knew mentioning the Shovel would get Vince and the WWE’s attention.  For as much of a financial boost the Rock might be, his terrible segments all over Wrestlemania 27 and pretty much stealing the spotlight at the very end of the biggest PPV in the WWE’s calendar brought memories of Hulk Hogan saving Bret Hart and becoming WWF Champion at the finality of Wrestlemania IX.  Tooth Fairy, meet Mr. Nanny.  The saddest story ended up being Scott Hall’s ESPN special where he admitted he doesn’t know what to do with his life if people are not chanting his name.  Little does he realize that a healthy, happy, clean Scott Hall would bring more people screaming, “Razor!” at the top of their lungs than anything else he could do.  Not so sad has been the trainwreck of Matt Hardy’s life, which while seeming hypocritical to feel pity for Hall and not for Hardy, it’s all in how you present your weakness.

Folks, there is a recession all over the world but the only one I spend 1,000 words ranting about is the pro wrestling recession.  While things could be worse (Chris Champion and Sean Royal of the New Breed were supposed to be from the year 2002 where Dusty Rhodes was elected President of the United States in 2000.  If Dusty could become President, who would have been President in 2008?  I shudder the thought), they certainly could be a whole lot better.  It should be obvious as to why it’s smarter to spend $15 on an independent wrestling show ticket instead of buying merchandise for Zack Ryder so WWE pushes him until you get sick of him, but I don’t need to tell you this.  The one good thing I have nothing negative to retort on is the Ring Crew Show, where we’ve grown and matured into a much tighter product.  These articles and the general expansion of the product is something that I’m proud of being a part of and as broadcast journalists, negative news is still news.  I’m hoping in 2012 to spend 20 minutes arguing with Bubbs, D-Roc, and Recker about something that’s awesome instead of something that sucks, but that would be like seeing Dusty Rhodes get elected President of the United States.  I just don’t see it happening in your time or mine.  Maybe I’m wrong.  It would certainly be nice for a change ;)

Have a Happy New Year!