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| The most enduring image of 2011 Photo Credit: WWE.com |
In The Wrestling Blog Era (shut up, I don't care if it sounds pretentious), 2011 may have been the finest total year for overall quality across a large quantity of promotions. Sure, Ring of Honor was mired with the dregs of the Jim Cornette-mandated malaise, but they even still had their moments. TNA was turning the corner, and local indie promotions were on point. However, the three promotions carrying the banners in the vanguard for pro wrestling, at least from my point of view, were WWE, Chikara, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Here are the six specific shows and eras that made 2011 for me as a wrestling fan, which all happen to be from those three aforementioned companies, chronologically, of course.
1. The Royal Rumble
Three of the last four Rumble matches have actually been insanely fun, with 2012's being the only exception. I don't know if 2011's was the best of the three good ones, but I guess it's a testament to how well WWE has laid those battle royales out. This particular Rumble is going to be remembered for the false finishes to end all false finishes. del Rio looked like he had the match won until Santino Marella, of all people, sneaked back into the ring after being forgotten on the outside. When he COBRA'd del Rio and tossed him, the TD Bank Garden ERUPTED as if the Bruins had just clinched the Stanley Cup on home ice. Of course, we all know the end result; del Rio skinned the cat and tossed Marella to get himself on the road to his destiny.
There were a bunch of other fun threads in the Rumble match itself, like the infamous New Nexus vs. Corre turf war - the only good thing to come out of that feud, the best Hornswoggle appearance ever, the insane reactions that Diesel and Booker T got, and The Miz dumping John Cena to set up their WrestleMania match. The pitfall of having 40 participants in this Rumble match was perhaps stretching a great concept too thinly. Appropriate pacing was able to nip that fear in the bud. Additionally, the Dolph Ziggler/Edge match for the Big Gold Belt was rollicking and lively, and that's always a plus.
2. DDT4
This was probably my most favorite event that PWG had ever run, definitely up to that point. I'm not sure they came close to replicating it since. The lineup was loaded, I mean, absolutely packed to the gills. When Kevin Steen and Akira Tozawa, aka the Kings of Sexual Intercourse, drew the Briscoe Brothers in the first round without any real complaint to it leaving a weak spot in the other three matches, then it's incontrovertible proof the star power contained within. Furthermore, while a tournament as loaded as this one was always has the inherent danger of flopping under its own crushing weight of expectation, nearly every single match delivered, including and especially the final match, which featured Steen holding his own against the Young Bucks while Tozawa was in the back getting medical attention. It had everything I could want in a tag match: valiant if unorthodox babyfaces, an injury angle, true prick heels in the Bucks, a potential warrior's death, a dramatic return, and an amazing if somewhat disheartening ending (setting up for catharsis down the line). I became a stone cold fan of Tozawa's with that DVD viewing, and it cemented PWG's reputation with me of having all their shows become priority must-buys.
3. King of Trios
I attended all three days and all four shows (Fan Conclave!), and I regret none of it. King of Trios is probably the safest bet to produce at least one memorable show each year, but 2011 was a complete and total package, and when you consider that it was done under the duress of the Chikara family having lost Larry Sweeney less than a week prior makes the whole thing that much more poignant in memory. They dedicated the weekend to their brother, and the performances and heart on display did more to convey that than any words ever could. The tournament itself contained the perfect mix of great wrestling, story, and catharsis from a roster diverse to include native roster members, Japanese standouts, American indie wrestlers, and even guests from WWE's olden days. I could go on about all the specifics, but I could spend an entire week breaking them down, and it would just get me all forlorn and wanting of the time when Chikara wasn't a fractured mess of Wrestling Ises. The pinnacle moment for me came when the second half of the Night 3 card started. It was a high plateau that contained three of the best wrestling matches from that year: Manami Toyota vs. Madison Eagles, Eddie Kingston vs. Tozawa, and El Generico vs. the 1-2-3 Kid. Add in the catharsis of the main event with the Colony FINALLY winning King of Trios, and it was a perfect show half to close out a perfect weekend.
4. The Summer of Punk II: PUNK HARDER
Between June 27 and August 14, WWE could do no wrong. CM Punk was at the front and center of the wrestling world, and for a hot moment, it looked like WWE was going to ride the wave of his tsunami powered by pipe bombs into a new golden age of mainstream pro graps. Sadly, when Kevin Nash texted himself to "stick" Punk, it all deflated like a colon expelling a wet fart. However, what has emerged from WWE (which actually hasn't been all bad) has done nothing to dampen the six weeks when Punk was on top of the world. The best thing about it though was that it wasn't just Punk, Cena, and the uncertainty of the whole ordeal. Yeah, Punk and Cena may have had the best WWE match since Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin at either Survivor Series '96 or WrestleMania 13 (depending on whom you ask) at Money in the Bank and then almost replicated it at SummerSlam.
But just to focus on those two would be to deny any number of things. For once, women had a key role in a story as Beth Phoenix and Nattie Neidhart rebelled against the swimsuits-n-catfights credo of the WWE Divas division. Again, that died a pitiful death after SummerSlam, but again, for six weeks, it was glorious. Daniel Bryan won a Money in the Bank briefcase, which set him on the path he's currently on. Randy Orton and Christian had an overrated but still high-quality series of matches. Oh, and maybe the most enduring and consistent greatness to come from that era? Would you believe it was the beginning of the Grand Age of HOSSDOM where Mark Henry inaugurated the Hall of Pain? Sure, Punk was the headliner, but let's not pretend WWE wasn't hitting on nearly every cylinder at this point.
5. Chikarasaurus Rex Weekend
So, the wife went and made plans for herself the Saturday of Chikarasaurus Rex weekend that year. I had already planned to go to the Philly show on Sunday, but since my day was now free, I made the trek up to Reading for the other end of the double shot. I was hoping to see Green Ant put the kibosh on Tursas in the culmination of the Flex Express (a not so subtle nod to the WWF's Lex Express of 1994), but much like Lex Luger's quest to wrest the WWF Championship from Yokozuna ended in Pyrrhic success (a countout victory? REALLY?), Green Ant's quest didn't have the desired conclusion. OF course, seeing the giant Finn viking leap from the top rope with a cross body demanded respect that I wasn't willing to give a member of the BDK at that time, but holy Christ, it was an awe-inspiring silver lining. The rest of the Reading show was punctuated by Adam Cole heeling his butt off for Kingston, Mike Quackenbush and Claudio Castagnoli put on an outstanding main event, and Mima Shimoda hocked a loogie on the linoleum floor of the Goodwill Fire Association.
But it was the next night in Philly that I was summarily blown away. Sure, the Ice Ribbon wrestlers provided a solid opener. Kingston and Jigsaw had a nifty match. The World of Sport stuff, like it was in Reading, was a different kind of diversion than what I had been used to seeing, but a satisfying one no less. But yeah, this show, hell, the entire weekend, was about Sara del Rey showing the world that genitalia were no longer a valid segregating tool in professional wrestling. I have seen better matches than her tilt against Castagnoli to close out the second show, the one held at the ECW Arena. I don't think I've ever seen one that shaped my opinion of professional wrestling as much as that one did though excepting maybe the Randy Savage/Ultimate Warrior retirement match from WrestleMania VII, which is what I regard as the match that made me a fan. In a year when so much other stuff happened, del Rey defeating Castagnoli to the rousing approval of 700 fans in attendance to me was the most important moment in wrestling that year, and there is nothing you could say, write, or troll that would make me think otherwise.
6. High Noon
The one show that came closest to replicating my King of Trios experience was the spiritual bookend to that weekend. High Noon was Chikara's first i-pay-per-view event. I was there live for it, as I have been for each of their four iPPV broadcasts, and the atmosphere was just surreal from beginning to end. There were definitely contractual reasons for El Generico vs. Jigsaw to be confined to a pre-show, but the fact that a match of that caliber began proceedings added to the grandeur of the whole thing. There was a sense of finality that I'm not sure I've ever experienced with the exception of Aniversario: Never Compromise, only this was satisfying finality... good finality. del Rey mercilessly beat the Scheiße out of Jakob Hammermeier to put the exclamation point on her liberation from the BDK. The dissolution of the Osirian Portal. Green Ant finished what he started at King of Trios Fan Conclave by tapping the mighty Tursas out with the Chikara Special Green. The Eye of Tyr was finally returned to the person of UltraMantis Black. And of course, the finals of the 12 Large Summit.
Man, if the event itself was an entire schooling on abnormality, how weird was it watching Quackenbush work rudo against Kingston for the right to be called the first Grand Champion? Quack's squeaky-clean image as a character was one of the only constants in my experience as a Chikara fan (although poring through history found he showed his dark side when Shayne Storm spilled the beans on the counter to the Chikara Special to Chris Hero), and to see him just dismantle Kingston made me rub my eyes in disbelief. I thought it'd be foreshadowing; I was right although not in the way I thought I'd be. Still, seeing Kingston win and then celebrate with Sweeney's family was the closest I ever came to crying at a wrestling show. It was the perfect in-story cap on their year, even if they weren't finished with actual shows. JoshiMania deserves mention, because it was ambitious and awesome.
