The Top Ten 12.05.06: 2006 Moments
Posted by Julian Williams on 12.05.2006
The moments that were so good it almost made you forget about man ass and handicap matches. Almost.
Hey people, welcome back to another fun filled edition of The Top Ten. This one is going to be a quickie seeing that I can barely keep my eyes open right now due to exhaustion. I'll be including all the emails from last week in next week's column so don't think any of your emails went unnoticed. Ok let's get right into the list.
The Top Ten moments of 2006
Honorable Mention: King Booker is born (Judgment Day)
The King Of The Ring tournament was brought back this year at Judgment Day and at this event, the reign of King Booker began. Booker faced Lashley in the finals and most fans believed that Lashely would win to get some retribution for all the trouble that Booker cost him. Booker was able to pick up the win, though, and thus began one of the best gimmicks in a long time. ALL HAIL KING BOOKER!!!
Honorable Mention: Joey Styles goes off on WWE
Joey Styles started 2006 as the play-by-play announcer for Raw and even though he did a good job, he was constantly getting critiqued, both on screen and behind the scenes. Joey finally snapped on an episode of Raw after being mocked by Edge and getting knocked on his ass by Jerry Lawler after slapping The King. Styles came back out after King tried to apologize, but instead of accepting the apology, he went on a vicious tirade, talking about how Vince had the nerve to mock God and how the WWE called him and then tried to change everything about his announcing style. After ripping into WWE about a few other things, Styles promptly quit and walked out. This was the catalystfor the beginning of the new ECW and even though ECW basically became another WWE brand, it was great to see Styles rip into Vince for one night(even though Vince approved the promo himself).
Honorable Mention: Angle jumps to Smackdown and wins the Heavyweight Title
After Batista had to relinquish the World Heavyweight Title due to injury, a 20 man battle royal was held to determine who the new champion would be. NineteenSmackdown superstars had made their way to the ring and everyone was waiting on number 20 when Kurt Angles music hit and out came the Olympic Gold Medalist even though he was a Raw superstar at the time. Angle then went on to dominate the battle royal and walk out with the World Heavyweight Championship. It was a great, unexpected moment(even though WWE blew their load by announcing Angle's defection on WWE.com before Smackdown even aired).
Honorable Mention: The Hallway of Freaks try to encourage Booker (Wrestlemania 22)
Booker T was getting prepared for his match against The Boogeyman at WM22 when he walked down a very unusual hallway. Not only did you have the Million Dollar Man, Ted Dibiase, taking advantage of Eugene's "special tendencies", but you also had Snitsky sucking down on Mae Young toes, Paul Burchill practicing his swordsmanship, and Goldust dressed up as Oprah. They tried to persuade Booker to embrace his inner Freak to overcome the Boogeyman, but Booker just walked away from them, completely freak out. The great segment was capped off by Dibiase doing the famous Million Dollar laugh over and over again. Classic stuff.
10) Rey Mysterio wins the Royal Rumble (Royal Rumble)
I was trying to decide whether to put Mysterio's Rumble win or his Wrestlemania title win in this spot and even though his title win at ‘Mania was great and memorable, I remember completely marking out when he won the Royal Rumble. To see him survive through the entire Rumble match and then eliminate HHH and Randy Orton back to back to deal the victory was absolutely perfect. If you didn't cheer like a 10 year old girl at a Chris Brown concert when Rey won the Rumble, something is wrong with your soul.
9) Christian Cage wins the NWA World Title (Against All Odds)
One of the main reasons Christian Cage left the WWE was because of the lack of an opportunity at a World Championship, but shortly after joining TNA he was given a shot at Jeff Jarrett's World Heavyweight Title. The match was a great back and forth contest and it seemed like Jarrett was going to retain his title after a vicious guitar shot to Cage, but Captain Charisma just would not die. He was able to shake off the guitar shot and nail Jarrett with the unprettier to pick up his first World title. It was a great moment to see the fans fill the ring to celebrate with Cage after the greatest victory of his career.
8) Are you ready? DX is back (Vengeance)
Sure, DX may have run their course now and can be annoying at times, but you cannot say that you weren't completely siked to hear that old DX music and see HBK and HHH do the old school DX entrance and intro. There were weeks of buildup preceding the reunion which made the fans anticipation for the duo reach a fever pitch. So when the two finally joined forces to ward off Mr. McMahon and the Spirit Squad, the fans went wild and seeing the two reunited for the Vengeance PPV was a great moment for all the fans of the original DX as well as those fans who weren't lucky enough to see them during their original inception.
7) RVD wins the WWE title (One Night Stand)
Rob Van Dam was always one of those guys who seemed destined to be a world champion, yet never was. For years, he was one of the most over if not THE most over performer on the WWE roster, yet he would never even sniff the world title picture except for the occasional shot where he would be promptly beaten. So Rob took matters into his own hands after winning the Money In The Bank Ladder Match at WM22 and declared that he wanted a shot against John Cena in the familiar confines of the Hammerstein Ballroom at ECW's One Night Stand. Rob stood toe to toe with the Champ and after an interference by Edge, RVD took advantage and won his first world title. It was a great moment for fans of ECW as well as all the RVD fans to see one of their favorites finally get his due.
6) Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe confront each other for the first time (Impact, 10/19)
On the episode of Impact before Bound For Glory, Samoa Joe was in the ring responding to the threat by the face of TNA, Jim Cornette, that stated that Joe had to relinquish Jeff Jarrett's world title or be fired. Joe didn't back down and refused to give up the title and this brought out Kurt Angle. Angle didn't say one word to Joe before staring him down and then headbutting him. He then delivered an Angleslam which he thought took Joe out of the equation, but Joe got right up and delivered a vicious kick to the back of Angle's head. Soon the two men were brawling with each other and security had to come out to separate the two. This was an awesome moment for everyone who was clamoring for the Joe/Angle matchup.
5) Sting returns to TNA (Final Resolution)
The man they call Sting came back to TNA at the Final Resolution PPV in January to team up with Christian Cage against Monty Brown and Jeff Jarrett and he immediately showed that he hadn't missed a step during his hiatus. This was definitely one of the biggest moments ever for TNA as having a true bonafide legend like Sting solidified them as a true force in the wrestling industry. This was a great moment for Stinger fans as well as TNA fans in general because Sting is a great performer.
4) John Cena beats HHH cleanly on the biggest stage of all (Wrestlemania 22)
Going into their matchup at WM22, many people believed Cena was going to lose his title to The Game seeing that HHH hadn't held the title in a long time and we all knew that Trips just had to be getting the title back here. Boy, we couldn't have been more wrong and the ending to this match was one of the most shocking finishes to a match in recent history that I can recall. Cena locked HHH in the STFU and HHH fought desperately to get to the ropes and was a few inches away when he tapped out cleanly. This was a moment that I truly believed solidified Cena as a true star because to make a modern day legend like HHH tap out cleanly in the main event on the biggest wrestling show of the year, you have to be damn good. Forget the haters, Cena proved he belonged here.
3) ECW is Reborn
Since its death in early 2001, fans have always hoped in vain to see some sort of resurrection of the beloved ECW. Their prayers were answered when it was announced that WWE would be bringing back ECW as a third brand and would start airing episodes on Sci Fi. Even though ECW has become a completely different show than it was during its original days, it still provides a venue for people to see some of their favorite classic ECW stars like Sandman, RVD, Sabu and Tommy Dreamer and even though it catches a lot of flack, it has provided some really great matches like RVD/Angle, Flair/Show, RVD/Holly, Edge & Foley/Dreamer & Funk, and a few others. With the dismissal of Paul Heyman, it seems that ECW will be straying even further away from its roots but hopefully there will be someone creative enough in the company to make ECW flourish because they truly have enough talent to put on a good show every week.
2) Edge spears Mick Foley through Fire (Wrestlemania 22)
In a Wrestlemania that was filled with memorable moments, I don't think any will be able to top the image of Edge spearing Mick Foley through a table engulfed in flames. That spot was one of the most insane things I've ever seen and I've watched a bunch of Japanese deathmatches. I knew that Mick wanted to create a memorable match and he was willing to do something crazy to make it memorable, but I didn't think he would be crazy enough to do that. And let's not forget Edge who went FACE FIRST IN FUCKING FIRE! Edge may be a womanizing, skank lover but he is one hell of a wrestler and proved why he deserves to be a main eventer with this performance.
1) Kurt Angle goes to TNA (No Surrender)
So rumors were swirling about this big announcement that TNA was going to have at the conclusion of their No Surrender PPV. Some people thought it may be that Vince Russo was hired back as the head of creative. Some thought it would be about the move to Primetime on November 16th. Some thought it would be able them bringing in Goldberg. I don't think anybody expected what the announcement truly was which was that Kurt Angle was coming to TNA. This was an absolutely shocking moment as Kurt Angle seemed like one of those WWE guys that would NEVER apply his craft elsewhere. But then again this is the wrestling industry and you never say never when it comes to wrestling. This moment was absolutely memorable and one that people may look back on years from now as a truly profound moment in TNA history.
Drive By Pimpin'
Check out all these UPDATED great columns by my 411 brethren:
-Andy Clark's "Shimmy"
-Ari's "Column Of Honor"
-Sean, Alex and David's "Triple Threat"
-Bayani's "Truth B Told"
-Weyer's "Shining The Spotlight"
-Byers' "Cheap Wrestling for Cheap People"
-Larry and Geoff's "3R's"
-Fact Or Fiction
-O'Dog's " Goodness"
-Sat and Uncle Trunx's "High Road/Low Road"
-Phill Feltham's "Quick Talkdown"
-Sarnecky's "Piledriver Report"
-Slimmer's News Report
-Hidden Highlights
-Carapola's "That Was Then" and "The Week in Hardcore"
-The Fink's Payload
-Gamble's "Just 'Spose"
-Cook's "Ask 411"
-Meehan's "Meethinks"
-Sforcina's "Evolution Schematic"
-Prag's "In Defense Of?."
-Wrestlers of the Week
-Sullivan's "Crystal Ball"
-Randle's "Wrestling News Experience"
-Joe Boo's "Ringside Or Cheap Seats"
-Linkous' "WWE vs. TNA"
-Double M's Rasslin Report
-News To Start Your Weekend
-Dunn's Rawtopsy, Smackdown Breakdown, & ECW eXperience
-Cook's "News From Cook's Corner"
-Mike LaFave's "Getting Over"
-Your News, Larry's Views
The Sign-Off
Ok, that's all for this week people. Agree with the list? Disagree? Shoot me an email and let me know how you would change it. Be sure to join me next week when the topic will be The Top Ten Worst Moments of 2006. Yes, it's only a top ten, not a top 100.
