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The new year is almost upon us which means I’ll be once again doing my WWE year-end awards. So check back on January 1st for the survey so that your voice can be heard as well. But before I do that, I thought it’d be fun to look back at the 2011 Year-End Awards and see how we did with some of our predictions.
SUPERSTAR OF THE YEAR
My pick: CM Punk; Your pick: CM Punk (100%)
This one was a no brainer – even more so considering that
the year ended with CM Punk winning the title in the main event of a PPV. I think most people conceived that things
would have continued along that course.
Having said that, I think people from 2011 would have been disappointed
with the first half of Punk’s 2012 – wrestling in a title match at WrestleMania
that wasn’t even promoted as a featured bout and not main eventing a PPV until,
I believe, August.
BREAKOUT STAR OF THE YEAR
My pick: Zack Ryder; Your pick: Zack Ryder & Dolph
Ziggler (33% each)
This was probably the biggest heart breaker. Again, the year ended GREAT for Zack
Ryder. He was mega over and finally
captured the US title. It seemed like he
was finally accepted by the front office and that he might break through to
even better things. Now he’s in a MUCH
worse place than he was a year ago today, and only in a slightly better place
than he was before the revolution began (because he at least usually appears on
Raw). Dolph Ziggler, while having a
great year, was overall pretty stagnant.
I’d say he’s in a slightly better spot than he was a year ago today, but
not by much.
SUPERSTAR WITH THE MOST DISAPPOINTING YEAR
My pick: John Morrison; Your pick: John Morrison (50%)
This award already provides us with the luxury of
hindsight, so there’s not much to add to this.
SUPERSTAR MOST POISED FOR A SUCCESSFUL 2012
My pick: Dolph Ziggler; Your pick: Dolph Ziggler &
Sheamus (33% each)
I’d say, between Sheamus and Ziggler, you’d have to favor
Sheamus. He won the Royal Rumble, won
the World Heavyweight Championship in record time, went on to have a lengthy
reign with the gold, and always looked strong.
His only downfall was the fact that the World Heavyweight Championship
was an absolute afterthought for the entire year (even more so than the prior
year). And while Dolph had a really
great year, I think I might even say Daniel Bryan (another option for that
category) had a more successful 2012 than he did.
MOST SHOCKING STORY OF 2011
My pick: The Summer of Punk; Your pick: Edge retires (44%)
Again, we already had hindsight here, so there’s not much
to add.
BEST SHIFT IN CHARACTER
My pick: Mark Henry; Your pick: CM Punk & Mark Henry
(44% each)
The irony of this particular award is that Mark Henry had
a pretty forgettable 2012. He spent much
of the time either injured or jobbing to Sheamus. And Punk ended up reverting back to his heel
character halfway through this year. So
neither character really “stuck” for the entire year.
SUPERSTAR MOST NEGATIVELY IMPACTED BY SOCIAL MEDIA
My pick: Matt Hardy; Your pick: Matt Hardy (62%)
And now he’s pretty much irrelevant (and certainly NOT an
“Extreme Legend”).
GREATEST STORYLINE FUMBLE
My pick: Anonymous Raw General Manager; Your pick:
Anonymous Raw General Manager (55%)
Not much to add.
WILL THE WWE CHAMPIONSHIP BE REDESIGNED IN 2012?
My pick: No; Your pick: Yes (66%)
Haha, I was right!
Despite MANY logical opportunities (Punk’s heel turn, the 1,000th
Raw, Punk’s one year anniversary) and rumors of a new belt actually being created,
they resisted the temptation to redesign their top championship. Sadly.
WILL THE WWE NETWORK LAUNCH BE A SUCCESS?
My pick: Yes; Your pick: Yes (88%)
We were all wrong here.
While it still remains to be seen whether the WWE Network will be a success
(I still think it has a significant upside), the implication of the question
was that the network would launch in 2012.
And it did not. So I have to say that
we were all wrong on this one.
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