United States Championship

Ladders

Undertaker (DJ) vs. Dusty Rhodes (Kasey)

European Championship

Ladders

Sgt. Slaughter (DJ) vs. Hulk Hogan (Kasey)

Special Exhibition Match

Tables. Ladders. Chairs.

Uncle Sam (DJ) vs. Abe Lincoln (Kasey)

Because you deserve it. Because you asked for it. Because we needed it.

Because. America.

Interestingly, there is only one wrestler who appears in all three lists of 2011, 2012, and now 2013. I’ll let you know who when we get there, but I doubt the answer will surprise you.

1) Antonio Cesaro

Just missed out in making my 2012 cut but got an honourable mention, Cesaro has been working his socks off since arriving on our screens. He’s not great on the mic so his partnership with Swagger and Zeb Colter has been perfect in letting him shine in the ring instead. Oh and how he shined!

Everyone is going to point to The Cesaro Swing as the big move of the year, but don’t forget he already destoryed Miz against the barricades back in February when he was still a singles competitor. That’s the thing, he keeps inovating. Every couple months Cesaro will do something new, like the leapfrog over Swagger to stomp on the chests of his opponents on the ground.

There are no “5 Moves of Doom” to be found here. More like 500.

Also, check out this Swing from the indie circuit in 2009 when he actually swings his opponent a full 100 times. Bonus points for spotting the clean shaven D-Bry counting along.

2) Daniel Bryan

A common theme on these lists over the years has been me talking about how under-utilised Daniel Bryan is. We can’t really say that this year, can we? Pretty much everything worth watching in WWE went through him and he main-evented multiple Pay-Per-Views this winter.

We, as fans, tend to forget sometimes that despite D-Bry not having the title around his waist, he’s still doing well. We all want to see him as the champ because we like him but he is in prime-position in the company and for the wrestlers that’s the important part.

Hopefully next year will be just as good for the goat. He hasn’t gotten an injury yet and long may his luck continue. For a little highlight, let us all remember the moment when Daniel Bryan pinned John Cena clean in the middle of the ring for the WWE title. Pinned. John Cena. Clean.

And, yeah, Bryan is totally the only guy in the FF all three years.

3) The Shield

The Shield have had a hell of a year. They’ve been central to almost everything. All the big story lines have included them at some point or another. I guess that’s what happens when you’re the random interveners or hired enforcers.

I was tempted to just list Roman Reigns on his own as he has been the clear stand-out in the group but I felt it would be unfair to the group as a whole who have helped him create that little spotlight on him.

But because he is so damned beautiful…

4) Big-E Langston

BIG-E BIG-E BIG-E BIG-E BIG-E BIG-E BIG-E BIG-E BIG-E BIG-E BIG-E… I kinda just want to write that for a couple paragraphs but I guess I should write something.

Anyone who follows Big-E online knows he’s a very warm, funny, and charming guy. It helps knowing this because his mic-work needs improving (or, more realistically, he needs a gimmick that doesn’t require him to be the tough serious guy). Everyone seems to like him and that doesn’t hurt when added to his already impressive physique.

He’s the current Intercontinental champion and they’ve partnered him up, in true WWE form, with the other big scary black guy because… sure! But despite him punching AJ in the boob earlier this year, next year should see Big-E hit even bigger heights.

5) AJ

She’s been almost single-handedly holding the Diva’s division together. Her and Kaityln had a great feud earlier in the year, then she ran the gamut of Total Divas. She barely got the same amount of air-time as most mid-card guys but she still managed to make one of the stand-out moments of the year with her pipe-bomb in August.

Long may the reign of Queen AJ continue. The WWE would be a lot worse off without her.

AND COMPETING FOR A PLACE…

I feel a little silly not mentioning some of the other great workers in the game right now. Here are some guys who just missed out of my Fave Five.

Cm Punk: I know it’s kinda ridiculous not to have him on the list, apart from D-Bry up there he has been on all previous ones. But his time off with injury and general relegation to the upper-mid card has hurt him in my eyes. Also, I really wasn’t a fan of the long drawn-out feud with Paul Heyman. REALLY.

Cody Rhodes: Cody continuously just misses out on the list, the poor little guy. It must keep him up at night. He’s got the looks, the talent, and the momentum. Hopefully 2014 is his break-out year.

Goldust: It is 2013 and Goldust is on a list of current great wrestlers within the WWE. Let that soak in. Amazing.

Dolph Ziggler: Remember when Dolph cashed in his briefcase and everyone lost their shit? Remember? It was only a couple months ago. Honest. No, really, it was. Sigh.

Traditionally the WWE Draft, which decides the show and which championships the wrestlers can aim for, takes place in April. But today I am going to make a case for it to be moved up a little to fix a problem I like to call The Great Khali-een Out.

The Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event is at the end of the month and will feature the top 6 guys from each brand competing for the title. The RAW line up is pretty amazing. CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, and R Truth. And that doesn’t even include the likes of Kane, John Cena and Alberto Del Rio who are competing in other matches or injured (in the case of Del Rio). RAW seem to have an over abundance of wrestlers who can main-event, resulting in some good wrestlers often getting over-looked week-in-week-out.

SMACKDOWN however… well, that’s a different problem. Their match features Daniel Bryan, Big Show, Randy Orton, Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, and… sigh… The “Great” Khali. This line-up bugs me for two reasons, of which I’ll get a bit specific about below.

1) Cody Rhodes

Cody Rhodes is a great wrestler with a bright future ahead of him. He’s got all the skills he needs in abundance, he’s just waiting on the right storyline and a real push to take him to the next level. As Intercontinental champion, a title he may only defend a couple times a year, he’s wasted in this regard. But champion he is, so to place him in this match for the Heavyweight Championship just shows the shallow pool of talent SMACKDOWN has at the moment.

In reality, Rhodes should either drop his IC title or be having his own feud with someone for it thus defending it at this PPV. I think Rhodes and Bryan could have some incredible matches if placed in the right position so personally I’d like to see him drop the belt to one of the lower ranked guys so he can go for the big one. Whether or not that will ever happen this year remains to be seen but at the very least it points to his inclusion in this Elimination Chamber match being slightly off base.

2) Khali

Nobody likes him because he’s useless.

I hate to be this blunt but it’s true. Nobody is wearing a Great Khali t-shirt. Nobody buys a ticket to see the show hoping Khali will be there. He’s a terrible wrestler, he doesn’t speak English, every time he walks to the ring I fear that his knees will buckle at any moment. When a man’s only wrestling move is to slap someone on top of their head, you have issues.

I understand that Mark Henry getting injured forced SMACKDOWN to replace him with someone, but really? Really? Really?

So what’s my point? Well, I understand that Sheamus winning the Royal Rumble meant that he couldn’t be involved directly in this match but even without him, SMACKDOWN needs some better talent and RAW quite franky is wasting some of theirs. With Christian and Mark Henry both on the sidelines for who knows how much longer, it’s time to make a draft, or at least a few transfers.

Who should move? I have a couple suggestions.

1) Kofi Kingston

Kofi’s Air Boom partner Evan Bourne is a bit of a habitual rule breaker and it has forced Kofi to leave the promising team. His inclusion in this PPV main event is a positive thing after he stole the show during the Royal Rumble but historically all the signs point to this being a short lived push.

I think a move to SMACKDOWN could offer a host of great rivalries, one in particular including a possible Intercontinental Championship run.

2) Dolph Ziggler

Dolph NEEDS to move. And this is not just my man-crush on him talking here. It’s well documented I think he’s an amazing wrestler but his last title match against Punk at the Rumble proved that WWE sacrifice him all too often and that match made him look weak. Too weak to legitimately do anything on that brand any time soon. With Jericho coming back it also looks like he’ll be out of the picture anyway.

3) Zack Ryder

While thrilling as it was to see Ryder drop his championship and then get beaten up by Kane every week, I think it might be time for a change of scenery for Cena’s side-kick.

Hell, team him up with DiBiase instead and let them party all night long. Anything to stop the constant mishandling of his career on RAW. They didn’t want to put him on TV in the first place and it showed when they finally did. With the likes of Hornswaggle and Santino on the SMACKDOWN brand, they obviously like their goofballs so I think Ryder could fit in well.

————————————————————————————————————————-

I could go on, there is a great case to be made for a lot of stars to change brand right now. And no matter who you think should move, I think we can all agree any wrestler in the roster would be better than Khali.

To close out the year I thought I’d take a leaf out of Booker T’s… book, I guess, and nominate my favourite five wrestlers of 2011. Or Fave Five, if you will.

I haven’t ranked them, so the five are in no particular order. They are also not necessarily my favourite wrestlers in the company either but these are the guys who I think had a great year and as of right now are the wrestlers I look forward to seeing the most when I turn on the show.

1) CM Punk

No surprise to anyone. The reason why I even put him first is because it was too obvious to hold back. Punk turned a lot of heads earlier in the year with his shoot shenanigans and there is a reason why he’s the WWE champion right now.

He’s always interesting on the mic. You genuinely don’t know what he’s going to say from one week to the next. In a time when the WWE is struggling to sell their Par Per Views, this guy is getting people excited again.

If I was to level one criticism, it’s that he often poorly connects with his moves and thus weakens a match with a limp looking kick to the shoulder. But considering how much he works to get the crowd involved in a match, it somehow evens out by the end.

2) Dolph Ziggler

I got a little bit over excited this past Monday when Dolph won a shot at the WWE title. Not because I think he will win (there is no chance he will) but because it is the culmination of what has been a year of endlessly good performances from him.

After pulling two matches at most PPVs and successfully managing to make everyone on the roster look good by losing a match to someone every second week, Dolph had put more than enough work in to deserve a shot at the main events.

He has been selling every move like one of the best and even makes an Irish Whip look like a killer blow as he throws himself into turnbuckles like nobody I’ve ever seen. If you haven’t noticed how hard this guy works, watch his matches carefully. Nobody gets beat up as convincingly as this guy and nobody consistently hits their moves like him either.

Despite the fact that he has been lumbered with a manager (usually a tactic to help out guys who are bad on the mic) he’s one of the most quotable characters on the show, “no offence”. And this would almost go by un-noticed if it wasn’t for some of the great cameos he’s had on Zack Ryder’s YouTube show. The Zig-Zag man needs some more mic time in 2012, hopefully this upcoming run against Punk will allow this.

3) Mark Henry

Mark Henry’s World Championship title reign was one of the few things the WWE creative team did right this year. They built him up as a violent juggernaut and didn’t back down from that. In fact, despite the fact that he’s lost the belt now, he’s still seen as the toughest guy to beat on the roster thanks to the injury to his ankle which offers the excuse for this temporary loss of momentum.

I’d rather not see him in matches with the likes of the Big Show as two big slow guys beating on eachother isn’t as interesting as when there is a miss-match. Which is why I hope we see a full strength Henry take on Daniel Bryan in 2012 as their cage match on Smackdown this year was a highlight.

He’s not great on the mic but he has utilised that by turning his character into a man of few words, one of which is PAIN. So it works to not only save embarrassment but also back up his mean attitude.

It’s nice to see a guy who has been a journeyman for so much of his career get given a shot and taking it so well.

4) Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan has had a weird year. Was doing very little until he won the Money In The Bank briefcase. Then did very little afterwards. His statement to wait until Wrestlemania to cash the case seemed interesting but was such a long time away it also felt like an instant loss of whatever momentum he might have built up from winning it.

And now the guy is the World Heavyweight Champion. Go figure.

I’ve always liked Bryan but felt like he was often being ignored by the WWE. His mid-card wallowing was frustrating to see for many reasons. He’s funnier than he often gets a chance to show. He’s a great wrestler but is usually consigned to short matches. The crowd always seemed to naturally shine to him, even though he was rarely seen. He should have been a big hit but was just never used right.

Now hopefully he’ll get that chance to shine going into 2012. He’s a great under-dog style of character to watch but with the skills to back up his new found success, we could be in for a great ride.

5) R-Truth

It’s hard not to write this while using one of the 101 R-Truth catchphrases but this year Ron Killings has been a goooooood R-Truth. Constantly cracking me up every week.

For a guy who is supposedly “crazy”, he has one of the few story arcs this year that makes sense.

Sure, all his conspiracy stuff is silly but it works. He hasn’t had to change his tune for a long time because his character fits in to almost every situation. “Why did he turn on his friend?” dude’s crazy. “Why is he attacking that guy?” dude’s crazy. You could drop him into any ludicrous situation that the WWE writers come up with and he’ll make it plausable by blaming little Jimmy.

Combine his good mic work with some solid in ring performing and I can find very little to complain about. He even made Miz more watchable. Seriously, I just wrote that sentence.

AND COMPETING FOR A PLACE…

This list was tough to make as there were 4 other guys who almost made the cut. But I think they all could have a big year next year so I’d like to name-check them now as guys I like, but need a little something to improve.

Sheamus: By all means, Sheamus has had a good year. The WWE obviously like him as he barely loses a match and the crowd are definitely on his side. Unfortunately though, he hasn’t had any consistent feuds this year and I think he needs a real juicy rival, or at least a run at the title to elevate him to the next level. Judging by this past Smackdown he might get that after the Royal Rumble.

Cody Rhodes: This kid has it all. The looks, the skills, the title. The only thing that’s holding him back is a similar problem to Sheamus in that he hasn’t had a great feud this year. Sure, he has had plenty of matches but so many forgettable ones. Hopefully they’ll figure out what to do with him in 2012.

Booker T: The man who inspired this list. I know he’s semi-retired but his recent back-and-forth with Cody (a genuine highlight of the last couple months for both Cody and I, as a viewer) showed that he still has what it takes to tell a damn fine story in the ring. I don’t know how his body is holding up at his age, but hopefully 2012 will see him wrestle on a more full-time basis. If not? Sure, he’s not the greatest announcer of all time but he seems to be genuinely having fun at the desk and makes me laugh. And just think, every time Booker talks is time Michael Cole isn’t and I think we can all be grateful of that.

Zack Ryder: Most people might be surprised he didn’t make the list but it’s for a very valid reason. He just hasn’t performed in the ring. He’s great fun and a guy I route for but not once have I watched one of his matches and thought “wow”. He needs to up his game inside the ropes but now that he’s the US Champion he should get plenty of opportunities to do just that.