Grade the 2011/2012 WWE "Season"

[TWJC: The Beginning]

I consider the WWE "Year" to be the day after Mania until the next one. So, what I'm asking is, what grade would you give the 2011/2012 WWE season?

Personally, I thought it was great, B+. You had the summer feud with Christian and Orton, the rise of Punk, the Jericho return, the pretty amazing Rock/Cena stuff and a damn good Wrestlemania. It kept my interest all year long with maybe the exception being October. Other than that I feel it was solid and if the first episode of the new season in an indicator, 2012/2013 looks to be even better.

 

[Existence_is_Futile]

Honestly, I give it a C+. A little above average, but nothing amazing to blow me away.

The C.M. Punk contract stuff was probably the most memorable to me. The Jericho return was ruined, and could have been handled a lot better. A year of build up for Rock/Cena grew boring, because it was all we heard about.

The Undertaker return, we all knew it was coming, and I'm over the dead man returning once a year thing. Don't get me wrong, the guy is a living legend, and will get his place in the H.O.F. but, hang 'em up already.

Wrestlemania was a quality show, but, along with most people, the WHC match sucked for me, because it made both The Great White and DB look weak.

It wasn't a bad year, better than the last couple, and I am hoping that 2012/2013 builds up on what they did this year.

As a seconding for this, what do you see or hope happens in the 2012/2013 "season"?

I am hoping to see a few of the guys from FCW guys come up, build up of the younger stars currently on the main roster. and if they are going to bring some one back, make it a surprise this year... PLEASE....

 

[Jack-Hammer]

All in all, I'd give the year a B+. From an overall perspective, I just enjoyed a lot of what was going on.

In 2011 and continuing through now, we saw several young & very talented guys pushed through into prominence such as Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett, CM Punk & Daniel Bryan. The Miz was one of the most talked about WWE Champions in years. Like a lot of younger guys pushed to a top spot, Miz got a lot of criticism from internet fans but that just seems to be more of a right of passage these days.

The Rock making his return to WWE was a huge deal and his year long interaction & build with John Cena resulted in a helluva match that more than lived up to the hype. The feud between Cena & CM Punk this summer helped push Punk to the spot of a main eventer where he belongs and delivered a fantastic match at MITB. The whole contract storyline with Punk & his now famous "shoot" promo had fans buzzing like few things I've seen. It was so convincing that, for a while, even hardcore wrestling smarks, dirtsheet writers and even wrestling insiders weren't sure if it was a legit worked shoot.

The first half of 2011 kinda sucked for Wade Barrett and I thought that WWE could have done a lot with The Corre. However, they got back on track with him in the second half of the year and reaffirmed why he was the glue that ultimately made Nexus work as well as it did. Randy Orton's career was revitalized in my eyes upon being moved to SmackDown!. He seems much fresher and, to me, more overall energetic than he's been in years. His feud with Christian this past summer also resulted in some of the best matches of the year on both television & ppv. Sheamus' career was also heading off track until he was drafted to the blue brand and look at what a year he's had. He was build up as a very strong babyface on SD! and is now the reigning World Heavyweight Champion.

I mentioned Daniel Bryan earlier and it was a great surprise to see him with the MITB briefcase at the ppv. It was very surprising to see him cash in on Show and become the champ. Initially, a lot of people wrote Bryan off as someone that wouldn't do much with the title but, in my opinion, Bryan was a great champion. His feud with Big Show & Mark Henry not only had surprisingly great matches but also told great stories. Bryan himself has improved as a character by leaps and bounds. His slow heel turn was done to perfection and he seems very, very comfortable with the role he has now. He's gotten much better on the mic, draws great heat from the crowds and has become the sort of heel that people want to see get beaten up. He's not going around trying to be the "cool heel" or the "anti-hero" that fans seem to rally around and that's a great thing in my view. These days, it seems that sooooooo many wanna be the bad guy that it's fashionable to cheer for. Even if some fans do cheer him, it's not as if he's purposely doing anything to earn their cheers. On top of that, we al know he's got the in-ring talent. I'm not crazy at all about how he dropped the WHC but I'm hoping that, in the long run, he'll come out of the whole thing a bigger star than when he went in.

Another guy that's improved a lot in my eyes is Dolph Ziggler. We've all known that Ziggler has had the in-ring ability. Overall inside the ring, he's one of the best today I think. However, he didn't really have any presence as a character. I thought WWE did a good job in using his time as United States Champion to give him a presence. He cut some very good promos and had lots of matches in 2011-2012 that show that he can definitely hang with the top stars. The fact that he's also drawing good heat without Vickie Guerrero can only bee seen as an improvement.

Cody Rhodes is another young guy that's improved by leaps and bounds over the past 2 years. He went from being Randy Orton's lame, one dimensional lackey in Legacy to being not only one of the top young heels in wrestling, but the best IC champ in more than a decade in my view. Rhodes did a lot for the IC title, it certainly helped that he showed up with the classic design, although there were a few minor alterations, and I don't see him being done with the title just yet.

I thought WWE also put on a lot of good ppvs, both Raw & SmackDown! were consistently entertaining. As usual, there were obviously some things I wasn't crazy about, some things that just didn't strike me as particularly entertaining or worth watching. However, I'd be foolish to expect otherwise as there's no such thing as perfection. But, the WWE kept me entertained with great overall wrestling action on tv & ppvs, interesting storylines, killer feuds and wrestlers that had me invested in what they were involved in. At the end of the day, that's the stuff I want and care about.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

C+

Can't go higher than that with how much they dropped the ball on some storylines with serious potential.

They blew the Summer of Punk by rushing Punk back to the WWE, then morphing it into a power struggle angle that ended with Johnny Ace on top and neither Triple H or Vince McMahon really doing a single thing about him usurping power. Plus turning Punk from an angry, heelish rebel to a relatively muted, somewhat pandering babyface took a lot of bite out of his character.

The Jericho return wasn't bad, but it definitely came off as disjointed by the original promo's for it. Months later, I'm still wondering who 'she' is?

The walkout could have been epic, but they once again rushed that and it really cumulated in what, one match the lockerroom walked out for?

The WWE title tournament was a farce, and it only served to illustrate how weak their main event roster was. That tournament would have been a weak IC title tourney in previous eras.

Wrestlemania was great, and they've got some potential again with their current stories. Hopefully it doesn't become wasted potential again though, because that's how I view last season... as wasted potential.

 

[mkman613]

A-
There was some bad, but there was a lot more good.

summer of punk, summer of christian, the hall of pain, zach ryders rise, daniel bryans rise, sheamus' face run, rock/cena build (mostly), cody rhodes 200+ day IC run, johnny ace became a great heel

yes, the finish to summer of punk wasnt great, yes ryder got burried later on, yes the WHC mania match was disappointing, yes rock cena got stale, yes kane and jerichos return have been only OK....

But lets not under rate how good a lot of this stuff was. I though it was a great year.

 

[Mark Gallows]

Between 'Mania 27 and 'Mania 28 my interest in the WWE product hit an all time low..well, not all time, I've gone years without watching it but it's getting that way again. So grade..umm, F?

The big thing that strikes me as the difference between the "old school" wrestling I enjoyed and this current "era" is, it's so BORING now. And I don't mean boring like "zomg, they're not doing 18 unprotected chair-shots a show now, weak!" I mean boring in that almost none of the roster resonate with or entertain me as a fan. With that in mind, here's my year end awards for "The Most Boring Wrestlers of 2011/2012 WWE"

Most boring wrestlers '11/'12:
Cena-
His look is terrible, I don't believe he could beat someone up, his promo's are mundane, drawn out, goofy, sugar coated bullshit. He's never put anyone over, his ring-work his terrible, he can't work a crowd, he needs a good opponent to get a match out of him and he's far too much of a "black and white good guy" for anyone out of pre-school to take seriously. Seriously, you people bash Hogan but nug-hug Cena, WTF is that?! He's the most selfish worker ever, how many guys has he prevented getting over by smirking and laughing at the "big bad heels". The worst wrestler ever in my honest opinion, absolutely useless and terrible for buisness...oh, and if after 7 years you still don't know to pull back on an STF but you're a 13/14 time world champ, your promotion is fucked.

CM Punk-
I just don't get it, and I've tried, which leads me to believe there just isn't that much to get. He has no character, what is his personality meant to be?! How does he convey that in the ring? "Fuck knows" and "he dosen't" would be my answer. Is his character after he did his "shoot" (har har) promo meant to be "pain-in-the-ass indy smark"? 'cuz that's all I got. I don't care enough about the guy to tune in to see him. I think his ring work is mediocre at best, his match with Cena at MITB was utter wank, didn't fit the angle and came off like the "working" at a bad indy show..probably why the Meltzer nut huggers gave it 5 stars...His promo's are boring, he looks like a drug addict, he dosen't draw money, nothing going on, sack him.

The Miz-
Actually, he might tie Cena for the "worst wrestler ever" title. Fucking out of shape, no talent, terrible in the ring, looks like the gay kid of the pillsbury dough boy and a fish. I don't believe he could beat anyone up (less so than Cena, the 300lbs cuddle monster) His promo's are like listening to one of the bleeders from "my super sweet 16" having a tantrum...which is not good coming out of a, what? 30 year old? man, he didn't have "heel heat" he had "go the fuck home" heat. His run with the belt was utter dirge and contributed to record low buyrates, fire him now, please. Not the "most must see WWE champion of all time" just the "most unbelivable WWE champion of all time."

Randy Orton-
Terrible promo's, no character, looks like he's just come out of a german gay-bar/dungeon, his RKO looks shit, his "epileptic fit" before the RKO is embaressing, boring, boring, boring, boring.

Cody Rhodes-
What the fuck is he meant to be? Atleast he finally bought knee-pads. much the same complaints as with Orton just more so, bland, vanilla, no heat. Looks, and sounds, like he's just come out of a german gay-bar/dungeon. Nothing going on, future endevour not future HOFer that's for sure.

Chris Jericho-
Can he not just do Y2J again? Prime example of what I'm talking about, another guy who things "being a heel" is the same as "being boring". Yeah, if you bore a live crowd for 10 minutes they will boo you, it's not "being over", it's being a terrible, lazy worker. Sick of seeing the guy, his current attire/haircut is terrible...gone from being a very entertaining guy to being a boring has-been in what? 5/6 years? Stale, his return was an absolute abortion, I was a Jericho fan before, I'm not now, make of that what you will.

The big problem with WWE is, they've let the gulf between the "top guys" (Cena, Orton, Rock) and the under-card get so vast no-one can belivably move up the ladder and into the main-event. This dumb hot-shotting they keep insisting on doing (Swagger's title run springs to mind) is killing buisness aswell, when a guy wins the top prize in a company, then loses it and goes down to being an utter jabroni, it makes the belt look worthless and it makes all the guys he beat look like clowns.

If WWE want to turn buisness around fire the guys I've mentioned above and fire on with a main-event roster of Mark Henry, Daniel Bryan, R-Truth (but retool his gimmick) Ziggler, Rock and Lesnar (depending how long he stays, I wouldn't put the belt on him till 8months/a year in). I'd also unify the belts and brands, the split is pointless now.

 

[Y-2-Jay]

Loved the WM27-WM28 season if I had to give it a grade it would be a B+ I had some of the funniest nights of WWE ever with the CM Punk angle in July. I had no idea what was going to happen next and was really loving the angle. I did feel some angles were really rushed remember the walkout? The beginning of the next show was amazing but it got cut way too soon I would have loved a Sheamus vs Cena 30 minute match with CM Punk on commentary. WWE really had some gold in this season but ruined some of it by rushing. PPV's were a mixed bag sometimes you would get amazing PPV's like MITB and Summerslam then you have to remember we got some real stinkers like Capitol Punishment and Vengeance

Here is some of my best and worsts of that season.

Best PPV: Money In The Bank

Best Smackdown: August 30th 2011 Live Smackdown

Best Monday Night RAW: July 25th 2011

Worst PPV: Capitol Punishment

Worst Monday Night RAW: July 4th 2011

 

[3:16]

Hmmmmm if i look at all of the product that they have put on some of it has been exciting and others have been meh. I would give the year a B-

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

The Good:

"Summer of Punk" - I don't care who you are or what you were doing last year, if you're a wrestling fan you heard about CM Punk. Even if it were just the "shoot heard round the world" he would have made waves, but add to that an epic bout with John Cena and one of the best PPV crowds I've ever seen at Money in the Bank, and there was very little wrong with the feud. I suppose you could make a case for him coming back to soon, but in the grand scheme it all worked out. CM Punk became a legit threat and presence at the top of the WWE card - the new "future" of the company.

Triple H Returns, Runs Raw - Say what you want, I liked the walk-out angle. It turned out terrible, ended up making no sense, but at the beginning it was a fantastic concept. Never have I seen (doesn't mean it hasn't happened) the whole roster walk out on the man in charge, especially with somebody as respected and influential as Triple H at the helm. Plus, he got to have a decent match with Punk, spice up that picture, and he did a generally good job telling a story until his departure.

John Laurinaitis, Mr. Excitement - I hesitate to put this in the "good" column. I really do. But you know what? After all is said in done, I've kinda enjoyed what came out of the Johnny Ace character. He draws massive heat, and if nothing else we were in need of a straight up heel the crowd can boo. Too many tweeners make the picture convoluted - sometimes we need to keep it simple, and they did that with Laurinaitis. Ish. The Team Long feud was entertaining, and I don't think it's quite over yet. He could, eventually and with time and practice, become a decent heel manager for Raw. Or Smackdown. Or wherever they're going with this.

The Rock Returns. Again - Technically he returned "last year", but most of his run was this year. Any time the Great One is in a WWE ring he's polarizing and electrifies a crowd. Every damn time. No matter how many times I want to hate him for being that high school jock that only talks about his giant dick and amount of "pie" he consumes, I can't. You just can't hate the Rock on a fundamental, wrestling fan level - or maybe you can, I don't know. You probably have no soul. I'll admit, he had a rough start. Survivor Series was predictable and buried two up-and-comers in the process. But despite everyone's skepticism he did show up every week building up to WrestleMania and they did a damn good job with it.

Undertaker/Triple H, part II - Hated the idea of redoing this, but it turned out great. Feud was great, build was great, and the match was fantastic. Best I've seen in years... I don't think it was necessarily better than the feud with Shawn, either time, but the stories being told were different. HBK/Taker had great contests, putting on some of the best pro wrestling we've ever seen. HHH/Taker just beat the holy hell out of each other for 40 minutes. The three walking out together at the end of the Hell in a Cell matches will remain one of the best memories in the industry's history.

"New" Talent Push - Dolph Ziggler got a HUGE push in the last year. That in itself is awesome. Kofi Kingston did a hell of a lot more in the tag division than he's been doing since his feud with Randy Orton years ago. Say what you will about Miz getting buried, but he did fight Triple H, John Cena, CM Punk, and the Rock at two big PPVs. He did end up getting the win for Team Laurinaitis at WrestleMania. He's a jobber, but he's a main event level jobber at least... R-Truth had a decent year, Alberto del Rio was an "ok" WWE Champion, and of course...Mark Henry! Seriously, how awesome was he? Daniel Bryan and CM Punk became World Champions. Sheamus won the Royal Rumble and title at Mania. Cody Rhodes. The "youth movement" is now, no doubt about it.

The Tag Division - Hey, at least they tried. "Air Boom" was the best they've done since...Miz and Morrison? Maybe? At least Epico and Primo are a legitimate team, at least the Usos haven't been fired, and at LEAST the current champions aren't Matt Morgan and Crimson. We're not that desperate...yet. I'll say the division improved, even if just slightly. They seem to care just a little bit more than they used to, which in all honestly isn't difficult. Hey, last year Daniel Bryan and Sheamus got kicked off the card at Mania to the dark match - this year they were on the card (for 18 seconds) for the World Title. Step up. There's a chance in the next year some of the teams they've been working on could turn out.

Good stories - Whatever the end result, a lot of good stories were told in the last year. Some great steps were made in the right direction.

I'll give the whole year a B+. The company isn't in a "golden era" or anything, but there's definitely improvement. Great storytelling, significant character development - we had a lot of fun. A few years ago I'd say John Cena was the only legitimate focus of the company. Randy Orton was there, but as you see from his WrestleMania matches with Kane and CM Punk, they just don't care as much about the "second best" guy. Today I'm happy to say there is a much more diverse landscape, and great things on the horizon. John Cena might still be the focus, but hey - he brings in a lot of cash. CM Punk is the WWE Champion, had a lot of focus in the last year. Brock Lesnar is back, and I'd imagine he'll be "kind of a big deal". Randy Orton is still Randy Orton, Mark Henry is the biggest threat of of his entire career, the crowd is chanting "Daniel Bryan" for some insane reason, Sheamus is huge, over face with the World Title. You can't deny the WWE is in better shape today than it has been in a very, very long time.

 

[Tattooed Jesus]

I say from WM27 - WM28 gets a B+ Grade from me.

John Cena winning the WWE Championship from The Miz and John Morrison in the Steel Cage match was very exciting, and made me very happy.

Christian finally winning his first major singles title in the WWE was awesome, him losing it to Randy Orton 5 days later sucked. However it did make for one of the best storylines of the summer with Christian chasing after Orton and finally getting the title back.

The Summer of Punk and his winning of the title from John Cena is still probably the single best match and moment of the WM27 - WM28 time span, with only the Taker vs HHH matches coming close to topping them.

Things kinda got fucked up for a bit right after Summer Slam, with Punk losing the title to Alberto Del Rio who is one of the worst WWE in recent history. The whole Nash/HHH/Punk /Johnny Ace/Miz/Truth thing was a good idea that just turned into an absolutel clusterfuck that ultimately just ended up being a complete and utter waste of about 3 months of programming.

About the only good thing during those 3 months was Mark Henry just going on a completely awesome path of destruction, destroying Orton and capturing the World Title for the first time was another highlight of the year.

After Survivor Series things started to pick back up again and my interest really piqued again when Kane returned and attacked John Cena. I thought the TLC, Royal Rumble, and Elimination Chamber were all pretty solid PPV's that led into a pretty good but not great WM28.

I thought the build to WM28 was amazing especially all the stuff with Rock and Cena, and Jericho and Punk.

The year had it's ups and downs but more ups for me. The biggest down for me was Cena losing to Rock, I just hope that by the time WM29 rolls around Cena will get his revenge and the win over the Rock.

 

[eddog13024]

Between 'Mania 27 and 'Mania 28 my interest in the WWE product hit an all time low..well, not all time, I've gone years without watching it but it's getting that way again. So grade..umm, F?

The big thing that strikes me as the difference between the "old school" wrestling I enjoyed and this current "era" is, it's so BORING now. And I don't mean boring like "zomg, they're not doing 18 unprotected chair-shots a show now, weak!" I mean boring in that almost none of the roster resonate with or entertain me as a fan. With that in mind, here's my year end awards for "The Most Boring Wrestlers of 2011/2012 WWE"

Most boring wrestlers '11/'12:
Cena-
His look is terrible, I don't believe he could beat someone up, his promo's are mundane, drawn out, goofy, sugar coated bullshit. He's never put anyone over, his ring-work his terrible, he can't work a crowd, he needs a good opponent to get a match out of him and he's far too much of a "black and white good guy" for anyone out of pre-school to take seriously. Seriously, you people bash Hogan but nug-hug Cena, WTF is that?! He's the most selfish worker ever, how many guys has he prevented getting over by smirking and laughing at the "big bad heels". The worst wrestler ever in my honest opinion, absolutely useless and terrible for buisness...oh, and if after 7 years you still don't know to pull back on an STF but you're a 13/14 time world champ, your promotion is fucked.

CM Punk-
I just don't get it, and I've tried, which leads me to believe there just isn't that much to get. He has no character, what is his personality meant to be?! How does he convey that in the ring? "Fuck knows" and "he dosen't" would be my answer. Is his character after he did his "shoot" (har har) promo meant to be "pain-in-the-ass indy smark"? 'cuz that's all I got. I don't care enough about the guy to tune in to see him. I think his ring work is mediocre at best, his match with Cena at MITB was utter wank, didn't fit the angle and came off like the "working" at a bad indy show..probably why the Meltzer nut huggers gave it 5 stars...His promo's are boring, he looks like a drug addict, he dosen't draw money, nothing going on, sack him.

The Miz-
Actually, he might tie Cena for the "worst wrestler ever" title. Fucking out of shape, no talent, terrible in the ring, looks like the gay kid of the pillsbury dough boy and a fish. I don't believe he could beat anyone up (less so than Cena, the 300lbs cuddle monster) His promo's are like listening to one of the bleeders from "my super sweet 16" having a tantrum...which is not good coming out of a, what? 30 year old? man, he didn't have "heel heat" he had "go the fuck home" heat. His run with the belt was utter dirge and contributed to record low buyrates, fire him now, please. Not the "most must see WWE champion of all time" just the "most unbelivable WWE champion of all time."

Randy Orton-
Terrible promo's, no character, looks like he's just come out of a german gay-bar/dungeon, his RKO looks shit, his "epileptic fit" before the RKO is embaressing, boring, boring, boring, boring.

Cody Rhodes-
What the fuck is he meant to be? Atleast he finally bought knee-pads. much the same complaints as with Orton just more so, bland, vanilla, no heat. Looks, and sounds, like he's just come out of a german gay-bar/dungeon. Nothing going on, future endevour not future HOFer that's for sure.

Chris Jericho-
Can he not just do Y2J again? Prime example of what I'm talking about, another guy who things "being a heel" is the same as "being boring". Yeah, if you bore a live crowd for 10 minutes they will boo you, it's not "being over", it's being a terrible, lazy worker. Sick of seeing the guy, his current attire/haircut is terrible...gone from being a very entertaining guy to being a boring has-been in what? 5/6 years? Stale, his return was an absolute abortion, I was a Jericho fan before, I'm not now, make of that what you will.

The big problem with WWE is, they've let the gulf between the "top guys" (Cena, Orton, Rock) and the under-card get so vast no-one can belivably move up the ladder and into the main-event. This dumb hot-shotting they keep insisting on doing (Swagger's title run springs to mind) is killing buisness aswell, when a guy wins the top prize in a company, then loses it and goes down to being an utter jabroni, it makes the belt look worthless and it makes all the guys he beat look like clowns.

If WWE want to turn buisness around fire the guys I've mentioned above and fire on with a main-event roster of Mark Henry, Daniel Bryan, R-Truth (but retool his gimmick) Ziggler, Rock and Lesnar (depending how long he stays, I wouldn't put the belt on him till 8months/a year in). I'd also unify the belts and brands, the split is pointless now.

Really? So you've gone years without watching but you think this product is bad? I Can agree with Cena & Miz being worst wrestlers & your sayings of Orton. Jericho should just leave with whatever dignity he still has since hes boring. The brand spilt is pointless. But you think Lesnar, a guy whos just big and bulky, deserves a title shot? You think a roster should be built around an egotistical SOB like The Rock? Mark Henry should be a main eventer and currently hes dwindling. R-Truth looks good mixing in his heel gimmick into a face one. Ziggler will be a star to look out for. And Brian Danielson (Not his slave name, Daniel Bryan) is already an established star and is over with the crowd and has a great thing going for him. Cody? Stale yes. Boring, not really. Hes improved, not horrible. CM Punk, better him using the current "rebel who takes nothing from the man" gimmick than his being "the leader of the nexus" who did nothing. year deserves a C+

 

[Mark Gallows]

Really? So you've gone years without watching but you think this product is bad? I Can agree with Cena & Miz being worst wrestlers & your sayings of Orton. Jericho should just leave with whatever dignity he still has since hes boring. The brand spilt is pointless. But you think Lesnar, a guy whos just big and bulky, deserves a title shot? You think a roster should be built around an egotistical SOB like The Rock? Mark Henry should be a main eventer and currently hes dwindling. R-Truth looks good mixing in his heel gimmick into a face one. Ziggler will be a star to look out for. And Brian Danielson (Not his slave name, Daniel Bryan) is already an established star and is over with the crowd and has a great thing going for him. Cody? Stale yes. Boring, not really. Hes improved, not horrible. CM Punk, better him using the current "rebel who takes nothing from the man" gimmick than his being "the leader of the nexus" who did nothing. year deserves a C+

I quit watching WWE in '06, picked up TNA in '07, stopped watching current wrestling in '08, came back to the "current" stuff about 6 months before Mania27. How does my not watching a product for 4 years make it any better? I went away 'cuz the product was terrible, I come back, the product's still terrible.

Lesnar will get a title shot because he's the biggest star on the roster right now, except Rocky, and he's fresh. He's never touched half the current roster, that looks like alot of potential angles and money to me. It's a shame the product is garbage right now because he might have drawn some UFC fans. Yes, he's "big and bulky" but he's also a monster and pretty athletic to boot, perception is everything in the wrestling buisness and Lesnar is precieved as a fucking killer, WWE need him more than he needs them right now.

How can I build a roster around The Rock...emm, does a 1.9 'Mania buyrate not answer your question? Actually, let's just look at the ratings from a time when He and the Game were pretty much carrying the company in 2000, did I just dream those 6/7.0 ratings? I'm not saying Raw will do those numbers again, I'm a realist, but he's a PROVEN, tried and tested thoroughbred main-eventer, and WWE dosen't have alot of them right now.
How the FUCK is The Rock an "egotistical SOB"?! Name one guy he's not put over in his career? He always does what's best for buisness. I know VKM's been brain-washing y'all for a year but, c'mon, think about it. He went and did some movies, boo fucking hoo, what was left for him to do in WWE when he went away? He'd held every belt pretty much and he did the right thing on his way out putting guys over. He came back because the WWE NEED HIM, NOT the other way around. And let's be totally honest here, Cena's done movies, if he'd had the offers Rock had he would've left a big grimace shaped hole in the door, but motherfucker can't act, so he hasn't.

I missed one out from my list, Christian should be main-eventing, his matches with Orton were actually pretty good, I can't say it was a great "feud" because, well, Orton's promo's, but he's a legit top guy. I'd use Sheamus aswell, but I'd turn him heel and build him up to the title.

 

[TLK]

Considering I'm already more excited about 2012-2013 after 1 Raw, I wouldn't go higher than a C+. There were definitely some entertaining moments - Summer of Punk, HHH/Punk/Johnny, Orton/Christian, HHH/Taker/HBK, Rock/Cena, but I felt the ball was dropped on Punk's rise to the top and Jericho's return. Also, I felt despite some entertaining (albeit head-scratching) storylines, the PPVs didn't deliver as much as I thought they should've. Neither did most Raws until after the RR.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Quite a long season, isn't it? I mean, a season of Game of Thrones comes in at under ten hours; a season of WWE - excluding Superstars and NXT - comes in at two-hundred-and-forty-four hours. For much of that, I was probably either fast forwarding, faffing about on by laptop, or barely consciously watching Kofi Kingston matches.

To say that I thought most of that two-hundred-and-forty-four hours was good would be quite the exaggeration, but I think we're all quite used to wrestling not exactly being the most concise product. You filter through the crap, hope nobody catches you watching Natalya fart her way around the arena, and wait until something good does come on.

The big problem with WWE is, they've let the gulf between the "top guys" (Cena, Orton, Rock) and the under-card get so vast no-one can belivably move up the ladder and into the main-event.

Sure they can - they could do that any week if they want. CM Punk was a midcard heel who couldn't defeat a deafblind child one week and a top face who could go toe to toe with John Cena the next. Wrestling fans are fickle, wrestlers are malleable, and making new stars is easy when you have existing ones. "Believability" is rarely a problem in professional wrestling, and rarely do you have the aspergersless going, "Whoa! Whoa! This Zack Ryder push is a bit sudden for my tastes."

 

[Mark Gallows]

Sure they can - they could do that any week if they want. CM Punk was a midcard heel who couldn't defeat a deafblind child one week and a top face who could go toe to toe with John Cena the next. Wrestling fans are fickle, wrestlers are malleable, and making new stars is easy when you have existing ones. "Believability" is rarely a problem in professional wrestling, and rarely do you have the aspergersless going, "Whoa! Whoa! This Zack Ryder push is a bit sudden for my tastes."

That's where you're missing the mark though man, wrestling should be belivable, if it's not, what are we watching? Some joke TV show that can't even keep their own story-lines straight?
American Pro-Wrestling has nothing to do with "work rate" or that ridiculous "star rating system", it's about drawing emotional investment from the audience towards the wrestlers, with the end to getting guys heat and selling matches. To get that emotional investment to happen you need to get an audience to suspend their disbelief, you do that by giving them just enough fact that they'll believe the fiction. How can I invest in a guy who's a nothing one week and a champion the next? I can't, it takes time to get an audience invested in a character (getting the guy over) you can't just hot-shot someone out of nowhere and expect people to care, it dosen't work, look at Swagger's title run.

Take Ryder for example, he got himself over by doing that show every week on youtube, and he was giving the people fact (not getting pushed etc) with fiction (the feud with Ziggler) people watched the show and started to like the guy, he built on this emotional investment and got himself a spot on the main roster, but once he got there WWE stopped building him and now he's gone back to obscurity.

Think about Punk's build though, he got a good run as a commentator, got himself over that way, then he re-debuts by cracking Cena with a chair and joining Nexus, it wasn't a great run but remember their Rumble performance? They did actually look strong with Punk leading. Before his "shoot promo" he'd beaten Miz and Rey on the same Raw, he went over Cena a bunch, did interviews, got his name out, and that's all before Survivor Series. The guy was built for months and that's why he's getting over now.

Pro-wrestling works on the same principals as books, TV shows, movies, it's all just story telling. Antagonist vs Protagonist/Babyface vs Heel, Conflict/Angles, the same rules apply. Why did the nWo get so hot initially? Because it was presented as a shoot by WCW and people bought it, just enough truth (guys from WWF coming in to "take over") that they'll buy the fiction. That's why wrestling's in the toilet now, without that belivability to most casual fans the product just looks stupid. The belt has no belivability, so the motivation of the guys going after it has no belivability, so the audience disconnect and switch over because their intelligence is being insulted. If you take the belivability out of Pro-Wrestling it's just a bunch of dumb meatheads doing fake fight dancing for no reason other than "there's a show tonight". I hate to use the term "fake", I'm not disrespecting the business or any wrestlers here, I was just trying to make the point that without an air of legitamacy the product becomes very, very silly...and it has.

 

[Uncle Sam]

That's where you're missing the mark though man, wrestling should be belivable, if it's not, what are we watching? Some joke TV show that can't even keep their own story-lines straight?

There has to be consistency within their own internal logic. Their own internal logic, however, is pretty zany and difficult to pin down. This is a television show where a man can defeat another man twice his size, where management decisions are made via fights, and where referees get knocked unconscious on a consistent basis. That's wiggle room galore.

I can't, it takes time to get an audience invested in a character (getting the guy over) you can't just hot-shot someone out of nowhere and expect people to care, it dosen't work, look at Swagger's title run.

Swagger's a poor example of this, and yet one that's always pointed to. The problem wasn't that Swagger was hotshotted; that's what they got right. Swagger's reign as champion wasn't exactly the most thought out - the man lost to John Morrison one week and beat Randy Orton the next - but it was relatively successful; he had good matches and drew good heat. The problem with Swagger, and the reason why he's no longer anywhere near as over as he was, was that he was swiftly discarded after he lost the title, they did nothing with him. The lesson with Swagger isn't "don't hotshot people to the title." The lesson with Swagger is "don't hotshot people to the title and then forget to put them in anything worthwhile once they've lost the belt."

The guy was built for months and that's why he's getting over now.

Anything Punk did before his shoot has nothing to do with how over he is now. His shoot and Money in the Bank are why he's so over. Pre-face Punk and post-face Punk may as well be different people.

Pro-wrestling works on the same principals as books, TV shows, movies, it's all just story telling.

Yes, and there's different levels of logic to all these things, and viewers have adjusted to this. If McNulty teleported criminals to a prison planet in The Wire, eyebrows would be raised, but it would totally fly with Star Trek.

Have, say, Santino nearly win the world title one night and suddenly all his momentum is reignited. Have Mark Henry beat Randy Orton and people sit up and take notice. Sudden elevation works.

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

C-

The Punk angle was terrible and non-believable and Punk is overrated anyway.

The walkout angle was terrible.

WWE Championship changed hands so many times that it made it look worthless.

Guys like Zack Ryder got pushed instead of talented guys like Christian, Drew McIntyre etc.

2012/2013 is looking way better with the returns of Brock Lesnar,etc.

 

[TLK]

There's a fine line in this "Reality Era" because they're adjusting to the idea that people basically know what's going on behind the scenes. They're making things "believable" in a different way by breaking down that "fourth wall" and not treating the audience like they've never heard of the internet. I think they've done a fairly good job making recent characters and events believable. Punk's resurrection is a great example, as is Santino at Elimination Chamber. Sure, there's inconsistency that leaves some people scratching their heads, but I think you're going to get that in any era. As for storylines, I think Jericho/Punk is about as believable as you can get because it's tugging on real issues of Punk the person, not the character. It helps that most of the top talent's characters don't stray too far from the real deal. Just my take on the whole believability topic.

 

[Mark Gallows]

There has to be consistency within their own internal logic. Their own internal logic, however, is pretty zany and difficult to pin down. This is a television show where a man can defeat another man twice his size, where management decisions are made via fights, and where referees get knocked unconscious on a consistent basis. That's wiggle room galore.

Swagger's a poor example of this, and yet one that's always pointed to. The problem wasn't that Swagger was hotshotted; that's what they got right. Swagger's reign as champion wasn't exactly the most thought out - the man lost to John Morrison one week and beat Randy Orton the next - but it was relatively successful; he had good matches and drew good heat. The problem with Swagger, and the reason why he's no longer anywhere near as over as he was, was that he was swiftly discarded after he lost the title, they did nothing with him. The lesson with Swagger isn't "don't hotshot people to the title." The lesson with Swagger is "don't hotshot people to the title and then forget to put them in anything worthwhile once they've lost the belt."

Anything Punk did before his shoot has nothing to do with how over he is now. His shoot and Money in the Bank are why he's so over. Pre-face Punk and post-face Punk may as well be different people.

Yes, and there's different levels of logic to all these things, and viewers have adjusted to this. If McNulty teleported criminals to a prison planet in The Wire, eyebrows would be raised, but it would totally fly with Star Trek.

Have, say, Santino nearly win the world title one night and suddenly all his momentum is reignited. Have Mark Henry beat Randy Orton and people sit up and take notice. Sudden elevation works.

Yes, it is a contextual reality, I'm not saying it needs to be "UFC real" but for the show to make sence, for the things that occur with-in that reality to make sense/follow their own logic, as you said, there are certain parameters that need to be adhered too, what I'm talking about is them ignoring those parameters.

For example, the belts need to have meaning. The whole of American Pro-Wrestling, as with all combat sports, is based on the idea of the "top prize", having the WHW title. That's what the guys are aiming for, that's their motivation, to fight for the title, to get to the top of the mountain. When the belts become meaningless (as they have) you remove your entire roster's motivation. This causes a disconnect with the audience because well, why are they fighting?! If the belt gets passed around like it has been, Cena unmpteen title runs in 7 years, Edge 11 time world champ, the belt looks worthless, so with-in the reality of the WWE the wrestlers are fighting for a meaningless belt and the logic of the whole show falls apart, because you've removed your character's central motivation.

To put that in context, think about Lord of the Rings, if the ring meant nothing, no gravitas to it, no "mystical powers" just a ring..I mean, quite a nice ring, but just a ring, you don't have a movie. If you remove the character's desire to aquire the ring 'cuz, like I said, it's "just a ring", Frodo has no motivation to protect it, Gollum has no motivation to steal it, Saruman has no motivation to try and stop Gandalf and the Fellowship has no motivation to get together or protect the wee hobbit fella.

My point about hot-shotting was the guys they have hot-shotted in recent years might have gotten over in the short term, but they've not stayed over in the long term, hence why when Swagger dropped down the card like a stone, no one was really that bothered. The best example of hot-shotting is Goldberg, and even he had 180 something matches before he won the world title. I guess what I'm saying is, to get a guy to resonate with your audience they need to be booked consistantly, if a guy suddenly drops down the card like a stone after being the champ it's silly, think about it logically, did he just become a shit wrestler after he won the belt? Did he lose his ability to fight? No, and that creates a headscratch moment for the audience.

How can they "be different people", so I should ignore everything that happend during 'Taker's Ministry run because he's face now? Explain that to me man 'cuz, I don't know what the fuck you're on about. In your mind character's have a total reboot when they turn? So I should ignore Triple H's career up until '07 when he went face? So lets say I'm watching "Sons of Anarchy" and Clay decides to become a good guy, they should forget about and never mention the horrible shit he did in previous seasons? Remember man, casual fans don't watch wrestling like we watch wrestling, they're looking for different things (mainly episodic story telling that makes sense and they can follow) alot of stuff we'd let slide as "Vince having one of his moments" will seriously turn off a casual fan. /rant.

 

[TBK]

B+ sounds pretty good. No really terrible moments, some really great moments like Punk/Cena. It had it's flaws, but it was never really horribly bad. Overall, B+ sounds perfect. It's good. It's not amazing or the best ever, but it's good.

 

[Ausaie]

Don't know that i would refer to it as a season but i get what you mean, the stretch from WM 27 to WM 28.

I will just say that i really didn't care for WrestleMania 27 at all, outside having Rock on the show and seeing the Taker vs HHH match i had no desire to order that show. However shortly after Mania things took off with Punk and i had the most interest i have had in WWE in years. What made it good was not the fact that Cena was loosing but the fact that there was some edge back in the product. Also we saw many stars like Rhodes, Bryan, Ziggler ect.. make great improvement and move up the card in a sense. Things kept on rolling until we hit the Rumble in 2012 which to me is where they took a step back. I didn't care at all that Sheamus won the match and would be in a main event at WM 28.

However the build up of Rock/Cena, Taker/Triple H, Punk/Jericho managed to pull me back in. This all eventually led up to the best Mania since 24 imo which says a lot about the progress WWE has made in the last year. It hasn't been as good as say 2003 or any of the few years prior to that but it has been good none the less and entertaining to watch.

Overall Grade - (B-)