I do not love your blog, nor do I love you. I just LIKE you and your blog for all my wrestling related needs.
But I sure as hell love your vast wrestling knowledge and passion for the sport. And also your brutally witty writing skills.
Anyway, my question to you is : Who is LOGICALLY the Superstar Of The Year ?
Daniel Bryan or John Cena ?
Multiple tag title defense wins, all those six man tags with the Shield, QUALITY WRESTLING matches against Rollins, Ziggler and Cesaro, an internet darling that the crowd loves, DEFEATING JOHN CENA CLEANER THAN THE ROCK DID, two WWE Title wins which sadly led to the demotion into the undercard with the Wyatts.
Royal Rumble gifted win, defeating The Rock for the title to achieve redemption, technically being the one to end Shield's winning streak via DQ, surviving the wrath of the epic Mark Henry swerve, miraculous early return from a career threatening injury and winning the World Title and now possibly on the road to win the Unified Title also.
Personally, it's a 50:50 scenario here, but giving this award to Cena on the grounds of sympathy and pandering for the second straight year would be the most finest form of dick-sucking I've ever known.
I predict : Cena wins the Superstar Of The Year award again, and Bryan gets the Breakout Star Of The Year, the award of the undercard.
What do you think ?
I was there for this - my buddies and I got a kick out of Brawler getting a shot, but I was disappointed that THIS is what Shawn was doing at the show (this would be the only time I'd see him wrestle in person).
ReplyDeleteHe and HHH wrestled a tag later in the show though, so we won all fronts.
Chip was a US TAG TEAM CHAMPION. That hardly qualifies as a jobber! Would you call luminaries like Tracy Smothers, Dick Slater, Terrence Taylor and Big Josh jobbers?
ReplyDeleteShawn's selling was great here.
ReplyDeleteChyna was such a wreckless lug in the ring. Based on what others have said its really sad and riduculious that she got so much power and a big head while being protected by HHH.
ReplyDeleteAren't all wins gifted wins?
ReplyDeleteDaniel Bryan deserves it for carrying Raw for most the year by consistently having great matches with the Shield week after week.
ReplyDeleteIn retrospect, maybe continuing the slow burn to a WM Bryan title win was best. Perhaps just do the Henry swerve to set up Cena-Henry at SummerSlam, with Cena overcoming only to have Orton cash in and become corporate champ. Orton defends against Bryan and Punk with screwjob Horsemen style wins. SuperCena returns and you get some Cena-Orton stuff to finish the year. Bryan and Punk do their respective upper card feuds (Shield, Wyatts, Ryback, etc) to continue the momentum. Set it up so Punk and Bryan are both favorites for the Rumble. Bryan wins and goes on to take the belt from Cena at WM30 in the old fashioned build.
ReplyDeleteI am a bigger fan of moving toward Cena-Taker, but the above is all in a bubble where Bryan's big win is saved for the big stage and a Bryan push is legitimate.
God I love the WCW early 90's roster
ReplyDeletegoogle all of my shoots and read them if you want to kill some more time. I can email some to you if you want
ReplyDeleteLast time I legit marked out
ReplyDeleteI don't disagree with his recent stuff. Punk was decent but Sheamus, Brock and Nash all sucked. He had the 2 Taker feuds sandwiched in there, which I both really liked, so it's hard for me to say he's completely done.
ReplyDeleteLook at his resume tho, good - great matches with austin, Rock, Foley (might be my favorite feud ever) Angle, Batista, Cena, Orton, Taker, HBK, plus others I'm sure im forgetting. Yea, me might have used nefarious tactics to stay at the top but those were some pretty good feuds.
II assuming you read Bill Simmons since you're a fellow hoops head, he's got this theory called the 90/10 theory. Says that all great players have a 10% flaw in their game, but for some that 10% is magnified for whatever reason. His favorite example is Westbrook, great great player but his 10% flaw over shooting a little to much gets magnified and ends up becoming the narrative of his game. I think it's almost the same with HHH. Dudes definitely got his flaws but but at some point the narrative of his career has been shifted to him being the antichrist when he's done some good stuff
Tl dr
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I don't even remember what Bryan was doing from January until the Summerslam/Cena build.
ReplyDeleteShe was quite over.
ReplyDeleteCena won the biggest title in the company in the main event at the biggest show of the year, only lost the title due to being injured, recovered from injury and won the second title in his first match back. There is a question here somewhere?
ReplyDeleteThis is true of most the roster for me. Because, you know, nobody really matters as much as HHH, Rock, Taker, or Cena anyway
ReplyDeleteFair points.
ReplyDeleteSay what you want about Cena, but he delivers in big matches.
ReplyDeleteYou're completely right--but that's what happens when you have someone in power protecting you and making you look good in situations. I just didn't think she deserved it based on (bad) attitude and wreckless-ness. If a 1/4 of the current talent got a just a bit of the protection that she got, then the company would be a better state.
ReplyDeleteBased on a workrate POV from all the *** matches from Observer [ http://starratingslist.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/wwe-observer-star-ratings-1986-present.html ], here are the top 10 guys (number inside the parentheses are the number of *** matches they had):
ReplyDelete1-Daniel Bryan (12)
2-CM Punk (10)
2-Seth Rollins (10)
4-John Cena (9)
5-Antonio Cesaro (8)
5-Roman Reigns (8)
7-Cody Rhodes (7)
8-Goldust (6)
8-Randy Orton (6)
8-Sheamus (6)
90/10? The problem with that theory is hhh probably isn't even a 30/70 guy. Hes sucked for the last 12 years. Iiterally could not watch the show from early 02 to 05 because he was unbearable. (BTW that was real change the channel heat). I'm sure if not for DVR I would have tapped out on watching in October or even when he popped up in 2011.
ReplyDeleteHis narrative is very simple IMO. He grew to a main eventer in the attitude era and he could make an argument he was the #3 guy in that time (he wasn't but its debateable. Foley was better and more over and its harder to make guys like Foley did than look good when you have thing putting you over like huntor, and the undertaker was probably a bigger draw, as were many guys in wcw by the way, including Scott hall and Nash...so yeah I don't agree with 3rd at all but I guess someone could say it). Hhh was the one top guy who stuck around from that era to the next one (very commendable IMO) however he didn't do the right thing far more often than not and would justify not putting guys over to keep himself strong as a heel to put someone over big. He did that exactly one time. (Benoit was undercut by the hhh/hbk shit right out the gate as champ). Otherwise he fucked around with the career of guys who were BETTER than him.
Then he phased into being a part timer where he put himself over sheamus, Brock-lesnar, and cm punk, and verbally buried Daniel Bryan. The whole pay off...jobbing to lesnar at a b ppv after going over at wrestlemania. Oh and he's going to main event wmxxx.
His legacy as a worker is that he had lots of great matches, got hurt, hung around too long and has been working as a shell of what he used to be much longer than any period of time he was good for.
And now we know why HHH made the Brooklyn Brawler look like a million buck on tv in 2000!
ReplyDeleteI was at this match. It was at MSG just a few days after the Montreal Screwjob. I hate to admit it, but there was a part of me that felt that the Brawler would win. I know it sounds insane. But he was the hometown guy. He never wins. And after the wackiness of the Survivor Series, I truly felt that "Anything Can Happen In The WWF." It's cool that Keith post this. Nice little nostalgia moment for me.
ReplyDeleteSome notes on this match: If you're wondering how the hell the Brawler is in a title match to begin with, at the previous Raw from MSG there was a dark battle royal where the winner would get a title shot at the next MSG show and Brawler won. Also, this wasn't Shawn's only match that night. This was in the middle of the show but later on he and HHH lost to Undertaker and Stone Cold in a tag match.
Logic + Wrestling.
ReplyDeleteDoes not compute.
It would really make me cackle if Reigns gets the "breakout star" award.
ReplyDeleteWell I guess if you want the overall package, you can create 4 categories worth of points including workrate, title wins, match wins and main events wrestled.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I guess you're right. All those matches just kind of run together for me.
ReplyDeleteUnless his opponent is Alberto Del Rio.
ReplyDeleteWe're talking about the slammys, not the smarkies.
ReplyDelete"Well, well, well," look who was posting on RSPW then...
ReplyDeleteIn kayfabe, nobody has had a better year than Cena; like others have said, Cena "overcame" a lot of obstacles, while Bryan never really overcame his.
ReplyDeleteHOWEVER, I also think that "Superstar of the Year" would suggest that popularity is part of the criteria (the operative word being "superstar"), and on that front, Bryan would seem to at least be a contendor.
Feuding with The Shield mostly.
ReplyDeleteWhen has he ever been in a big match with ADR?
ReplyDeleteOr you could just not over think it so much and agree that it will, and should go to Cena...
ReplyDeleteFandango or GTFO
ReplyDeleteI want AJ Lee.
ReplyDeleteNot for any awards or anything but I'd like to see her naked with pineapple slices on her tittles.
..and maybe a pair of Chucks for traction.
If it's kayfabe then Orton wins because that's what HHH and Steph would want.
ReplyDeleteThat show had a good tag title match (which saw Doring and Roadkill finally win gold) abd a really fucking good 20 minute FBI/Whipreck & Tajiri match. But yeah, otherwise it was fucking awful.
ReplyDeleteI jut want her for sex.
ReplyDeleteSo then explain Cena winning last year?
ReplyDeleteI'm too old to be upset over kayfabe awards anymore. By most demonstrable standards, Daniel Bryan had the superior year (he beat his competition in their only meeting, had as much success and spent the entire year in the upper-mid card, didn't miss any significant time). Cena's two big advantages would be the Rumble and his 'Mania win against the Rock. But Bryan has had the more consistent year in the ring, and has been the proverbial heat magnet to boot.
ReplyDeleteBryan should win, Cena will win, news at eleven.
"while Bryan never really overcame his."......a months long program built around him proving he belongs with the big boys, including wins over Orton and Cena? Yeah, that storyline was dropped the second Orton cashed him but still
ReplyDeleteDepends on which segment of the show we're in, the outwardly championing Orton as the symbol of everything good in wrestling, the underhanded "we're being neutral but we really are backing up Orton", or the "HHH looked at his roid shrinkage today so needs to make himself feel good at Orton's expense"
ReplyDeleteShouldn't it go to the Shield sikce they wrestled 80% of the Main Events on Raw and Smackdown?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9WOAhQUedM
ReplyDeleteI love how blatantly racist the production crew is. They find the lone group of black people in the crowd and try to connect them to the rap guy.
But yes, early '90s WCW is like CHIKARA on crack.
Serious question. How did Brawler ever get hired by WWE in the first place? He was always awful, even back in the '80s.
ReplyDeleteAnd before someone tries to go there, no answers may include any reference to Pat Patterson.
I'm sure they haven't even decided yet
ReplyDeleteYou don't want to cover her titles in pineapple slices too?
ReplyDeleteNo way. Don't want to cover up the good stuff... especially with something as gross as pineapple.
ReplyDeleteGotta agree with dougie. If this were a smark award work rate would figure into it. However since it's not, it's kinda silly you even brought up work rate in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThe same way Barry Horowitz, Mike Sharpe, SD Jones, and the Conquistadors got jobs. That needed jobbers.
ReplyDeleteYou eat the pineapples off her titties....
ReplyDeleteAmateurs.
Bryan kept getting screwed out of the title, until he ultimately just kind of decided that that's just how things are, and gave up fighting against Trips.
ReplyDeleteCena, however, never quits on his path to attain his goals.
In kayfabe, Cena is more of a fighter, and never takes "no" for an answer.
That was exactly my feeling going into "Summerslam" - win or lose, it would have been nicer and bigger if Bryan's big main-event against Cena had happened at "WM".
ReplyDeleteThey'll probably give the "SOTY" to Punk, to further the idea of setting up Punk vs HHH; Punk gets the award, then uses his speech to denounce HHH as far as him doing another quasi-shoot "Pipebomb" speech to accelerate shit so as to make up for the time Punk wasted in a go-nowhere feud with morts because Brock Lesner is a lazy fuck who won't work a full-time schedule.
ReplyDeleteAnd let's face it, they need SOMETHING to get people talking and them giving Punk about ten/fifteen minutes to speak his mind about how full of shit the WWE is these days and how, in a lot of ways storyline-wise, it's all Punk's fault for the way he didn't do a damn fucking thing to help Bryan against Punk's blood vendetta rival Randy Orton (who Punk STILL has unresolved issues with that need to be address story-wise) and HHH, who Punk let off lightly when they last fought, is the perfect way to do it
And fuck, they can also fucking arch weld the pay-off to Nash costing Punk the title by having Steph admit that SHE was the one who was behind Nash costing Punk the belt at Summerslam 2011 to restore HHH as plotting against Punk.
Not to mention slamming Cena, by having Punk remind the world that Cena does jack shit to help his fellow wrestlers when he tacitly admits that the fact that Cena is FINALLY doing shit, is why Punk is now fucking stepping up, because if Cena's getting involved to stop HHH, then that makes Punk look like a fraud in terms of highlighting his OWN failures as a human being.
I think this is a good synopsis of HHH's career as a whole. I do think his net contribution to the business as a performer is negative by quite a bit, all things considered.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I would never put pineapples on the divas championship. That title has so much prestige
ReplyDeleteCo-signed. I realize it's an individual honour, but The Shield was the pound-for-pound best act of the year in WWE
ReplyDeleteGuy truly was/is(?) a selling god amongst men.
ReplyDeleteDaqfuq?...was HBK sporting the Spock beard indicating we were in an alernate universe? Hard to tell.
ReplyDeleteNext post: Abe "Knuckleball" Scwartz' only title shot.
I don't think you really got my post did you "officer"? Why not abort it right away if it wasn't going to work?
ReplyDeleteLuger when motivated was 323482384230849230948230948230948230984230 x the worker Triple Insecurites could ever dream of being.
ReplyDeleteNo "officer" I don't. Luger in '89 was one of the best workers on this planet.
ReplyDeleteOr just turn him when the fans actually wanted it which would have been never.
ReplyDeletealways go into a ppv match hungover….well thats explains a lot of "performances"…..
ReplyDelete