2011 Pro Wrestling Thread

And now for a moment of levity, it's that time of year again... the Gooker Award!
Ten of the worst angles of the year are nominated, only one will win. Voting ends Friday.

http://www.wrestlecrap.com/gooker2010.html

 

I voted for Edge kidnapping Paul Bearer. I expect non-sensical storylines from TNA ... that's part of the fun. The Edge/Kane/Paul Bearer stuff ensured SD was consistently untouched and deleted from my DVR.

 

Very tough call. I'll narrow it down.

The Edge/Paul Bearer one was bad, only because it dragged out from week-to-week. A kidnapping at the beginnng of the show that ends at the end of the show might not have been so bad. Instead, we were supposed to believe Paul was kidnapped for, what, 3-4 weeks, without the cops or Nancy Grace getting involved?

Abyss and the ring was just stupid. TNA took a great monster and made him Hogan's lackey. A possible vote.

The new Monday Night War, I can't vote for. TNA made the mistake of listening to Hogan and Bischoff, instead of just telling them, "Come in, and do as you're told." I mean, how many fans were looking forward to seeing Brutus Beefcake on their TV screen again? But still, at least they were trying to make the effort, and for at least the first night, it felt like 1998 all over again.

Hornswoggle/DX: Dumb, but harmless.

Orlando Jordan: Not something that I felt comfortable about viewing on my screen. Another possible vote.

THEY are coming: Wasn't this after Hogan and Bischoff already were in TNA? I'd tuned out before this was really explained. Sounded dumb anyways.

Cena fired: This one pissed me off to no end. Come on, WWE, show some booking guts. They could have kept him off TV for 3-4 months, then have him make a huge return. Still, I chalk it up to more cowardly booking than something really stupid.

Linda for Senate: The Stand Up for WWE thing made me roll my eyes, but their final skit of Vince waking up from his coma made up for it. I won't vote for it.

NXT Season 3: Didn't watch it, didn't care, except there were some nice looking women in it. No vote.

Bret/Vince: Another screw-up by WWE. They dragged it out way too long, had Bret run over by a limo, etc. I didn't hate the Wrestlemania match, because to me, it kinda made sense that Bret would be so filled with rage that he destroys Vince. Still, I won't vote for it because of the historical significance, and the Bret/Shawn confrontation at the end.

Finalists: Edge, Abyss and Orlando Jordan.

My vote: Abyss.

Reason: I can see a redeeming factor, if you can call it that, in both Edge and Jordan's storylines. In Edge's line, even though he was the face, he was trying play psychological games with a monster heel. In Jordan's case, they were trying to introduce a legitimately gay character, although they failed miserably.

But the Abyss/Hogan thing was just plain dumb. I can see they were trying to give Abyss a rub from Hogan, but there were so many other ways they could have done it other than a "magic ring". Just plain stupid.

Oh, and as much as the anonymous GM gimmick has grown on me, how did that not make the list?

 

I vote for Abyss, too. I've gotten to where I just can't stand the guy. Here is a Kane ripoff, who can't do the gimmick, isn't as tall and isn't as scary. But because he bleeds, gets pushed to the moon.

If I could, I would vote for TNA period. Any organization that is run by Hogan, Bischoff, Russo, Jarrett and Nash -- five of the dumest SOBs who ever had anything to do with wrestling -- isn't worth watching, especially when guys like Kurt Angle and A.J. Styles are afterthoughts.

 

The poll results are viewable and it appears Monday Night Wars v2.0 has a good-sized lead. I'm not sure that's really Wrestlecrap in the keenest sense. It wasn't a great idea for TNA to force the issue from where they are, but at least they tried. And while the execution left something to be desired (as it always does with those cats), they definitely didn't half-ass it with signing Jeff Hardy and Ric Flair (both pretty huge surprises in a time where it's hard to truly shock anyone with a debut), Hogan, Bischoff, RVD and others.

Abyss's evolution has been mecurial and difficult to watch. I don't think the Hogan ring-passing angle was that bad -- it was one of the best Hogan promos I've heard, talking about the ring as the only thing he's ever had that loved him back, which is heartfelt if a little nonsenscial. Abyss as the whimpering dog was worse than this by far. But the TNA bar is pretty low -- they've done as much, if not more, to mess up Samoa Joe's character.

NXT Season 3 was intended camp and had its moments. Bret/Vince walkup was screwy as hell, but the payoff was good enough to spare it inclusion. Orlando Jordan stands out in a wrestling world dominated by TV-PG WWE, but he was never prominent on Impact, so that blunts his impact. "They", like Bret/Vince, was saved by a decent, albeit cluttered, payoff and Jeff Hardy's heel turn. Cena being fired was good enough in spots that it avoids the honor -- and for what it's worth, it's probably not realistic to keep him off TV for 3-4 months. You don't keep your top draw away that long unless you have no other choice (injury, jail, dead). Better to have let Cena beat Barrett and let them go their seperate ways.

Edge/Kane/Bearer is my runner-up because it just went on ... and on ... and on ... and the payoff was hokey for being what we can only assume was Bearer's death. Then there was no follow-up. For as upset as Kane was, shouldn't he have gone on an absolute death bender in the weeks afterward? Or at the very least said something like "hey, truth be told, I didn't really care about the guy, I was trying to get into your head for trying to get into my head" or something. But because it's Kane, and we expect him to be in silly and over-the-top storylines every so often (Katie Vick, May 19, etc...), this isn't as offensive by that context.

My vote is Little People's Court. A putrid and interminable storyline that makes two high-level faces look like total asses with how they're treating a midget that worships them, and the payoff was unrealistic, unfunny and unwatchable. How HBK got from there to his farewell match against Undertaker is a small miracle. As it were.

 

When they announced who THEY were on the PPV I stopped watching TNA.

Also the way the basically screwed up the ECW/EV2.0 guys coming in was a fucking disaster.

 

I think the Monday Night Wars p2 thing is probably leading the vote because it was the most visible new initiative, and except for that first night, it really blew. And to top it all off, TNA retreated after what, one or two months?

In terms of pure Wrestlecrap, I'd go with the Edge, Kane, Paul Bearer AND Undertaker crap. It was like something out of TNA, since you could see Bearer turning on Undertaker a million miles away.

 

Can we all agree that the worst angle ever was Katie Vick?

 

I voted for the Monday Night Wars 2.0. Like others have pointed it out, maybe it wasn't truly the worst of the year. They made an effort, and there were some redeeming qualities about it. But, to me, it just sort of summed up everything that's wrong with TNA:
1) Signing and showcasing guys who were past their prime 10 years ago?
Check.
2) Nonsensical storylines that derails what should be the show's featured attraction, solid wrestling?
check.
3) Wasted potential?
Check.
4) A little bit of inflated self-worth and misguided optimism?
Check.

All of the other TNA angles on the list had pieces of that. The attempt to reboot the Monday Night Wars had all of it.

 

I guess because we haven't gotten a resolution to it yet. That was my first thought, was that that thing would've been a runaway winner.

 

Sooo a heads-up to all NorthwestSportsJournalists.com wrestling fans: TNA's coming in March (not sure how often this happens) to the booming metropolises (metropolii?) of Wenatchee, Kent and Salem. I'm gonna try to get tickets for the March 5 Salem show once I get my tax refund.

Who's with me?

 

No one, brother.