CM Punk Named Wrestler Of The Year

[Jack-Hammer]

As we all know, Pro Wrestling Illustrated does its awards thing at the end of each year. Some consider PWI practically holy scripture, some consider it worthless, some consider the whole thing just something fun to talk about.

At any rate, unsurprisingly, PWI has named CM Punk as its Wrestler of the Year. Punk is the latest WWE wrestler to be named WOTY by the publication and it's not hard to see why. We all know what Punk's done in the second half of 2011, including delivering some of the most talked about moments, matches & promos of the year. Punk's win ends the two year run that Randy Orton has had as PWI WOTY.

Whether anyone is a fan of Punk or not, I think it'd be hard to give a credible argument as to why he shouldn't have won this when you take all things into consideration.

 

[PrideWS]

I agree. This was, by all means, Punk's year. Feuded with Orton and had a damn good match at Wrestlemania, cut the promo heard 'round the world, beat Cena in a classic match in Chicago, and won the title again from del Rio in another good match at Survivor Series. Became the top merchandise seller in the company (with a shirt that will be his "Austin 3:16" shirt) and made the business talked about, at least for the short term, for the first time in a long time. That's a pretty good year if you ask me.

Orton could also have won this award again without much controversy. His feud with Christian, while it stretched too long for some, gave us great matches throughout the summer, has had an interesting feud with Cody Rhodes, and is in the midst of another good feud with Wade Barrett. His year was fine as well, but I have to give the nod to Punk and agree with PWI.

 

[Best in the World 79]

fucking A
CM PUNK
CM PUNK
CM PUNK


In my opinion, he probably had the biggest year possibly within the last 3 years? Of any guy... if you consider his matches, promos, unforgettable moments, the undisputed ss thing, the leaving with the belt. that was some good shit. that guy was born to be a wrestler

 

[akrassikauda]

As much as I like seeing Punk wrestle I think Davie Richards had a better year but as Jack Hammer pointed out some think that this award is worthless and this is something for us to debate about.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Punk did provide some memorable moments in 2011. There's no denying that, but my pick for wrestler of the year would be Randy Orton.

Orton was white hot throughout 2011. He was one of the more over faces on the entire roster, and he constantly receives monster reactions from live crowds. Also, Randy Orton's consistency in the ring was something to admire this year. Orton had a series of Match Of The Year candidates with Christian. The first World Title match on Smackdown, the match from Over The Limit, and the street fight from Summerslam were all outstanding matches, and each match deserves serious five star quality recognition. The rivalries with CM Punk, Christian, and Mark Henry produced some very high quality matches, and each feud was fun to watch. Orton also had a very solid feud with Cody Rhodes, and his stuff with Wade Barrett wasn't bad either. Orton started out with a bang in 2011, and he still had plenty of momentum as this year came to a close. Randy Orton really fell into a comfort zone with the face version of his character this year. He was sharp, his work inside the ring improved a lot, and his matches this year were just superb.

Orton got off to a hot start in 2011, but the same thing can't be said about CM Punk. Let's not forget about the big pile of dogshit that was the New Nexus. We all thought Punk would breathe new life into the Nexus, but it didn't happen, and this stable went downhill pretty quickly. When you stop and think about it, Punk caught fire after the Raw shoot promo. His character took off when the "I am leaving with the WWE Championship" storyline picked up. He had one great match with John Cena at MITB, and the Undisputed WWE Championship match at Summerslam was excellent. But since then, Punk has cooled off a little bit. His feud with Del Rio wasn't bad, and the storyline with John Laurinaitis has featured its enjoyable moments, but Punk doesn't have the same buzz he had back in July and August.

I love CM Punk just as much as anybody else, and I've enjoyed his entire tenure in WWE, but when I think of a wrestler, who had the best overall year in 2011, I will think of Randy Orton. Punk did have some ups and downs in 2011, but Orton's entire body of work in 2011 was just so damn impressive, and a third straight victory for The Viper wouldn't have bothered me at all.

 

[Xumer]

I have NO IDEA how anyone could say Randy Orton had a bigger/better year than CM Punk. I'm not bashing it but I think when people look back at 2011, they will all remember it as CM Punk's year while they will consider it "just another" year for orton. This isn't coming from just another Punk mark vs. an Orton hater either, I think Orton is every bit as good as punk in the ring, maybe even better but we've seen this whole apex predator/viper/guy who hears voices shit every week for the past 3 years. The thing I like about orton's character is that he refuses to turn full fledged face. I love that he's anti-hero vs. punk's anti-establishment. I wish they'd throw more of that into each other's (punk and orton) gimmicks but anyway as far as I'm concerned (and I could be wrong) 2011 was Punk's year by and far.

 

[Rammsteinerteen]

PWI is usually bullshit, but this time they are right. CM Punk is wrestler of the year.

And just to say, Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards is more REALISTIC with awards given, so I recommend people look at that instead of PWI.

 

[Rampage Bentley]

As much as I like seeing Punk wrestle I think Davie Richards had a better year but as Jack Hammer pointed out some think that this award is worthless and this is something for us to debate about.

If a tree falls and no one hears it...

Not bashing Davey Richards, or RoH, but CM Punk is on a big stage with a national audience, RoH has a limited program in only a few select markets. Punks year was more well known and had a bigger impact.

 

[Mustang Sally]

It's fitting. Punk had the year with the most shock value; his impact was felt throughout the wrestling world. He did it with his wrestling skills as well as his mouth.

If overall influence could somehow be measured, John Cena would probably take the award year after year, but if the editors of PWI goal was to single out one year and name the wrestler who accomplished the most in terms of getting people to talk about him, they picked the right guy. Probably, this is the only year Punk will win this particular honor since it's hard to re-invent oneself over and over.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I don't have a problem with Punk winning this award. It could be argued that Orton was more consistent throughout the year and that Punk did pretty much nothing of note in the first half of the year, the wrestling business is all about making the most amount of impact and that is exactly what Punk has done this year. The Summer of Punk was the most exciting storyline of the year and at times it even made Rock/ Cena seemed insignificant.

Let me tell you what I mean. When Rock/ Cena was announced it was assumed that the rest of the year would be rather uninteresting because it had already been decided what Cena's endgame was going to be. No one in the industry currently can match up to the charisma and the fan following that Rock exudes. So knowing that Cena was eventually going to face Rock, it was assumed that no Cena feud would be interesting in the interim. But when Punk made that shoot heard round the world, it was as if Cena vs Rock did not matter anymore. All you wanted to know was what would happen the next week.

On an average, Orton has done better work this year but none of his feuds were as spectacular as the Summer of Punk. In the ring however, he has been the best performer in the WWE. Cena has had an average year, to be honest, with two shitty feuds with Miz and Del Rio on either side of Summer of Punk. The stuff with Rock is always entertaining but it hasn't reached it's peak yet. Punk had the best angle going for him this year in the WWE and all the rest of his feuds were above average. Yeah, even the one with Trips wasn't that bad.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Punk did nothing until the summer where he was hot for two months and now he is just another champion. Orton had by far a better year. He had decent matches with Miz, great matches with Punk, a phenomenal feud with Christian, made Henry look credible, and elevated both Rhodes and Barrett.

 

[TheBigRedMachine]

I think CM Punk deserved Wrestler of the Year. Yeah Orton had a good year too, but Punk has actually made wrestling culturally relevant again (at least for a little while), and thats something that hasn't happened in a very long time, so I have to say that I agree that Punk earned the award.

 

[Johnny Scumm]

CM Punk definitely deserves it this year. What he did do in a short amount of time rocked the WWE in a fresh way. The shoot and some of his matches, (Cena vs Punk, MiTB) just go to prove how good a year Punk really has had.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Punk's win ends the two year run that Randy Orton has had as PWI WOTY.

Wait, what? It did what? Punk's win did what? They gave it to Orton during the last two years - when he was given all the tools and was still largely unremarkable - but don't give it to him this year, the year when he could do no wrong? It's like they're just trying to get a reaction out of me.

I'm not upset about Punk winning. Of course I'm not upset about Punk winning. It's very easy to justify Punk as Wrestler of the Year; spectacularly easy. Even before he set the world on fire with his 'shoot', Punk was turning chicken shit into chicken salad. Punk did the job at any available opportunity, still managed to be superbly entertaining and remained a credible threat (to anyone that doesn't obsess over win/loss records in professional freakin' wrestling). The little touches were what made it - the facial expressions, the throwaway lines. If Punk was going to get beaten by a fifty-four-year-old Bret Hart, he was going to do it dressed like Randy Savage. Classy guy. For a dude that's had his nipple pierced. I don't have to tell you about the stuff that happened after he walked out wearing a Steve Austin shirt; you probably remember that.

What I find weird is that anyone would award Orton for the last two years, and not the one in which he's had great matches and feuds almost without exception. It's just bizarre to me.

 

[FlexAmerican Dynamite]

Not suprised at all. He really shined throughout this year even before the whole "shoot" happened. I really enjoyed his wrestlemania match even though i thought it should of gotten more time. Probably the overall best pure wrestler in wwe rite now.

 

[Y2JBL]

According to the magazine Punk was also "Most Popular of the Year" and received "Match of the Year" for his match against Cena.

I've been a fan of Punk for a long time but I'm not letting that play into the fact that I truly feel he deserves it. Punk is the only reason I started watching Raw again. I miss SmackDown most weeks and I hardly care because I know Monday nights are where Punk is. He has lost momentum since the summer, but that is thanks to terrible booking with HHH and Nash that went nowhere. Some weeks Punk uses old material and even for me it's getting old, but he's still one of the most interesting parts of the show.

I hope he continues to make things interesting, but we don't really know how much of that is up to him and how much he might be suffocated by booking and other agendas within the company.

I certainly hope they don't take the belt from him for "low segment ratings" because it's not his fault. Hell, I don't even care about a CM Punk main event when it's a 6 man tag featuring 3 feuds getting lumped together (lazy booking) where nothing much is going to happen.

Even if you think someone might have truly had a better year than Punk, a few years from now, when we look back, the things that are going to jump out about 2011 are Punk's unexpected promo, Punk threatening not to renew his contract, and Punk leaving after his match with Cena and taking the belt with him on his way out. 2011 was the year of Punk and that can't be argued even if you don't like him.

 

[H33LTurn]

Even though I'm not a fan I'll give credit where credit is due. By all means Punk was the most talked about individual of 2011 in the business alone. Considering that he went from almost not having a job, to not having a job, to being the hottest commodity in the WWE I'd say that deserves praise, whether you're into this whole IWC era or not.