2011. We lived it and, if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably forgotten a lot of it. Some by choice, some not. Well, as is tradition when a year ends, it’s time to jog everyone’s memories and look back at the year that was. To remember what we loved, brave what we hated, maybe learn from some mistakes and above all else create a written record of the previous 12 months, because seriously, my memory is pretty bad.
Let’s begin.
JANUARY
The Era Of Awesome, Del Rio Rules The Royal Rumble, Diesel Power, See You Never, Nexus Or Nexii?
– The Miz started off the year as WWE Champion, literally, with a Falls Count Anywhere victory over John Morrison opening the first Raw of 2011. Miz’s proverbial plate was full and his attentions were split, as 2011 started with not just Morrison on his radar, but lingering tension from the year before with both Jerry Lawler and Randy Orton. In the end, Orton would take precedence as Miz’s next immediate challenge at Royal Rumble, by virtue of being Randy Orton. Meaning Lawler would have to wait another month.
– Speaking of the Royal Rumble, the Royal Rumble was, as is custom, a thing which happened in January. Happened like never before, infact, as true to form it was Bigger, Badder and Better than ever, some of those words more apt than others. In the end, expanding to 40 participants really didn’t hurt one of the true lasting traditions WWE has. The match itself was, in my opinion, an improvement on recent years efforts, as there was a renewed focus on story. After years of guys entering, doing some moves and disappearing having added little to the memory, this year had story arcs, moments, surprises and strong performances.
The segment with Punk’s New Nexus taking control of the Rumble was executed perfectly, to the point that John Cena overcoming the odds actually worked perfectly. And okay, I’m sure people had mixed feelings about Cena and Hornswoggle assuming the Nexus role moments later. But a- It was a cooldown segment in the middle of a 40 man battle royal that kinda needed some breathing time, b- It was harmless fun, unless you really have vested interest in Heath Slater’s credibility, c- The visual after Punk’s Nexus back-up of Cena being Hornswoggle was a cute little nod to and d- Hey, ease up on the little guy, would ya? He’s good at his role and this “grr, I hate that leprechaun” stuff is a little anti-social. Leprechauns are people too. Uhm, I think.
So anyway, Alberto Del Rio eventually won the Rumble for the first time, at the second time of asking, after WWE teased that Santino Marella might actually win the Royal Rumble. Now that was something. The match lost some steam near the end, but there was plenty to like here and as a Rumble aficionado, I very much approved.
– In a year of comebacks, returns and “remember that guy/gal”s, the Rumble brought back a couple of familiar faces. One we’ll get to soon. The other was Kevin Nash, who was running (or at least walking briskly) on Diesel Power. By the way, did he mention that he got the biggest pop of the entire Rumble?
– As aforementioned, CM Punk’s eternally “New” Nexus played a big part in the Rumble. At the start of the match, they clashed with another stable that formed in January, an offshoot of the Not New Nexus. Wade Barrett went to Smackdown, as did Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater. And there, they hooked up with a guy named Zeke, to form The Corre. The group was short lived. So short lived that, amazingly and inexplicably, the New Nexus squad actually outlasted them. But in that short time, they left an indomitable mark on the wrestling world. For truly, they were and forever will be known as, A Group Of Equals.
– Also on Smackdown, during a match with Rey Mysterio, Cody Rhodes suffered apparent facial injuries thanks to an errant knee brace and a 619. That’ll pay off soon.
– Hey, remember when Drew McIntyre was chasing after Kelly Kelly? Me neither.
– But January cannot pass without mentioning something which, okay, technically, started the previous December, but warmed the hearts of it’s fans all throughout the month and beyond. And although it ended in March, it’s legacy will live on long after the fact.
I am of course talking about Season 4 of NXT. The season of Derrick Bateman. The season of Dolph Ziggler. The season of Steve Blackman (who’s not even a real person). The season of Brodus Clay, of Ricardo Rodriguez, of Conor O’Brian the human who somehow went from showing rat like tendencies to by the end of the season believing he actually was a giant rat. The season of Chicks Plus America, of “hashtag Bateman”, of Turd Ferguson, of “slam Brodus Clay”. The season of the Bateman/Daniel Bryan/Bella Twins double date segment, aka the DD DB with the BTs. The season. We’ll never have it this good again.
Must See Matches:
The Miz versus John Morrison, WWE Championship Falls Count Anywhere, Raw, Jan 3rd
Edge versus Dolph Ziggler, World Championship, Royal Rumble, Jan 30th
The 2011 Royal Rumble Match, Jan 30th
FEBRUARY
An Electrifying Return, Chamber Of Delights, Cataclysmic Frenzy, Welcome To Mil-Wauk-Ee
– February saw the long awaited return to WWE television of the charismatic, catchphrase producing, Attitude era defining multiple time World Champion we all know and love as Booker T. Oh, yeah, and some guy named “The Rock” came back? Whatever. As the new colour commentator on Smackdown, Booker T set new records for creating a library of soundbites and trademark phrases. And he did so with the greatest of ease, you might say, were you trying to seamlessly fit one such phrase into a sentence. Say what you want about Booker, but the guy brought passion and fun to an announcing crew that really does a great job of sucking that out of viewers elsewhere. He is easily in my Fave Five.
– No, but seriously, The Rock aka Dwayne Johnson came back. I think it goes without saying that people were excited to see him. As JR would say, business just picked up. Literally. At first. Then more figuratively. What it also did was bring back John Cena freestyling, in an effort to hit back at The Rock, aka Dwayne, with no Johnson.
– Meanwhile, one star of the 90s who didn’t return, or appear for the first time more specifically, was Sting. Vignettes aired on Raw of a mysterious figure in a trenchcoat lurking around in a secluded shack, teasing an appearance on 2.21.11. This caused some people to get very excited. “It has to be Sting!”, people cried. Then it became clear that, nope, it was The Undertaker coming back. People were undeterred. “It still has to be Sting! Maybe he was just outside in the rain!”, people cried. Then February 21st rolled around and, nope, it was The Undertaker. “Oh. Well, can we at least put Sting in the Hall Of Fame?”, people cried. Loudly. But that’s a separate story. The Undertaker, not Sting, returned and was immediately confronted by Triple H, in a cataclysmic frenzy of pantomime and silent theatre. Wrestlemania was on the horizon. And Sting would have to wait a few more weeks for TNA to completely rip off the vignettes in shameless fashion and return him to Impact. Poor dude.
– February’s PPV offering was Elimination Chamber, which in a trend which will soon emerge was a pretty darn good WWE PPV in 2011. Alberto Del Rio beat Kofi Kingston in a strong opening match. The Miz resumed his feud with Jerry Lawler, which turned into an emotional WWE Championship match after the passing of Lawler’s mother shortly before the show. And the show obviously featured two Elimination Chamber matches. The Raw main event was really good, the Smackdown World Title one even better. Notable moments included Drew McIntyre going into BEAST mode, John Morrison parkouring himself off the top of the Chamber ceiling onto Sheamus, CM Punk’s elimination that wasn’t an elimination and a fantastic final two showing from Edge and Rey Mysterio.
– And speaking of returns, Trish Stratus also came back. Unfortunately, she didn’t bring sensible shoes with her. Which proved a mistake.
– Green Bay, Wisconsin! The Packers won the Superbowl and R-Truth, bless him, got a little caught up in the moment. Green Bay, Milwaukee, what’s the diff, you know? Luckily, Truth getting the name of the town wrong would prove to be the turning point towards better things.
– As Wrestlemania approached, things started getting a little “out there” in the major feuds. On Raw, The Miz and John Cena won the World Tag Team Titles, using the tried and tested formula of being two guys who hate each other. Amazing how often that works. It didn’t last long and they dropped the titles straight back minutes later. While on Smackdown, Dolph Ziggler enjoyed an equally short and pointless title reign, except he was World Champion for 11 minutes. This all coming after the title was defended in a three on two mixed tag match with Kelly Kelly technically a defending champion and Clay Matthews of the Milwaukee Packers counting a pinfall during a title defence.
– During this month, Mistico signed for WWE, in a talent acquisition that I’m sure nothing could possibly go wrong with.
– But, most importantly of all, February was the month that marked the transformation of Dashing Cody Rhodes. After having extensive facial reconstructive surgery, Cody came back and set his sights on Rey Mysterio. And with a little help from Daddy Dusty, the protective masked wearing disfigured hero attacked and unmasked Mysterio on Smackdown. The Dashing One was done and the morose “Whoa-ohhs” would echo through the arenas for much of the rest of the year.
Must See Matches:
Daniel Bryan versus The Miz, Raw, Feb 14th
Smackdown Elimination Chamber Match, Feb 20th
Raw Elimination Chamber Match, Feb 20th
Miz versus Jerry Lawler, WWE Championship, Elimination Chamber Feb 20th
MARCH
Road To Wrestlemania, Stone Cold Beer Baths, Cole Mining, Randy’s Mail Order Bride, Snookimania
– The Road To Wrestlemania hit full speed in March and there were plenty of metaphorical cars on the track. The Rock was announced as the special Host of Wrestlemania, code for “he’ll be involved in the main event, guys”, although not code for “he’ll be wrestling in a match, we’re just not going to announce it, because what’d be the point in that, right?” as some people may have concluded. Rock was there to continue his beef with Cena. Cena continued his beef with Rock, some weeks in person and some not. Which meant an easy time of it for Miz. Well, sort of. After weeks of bickering, Wrestlemania’s grand stage was set, with a People’s Elbow for Miz and an Attitude Adjustment for Rock.
– Elsewhere, the big feud featured two announcers. Jerry Lawler’s dispute with Miz transformed into all out war with everybody’s favourite, Michael Cole. Something came over Cole this year. Something bad. The more obnoxious and overbearing than ever Cole and Lawler embarked on a RTWM that swerved all over said Road, ranging from great to, well, not so great. Perhaps no other feud has hits such highs and such lows. Everyone from Jim Ross to Jack Swagger to an out of breath Brian Christopher to the returning (there’s that word again) Stone Cold Steve Austin got swept up in it’s path, on the way to that inevitable feel good, feud ending victory for The King at Wrestlemania.
– One thing this feud did spawn, at least, was the Cole Mine, a protective structure that was virtually impenetrable. Aside from the fact it had no roof. And holes in the sides. But, it was at least 70% impenetrable.
– The other big match for Wrestlemania was The Undertaker and Triple H. Which lead to the, yes, return, of Shawn Michaels to help set the scene. 9 months on and we still don’t know what Shawn’s secret plan was.
– It wasn’t all about returns, though. How about a promotion. How about a newcomer. How about Brodus Clay, stepping up to the big time as Alberto Del Rio’s mammoth back-up. Remember Brodus Clay? Oh, Brodus. Come back. We miss you.
– Randy Orton was spending the month of March doing what he does best. That being kicking other human beings in the skull and sending them away to convalesce. Orton had found himself tangled with the New Nexus, lead by CM Punk. And Orton’s pre-Wrestlemania plan was simple. Eliminate everyone. One by one, Punk watched his inherited B-squad go down. Even Mason Ryan. Punk would gain some measure of revenge later in the month, by spooking Randall’s fake actor wife who was not the same as his first fake actor wife from behind the door of her tour bus.
– Raw got both crazy and at the same time wild, as the celebrity quotient for Wrestlemania was filled by The Jersey Shore’s Snooki. Snooki ran afoul of LayCool and Vickie Guerrero, setting up a six person tag match at Mania.
– Sadly, in March, Season 4 of NXT ended. Also, in March, Season 5 of NXT started, with Darren Young and Titus O’Neil the main feud.
APRIL
Wrestlemania, 19-0, Sin Cara’s Stumble, Cena Dodges The Draft, Edge Retires, Think Of The Children R-Truth
– Wrestlemania XXVII was on April 3rd, “The Biggest Wrestlemania Ever”, hosted by The Rock. And I think we can all agree, it surely was the biggest Wrestlemania ever hosted by The Rock. No false advertising here. As not advertised, nor even really promised, the star of the show made his presence felt in the main event. And thank goodness The Rock was there, to make sure Wrestlemania’s main event didn’t end in a double count out. Yes. Miz and John Cena fought to a double count out in the main event of Wrestlemania. Luckily, Dwayne was around to assert his powers as Wrestlemania Host (which I can only presume exist) to restart the match, give Cena the Rock Bottom and help Miz to retain. Suffice is to say, this wasn’t the best Wrestlemania ever. Although, it was the best Wrestlemania ever hosted by The Rock.
– Once again, it was left to old 19-0 himself, The Undertaker, to salvage the show with yet another memorable match at Wrestlemania, this time with Triple H. That aside, Wrestlemania ironically turned out to be one of the weaker offerings of the year. In the good column, Randy Orton beat CM Punk, Cody Rhodes beat Rey Mysterio, Edge beat Alberto Del Rio in the opener and Snooki miraculously produced in her match. In the not-so good, Rock’s promo to start the show, an eight man tag with The Corre which went less than 2 minutes, Daniel Bryan and Sheamus getting bumped to the pre show and turning into a melee battle royal just for good measure and, oh yeah, Michael Cole beat Jerry Lawler by disqualification after insulting his dead mother in the build-up. Betcha didn’t see that one coming.
– Yep, Cole and Lawler weren’t done yet. Oh, no. They were just getting started! And lows were going to be hit, as Lawler sort of but not quite got his revenge, enough to warrant a rematch and more angles of vastly varying quality with JR and Swagger. Austin escaped while he still could.
– In a rare piece of forward thinking and early promotion, the main event for Wrestlemania 28 was set in stone a year early, as The Rock and John Cena agreed to both make it official and promote it ahead of time that, yes, they’d be fighting at Wrestlemania next year too.
– Sadly, there’d be no more rematches for Edge. Having won his match at Wrestlemania and retained the World Title, not to mention put a few dents in Alberto’s car, Edge announced his retirement on April 11th due to a neck injury. Edge got an emotional send-off on both Raw and Smackdown, but did at least make sporadic appearances through the rest of the year as a guest.
– Tough Enough made it’s return and, I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch a single second of it. Some girl said something funny about liking Melina, or something. I don’t know.
– With Wrestlemania in the books, the path was clear for Mistico, now known as “Sin Cara”, to make his WWE debut. Well, the path was clear, aside from a couple of obstacles. One being a trampoline, the other a set of ring ropes. Sin Cara managed to narrowly avert disaster by sort of making it over the ropes in one piece in his first action as a WWE superstar (well, besides pointing, I suppose). Maybe it was first night nerves, maybe bad luck. But, hey, at least that obstacle was safely out of the way and nothing but plain sailing was ahead of him. I mean, aside from Primo.
– The annual WWE Draft took place, as WWE looked to shake things up again, again. A never not useful and always not pointless exercise on non-futility. Here now are quick, surmised highlights of the 2011 WWE Draft:
John Cena went to Smackdown
John Cena went back to Raw
– Having temporarily lost his bearings the previous month, R-Truth lost his marbles in London and went through a dramatic character transformation. After winning his way into a WWE Championship match at Extreme Rules, Truth found himself goaded into putting his shot up on the line by his on-off buddy John Morrison. See, R-Truth needed to take on water during the gauntlet match that earned him the shot. And what kind of athlete needs water to function? So, having lost his title opportunity, Truth took his frustrations out on Morrison, in amazing fashion. A water bottle upside the head was one thing. Lighting a cigarette and blowing smoke in his face? Now that’s what’s up.
– Season 5 of NXT continued, with Darren Young and Titus O’Neil the main feud.
– April was, in many ways, a microcosm of the whole year. Some good, some memorably bad. It’s all about perception. See, some people will look back five years from now and remember the double count out in the main event of Wrestlemania, where-as others will hold fond memories of the No Holds Barred match. Perception. Some day in the future, there will be people who look back and say to themselves “April 2011, that was the month when someone had the bright idea to dye Dolph Ziggler’s hair brown and cut it short so he looked like everyone else, right? And remember when LayCool went to couples therapy? Oh boy, April sure was bad”.
But then, then there’ll be some who look back more fondly. There’ll be some, like me, who see the silver lining in the clouds, the bright side to every dark day. There’ll be those who look back, misty eyed to April 2011 and they’ll remember the month that Cody Rhodes first broke out the paper bag and they’ll say “I was there”. But more-so than that, they’ll look back and they’ll say on that one, fateful night in April, April 11th, they tuned into Raw, they watched past the first 15 minutes, they saw The Corre come out thinking nothing of it. And then, they bore witness to the debut and only appearance of the greatest stable in WWE history. Santino Marella. Evan Bourne. Daniel Bryan. Mark Henry. Allied People Powered by Loathing Everything (that The Corre stood for). THE APPLE.
Must See Matches:
The Undertaker versus Triple H, No Holds Barred, Wrestlemania XXVII, Apr 3rd
MAY
Rock Appreciation Night, Christian’s 15 Minutes, Rise Of Riley, Bad Kharma, Whip Me And Kiss My Feet
– The Rock’s birthday was in May. Wanna know how I know this? Because WWE graciously spent two hours of their TV time celebrating it on Raw. A bunch of celebrities told us how great Rock was. Some special guests showed up and told us how great Rock was. And then WWE played a video, reminding us just who was responsible for this great person’s entire career. And they let us all watch along. Wasn’t that nice of them?
– Extreme Rules was another of those pretty darn good 2011 PPVs. Both Punk and Orton and Rey and Cody produced better matches than they did at Wrestlemania, in sort of Backlash tradition. In the main event, John Cena and John Morrison somehow narrowly avoided breaking The Miz’s neck with a double brainbuster off the top of a cage in what was a strong triple threat aside from the near paralysis. But the highlight of the show was the Ladder Match for the vacant World Championship. Stepping into the breach left by his former tag team partner, Christian won his first World Title, with a little help from Edge, against Alberto Del Rio. However, Christian’s joy wasn’t to last long.
– LayCool’s couples therapy proved to be a waste of money, as despite their efforts to reconcile, they ended up fighting at Extreme Rules, loser leaves style. Layla beat Michelle, banishing her from WWE. And to help send her on her way? The debuting Kharma, who stalked into the company and took Michelle out, in what was a very promising debut. Sadly, that didn’t last long either. Before the month was out, Kharma was gone. It was great while it lasted, but Kharma had to be written out due to pregnancy, cutting short what was proving to be an interesting time in the Diva division.
– Okay, so, it wasn’t all good. We did have to suffer through the Country Whipping Match with Cole and Swagger against JR and Lawler. Cole won, but, presumably we’d seen enough commentary conflict by now and that’d be the end of it, right? Right? Right!? Wrong. There were still more lows to be hit. Like Cole being fake coronated. All to set up a final, sort of blow-off at Over The Limit, where Michael Cole lost a Kiss My Foot Match to Lawler, all thanks to the return of Bret Hart.
– Christian’s win at Extreme Rules proved to be a false dawn, as mere days later, Christian lost the World Championship on Smackdown to Randy Orton. As it turned out, this would be the start of something good. But at the time, people were maaad. Twitter voiced it’s anger, back when Twitter was something that wasn’t deemed requiring of derision and complaints every time it was mentioned by WWE. Thankfully better was yet to come, not just for Christian but for Orton too. Over The Limit was also in the month of May and produced the best match in the consistent Orton/Christian series. One of the best matches of the year, it proved to people Christian could hang and that maybe this Orton guy isn’t a terrible drain on the company after all.
– Also at Over The Limit, Sin Cara and Chavo Guerrero didn’t have a good match, which was attributed pretty much solely to poor Chavo. Because, hey, Sin Cara’s problems were merely of a teething nature. Clear skies were up ahead for him.
– Macho Man Randy Savage sadly passed away on May 20th.
– After months of loyal devotion, The Miz and Alex Riley’s student/mentor, champion/lackey, star/guy who falls out of the Royal Rumble accidentally relationship came to a head after Miz lost his I Quit Match against John Cena. Miz’s plan of beating Cena two on one for 5 hours didn’t work and he put the blame squarely on A-Ry’s shoulders. Miz said it to his face, but Riley didn’t want to hear it, ironically, and proceeded to tear through Miz in a display of intensity that made Riley kind of a big deal in people’s eyes. Things have stalled late in the year for Riley for various reasons, but he still remains pretty over, thanks to the execution of this breakup and his pretty rad theme music.
– Jinder Mahal debuted and although we didn’t know who he was, Great Khali and Ranjin seemed to. Turns out there was some kind of family relationship there. It didn’t amount to much.
– What did amount to much was R-Truth, who started to call out the Little Jimmys of the world in his continuing descent into R-Truthness.
– Having failed in his DESTINY to win the World Title, Alberto Del Rio wound up drawing the ire of The Big Show. Quote un quote “accidentally” running over someone’s leg will do that kind of thing. Del Rio, despite his act, didn’t seem too apologetic and threatened to bill Show for damaging his car with his leg.
– Season 5 of NXT continued, with Darren Young and Titus O’Neil the main feud.
– But by far the highlight of the year was what should have been a sad, unwelcome demise for the group of equals known as The Corre. But it’s amazing what a comedy sound effect can do to lighten the mood. And boy, did this have it. If you haven’t seen it, search “Ezekial attacks The Corre” on YouTube and marvel. I don’t know who was storing fine bone china crockery in that laundry hamper they dropped on him, but I bet they were pissed.
Must See Matches:
Randy Orton versus CM Punk, Last Man Standing Match, Extreme Rules, May 1st
Alberto Del Rio versus Christian, World Title Ladder Match, Extreme Rules, May 1st
Randy Orton versus Christian, World Title, Over The Limit, May 22nd
Rey Mysterio versus CM Punk, Raw, May 30th
JUNE
Hey Colt Cabana!, World’s Strongest Rage, Text Fiascos, Punbearable Promos, Getting Got By Little Jimmy
– The game was changed late in June, the beginning of not one but two characters who’d dominate the rest of the year. The first came somewhat out of nowhere. R-Truth and John Cena fought over the WWE Title on Raw, leading into Capitol Punishment, where R-Truth got okie-doked by Little Jimmy and lost his match thanks to a soda shower from a Cena fan. With Truth’s chance gone, a new number one contender needed to be crowned. Step forward, CM Punk. Punk had been treading water somewhat for the past 12 months. His feud with Rey Mysterio, that being the 2010 one, had ended with a head shaving and stalled Punk, leaving him to dick around with the remains of Nexus for the rest of the year. 2011 brought the Orton feud and another series of matches with Mysterio. But nobody expected what came next. After earning the top contendership, Punk revealed he was on the outs, vowing to take the WWE Title with him on his way out the door. And after taking out Cena on Raw, he cut the most memorable promo of the year, a cross-legged tirade on anyone and everyone, from Hogan to Lesnar to HHH to the fans themselves. And suddenly, people were talking.
– Before all that was Capitol Punishment, following weeks of mock Obama press conferences which, hey, I’m man enough to admit, I chuckled at. The fake Obama who appeared on the show? Not quite so much. But this PPV at the very least didn’t blend in with the rest, in terms of promotion at least.
– Contrary to a lot of people’s fears, Christian stayed an important part of the main event scene on Smackdown. Cracks started to show in his character as he failed to regain the World Title in another excellent match-up with Randy Orton at Capitol Punishment and by the end of the half year, Christian had put his peeps on ignore. The World Title scene was becoming crowded, just to further annoy Christian and make Teddy Long’s job of booking tag team matches and dancing that much harder, as Orton also had Sheamus on his tail and a certain World’s Strongest Man gaining momentum.
– Enough momentum to take on the Big Show and manhandle the giant. Big Show rage at Del Rio spawned a new feud, as Show took his anger out on Mark Henry with one giant fist. What seemed like an innocuous attack would become one of the best feuds of the year, as Mark Henry returned looking for revenge. Henry used his momentum both literally and figuratively, driving Big Show through the side of a steel cage, not to mention through the interview set and through announce tables with World’s Strongest Slams.
– Also at Capitol Punishment, Alex Riley managed to beat The Miz and keep his career moving in the right direction and we got two new champions, as Dolph Ziggler won the US Title and Ezekial Jackson won the IC Title. One fared better than the other from that point on.
– Tough Enough ended it’s run, with “Big” Andy Leavine not leavin(e)g the competition and instead winning the whole thing. His reward was getting slapped down by Vince McMahon and hit with a Stunner by Steve Austin. Then he kinda disappeared.
– Season 5 of NXT continued, with Darren Young and Titus O’Neil the main feud. Also, Derrick Bateman returned. You have no idea how happy I was.
– Remember Cyber Sunday? Remember Taboo Tuesday? Remember the 1-800 lines? No, wait, come back, wrong way. Remember when WWE tried to do text voting on Raw? Suffice is to say, it did not work out so well. All seemed well at first, but the show got stranger and stranger as the voting went array. People started to suspect something was amiss when fans chose to watch Mason Ryan wrestle a match. As it turns out, Mason Ryan did not have a secret underground cult following (well, not enough to swing a vote, at least) and a text backlog screwed everything up. To make it up, WWE announced they’d have the Evan Bourne versus Sin Cara match that should have won another week. Yes, a rare piece of bad luck befell Sin Cara. Thankfully there wasn’t any more of that to come. To this day, I still contend the people wanted to see Daniel Bryan and Cody Rhodes in a Paper Bag Match. But that wrong was never righted.
– Speaking of wrongs never righted, Johnny Curtis showed up on Smackdown. Well, sort of. For weeks, he promised to make his debut. A slow build, you might say. All well and good. Except, it wasn’t. See, Johnny would end each of his vignettes by making a bad pun. Now, I’m a sucker for cheesy word play. If you’ve made it this far, you’ll probably agree. But this. This was something else. This was popular phrases played out through interpretive theatre. This was spilling milk and crying over it. Literally. Literally. Too literally. This was the payoff to my beloved NXT Season 4. I can only presume somebody watched Zack Ryder “drawing money” and “being pushed” on his YouTube show and thought this would be a great idea. They were wrong.
– I don’t want that to be the last memory of the half year of 2011. So, Natalya joined up with Season 3 veterans, Kaitlyn and AJ, in a mentorship role. Which lead to a lengthy feud with the dream team of Alicia Fox, Tamina and Rosa Mendes, affectionately known by few as Rosa’s Army. It wasn’t great. But, it did coincide with the debut of AJ’s theme music, now better known as the backstage “Divas walking to the ring” music. And that is what 2011 should really be best remembered for.
Must See Matches:
CM Punk versus Rey Mysterio, Raw, Jun 6th
Randy Orton versus Christian, Capitol Punishment, Jun 19th
CM Punk versus Rey Mysterio, Capitol Punishment, Jun 19th
CM Punk versus Rey Mysterio versus Alberto Del Rio, Raw, Jun 20th
Rey Mysterio and Alex Riley versus Jack Swagger and The Miz, Raw, Jun 27th
Look out for Part 2 of this year in review session real soon, for conspiracy theories, walk-outs, hashtags and Laurinaitis.
Until then, everybody have big fun this New Year’s.