DaveyBoy's Wrestling Menu - 2004 Year-End Awards + 2004 WWE Report Card
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, December 22, 2004 at 3:22 AM EST






THE WRESTLING MENU #112

Welcome one and all to the 112th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

For the umpteenth time over the past couple of months, I have changed the plan of my column at the last moment. I originally had a huge column set to go, but when I started to write it, I realized that it was just going to be too long..... up around the 40 paragraph mark!!!

The other reason I held back & have this more readable column is that I was going to skip posting columns for the next 2 Wednesdays. But now with part of my next column already written, I'll just skip the Wednesday between Christmas & New Year. So expect my next column to hit the LOP airwaves on January 5.

With the long 'main' section today, there will be no 'appetizers'. On with the show.....


MAIN - 2004 Awards

Nothing out of the ordinary here folks. 15 awards & 15 winners. A short comment which, if I deem necessary, will include any runners-up. Please note that these are WWE exclusive awards, as I have not seen enough NWA-TNA this year. Just for memories & comparisons, I will include my 2002 & 2003 award winners at the end of each award in brackets.

MALE WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: Chris Benoit - One of the easiest awards to present this year. Finally becoming a genuine main-eventer, Benoit proved why he always should have been, whether he had the title or not. Consistently lifting midcard talent to a main-event level, he got the best out of Kane, Orton & Edge, just to name three. His Royal Rumble win from being the #1 entrant was superb, while his World HeavyWeight title win at WrestleMania 20 was simply phenomenal. Didn't let up on his intensity, which I believe is his main strength, while his microphone work improved a little. (2003 winner: Shawn Michaels. 2002 winner: Kurt Angle.)

FEMALE WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: Trish Stratus - In a division with not many to choose from, I thought Trish was clearly a standout for the 2nd straight year. While the quality of her wrestling reduced a little due to a number of injuries, her entertainment factor sky-rocketed after her WrestleMania 20 heel turn. In fact, she can arguably be included as one of the best backstage segment performers of the year. (2003 winner: Trish Stratus. 2002 winner: Victoria)

OVERALL PERFORMER OF THE YEAR: Eddie Guerrero - This award adds to the wrestling aspect, by including all other WWE segments. Past winners Guerrero & Angle are heavily favored in this category due to their entertainment prowess during backstage & in-the-ring sports entertainment segments. While I thought Angle was not up to his usual best in 2004, I almost gave this award to Benoit due to being the standout wrestler of the year. However, I couldn't look past Eddie for the 2nd straight year, as he main-evented all year & hardly ever became tiresome, despite some questionable angles. (2003 winner: Eddie Guerrero. 2002 winner: Kurt Angle)

TAG-TEAM OF THE YEAR: Rey Mysterio & Rob Van Dam - This was a tough decision, as the WWE haven't shown much love to either brand's tag-team division this year. The only team that has lasted throughout the year, in one form or another, is La Resistance. But I just couldn't give them this award, as they have been mediocre at best. Some of the other contenders here were RVD & Booker T, The Bashams, Haas & Benjamin & even the short-lived Kidman/London combination. Now whilst many readers will say I'm just choosing the most recent team, these guys have actually teamed off & on for the past 8 months. Many people forget they defeated The Dudley Boyz at Judgment Day way back in mid-May. While their current run started sometime in September. While they have yet to click perfectly, they've shown enough excellent double-team moves to beat what is obviously a weak field. (2003 winners: Los Guerreros. 2002 winners: Billy & Chuck)

MOST IMPROVED WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: Shelton Benjamin - I tossed & turned on this award, with 3 standouts being considered; Benjamin, Orton & Batista. Batista's improvement started early in the year with his wrestling skills. Towards the end of the year, he also added an excellent segment oriented angle with Triple H. For those reasons, he is exceptionally unlucky not to win this award. Unfortunately, I just don't think he is up to the main event just yet. While Orton was way overpushed, I believe we shouldn't ignore how much he has improved this year. He did not make a fool of himself in his main-event performances, has continued to improve his mic work & made a decent go of a questionably booked face turn. But Shelton Benjamin is the one who has really amazed me with his improvement. Prior to 2004, I did not feel that he was a future main-eventer. However, he has proven me wrong & shown that he can stick with the best of them (eg: Triple H) & even carry those that aren't up to his standard (eg: Tomko). He still has deficiencies to improve, but you can almost literally see him working on them as each week goes past!!! (2003 winner: John Cena. 2002 winner: Edge)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Carlito Caribbean Cool - As detailed a month or so back in my column, Carlito has been awarded my rookie of the year award, as he is the most likely of the 2004 newcomers to be main-eventing in approximately 5 years time. Again, the exaggerated push was ridiculous. But for such a young man (25 years of age), he has handled that pressure, along with his injury, very well. This guy has drawn genuine heel heat, which is hard for a newcomer to do. (2003 winner: Charlie Haas. 2002 winner: Brock Lesnar)

DEBUT OF THE YEAR: Nick 'Eugene' Dinsmore - I may do away with this award next year, as it was predominantly used for newcomers from other established wrestling organizations. However, it's useful this year, as Eugene made more of an impact than Carlito did during 2004. However, I could not state that he was the rookie of the year, as I have doubts as to what the future holds for him. Dinsmore did an extraordinary job portraying one of the most difficult gimmicks ever given to a newcomer, while he was consistently entertaining both in & out of the ring. (2003 winner: Bill Goldberg. 2002 winner: Rey Mysterio)

MOST UNDER-USED WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: Doug Basham - Almost every single contender for this award happens to be on the SmackDown roster!!! You could almost consider the entire cruiserweight division, with Akio & Paul London being the main contenders. Other small men on Raw such as Hurricane Helms & Tajiri are also contenders. While earlier in the year, I thought the likes of Rob Van Dam & Mark Jindrak were also under-used. However, I'm going to go with what is sure to be an unpopular gut feeling here & award Doug Basham the award. I feel that this guy has amazing potential both in & out of the ring. He sells well & has good intensity. While during sports-entertainment segments, you can just see him being held back. Yet, the guy has almost solely been used in tag-team matches, and even spent a considerable amount of time off SmackDown. Hell, I'm going to go one step further here & state that Doug Basham reminds me of a young Steve Austin just before he made it big!!! (2003 winner: Chris Benoit. 2002 winner: Tajiri)

MOST OVER-USED WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: John Heidenreich - I actually did consider main-eventers such as Triple H, The Undertaker & JBL in this category, but I thought that would be a little harsh. It came down to Heidenreich & Kenzo Suzuki, but when I considered that Suzuki was predominantly used in tag-team bouts, I didn't think there was much of a choice. Heidenreich's talent both in & out of the ring is questionable, so being used in main-event matches & angles, while taking up so much time during uninspiring sports-entertainment segments, very much earns him this award. (2003 winner: Kevin Nash. 2002 winner: Ric Flair)

WORST WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: Kenzo Suzuki - Heidenreich was a contender here as well, but he surprisingly showed something in his Survivor Series match with The Undertaker. While Suzuki was much better placed in the tag-team division with Rene Dupree, he showed very little talent inside the ring. In fact, he has pretty much survived on his comedic sports-entertainment segments. Sloppy wrestling skills mixed with a terrible offensive repertoire just does absolutely nothing for me!!! (2003 winner: Rodney Mack. 2002 winner: Jackie Gayda)

MATCH OF THE YEAR: Triple H vs Chris Benoit vs Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania 20) - In a year, where I rated no match a 10 out of 10, this could be seen as the obvious winner. However, I tossed up presenting this award to a tremendous match that seems to have been forgotten by most fans; Brock Lesnar vs Eddie Guerrero from No Way Out. But whether it was the occasion or the ending sequence, I couldn't go past giving the WrestleMania 20 main event the edge. All 3 men put on great performances and, while there were the usual triple-threat weaknesses, the match was predominantly well booked. (2003 winner: Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit from Royal Rumble. 2002 winner: Shawn Michaels vs Triple H from SummerSlam)

FEUD OF THE YEAR: Eddie Guerrero vs Kurt Angle - In the ever-moving world of the WWE, not many feuds are given time to develop. Therefore, there was a disappointing lack of contenders for this award in 2004. There were some decent midcard feuds, with probably Jericho vs Christian being the best. But when all was said & done, it came down to the eventual winner & the 3-way feud between Triple H, Chris Benoit & Shawn Michaels. As the latter feud at times excluded one of the 3 wrestlers, and the singles feuds were often not allowed to reach a satisfactory conclusion, I've decided to look to SmackDown's main feud of the year. Angle & Guerrero were 2 superstars who were never far away from being on opposite sides of the ring. Their 2 ppv bouts (WrestleMania & SummerSlam) were more than solid, while they also had some heated exchanges on SmackDown. We may not have heard the last of these 2!!! (2003 winner: Brock Lesnar vs Kurt Angle. 2002 winner: Vince McMahon vs Ric Flair)

BEST STORYLINE/ANGLE OF THE YEAR: Survivor Series Control of Raw - This was pretty much a race in two & while I really wanted to crown the Benoit success story as the winner, I just couldn't look past the angle that has dominated our screens over the past 2 months. The Raw control angle was built a few weeks before the Survivor Series ppv & has basically (directly or indirectly) continued past the 4 weeks of wrestlers controlling Raw. It has resulted in many little swerves & storylines that have been pulled off really well. But the real decider is that we are seeing quality matches & quality Raw episodes week after week. The indirect ramifications of this excellent angle are sure to go into 2005. (2003 winner: Heels getting Stone Cold fired. 2002 winner: Bischoff debuting as Raw's General Manager)

WORST STORYLINE/ANGLE OF THE YEAR: The Kane & Lita Saga - For the second year in a row, Kane is given the worst angle of the year!!! Just to make it clear, this involves everything from the (for want of a better word) courtship, through the wedding, pregnancy & eventual miscarriage. After writing that description, do I really need to say anything else!?!?!? It looks a terrible idea on paper & was never going to be good. In fact, it could have been worse, had it not been for Kane's acting talents!!! I did consider Heidenreich's poetic psycho angle for this award, but his humping of Michael Cole had me laughing way too much!!! (2003 winner: What occurred following Kane's unmasking. 2002 winner: Jericho's alliance with Stephanie against Triple H)

PAY-PER-VIEW OF THE YEAR: Survivor Series - I doubt that my choice here will be popular, but I strongly stand by it. Many people were disillusioned by the quality of some of the ppv events this year, and come November I think some had had enough. Those people that didn't order it were critical solely because of some of the results. While those that did order it, predominantly thought it was good, but it could have been better. That was mainly because the event was built up so well. While I also felt it could have been better, that didn't stop it from still being the best ppv of the year. I rated it 69 out of 100, as it had 2 solid elimination matches, a very good cruiserweight opener, a phenomenal IC title match between Benjamin & Christian, and (importantly) no failing matches. WrestleMania 20, Backlash & even Summerslam were probably the main contenders. (2003 winner: WrestleMania 19. 2002 winner: SummerSlam)


DESSERT

2004 Report Card

Actually, this won't be so much of a report card, as it will just be some general overall comments on the year that is just about to pass. The main question that I want answered though is: Have the WWE progressed in 2004, or have they taken a step back...??? Well, I'm going to sit on the fence & answer "neither".

In my opinion, every time the WWE took a step back with something that they did, they would rather quickly take a step forward to negate it. Alternately, every time they took a step forward, they would unfortunately do something silly to take a step back. If anything though, I would have to say that the WWE came out slightly ahead of the ledger, but that was more (to use a horse-racing term) because of the last bob of the head. The last 6 weeks or so of Raw have been fantastic.

One of the main things that I will remember from 2004 was the eventual deserved pushes of Chris Benoit & Eddie Guerrero to genuine main-event status. While both men's success as their respective brands' champion is arguable, I feel that they both did a great job & provided a fresh difference to the main event scene. The main events of the first 4 pay-per-views of the year were all excellent, and it's hard to ask for anything more than that.

While Triple H continued to hog the spotlight a little too much for my liking on Raw, he should be credited for improving the stature of Evolution's midcard members Randy Orton & Batista. Both leave 2004 on the verge of main event status, and could possibly be world champion in just over 2 weeks time!!! Over on SmackDown, the main event scene was pretty much dominated by Eddie, The Undertaker & JBL. JBL did add something fresh with his character, but his rushed push & long title reign was rather questionable booking.

Moving to the midcard, it's a tale of two halves. Not so much splitting the year in half, but the superstars themselves. Excluding Benoit & Eddie, who were arguably main eventers in the first place, I felt that the WWE did a poor job of elevating midcarders who have been around the WWE for a while. The likes of Jericho, Kane, Christian, Booker T & Rob Van Dam all leave 2004 no better than they entered it. Of course, I wouldn't bet against Jericho leaving the Elimination Chamber as a shock winner on the next ppv, just to prove me wrong.

Conversely, some of the younger midcarders were given a real push this year. Randy Orton, Batista, Shelton Benjamin, John Cena & even newcomers Eugene & Carlito Caribbean Cool were all pushed harder than I could have predicted at the start of the year. The problem here though was that some of them were pushed realistically well (Batista, Benjamin & Cena), while the others were pushed way too soon. Orton is the perfect example here. I had absolutely no problems with his push to World Title contender. It reminded me of Shawn Michaels' push in late 1992. However, booking him to become the World HeavyWeight Champion bordered on being ridiculous.

If you read those first 6 paragraphs I have just written, you would think the WWE have very much come out in front during 2004 & head into 2005 with loads of positives & potential. However, where they let themselves down once more, was their handling of the smaller divisions. The women's, cruiserweight & both tag-team divisions, disappointingly took a step back in 2004.

The cruiserwight division has continued to have the talent there, but the time & effort given to them continues to be erratic. The women's division simply lacks depth, while both tag-team divisions have been at times flushed down the toilet this year. It's a shame for a division that I like to call the barometer for each brand (especially on ppv).

Meanwhile, the fans have had to endure the usual helpings of rubbish shock tv angles, as well as the ever-present unwarranted pushes of a few big men. Furthermore, big main-event names with a fan following such as Brock Lesnar & Bill Goldberg basically walked out on the company.

The final thing I will remember 2004 for is the bad decision to throw more pay-per-views at the fans. I've spoken before on how bad a decision I believe this to be & I pray that the WWE come to their senses soon. It can indirectly be attributed as the reason why I failed 2 ppv events this year (The Great American Bash & Armageddon), and there is just no excuse for ppvs failing to reach a pass mark on my ratings system.

Overall, I would have to say that there is no doubt that the WWE moves into 2005 on a high. The pushes of midcarders will help them in the next year or two, while the excellent Raw episodes of the past 6 weeks or so can only lead to good things come the Royal Rumble & WrestleMania 21. However, it's hard to be totally positive about a year that saw a slightly disappointing landmark WrestleMania, 2 failing pay-per-views, no match rate a 10 out of 10 & at least 4 divisions take a step backwards. Bring on 2005!!!


Okely dokely, that's it for edition #112 of 'The Wrestling Menu'. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm sure there is something in either my year-end awards or my report card that is right now annoying the hell out of you. Or maybe you think I hit the nail on the head with something I wrote today. Either way, please don't hesitate to send me your thoughts via e-mail. I'm always interested to hear your feedback & ideas. And you know that I will reply to all feedback. My e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com

It's just 3 days now until Santa comes delivering presents to all us bad little boys & girls. I mean good little boys & girls!!! As mentioned at the beginning of this column, I will not being posting a column next week. Because of that, I wish all my readers an exceptionally merry Christmas, and a safe, happy & prosperous new year. I'll be back on January-5 with my predictions for New Years Revolution, some feedback to my year-end awards & another huge topic I will keep to myself for now. Until then, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses... except on Christmas day when you can eat until you fall over to one side & start rolling down the street!!!












*NEW GALLERY* Must See! TNA's Roxxi Gets Her BLOODY HEAD Shaved BALD!

• Quick Links -
  [Back to LOP] [News Archives] [Results] [Columns] [Forums]