Another Monday, another Pay-Per-View event under our belts. Last night saw the WWE host their Night of Champions event and without giving any spoilers away, it was OK. Nothing spectacular but some good matches and nobody went to hospital (get well soon, Jerry).

As I watched I realised there were a few things I’d like to mention today and they’re just general musings on what the WWE are and could be doing. While these are my random thoughts, they will contain some info on last night’s happenings so if you haven’t watched the show yet, come back after you have!

– Heel Commentators

After Jerry Lawler’s recent heart attack live on air, there has been a massive out-pouring of sympathy… for Michael Cole. Jerry too but it’s most interesting to see that everyone has taken a shine to the usually hated Cole.

Michael gave a professional performance during understandably tough times last week on RAW and has rightly be receiving praise for it. He has appeared on news networks talking about the issue and correctly dropped the heel angle while doing so.

I was unsure whether or not the heel character would return for last night’s show but it seems my answer came in an unexpected form.

Yes, it seems John Layfield (AKA JBL) is going to take over the reins as guest announcer for an unspecified amount of time. It appears WWE can’t go for too long without a cowboy commentary.

He did a good job too as the heel colour commentator. He gave Cole a run for his money on more than one occasion. Cole seems to now be taking back his old role as face announcer and I couldn’t be happier.

I’ve said for a long time that you can’t have a heel as a head announcer for a number of reasons. If your head announcer is the man most constantly in our ear, then he can’t be the contrary voice as the listener will transfer it’s feeling of anger to the commentary on to the product. Heel comments from a second guy can enhance a product as short comments can be thrown away or laughed at but the main voice has to be the voice of reason. Cole is fine at that job and thankfully he might get a chance to do that from here on in.

JBL is scheduled to climb Kilimanjaro soon for charity so we may see a rotating cast of guest announcers until The King’s return. However, I hope they all fit into the mold of JBL.

– Sin Cara Needs A Manager/Friend

Sin Cara took part in what was a slightly sloppy but decent match for the Intercontinental title. And while sloppy is a word that will often follow Sin Cara around in the ring, it’s a word that unfortunately Sin Cara won’t be able to say.

Since joining the show the silent Mexican luchador has been hit and miss (often missing more than just his moves) as far as crowd support is concerned. He has the ability to shine in the ring with some athletic, gymnastic moves so why is he failing to connect with the crowd? I think he needs a voice.

I don’t think Sin Cara needs to talk himself. I kinda like that he just points at things. But the way that WWE works now, you can’t build up heat without cutting a promo so I feel there are only two options to help his WWE career. Either get a manager who can do the talking for him or get a tag-team partner.

I think both are equally likely to work. A luchador tag-team with Mysterio has been hinted at recently and would be a hit in my eyes. A manager could also build up Sin Cara’s mystery and talk about his history in Mexico etc. Either way, we need to hear something from him and soon or he’ll just get lost jobbing forever.

– Team Friendship

Daniel Bryan… D-Bry… Goat face… God damn, I love you.

Pretty much all my favourite things in wrestling this year have revolved around Bryan in some form or another. He has really taken the opportunity he had after Money In The Bank last year and completely transformed his career. The crowd go crazy for him every time he comes to the ring and his promos have been fantastic.

In this new twist, he has been forced into a partnership with Kane. That’s right folks, the guy they had no clue what to do with other than shove him into other people’s matches as a wildcard element. They’ve found love in a hopeless place. Anger management. And now, they’re tag team champs.

I’ll be honest, nothing about this should work. It’s the dumbest idea in years. Yet, it’s absolute gold. Both members are playing it up to full effect and Kane has managed to get a good few giggles out of me. That’s right, Kane, you guys.

This is doomed to fail in a blaze of glory, but while it lasts Team Friendship is going to keep me tuning in.

– Ryder Or Riot

I’ve discussed at length here in the past Zack Ryder’s rather dodgy relationship with the WWE creative team. They either don’t like him or have no clue what to do with him. Possibly both. So Zack’s time on TV has been more than spotty and limited. Hell, the dude never got his USA title rematch. So when I saw him win the battle royal on the pre-show YouTube thingy I got more than a little excited.

Antonio Cesaro is a nothing champion. I’m not trying to diminish Cesaro’s skill as a wrestler, he’s fine, but there is no heat with him. Nobody cares. He became champion from nowhere and has done very little with it. I was fully expecting him to drop the belt to Ryder.

What I didn’t expect was these guys pulling off one of the best matches of the night. I didn’t realise either competitor had as many moves in their arsenal as they do because “damn, girl” they impressed the hell out of me.

It helps when you get given a larger amount of time in the ring to do your thing. I would hazard that last night’s match was longer than their last three or four combined. But on the basis of this last minute, thrown together match-up I hope these two get to start up a long feud because it was great to watch.

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.

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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.

I noticed Zack Ryder’s web show almost purely by accident. In the same way that most people are found online, it was through a series of “related videos” clicks on youtube. I enjoyed it instantly. Not only was the wrestler not taking himself too seriously and seemed to be genuinely having fun with his flip cam but it was a genius way to try and push himself and find an audience.

The WWE creative team obviously thought very little of Ryder. He was being buried and Zack hadn’t been on TV in months. But numbers talk and when one of your roster is regularly getting 150,000 hits on youtube for something he makes in his apartment… you get attention. The thing is, he wasn’t getting attention from the WWE big wigs, but actually from his fellow wrestlers.

When CM Punk was causing ructions with his very vocal contract antics in the ring, one thing he mentioned regularly was “when is Zack Ryder going to be put on TV?”. CM Punk, who was airing all his grievances with the company, felt it was such an obvious move to push his fellow wrestler that he made it part of his protest.

And since then, to the company’s credit, they’ve started to push him slowly but surely to the point where he’s actually getting some big matches. This week on RAW, he was in the headline event.

WWE were in Liverpool and I was happy about this for a few reasons. I had spoken in my last report about how the crowds of the current WWE are a lot quieter than previous generations. While European crowds are even quieter than their American counterparts, they are however great gauges of talent. They tend not to root just for the baby-face but for the guy who is actually doing a great job, whether they be heel or not.

For example, Dolph Ziggler has been working some great matches and getting over guys for quite some time now. Especially our man Zack. Zack’s mini-feud with Ziggler has been great to not only give him some momentum but also to give Ryder the in-ring time he sorely needed (dude was looking pretty rusty once he stepped through those ropes). Has Ziggler been getting any love from the crowd in the states? Hell no. But Liverpool started it’s own “Let’s go Ziggler” chant during his match with Morrison. The slow death of Morrison in the WWE may be another day’s discussion.

So Liverpool, you know who is worth chanting for. I like that. The “who are you?” chant for Alberto del Rio was also a highlight of the night. While del Rio is great in the ring, he’s absolutely horrible on the mic. CM Punk seems to back me up on that point. I may be old school in my thought process, but if you’re going to be followed around by a non-wrestling flunky, they should be able to cover your bad mic skills, not just stand in the background and introduce you to the crowd.

I seem to be rambling off the point. Anyway, what I was tyring to get to is that the fact that Zack Ryder was getting louder chants than John Cena during their tag-team match in the main event… our little broski has come along way.

John Cena, by the way, has also been a big supporter for Ryder. And while we all love to hate the guy, he at least had the smarts to tag Zack into the match early when the “we want Ryder” chants started. You could clearly see it changed the game-plan and I appreciate any wrestler who is willing to give the crowd want it wants even if it means you do a little less on the night.

While this is all great stuff for Ryder the wrestler… his YouTube show is suffering. I wonder how long before he gives it up? When you’re on TV regularly, the web show is going to get pushed to the background. But, I think he can live with that.