Why I Love/Hate Wrestling 1.13.08: Year End Awards

Posted by Jordan Linkous on 01.13.2008

Check out my thoughts of last year!

Well I hope you all enjoyed my fantasy booking as I greatly enjoyed writing it. Today I am going to take a look at what last year gave us and what we might have to look forward to next year.

Why I Love Wrestling

We start things with a look at my mid year predictions from July. (My analysis is in bold)

Samoa Joe: I strongly believe Joe will win the TNA Championship. He will become the face of TNA, or at least more than he is now. He will then go on to have a record breaking title run.

Well, Joe never won the title. He didn't remain the face of TNA as much, either, as he fell a little bit.

XXX: These guys will become the stable to beat. They will have great matches and dominate the scene. The real question is which stable will step up and challenge Triple X? Team 3D? Seritonin? VKM? THE BRISCOES?!?!? We will see.

XXX remained in the shadows as a side project to Daniels. And now they are done.

Christian Cage: Christian will continue to put on great promos and bring star power to the matches he has. He will be involved with several big storylines, including one featuring a yet to be named ship jumper.

Great promos? Check. Star power? Check. Big storylines with the likes of Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe and Kaz? Check. Storyline with Ship Jumper Booker T? Check and check. I rest my case.

Sting: Sting will continue to be a major contender for the TNA Championship before his contract runs out. He will then form a stable with Nash and TAKE OVER. WolfPack 4 Life!

Not only did Sting stay a major contender the rest of the year, he even won it. Thankfully he did not form a new Wolfpac.

Abyss: Abyss will be intertwined in an Undertaker/Kane/Paul Bearer feud. Abyss will be playing the role of Undertaker while James Mitchell will be Paul Bearer. Depending on whether or not you read the spoilers, but SPOILER ALERT!!!

Ricky Banderas will be playing the role of Kane.

Spoiler ending. This feud, while recycled, will still be interesting. We'll see where it goes. It can't be any worse than Abyss's Mama.
Pretty much the EXACT SAME storyline.

Kurt Angle: Kurt Angle will undoubtedly get a MMA fight against someone. My guess is Chuck Lidell or Tito Ortiz, either on defeating Angle in the first round. As for TNA, Kurt will be feuding with Joe for a while over the title.

No MMA yet but he did feud over the title with Joe.

Murder City Machine Guns: These guys will become for tag teams what Samoa Joe will be for the TNA Title. If TNA is smart, they will get the titles on these guys and let them have great matches with XXX, LAX, and, of course, THE BRISCOES!

TNA has been building the MCMG but unfortunately they have been looking like the wusses of the X-Division.

Black Machismo: Machismo will definitely regain the X Division Championship, and will have a great reign. He will continue dropping elbows till the sun goes down.

He regained the title but his reign has been far from great.

Vince Russo: Russo will have an altercation with Johnny Ace in an argument as to who can have the worst storylines and who can destroy the most careers.

Ehhhhh…….

Matt Hardy: Matt will be the breakout star for Smack down. Matt will eventually win a major singles championship and bring respect to it. He will defend it with honor and put on great matches.

I believe if Hardy hadn't been plagued with injury, I believe that he would have won the US Title.

The Great Khali: Khali will work his butt of to try and put on good matches without seriously hurting someone as long as he can before they finally realize that he can't wrestle.

HE IS STILL WRESTLING!!!(Or whatever you call that thing he does while in the ring)

Rey Mysterio: Once Rey comes back, he will have a couple of matches to get his rep up. He will somehow win a title shot and bury Khali in THE GREATEST UNDERDOG MOMENT EVER!

He got a title shot but came up a little short.

Edge: After Rey has had some more taste of gold, Edge will return. Rey will no longer look like a jobber and he will put up a good fight, but still lose the title to Edge thanks to dirty tactics.

Aside from the Rey thing not happening, he does have the title.

Batista: Batista will realize that he needs someone to watch his back. Once Flair returns, they will form a tag team and rule Smackdown as tag champs. Batista or Flair will eventually turn and they will feud until Batista makes a critical mistake and Batista Bombs Ric Flair, finally ending his illustrious career, and Flair will have to become a road agent.

Not even close.

Kane: Kane, in typical Kane fashion, will have pointless feuds until there are no viable challengers for the title so they call him out of the shadows for a title shot that he will eventually blow. Wait, that's going on right now? Don't worry, it will happen again.

He fought other big slugs.

Undertaker: Once Undertaker returns, he will be prime and ready for his Wrestle mania match against Edge in a fight for the wrestlers that haven't suffered a singles lose by being pinned or submitting. Edge will win, of course, and take his spot as THE MAN.

You know it is coming.

Mark Henry: Mark Henry will set the record for the most babies ever eaten in 5 minutes. He will then be challenged by Big Daddy V.

In my mind, this happened.

Jeff Hardy: Jeff will win singles gold like his brother. He will continue to put his body on the line and have fun, interesting ladder matches.

Jeff Hardy: Intercontinental Champion.

Ken Kennedy: Kennedy will be the breakout star of the Raw and WWE as a whole. He has charisma, talent, and an overall likeability factor. I see this guy winning some high profile matches leading to the inevitable feud with John Cena, and a title run.

Kennedy's steroid involvement ruined what might have been a huge storyline

King Booker: King Booker will never reach the same popularity level as he previously had with the World Heavyweight title, but he will be involved in an epic feud with Jerry Lawler debating who is the real King.

He feuded with Lawler. Then he jumped ship and went to TNA.

Shawn Michaels: Shawn Michaels will return after his injury to recreate DX again with Triple H. They will bring in Sean Waltman. The will have good matches and sell a lot of merchandise.

DX reunited for one night, so I was right there. Luckily Waltman was not brought in.

Triple H: After some big wins to regain his adoration, see Shawn Michaels.

Close enough.

Bobby Lashley Bobby Lashley will get a mouthpiece to do all his talking for him. He will take the title only for a short time, then turn completely heel.

Nope.

John Cena: John Cena will continue to be the companies Superman. He will briefly lose the title to Lashley but regain it later. He will then hold on to it until the money feud with Kennedy at Wrestlemania.

He remained on the top of the company until his injury.

CM Punk: Punk will be the breakout star of ECW. He will win the title and rule to company feuding with Cor Von, Burke, and Nitro. Once he finally loses it, he will reform the Saints.

Won the title and had been feuding with Morrison. No Saints. Yet.

Elijah Burke Although the ECW Title isn't in his future, he will somehow get the TV Title brought in and he will be hold that title and defend it against people like Dreamer, Balls, and Colt Cabana.

That's a no-go.

Cor Von: Cor Von will most likely be Burke's body guard until he turns on him and take the TV Title.

He left.

Johnny Nitro Along with Punk, Nitro will lead ECW. The company is on his shoulders right now, so look for him to seize the opportunity.

Now is the Smackdown Tag Champion, which is a step up from ECW World Champion.

Year End Awards

Independent Match of the Year

Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley vs. The Briscoes

Anyone who reads my columns knows that I am a big fan of the Motor City Machine Guns. They are bringing true tag team wrestling back. These guys have the great double team moves and have natural chemistry. They can basically have an entertaining match with anyone. But then you bring in a tag team of The Briscoe Brothers caliber and you know you are in for an amazing match. The match was pure wrestling awesomeness from start to finish. MCMG played the crowd well and acted like complete heels but still got some good pops. The Briscoes are beloved by ROH and obviously got along well with the fans. The match as a whole was perfect in my book and I am sure many people will agree. Pick this match up by ANY MEANS POSSIBLE! This was the greatest regular tag team match I have ever seen, hands down.

TNA Match of the Year

Ladder Match: Kaz vs. Christian Cage

I love this match. I have been a fan of Kaz for a while due to his wrestling ability, charisma, and crispness in the ring. Christian Cage has been awesome in his run in TNA. Kaz has had some awesome showings in Ultimate X matches. Christian Cage was one of the modern day innovators of the Ladder match. All of these ingredients lead to a recipe for success. When they got in the ring I felt like they clicked. They weren't just working through spots, but they were actually trying to tell a story in there. It is always hard to top previous ladder matches because it seems like it all might have been done before. However, while that may have happened in this match, they made it seem fresh, built in some new spots, and ultimately delivered a well wrestled and highly entertaining ladder match.

WWE Match of the Year

Last Man Standing Match: Umaga vs. John Cena

This match was off the hook. Umaga was a brutal beast. John Cena played the underdog and Superman. The match had plenty of near falls and all the drama a LMS match should have. It had intensity, brutality, and insanity. There were new innovations with things like the STFU using the ring ropes. This is my favorite John Cena match and obviously my favorite Umaga match. I believe Umaga deserves to be more than just a high midcarder as he proved in this match that he can fight with the big dogs. All in all, the match was totally crazy and awesome in several ways.

TNA WTF Moment (Two Way Tie)

Samoa Joe Fails to Win the TNA Championship Several Times

Ahhhh. This was probably the most frustrating thing about being a TNA and Samoa Joe fan this year. He seemed prime for the title win during his feud with Kurt Angle but got shoved out of his spot and was forced to feud with people like Christian Cage, which I guess wasn't so bad and could have been used as a number one contenders thing. But instead of that, TNA continued to put washed up superstars like Nash, Hall, and others in the main event while Samoa Joe was forced to feud with Robert Roode. Joe has been on the rise lately and has been declaring war on the higher ups in TNA so hopefully this will lead to Joe being in the main event spot. But then again, I am sure there are plenty of upper-midcarders in WWE that would love to come to TNA and be in the main event, so don't hold your breathe for Joe too much.

Sting Wins the TNA Championship….and Loses it Less Than a Week Later

I hate short title reigns. They are pointless. They are bull crap. They are stupid. They accomplish nothing. Sting triumphantly won the title from Kurt Angle in a pretty good match….. and then loses it back to Kurt Angle. This was stupid booking and it was just a bad idea and didn't do anything to help TNA because there was no hype and no notice before. All in all, it just sucked.

WWE WTF Moment

Vince McMahon Loves to be on TV

Vince has been involved in a few of WWE's best storylines. The Corporation was good, and who can forget the feud that MADE Stone Cold Steve Austin? As of late, however, McMahon has been a part of the crappiest in WWE history. Paternity angle? Atrocious. McMahon Death Angle? Distasteful. McMahon vs. Trump? Weak. And McMahon goes crazy? Oh brother. GET VINCE OFF MY TV NOW!

Wrestler of the Year

John Cena

There is no doubt in anybody's mind that John Cena was the Wrestler of the Year. While some people may hate him, it is undeniable that he was totally awesome this year. His classics with Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, and Umaga come to mind. He has been WWE's number one guy for a while now and this year was no exception. He delivered in the ring and on the mic. I don't know what there is to say about him except for the fact that no matter what the haters say, John Cena was WWE and Professional Wrestling as a whole last year.

So there are my thoughts of last year. You may agree or disagree, but that is how I feel. Be sure to send me your thoughts and make sure you read all the other wonderful columns. Have fun watching football. (Chargers and Giants are gonna win!) Anyway, you stay classy, 411Mania readers.