- The Bloggies are NOT a measure of who drew money or drove business. Look to the Observer for that scope.
- The Bloggies are NOT a measure of kayfabe accomplishment. Pro Wrestling Illustrated has that covered like a boss.
- The Bloggies are NOT crowd-sourced or openly voted upon. They're chosen by me and me alone, so if anyone has a problem, take it up with me.
- The Bloggies ARE a measure of who did the most to advance the ART of wrestling. Who told the best stories? Who talked with the silverest of tongues? Who wrestled the best matches? Who had the biggest emotional impact? These are the questions that these awards have set out to answer.
Wrestler of the Year
And the nominees are...
- CM Punk
- Dolph Ziggler
- Kevin Steen
- Mark Henry
- Sara del Rey
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| Photo Credit: WWE.com |
It was a hard decision, as all five candidates brought something to the table in their own huge ways. That being said, the choice for me came down to Punk and Henry, because they shone the brightest, regardless of stage (even if it was the biggest one). It came down to transcendence for me. Henry was great, but he didn't make wrestling cool to anyone who wasn't already watching. Punk did, and I think that means something. He generated such a buzz, he made people talk and he didn't just do it because he was TEH SHOOTZ. He appealed with the shock value and kept everyone listening and watching, both with his voice and the way he wrestled. His series with Cena was one of the best of the last couple of years, and he continued to prove, regardless of opponent, that the WWE Champion could also be a terrific wrestler. It's an award well-deserved.
The Ricky Steamboat Award (formerly Worker of the Year)
And the nominees are...
- CM Punk
- Daniel Bryan
- Dolph Ziggler
- El Generico
- Sara del Rey
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| Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Ziggler has always been a fantastic wrestler. I've seen it from his debut against Dave Batista in early 2009. Not a whole lot of people saw what I did, and it took them until they were beaten over the head with that fact in three matches against Daniel Bryan last year. Sometimes though, wrestling fans NEED to be beaten over the head with something before they get it. The strange thing is that Ziggler has gotten better since he re-debuted under the current name. That fact was on display all year, especially later on when he was routinely called upon to wrestle twice a night on pay-per-views. It wasn't even that last year's winner, the almost consensus choice for best wrestler alive Daniel Bryan, fell off that much in 2011. Ziggler just raised his A-game to otherworldly levels.
Talker of the Year
And the nominees are...
- CM Punk
- Dolph Ziggler
- Eddie Kingston
- The Miz
- Robert Roode
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| Photo Credit: WWE.com |
This was probably the second-easiest award to choose, after Social Media (more on that later), but not because of a lack of trying by the other candidates. Everyone else on the nominee list had their shining moments, but CM Punk dropped pipe bombs. That wasn't just the product of WWE marketing, even if everything Punk said was probably vetted and approved beforehand. He really did turn heads, so organic or pre-planned, isn't that what it's all about?
Independent Wrestler of the Year
And the nominees are...
- Akira Tozawa
- Eddie Kingston
- Johnny Gargano
- Kevin Steen
- Sara del Rey
del Rey didn't win any major Championships. She wasn't positioned to be in any 80 minute matches to show how badass she could be. She didn't post videos of her training online. She wasn't the centerpiece of a title run. However, what she did do was impressive all the same. She arguably became the most universally popular wrestler in her main promotion, and I'm not talking SHIMMER either. Through determination and fearlessness, both on her part and on the part of Mike Quackenbush and the other people in charge in Chikara, she took the promotion by its shorthairs and made it her bitch. She shattered the gender barrier and had great matches against men of all shapes and sizes. She stayed within her gender and had matches against other women of all shapes and sizes. All comers were felled at the throne of the Queen of Wrestling, and she executed her victims with grace and style.
Tag Team of the Year
And the nominees are...
- Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli (The Kings of Wrestling)
- Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano (Ronin [DGUSA]/Team FIST [Chikara])
- Kenny King and Rhett Titus (The All-Nite Express)
- Matt and Nick Jackson (The Young Bucks [indies]/Generation Me [TNA])
- The Miz and R-Truth (The Awesome Truth)
Like I wrote on the PWG review, while Kevin Steen nominally got the MVP, the Bucks were just as important to PWG's success in 2011. They just played the role of dicks so well that they legitimately got heel heat in a company where it's so hard to get that nowadays. The story played out so brilliantly, and obviously they had incredible matches along the way. Add that to the fact that they killed it in ROH and Chikara as well at various points after their dismissal from Impact Wrestling, and this award doesn't seem as close as it did before.
Breakout Wrestler of the Year
And the nominees are...
- The Batiri (Obariyon, Kodama and Kobold)
- Brodus Clay
- Jakob Hammermeier
- Mia Yim
- Uhaa Nation
For being a relative greenhorn in the business, Yim got to strut her stuff in a big way, and I'm not talking at all about her total misuse in ROH as eye candy for a way-washed up stable. In SHIMMER, she got quite a bit of shine, with her big moment coming when she was one of only five women to wrestle Kana on her American excursion. In ACW, she was part of the movement that helped shatter the gender barrier this year as she had matches with men and women, ACH being the primest example.
Comedian of the Year
And the nominees are...
- Colt Cabana
- Eric Young
- Jakob Hammermeier
- RD Evans/Archibald Peck
- Zack Ryder
It's one thing to be funny. It's another thing to be so good at comedy that people take it seriously. Colt is one of those guys who's so good at comedy that most people who are worth their salt as wrestling fans or commentators take him as seriously as most people take Davey Richards. He was able to inject comedy into his serious feuds like with Adam Pearce and Joey Ryan in NWA Hollywood, but his "funny" matches were fucking awesome, especially the one at High Noon against Archibald Peck. That was performance art. Plain and simple.
Feud of the Year
And the nominees are...
- Adam Pearce vs. Colt Cabana
- Alberto del Rio vs. Edge and Christian
- The Batiri vs. the Spectral Envoy
- CM Punk vs. John Cena
- Kevin Steen vs. the Young Bucks
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| Photo Credit: WWE.com |
It's easy to say that Punk made this feud, and in a lot of ways, that'd be correct, at least on the character side. It was basically Punk dropping bombs and Cena meekly stating "I disagree with what you're saying, but I'll fight to the death for your right to say it." Well, that's not true, because I did like the fact that there was a feud based on more than just "EYE HATE EWE, D00D!" in WWE. It was a feud built weirdly on respect, and for a company that is so horrible at "show, don't tell", they did a great job letting the subtext between Cena and Punk unfold subtly while the main narrative was Punk raging against the machine. Conversely, ROH, which at times had done some really good subtext-based stuff, and they totally pulled a WWE in their ham-handed way of trying to tell a story based on respect between the American Wolves. But I digress. The big reason why this feud is the best of the year is because of the matches. The two PPV main events in a row were both electric, and probably the most memorable things WWE has done in the ring since the second Undertaker/HBK match.
Announcer of the Year
And the nominees are...
- Bryce Remsburg
- Denver Colorado
- Excalibur
- Scott Stanford
- UltraMantis Black
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| Photo Credit: Slam! Wrestling |
Excalibur is the man. A constant in the PWG booth, he has amazing chemistry with anyone who comes in with him, whether it's Chris Hero, Rich Knox or anyone in between. He could've won last year, just like Bryce could've won this year, but with announcing, it's so hard to gauge because there's the tier of good announcers and the tier of terrible announcers, and the gap is HUGE.
Best Moment of 2011
And the nominees are...
- 2/14 - Finally, The Rock... HAS COME BACK... to WWE
- 6/27 - CM Punk drops a pipe bomb on WWE for the first time
- 7/17 - CM Punk wins the WWE Championship and leaves Chicago with his employment status up in the air
- 10/22 - Super Dragon makes the save for Kevin Steen and El Generico against the Young Bucks
- 11/13 - Eddie Kingston pins Mike Quackenbush and is emotionally crowned as Chikara's first ever Grand Champion
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| Photo Credit: WWE.com |
All five were exciting, transcendent moments for their own reason, but I think when I look back at 2011, and I think of the moment that made me crap my pants the hardest, it's going to be Money in the Bank. It's mainly because stuff like that never happened. WWE never fed into the viral media. They never let the indie guys get over so hard on their homegrown talent. They never made the crowd go home this happy. It was the perfect storm, a moment to be encapsuled in time as the one time WWE got everything 100% completely right.
The Social Media Award
And the nominees are...
- The Batiri
- Beyond Wrestling
- Chikara
- Dolph Ziggler
- Zack Ryder
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| Photo Credit: WWE.com |
The other four nominees used social media in their own great ways. None of them used it to get themselves a legion of fans, a US title push and cheers at every arena that drown out everyone else's except for Punk, Cena and maybe Randy Orton. Zack Ryder wins this award, and it's not even fucking close.
Promotion/Brand of the Year
And the nominees are...
- Anarchy Championship Wrestling
- Chikara Pro Wrestling
- Dragon Gate USA
- National Wrestling Alliance Championship Wrestling from Hollywood
- Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
I agonized over this award ever since I announced it. Chikara and PWG were both outstanding promotions this year. They each had great matches, great guest stars, native talent bringing it to the highest level, memorable moments and all the atmosphere and pomp that a great wrestling company should have. The margin was so close that I could have given it to PWG if my mood was different. But yeah, I guess there's somewhat of a hometown bias, or maybe it's just that the High Noon main event pushed it over the top for me. Either way, Chikara was outstanding in 2011, and they deserve this award.
Photo Credits for all photos not attributed to WWE or Slam: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography
