It's that time of year again. A crisp chill is in the air. People are scrambling to get all their work done so they can jet off to their respective "middles of nowhere" and visit with family. Unhealthy levels of alcohol will be consumed in order that those people can tolerate the repugnant funhouse mirror-effect of spending awkward evenings with said relatives. Then, on a quiet night, distant from the watchful eye of the guiding stars above, someone will head out into the black, driving to the store to get more DuraFlame logs, and crash their Dodge into a thick, Scottish pine. They'll lie dying in the snow, with their last thoughts dizzily obsessing over their life's ironic regrets.
Oh, and it's also time to look back at the wild, wacky world of pro-wrestling and tell you what ruled and what sucked ass in 2011! The WWE, now addicted to any form of internet buzz, appropriately ended their year with Punk, Bryan and Ryder all holding major titles, standing tall and victorious on a RAW emanating from Philly. As a noisier-than-average part of the proud internet wrestling community, I can say that this was a perfect way to end the year. As soul-sucking as the WWE's late-to-the-dance worship of Twitter is, the fact that they now heavily pay attention to online fandom is a major step towards providing a more well-rounded product that older, persnickety a**holes like us can appreciate. But all in all, WWE-wise, this was the year of The Rock's big return and CM Punk's "shoot heard round the world."
I have to admit that I look forward to these "Year in Wrestling" recaps because of all the damn joke-recycling I'm gonna throw at you. Yup, not a single original thought is going to pour out of my brain as I just sift through this past year's best images, gifs and gags. It's gonna be a goddamn laze-a-palooza, folks. And it will spotlight what I do best; reconstituting bulls***. There are three main parts to the year-end Wrap Up: News, Things I Liked and Things I Didn't Like. It's pretty much the USA Today info-graphic of wrestling analysis. Except more about ice cream bars, anal bleeding and David Otunga than about "Which Country Eats the Most Big Macs."
In the story that certainly garnered the WWE the most mainstream media attention unexpectedly, CM Punk, a month away from his contract expiring and with one honest foot already out the door, squatted down on the entrance ramp with a mic and proceeded to tear down the curtain protecting the great and powerful Oz. How much of what Punk said was actually planned out ahead of time will always be a mystery to those of us on the outside of the carnal carnival that is pro-wrestling, but it should probably be said that very little ever gets on RAW that isn't plotted and planned out ahead of time. As much as s*** gets re-written at the eleventh hour, everything still needs final permission.
Regardless, Punk wound up giving the WWE the adrenaline shot in the ass (that's where it goes, right?) that it needed and while many of us still don't feel as though the WWE fully capitalized on Punk's "3:16" moment, he still remains one of the organizations best assets and has now been given an impressively longer leash. Punk's WWE Championship wins over Cena at Money in the Bank and Del Rio at Survivor Series were huge highlights of the year; tickling us in all the right places. And by that I mean "balls."
More News of the Year on page 2…
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