2007 Awards: By Matthew Evans (05/01/2008)

With the year 2007 now in the history books, I thought I’d kick off 2008 with a look back at the last 12 months in professional wrestling.

Indeed, 2007 was a difficult year to be a wrestling fan. While there were many high points, there were a lot of low points as well. WWE in particular really struggled, with the “injury curse” seemingly striking as soon as HHH tore his quad at the now-cancelled “New Year’s Revolution” PPV in January (by the spring, the “curse” was in full effect, with the “E” losing big name talent like Undertaker, Lashley, Mr Kennedy [albeit for a brief period, although he would later get suspended for apparently violating the company's Wellness Policy] and Edge).

2007 was also a tragic year for WWE (and wrestling in general), with many names from the past passing away well before their time. Among them were Bam Bam Bigelow (45), Bad News Brown (63), Mike Awesome (commited suicide, aged 42), Sensational Sherri (49), Crush (44) and The Fabulous Moolah (who at the age of 84, was the only exception to the rule of “early wrestling deaths).

Speaking of tragedy, none was more shocking or saddening than the double-murder-suicide involving Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy (former WCW/ECW valet “Woman”) and their 7-year old son Daniel. In the wake of this despicable and disturbing act, WWE and wrestling came under media scrutiny like never before (as well as government investigation), while Benoit’s fans, friends and co-workers were left reeling at the thought that the normally quiet, respectful and all-round family man could do such awful deeds.

Attempting to pick up the pieces following the Benoit tragedy, WWE tried hard to erase him from the history books, banned his DVD and generally did whatever they could to distance themselves from him and his career accomplishments (and rightly so). The company also strengthened their Wellness Policy and suspended many big name performers (most of whom had prominent roles on TV) as the media hatchet job continued.

The “injury curse” struck again in October, when WWE Champion John Cena tore his pectoral just one week before a major PPV (No Mercy). WWE had no choice but to strip Cena of the title and write him out of angles and story lines immediately (at press time, Cena was still set to miss this year’s WrestleMania).

HHH made his big return at SummerSlam (as did Rey Mysterio), but apparently gaining back “The Game” meant losing Booker T (“The King” reportedly wasn’t too pleased with his move from SD! to Raw or his job loss to Hunter at SS, although it must be stressed that this was just TWO of the reasons why he felt it necessary to leave the company in October and join TNA).

ECW (or at least WWE’s version of it) continued to spiral downwards, with brand names like Sabu and The Sandman receiving their pink slips and Rob Van Dam calling it quits in June. By the end of the year, the whole “brand” had degenerated into a “talent trade” farce with SD!

Chris Jericho’s highly hyped (and highly anticipated) return in November was one of the biggest letdowns of the year. Jericho’s clichés and catch phrases now looked tired and were met with apathy by many in the audience. Plus his performance in his match against Randy Orton at Armageddon proved that it was a mistake to give him a main event spot so soon after returning.

On the plus side, Undertaker and Shawn Michaels stole the show with their exciting scrap during the closing moments of the Royal Rumble (although the rest of the Rumble match and the PPV was mediocre), WrestleMania 23 and Backlash were both top-notch shows, WWE’s UK Tour in April was good fun, CM Punk gave ECW fans their first (and only) “feel-good moment” for the brand when he became ECW World Champion, WWE’s return to the UK in October was another resounding success, the Raw 15th Anniversary Show was a great nostalgic trip down memory lane and the “Tribute To The Troops” was as always, very moving and unique to watch (WWE and Vince McMahon deserve a big hand for that).

2007 was also somewhat of a “mixed bag” for TNA Wrestling. While they finally acquired their 2-hour prime time slot on Spike TV, brought Booker T on board (their biggest acquisition since Kurt Angle and Christian Cage) and developed a highly competitive and exciting Women’s Division of their own, they also wasted time and money on the washed-up likes of Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, The Steiner Bros (although to be fair, they did prove to be quite useful on occasion) and Dustin “Black Reign” Rhodes and paid NFL star Adam “Pacman” Jones a packet to do nothing.

They also adopted a crazy and confusing booking style that deterred even the strongest of TNA supporters. With “monsters” like Abyss and Judas Messiahs, they went into “gimmick overload”, turning almost every match into a thumbtack ridden blood-bath. They booked multiple turns and double crosses and eventually, didn’t even explain to the audience who was the face and who was the heel. They made good use of a veteran like Sting, but turned a REAL star (i.e one who could carry the company when the legends retire) like AJ Styles into a comedy character. They also dropped the ball with Samoa Joe, booking him in a part-worked, part-reality “anti-TNA” angle at the end of the year that will probably only succeed in confusing and angering the fan base even more.

The upside is that TNA did make some real progress in 2007 (for example, the rise of Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal and others). They did have some great ideas, and they did book some great matches and angles. But if they’re to have a more successful run in 2008, then they need to use restraint, they need to stop giving everything a gimmick and they need to truly understand their audience.

But enough pondering about “What Might Have Been” or “What Could Be”. Let’s get onto the awards!

Wrestler Of The Year: John Cena

Cena-haters everywhere (and there are many) will no doubt groan at this decision, but it’s a decision that I stand by with pride. John Cena was “the man” in 2007, at least in my opinion.
For starters, “The Champ” aided Umaga to the “Samoan Bulldozer’s” greatest match at Royal Rumble. Then he had an enjoyable feud with Shawn Michaels and a strong bout with “HBK” at WrestleMania 23. And how could you deny Cena’s hard work in the incredible Fatal Four-Way Match against Michaels, Orton and Edge at Backlash?

If that’s not enough, then how about Cena getting decent scraps out of lugs like The Great Khali and Lashley? Plus the guy continued to deliver strong and convincing promos (the serious ones more so than the comical ones) and consistently take all the hostile crowd could dish out whilst using it all to his advantage.

It’s a shame that Cena got injured before the year was out, as I feel that he would probably still be WWE Champion now as we speak.

I’ll grant you that Cena didn’t have many “5 star” matches in 2007, but in a year riddled with so many injuries, suspensions and the like, how could you say that about anyone? In 2007, John Cena may not have been the best “wrestler” per se, but he was definitely the hardest worker.

Tag-Team Of The Year: The Motor City Machine Guns

The name may be a bit daft, but Sabin and Shelley are the “real deal” as the say. They were put together almost by accident and their push has largely been dictated by the TNA fans, but there’s still no denying the star power that both men have shown in 2007, simply because they were allowed to “be themselves”.

Seeing the two “young guns” (no pun intended) stand up to the bullies known as “Team 3D” (who were later joined by traitor Johnny Devine) and defend the honour of the X-Division was a highlight, as was their matches against former ECW thugs.

As long as TNA don’t screw it up, “The Guns” should have an even bigger and brighter 2008.

Worst Wrestler Of The Year: The Great Khali

For the 2nd year running, “The Punjabi Nightmare” (boy, is that nickname apt) gets the “honours”, simply because no-one was worse than him in 2007 (no, not even Kelly Kelly).

WWE really fouled up, as not only did they move the lummox back to SD! but they also made him the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion!

The dire results were not surprising to anyone who’d had the misfortune of watching a Khali match in 2006. He was so bad that it was actually a relief to see Batista relieve him of the title!

Thankfully, Khali has since moved away from the main event picture and been put in a mis-matched feud with Hornswoggle. Hopefully, WWE will concur with the fans that Khali is useless and should not be used in 2008.

Babyface Of The Year: Sting

In possibly his final year with TNA, Sting came back, became World Champion and generally helped the product by bringing his knowledge and experience to the table whilst also adapting to the changes of the business (did you ever think you’d see “The Stinger” get driven through a sea of tacks?).

The fans were with him all the way, even when he and Abyss were taking silly gimmick matches to a whole new ridiculous level. Indeed, Sting has that special connection with the fans, which his why he gets this award.

Heel Of The Year: Edge

For the 2nd year running, “The Rated R Superstar” steals this award, simply because he was the guy everyone loved to hate throughout 2007.

Although he didn’t get that highly anticipated feud with Randy Orton, he DID become a WWE World Heavyweight Champion (twice) and even with missing a few months of action to injury, he pretty much carried the SD! brand on his shoulders with his intense promos and good quality matches.

Edge ended the year by becoming the “love interest” of SD! GM Vicky Guerrero and regaining “his” World Title at Armageddon. For “The Edgester” 2007 was a great year to be a bad guy.

Character Of The Year: Jillian Hall

The former “MNM” image consultant and “JBL” valet finally found her niche as a bubble gum pop princess comedy act in 2007 and was an absolute riot.

At first, it was clear that the “failed singer” gimmick had been created to take shots at Hulk Hogan (i.e. his daughter Brooke has tried and failed for the past few years to make a serious impact as the “next Britney Spears”). And true enough, Jillian had her eyes, hair and her overall image altered to look just like the apple of Hogan’s eye.

But WWE realised that every gimmick has a shelf life, and so they extended the spoof act by having Jillian take shots at Britney herself and (and this was the masterstroke) releasing her own Christmas single on iTunes (“A Jingle With Jillian”). Factor in Jillian’s mini-feud with WWE’s real singer Lilian Garcia, along with Ms Hall’s insistence that the fans “love” her singing and you had one of wrestling’s most rip-roaringly funny comedy characters of the year (along with Santino Marella, of course).

Jillian can also do the business in the ring and perhaps 2008 will be the year that her character officially reaches its sell-by date. When this happens, it would be wise of WWE to focus on her in-ring ability and make her a serious contender to the Women’s Championship. But until then, there’s still a lot of fun to be had with Jillian’s failed pop act.

Female Performer Of The Year: Beth Phoenix

While Jillian was on our screens for light relief, “The Glamazon” Beth Phoenix was there to send a message. This message was that women can be tough, beautiful and downright intimidating.
After getting her first run with the company cut short by injury in 2006, Phoenix was determined to make her second big opportunity count.

From the start, she dominated the women’s division and soon wrestled the Women’s Championship away from the improved (but still a little ropey) Candice Michelle. She showed power similar to that of Chyna and the 2002-2003 version of Victoria. At time of writing, she’s still the WWE Women’s Champion.

I’ll agree that Awesome Kong dominated TNA’s “Knockouts” Division as well, but “The Glamazon” was the all-round “total package”. 2007 was a great year for her. She came, she saw and she kicked ass.

Match Of The Year: John Cena VS Shawn Michaels VS Edge VS Randy Orton (WWE Backlash, April 2007)

Back in April 2007, this was my early pick for “Match Of The Year”, a honour that it managed to retain.

Fatal Four-Way matches have a tendency to degenerate into a confusing mess, but this one worked perfectly. Everyone was in the right place and carried out their end of the bargain (even Randy Orton, who really shouldn’t have been there following his shameful dismissal from the WWE’s UK Tour the week before the PPV).

The finish was controversial (Michaels gave Cena “Sweet Chin Music”, causing “The Champ” to fall onto Orton for the pin) and defied logic (both Cena’s and Orton’s shoulders were down), but that’s a minor fault in an otherwise outstanding match.

Worst Match Of The Year: Ashley VS Melina (“Lumberjill Match, WWE WrestleMania 23, April 2007)

While there were probably worse matches than this in 2007, this takes the award purely for being a complete waste of PPV time (and in the case of Melina, Victoria, Mickie James and a few select others, being a huge waste of wrestling talent).

Even with this bout being as short as it was, it was clear that poor Ashley hadn’t mastered even the basics after nearly 2 years with the company. The dreadful action looked that much worse with an abundance of WWE Divas standing around ringside like spare parts.

Deep down, WWE probably knew that Ashley was too inexperienced for the main stage. But she was the latest WWE Diva to grace Playboy and so needed to be pushed to the moon on the biggest event of the year. All while pros like Mickie James and Victoria (who actually said a few years back that she would like to do Playboy, a request which has apparently fallen on deaf ears) played second fiddle.

Feud Of The Year: Undertaker VS Batista

Ok, I’ll admit that Batista’s promos were weaker than cat’s pee and that the feud lost some of its heat after ‘Taker took a few months off to recover from injury, but on the basis of their strong matches at WM and Backlash (and the way WWE booked the whole “respect/ lack of respect” scenario), I have to pick this as my “Feud Of The Year”.

PPV Of The Year: WWE WrestleMania 23 (April 2007)

Not consistently strong like WM 22, WM 21 or many before it, but still an all-round entertaining 4 hours of action. To quote my review at the time, “the show featured an entertaining “Money In The Bank” bout, a fun “Battle of The Billionaires” and two strong World Title main event matches” and also “built well towards the future” (of course, how was I to know that the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker would soon be joining the injured list and that the winner of “Money In The Bank” Mr Kennedy would lose his title opportunity due to injury?)

I’ll also never forget the sight of Vince McMahon being shaved bald and having to face a sold-out crowd (as well as millions watching around the world on PPV) in Ford Field. Say what you will about Vince McMahon, but he truly “took one for the team” there.

Worst PPV Of The Year: WWE One Night Stand (June 2007)

While it wasn’t as rotten or depressing to watch as “December To Dismember”, WWE’s version of a “One Night Stand” was still uneventful, and for any serious old-school ECW fan, rather painful.

“Considering how it was built upon “Extreme Rules” and the like, I found it disappointing that there was no blood, hardly any weapons and nothing really unique about it. Plus the crowd was awful and only solidified the feeling that in many ways, the audience reaction/participation can make or break a show”, is what I said in my review. I stand by those comments today and urge WWE to stop the failed ECW experiment NOW.

With my awards column at an end, I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Here’s to 2008 being a great year for wrestling.

Previously seen on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/