BRM's Awards for 2011

[Big Red Machine]

Wrestler Of The Year: CM Punk. Amazing matches, amazing promos, and most importantly, he had that true MVP factor that I am looking for in a Wrestler Of The Year. Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, Roderick Strong, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and (arguably) Christopher Daniels all had better years, match-quality wise, and there is a definite argument that Eddie Kingston cut better promos, but none of those men affected their promotions quite the way that Punk affected his. Without Tanahashi, New Japan would have found someone else to put the belt on and have great matches. Without either Eddie, Roddy, or Davey, ROH would still have had an amazing year in terms of match quality, and would have found a way to tell equally good stories. Without Kingston, CHIKARA would have been different... but not that much different. They would have found someone else to take on Quack in the final of the 12 Large Summit (although I doubt anyone with- the possible exception of Jigsaw- could have gone over Quack for the belt and it would have been received as well). Without Kurt Angle, TNA would have sucked a lot more, but it would still have been the same product. But take CM Punk away from WWE this year, and everything changes. You can't just replace Punk with another "indy darling" and have the angle work just as well. Even with Dragon.

Runner Up: Eddie Edwards- of the guys I mentioned above (aside from Punk) Eddie had the best year, and definitely solidified himself as a singles main eventer. This whole year was about Eddie Edwards saying "Davey Richards is not necessarily the top guy in ROH. Watch this." Then Eddie put on amazing match after amazing match after amazing match.


Match Of The Year: John Cena vs. CM Punk- WWE Money In The Bank. When you have that much buzz going into a PPV match, you absolutely have to deliver. These guys definitely did that. The Punk promo created the momentum, but the success of this match got the ball over the peak of the mountain.

Runner Up: Eddie Edwards vs. Chris Hero- ROH Revolution: Canada. Also 10/10, but it had nowhere near the significance of Punk vs. Cena, from both a business and storyline POV (it definitely had some storyline importance, but nowhere near what Punk vs. Cena had, and the storyline importance here was more about Eddie and Davey than about Eddie and Hero).


Best Individual Show Of The Year: WWE Money In The Bank

Runner Up: ROH Honor Takes Center Stage: Chapter 1


Best Worker Of The Year: Eddie Edwards.

Runner Up: Davey Richards (just edges out Roderick Strong)


Best Promo Of The Year: CM Punk's worked shoot promo from the 6/27 Raw. Punk shot from the heart, and he changed the game.

Runner Up: Eddie Kingston promo in the CHIKARA hype packages leading into High Noon


Feud Of The Year: Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins- These guys just came to wrestle and put on amazing matches. They drew attention to a developmental territory and did so in a big way. Add in Ambrose's mic skills, some firery reactions from Rollins, and Ambrose disrespecting a title, and you have yourself a feud of the year. There was hatred, but there were no weapons, no blood or any of those other things that promotions like to use to escalate a feud. Just an amazing wrestling feud.

Runner Up: The All Night Express vs The Briscoe Brothers. Just the opposite of Ambrose vs. Moxley. Lots of blood and weapons, but still awesome wrestling and an intense, violent, hate-filled feud.


Best Tag Team Of The Year: The Young Bucks. Excellent as always.

Runner Up: The All Night Express. Really stepped up their game this year, to the point where they look like they could easily be the next ROH World Tag Team Champions.


Best Promotion Of The Year: WWE. They stepped up their game on all fronts. Not just with CM Punk, but with the creation of new stars (Dragon is now a main eventer, Christian, Sheamus, Miz, and Ziggler have all proved that they belong at the top of the card, Mark Henry came out of nowhere to become a major player in WWE, and Big Show returned to the top of the card) and they have put on intriguing angles that keep you watching week after week (the Punk angle, the beginnings of Dragon vs. Big Show, Cena vs. Rock, the whole thing with Triple H and Nash and the "who sent Nash after Punk" angle... even the aborted Drew McIntyre-Kelly Kelly angle from the beginning of the year).

Runner Up: Ring Of Honor- even a last quarter of the year that can, at best, be called "mediocre by ROH standards," capped off by an extremely disappointing Final Battle 2011 can't undo the amazing things ROH gave us in the first nine months of the year. Even with very little Steen, losing Claudio, Cabana, and Daniels, a very disappointing run by Homicide, and the questionable push of Mike Bennett, ROH still managed to have an awesome year, turning Eddie Edwards into a true main eventer, turning The All Night Express into true tag team main eventers, and creating stars in Michael Elgin and Future Shock. They took the Bravado Brothers from a jobber tag team and turned them into a semi-anticipated match on the card, and somehow managed to turn Steve Corino into a babyface. The returns of Jay Lethal, Jimmy Jacobs, and the Young Bucks shook the roster up a bit, and the way Jay Lethal has been used in ROH has shown the world exactly how much talent TNA dumped.


Woman Of The Year: Sara Del Rey

Runner Up: Cheerleader Melissa


Announcer Of The Year: Josh Matthews

Runner Up: Nigel McGuinness


Breakout Star Of The Year: Mark Henry- at the beginning of this year, I don't think anyone thought that Mark Henry would even be on TV consistently. Now he is former world champion whom people can't get enough of.

Runner Up: Michael Elgin- Once again, ROH manages to take a relative nobody and turn him into a star.


Babyface Of The Year: Seth Rollins. Came in to FCW and easily became the top babyface.

Runner Up: Sheamus. At the beginning of the year, I couldn't even imagine him as a babyface. But he is absolutely freakin' amazing!


Heel Of The Year: The Miz- he just continues to be despicable.

Runner Up: Austin Aries. The A-Double personas finally reaches its true potential now that it is away from the obnoxiously smarky portions of ROH crowds. The only reason Aries is the runner up is that he only got to do the gimmick for the second half of the year. He got some heat in DGUSA, too, but nothing close to the heat he gets in TNA.


Best Gimmick Of The Year: The Bravado Brothers- For those who don't know, think about your parents or grandparents. How they will tell you that you are special. The smartest, brightest, best-looking, most athletic kid there is. As you get older, though, you realize that they are just trying to encourage you and make you feel good about yourself. The Bravado Brothers' gimmick is, basically, that they believe all of their grandmother's hype. It is just amazing.

Runner Up: John Laurinaitis- Johnny Ace does an amazing job at playing the role that many people have accused him of being in real life: A corporate suit. Johnny does things because he thinks they are "dynamic" or "unpredictable" because he thinks that is good business, and he says things in such a convincingly wooden way.


Most Shocking Moment Of The Year: Super Dragon returns

Runner Up: Eddie Edwards wins the ROH World Title


Over-push Of The Year: Garrett Bischoff. From referee to beating the enforcer of the top heel stable in five minute matches... all in just a few weeks time. BS. The kid isn't good on the mic, and in the ring, he is greener than Kermit The Frog's ass. Why is he getting any TV time at all? Oh yeah. He is Eric Bischoff's kid. Bischoff falls into the trap that much more talented bookers than he (Dusty, Bill Watts, Verne Gagne) have fallen into by overpushing his kid... but at least Dustin, Greg, and Erik weren't so damn green.

Runner Up: Mike Bennett. He is a competent wrestler, but not much more than that. Why ROH continues to push him as some sort of star is beyond me (and, seemingly, every other ROH fan).


Face Turn Of The Year: Sara Del Rey

Runner UpThe All Night Express. ROH picked the perfect time to turn these two, and they ran with it. They have even managed to keep the edge of their heel personas but still do traditionally babyface things.


Heel Turn of The Year: Ophidian.

Runner Up: R-Truth


Wasted Potential Angle Of The Year: The Drew McIntyre-Kelly Kelly angle on Smackdown. It seemed like they were going places with this, but then they just dropped it for no reason.

Runner Up: Corre vs. Nexus (lack of) Feud


Biggest News Story of The Year: The Rock Returns To WWE

Runner Up: Sinclair Broadcasting Group Buys ROH, ROH Makes It To Network TV


Most Inspirational Wrestler Of The Year: Zack Ryder- even in the politics filled world of WWE, in which things are changed on a whim with no forethought whatsoever, Ruder proved that hard work pays off.

Runner Up: X-Pac- Came to CHIKARA and showed that he still had it


Trend I Hope Doesn't Continue Into 2012: ROH keeps jumping the gun on things (the ladder war, Davey vs. Eddie)

Runner Up: Nattie & Beth constantly jobbing


Whose Star Will Shine Brightest In 2012: James Storm

Runner Up: Future Shock

[badnewzxl]

I'm surprised Zach Ryder wasn't at least the runner up for Breakout Star of the Year

[Big Red Machine]

I'm surprised Zach Ryder wasn't at least the runner up for Breakout Star of the Year

Zack Ryder isn't that much more impressive now that he was last year. He is more over, but no more impressive. Henry feels more impressive, and Elgin was an absolute nobody.

[kiel297]

I'm surprised Zach Ryder wasn't at least the runner up for Breakout Star of the Year

Zack Ryder isn't that much more impressive now that he was last year. He is more over, but no more impressive. Henry feels more impressive, and Elgin was an absolute nobody.

Agreed. Personally I feel that they need to stop character building Zack Ryder. He's over with the fans, he's got the character down. What they need to do now is keep him constantly competing, so he can get better in the ring, because at the moment, let's face it, he's an average wrestler.

[Big Red Machine]

I'm surprised Zach Ryder wasn't at least the runner up for Breakout Star of the Year

Zack Ryder isn't that much more impressive now that he was last year. He is more over, but no more impressive. Henry feels more impressive, and Elgin was an absolute nobody.

Agreed. Personally I feel that they need to stop character building Zack Ryder. He's over with the fans, he's got the character down. What they need to do now is keep him constantly competing, so he can get better in the ring, because at the moment, let's face it, he's an average wrestler.

This.

[badnewzxl]

I'm surprised Zach Ryder wasn't at least the runner up for Breakout Star of the Year

Zack Ryder isn't that much more impressive now that he was last year. He is more over, but no more impressive. Henry feels more impressive, and Elgin was an absolute nobody.

Agreed. Personally I feel that they need to stop character building Zack Ryder. He's over with the fans, he's got the character down. What they need to do now is keep him constantly competing, so he can get better in the ring, because at the moment, let's face it, he's an average wrestler.

True; but he exploded this year. I just felt like he became more of a STAR than Elgin, but that's mainly bc he's on ROH and not WWE.

[Big Red Machine]

Zack Ryder isn't that much more impressive now that he was last year. He is more over, but no more impressive. Henry feels more impressive, and Elgin was an absolute nobody.

Agreed. Personally I feel that they need to stop character building Zack Ryder. He's over with the fans, he's got the character down. What they need to do now is keep him constantly competing, so he can get better in the ring, because at the moment, let's face it, he's an average wrestler.

True; but he exploded this year. I just felt like he became more of a STAR than Elgin, but that's mainly bc he's on ROH and not WWE.

Elgin feels a lot more like a star to me. He has been booked to be able to last in the ring against guys like Eddie and Davey, won a major tournament (and has a title shot coming up off of it), and has just been made to look like a beast.