The Great 2013 Mid-Year Wrestling Survey

This weekend marks the end of June and the mid-way point of 2013. I think it’s a perfect time to see how wrestling is doing…not in our eyes, but in yours!

That’s why I invite you to join me in The Great Mid-Year Wrestling Survey!

The Great Mid-Year Wrestling Survey needs your participation to see where wrestling is at the mid-way point of 2013, and how you think the second half of the year is going. We’ll hit the highlights and see the direction towards which things are leaning. Then, next week, we return with a Wrestling 5&1 full of analysis.

And that’s where you come in, as well! Leave your thoughts on the year so far in the comments section, and we’ll use some of the best in next week’s Wrestling 5&1!

The biggest event of the WWE year is WrestleMania. WrestleMania 29 took place in the WWE’s top market, “New York.” It use quotes because the event took place in New Jersey, but I seem to remember a giant Statue of Liberty standing out amongst everything they built in MetLife Stadium.

WrestleMania 29 was headlined by John Cena vs. The Rock, Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar and CM Punk vs. The Undertaker. How does that match up against WrestleMania 28’s Cena-Rock, CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho and Triple H vs. The Undertaker (Hell In A Cell) matches?

Back in 1988, the WWF introduced a second major event—SummerSlam! SummerSlam has called Los Angeles’s Staples Center home since 2009, and it appears like it will stay there for the foreseeable future. The company seems to be headed towards a Daniel Bryan WWE Championship push at SummerSlam, as well as either a Dolph Ziggler title win or title defense on the card. To top it off, we’re likely headed towards a CM Punk-Brock Lesnar collision. Will SummerSlam overshadow WrestleMania 29?

After nearly a year off due to an injury, Christian returned to WWE programming as Vickie Guerrero’s surprise for the monumental Raw that followed WWE Payback. On that aforementioned event, the WWE revealed that Rob Van Dam was returning to the fold for a full-time (although limited) run with the company—possible the last of his career. With both men returning for the second half of 2013, who will have the better 6-months?

The close of 2012’s SummerSlam pay-per-view featured the shocking and memorable debut of The Shield. They were immediately identified as NXT talents Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. They’re NXT talents no more, as 2013 saw the trio defeat Randy Orton, Sheamus & The Big Show at WrestleMania 29, and leave with shoulders covered in gold at Extreme Rules. All three members have breakout potential…so what does the second of 2013 hold for The Shield?

Recent developments in the WWE have blurred the face-heel lines, more so than we’ve seen in recent years. Monday’s Raw was headlined by a Street Fight between two faces—Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan. And neither of these faces had well defined turns when they did turn. On the flip side, Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler seemingly completed a double-turn at Payback, but Ziggler attacked both Del Rio and Chris Jericho on Monday’s Raw—and to date is still aligned with the very much heel AJ Lee and Big E. Langston. To top it all off, the WWE Championship Money In The Bank Ladder Match has seven participants—all faces. And that champion? He’s a face, too! The World Heavyweight Championship Money In The Bank Ladder Match features seven heel participants, and the reigning champion is in fact a heel! Will this trend continue?

Since their 2002 inception, TNA Wrestling (originally NWA: TNA) has been compared to World Championship Wrestling. Despite rekindling a brief Monday Night Wars (more like a Monday Night Squash Match), TNA has failed in one area where WCW had success—beating WWE. While WCW won some battles, WWE obviously won the war.

The major focus of TNA Wrestling is obviously on Aces & Eights. 2013 has seen the stable rise in power, including the revelation of the group’s president—Bully Ray. Ray would reveal his position right after unseating Jeff Hardy as World Heavyweight Champion, and has been all but untouchable since. Can he finish the year as World Champion?

The Bound For Glory Series has kicked off, and the company is positioning three men as the early favorites. AJ Styles is a man without a country, but is the purest TNA homegrown talent and the man for the job when it comes to ending Bully Ray’s reign of terror as Aces & Eights President. Samoa Joe is one of the most over performers on the TNA roster, and was revealed as the newest member of Sting’s Main Event Mafia. Magnus is one of the youngest members of TNA’s roster, is primed for a huge push and holds the top position in the early going of the BFG Series. Will one of these three men, or one of the other nine men, win the 2013 Bound For Glory Series?

Outside of the World Heavyweight Championship, TNA has shown a very inconsistent focus on their titles and title holders. The X-Division Championship can disappear for weeks at a time, the Television title hasn’t been seen since Abyss won it at Slammiversary, and the World Tag Team Champions were barely present at the last television tapings—setting up a feud with Robbie E & Jessie Godderz? Will any of these championships be given enough focus in the second half of 2013? The Knockouts Championship changed hands right before Slammiversary, and the champion wasn’t even present at the event.

2012 saw TNA add Gut Check to its rotation of side-show elements, and they’ve added several new talents to the roster. The most prominent have been Joey Ryan—a Gut Check loser who was most recently aligned with Matt Morgan and served a referee for the Knockouts Division, Taeler Hendrix—who is essentially a full blown TNA Knockout, and Jay Bradley—who won his way into the Bound For Glory Series with his Slammiversary win over Sam Shaw. Of all of the Gut Check winners, Christian York has the most experience and has also obtained the best crowd reactions. After Austin Aries cashes in the X-Division Championship for a shot at Bully Ray’s World Heavyweight Championship, York could re-enter the picture through the high impact division. Which one of these four Gut Check participants could have the best second half of 2013?

Rob Van Dam parted ways with TNA in 2013, and will be making his WWE return later this year. 2013 could mark the last year for other ex-WWE performers, as well as one who could finally make his first WWE appearance in 2014. While it may not happen by the end of 2013, which person is most likely to leave TNA to return to the WWE?

Outside of the Big Two, we have the “roots of the tree” as William Moody called them—the United States Independents! The indies are represented by some major brands, the four that draw the biggest crowds and/or the most attention being Ring of Honor, Chikara, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Shimmer Women’s Athletes. They’re not alone, and are joined by their colleagues in our polls.

Ring of Honor, thanks to the financial backing of Sinclair Broadcasting and a somewhat national television deal, are considered the biggest of the US indies—if an indy at all. But much like everyone else, they’re entering the second half of 2013 with many question marks.

At our mid-point, Ring of Honor has just rid the promotion of the rival SCUM group, while allowing the contracts of Mark Briscoe and ROH World Champion Jay Briscoe expire. How the company handles this transition is crucial to their success for the rest of 2013 and beyond. And it all starts at the top, with the World Championship.

Conversely, there are always ROH talents on the WWE radar, especially thanks to the success of talents like Daniel Bryan, CM Punk and not Seth Rollins. Will the company see any stars depart for the “big time” in 2013? Consider those rumored to have had tryouts or talks in 2013.

Chikara has been long considered one of the most innovative and creative promotions in the entire world—not just the US Indies. However, they’ve seemingly closed their doors in an elaborate angle that played out on iPPV. Is it real? Is it a work? No one knows for sure—well they do, but the company made them all sign non-disclosure agreements! One has to wonder if this is an angle or if the company will ever return.

Much like Chikara, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla is cult favorite amongst independent wrestlers and fans alike. Their decision to stick with a DVD focused model allows their near monthly events to feature wrestlers from every walk of the US indies, as well as talents from Japan. There’s money to be made in iPPV, and PWG could easily capitalize and potentially overtake the spots held by ROH and Chikara.

The past two years have seen a major influx of all-female promotions joining the circuit to compete with Shimmer Women’s Athletes, who has established itself as the standard bearer in the all-female market. Shine Wrestling has seen the most success, winning awards as the best female promotion in 2012 despite only being in business for half of the year. Will they retain that crown, will Shimmer regain the top spot or will someone new and/or different take over?

Independent wrestling has brought us names like Daniel Bryan, CM Punk and most recently Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. The reputation and following of the independents allows talent like those listed to get notices, and ones like these capitalize on any small opportunity they are given. Despite star departures, the four main independents listed remain the most respected and followed in their genre. But who ends up with the better year?

That’s it for The Great Mid-Year Wrestling Survey! Thoughts about your selections or the vote trends? Leave them in the comments below as some of the best will be used in conjunction with next week’s Wrestling 5&1 return!

Remember, you have until Wednesday night to vote—at midnight! You can vote once per hour, so come back and vote as many times as you want!

Tune in for Sunday’s week’s Greg DeMarco Show with OVW’s The Blossom Twins!

Last week’s show, featuring Nikki St. John and DeMarcette Leah Von Dutch, shattered listener records with a complied group of over 40,000 listeners! 40k is an amazing total for the show, which enjoyed a previous high of approximately 26k listeners.

This week, Ohio Valley Wrestling stars Hannah & Holly Blossom join the show to talk wrestling, cupcakes and more!

Click here to listen, or click here:

Help us break a new record as we make our debut full-time on Real Fans Sports Radio!

About the author:

Greg DeMarco is a graduate of Virginia Tech (Bachelor’s in Business Management) and Arizona State (Master’s in Higher & Post-Secondary Education). He works in online higher education. Greg started in improv comedy in 2001, making his stand-up debut in 2004.

Greg first appeared as a ring announcer for Rising Phoenix Wrestling in Phoenix Arizona in 2006 and served many promotions in both on-stage and back-stage roles for over six years, most notably Ring of Honor in 2010. He began writing for 411Mania in October 2010, founded The Greg DeMarco Show in May 2011 and opened WrestlingSmash.com (and Wrestling Smash Radio) in January 2013.

Follow Greg on Twitter
Friend Greg on Facebook
Enjoy Wrestling Smash Radio
Visit WrestlingSmash.com