DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu – 2007 Year-End Awards & WWE Report Card
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 at 12:25 AM EST




THE WRESTLING MENU #256

Welcome one and all to the 256th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

He’s baaaaaacccccccckkkkkkkk!!! That’s right, Mr. Wednesday morning has returned for yet another year with his scrumdidliumptious ‘Wrestling Menu’. For those that are new to LOP (or those who have simply forgotten me), I am DaveyBoy… The DownUnder Wonder. And on most Wednesday mornings, I serve up tasty treats of wrestling-based comments, opinions, reviews, predictions & rants.

I hope all of you had an excellent holiday period & received some useful gifts at Christmas, while getting some positive signs that the presents you handed out were appreciated. As for the New Year period, I hope you all had fun & stayed safe as I wish you all the best for the year of 2008 that we are already 9 days into.

I would be lying to you if I stated that my holiday period has been all that great. Unfortunately, my car was pretty much wrecked just before Christmas as some f**kwit wasn’t paying attention & forgot to brake when traffic came to a standstill on a major road. My better half was driving at the time, but she is thankfully ok. I can’t say the same for my car & we have been without one for 3 weeks now. I tell you what… It’s not so easy to do some extra walking when the temperatures are as high as they have been down here of late… It got to 110 degrees Fahrenheit on both New Years Eve & New Years Day, while the same is forecast for the next 2 days!!!

Oh well, more time at home of late means more time being able to listen to music & shred away on Guitar Hero 3, both of which I have enjoyed immensely. Yet somehow, more time at home of late has NOT meant that I have watched more wrestling. In fact, I have watched a lot less than usual… Something at which I hinted at in my last column of 2007. I’ve only caught a few matches here & there when in between doing this or that. And while there have apparently been some decent matches & storyline advancements over the past 3 weeks, I don’t think I’ve missed all that much.

It still bewilders me why WWE doesn’t take a few weeks off over the holiday period. I couldn’t believe it when I saw House Show results being posted on LOP in the week between Christmas & New Years Day. I mean, seriously, what’s the point!?!?!? Give your employees a rest for goodness sake. I have written about this topic before & I think I am even stronger in my beliefs now, especially after some of the terrible negatives to come out of the 2007 wrestling year that I will get to in the ‘Dessert’ section of today’s column!

Today sees me open up 2008 with my 6th annual ‘Year-End Awards’. There is nothing too original or special about them. I feel they are simply the most obvious way to end up the year & salute those in the WWE who were either terrific or terrible in 2007! Then in the 'Dessert' section of today's column, I will take a detailed look at how I felt the WWE did last year. Did they pass or did they fail? Did they improve or take a step back?

With the long 'Main' & 'Dessert' sections today, there will be no 'Appetizers'. So for the first time in 2008, it's on with the show.....


MAIN

2007 Year-End 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 a sufficient amount of NWA-TNA this year to justify including that promotion in these awards. Just for memories & comparisons, I will include my 2002 - 2006 award winners at the end of each award in brackets.

MALE WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: Batista - Well, here’s something I never thought I would be doing; Awarding Batista a ‘Wrestler Of The Year’ Award. I actually began thinking about this award when John Cena went down with his injury. It seemed as if Cena was heading to a win in this category making up for his near miss last year. I went back & had a look at many PPV match ratings for various wrestlers throughout 2007 & Batista ranked favorably here, despite not always being up against the greatest in-ring wrestlers. Add to that the fact that he was one of very few top-tier superstars to wrestle for the majority of the year & it was actually difficult to make a case for not awarding ‘Wrestler of 2007’ to Big Dave. (2006 winner: Edge. 2005 winner: Shawn Michaels. 2004 winner: Chris Benoit. 2003 winner: Shawn Michaels. 2002 winner: Kurt Angle.)

FEMALE WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: Melina - I had sort of got used to awarding this category to Trish Stratus as I had done in the previous 4 years. So it was actually a little difficult to decide on a winner in this category since I had to think. What also made it a little difficult was the fact that no one woman dominated the division throughout 2007, which is probably a positive for WWE. Melina, Mickie James, Candice Michelle & Beth Phoenix could all lay claims to this award & I may have been tempted to go with Mickie if she had lengthier title reigns. As it was, with such a tight race between these 4, I decided to look at the intangible of the 4 ladies. I have decided to go with Melina despite a downward trend to her latter part of the year. But when she was on top throughout the first half of 2007, she connected with the crowd very well in an old-school type of heel way. (2006 winner: Trish Stratus. 2005 winner: Trish Stratus. 2004 winner: Trish Stratus. 2003 winner: Trish Stratus. 2002 winner: Victoria)

OVERALL PERFORMER OF THE YEAR: John Cena - Batista may have been my ‘Wrestler Of The Year’, but there was no way he was ever going to win this award. He has been downright below average on the mic & in backstage segments at times, and don’t even get me started on the quality of his commentary on occasions. Again, no-one stood out in this category & one of the main reasons for that was because hardly anyone wrestled for anywhere near 12 months. I wouldn’t quite say that Cena wins this award for a 2nd year in a row by default, but I can see how some people may feel that is in fact the case. What I did like about Cena this year was his ability to make fans care in some way about difficult feuds that he was involved in. Whether it was against monsters like Umaga & The Great Khali, or in face vs face battles against Shawn Michaels & Bobby Lashley, Cena played a huge part in making us care about the feuds. Add in some very good wrestling & Cena deserves this award for mine.
(2006 winner: John Cena. 2005 winner: Shawn Michaels. 2004 winner: Eddie Guerrero. 2003 winner: Eddie Guerrero. 2002 winner: Kurt Angle)

TAG-TEAM OF THE YEAR: Deuce & Domino - As can probably be worked out by the opening 3 awards, these year-end awards may be my most personal yet. This is because no-one has stood out in many of the categories. And the tag-team divisions are no exception with no team dominating on any brand. If you went by title reigns, Cade & Murdoch may have to get the gong. I do feel that they did improve & play a major role on Raw, so I suppose they are pretty stiff to just fall short. But I’ve gone with the intangibles again & feel that Deuce & Domino added more to the SmackDown brand than Cade & Murdoch did on Raw. As rookies, they were given the hard task of holding the titles after a super long reign from London & Kendrick. And while crowd reaction was inconsistent, I do believe they established their characters more than sufficiently enough to be deemed successful. Then towards the end of the year in an under-rated & difficult role, D & D helped establish the oddball team of Matt Hardy & MVP as tag-team champions very well. (2006 winners: London & Kendrick. 2005 winners: MnM. 2004 winners: Mysterio & RVD. 2003 winners: Los Guerreros. 2002 winners: Billy & Chuck)

MOST IMPROVED WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: Matt Hardy - I know I’m going to cop some flak on this award winner & I’m willing to take it. As can be seen by past winners (maybe with the exception of Edge in 2002), this award has usually been reserved for wrestlers who have only been with WWE for 2-4 years. And while there were a couple here & there that fit into that category in 2007, I don’t feel that anyone stood out. Meanwhile, we have all known that Matt could wrestle, so some may feel that he actually hasn’t improved. I’m going to argue that is irrelevant & 2007 was the year that WWE allowed us to see as fact that Matt could wrestle for a consistent period. The amount of top-quality 12+ minute television matches that Matt had (especially in the middle part of the year) was truly astounding. For mine, he was the reason why WWE moved Chris Benoit to the ECW brand. And to me, that is saying a lot. Whether Matt further improves to the main-event soon or not, there is no denying that what we saw from Matt in 2007 was a lot more than what we have seen from him in the past. (2006 winner: Johnny Nitro. 2005 winner: Batista. 2004 winner: Shelton Benjamin. 2003 winner: John Cena. 2002 winner: Edge)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: MVP - Very solid in the ring, excellent on the mic & with a character he has established well, MVP was the clear choice in this category. I won’t repeat what I wrote 2 or so months ago. If you would like to read more detailed comments on this, please click on the following link: http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2007_/articles/1195627410.php (2006 winner: Kenny Dykstra. 2005 winner: Ken Kennedy. 2004 winner: Carlito. 2003 winner: Charlie Haas. 2002 winner: Brock Lesnar)

DEBUT/RETURN OF THE YEAR: Chris Jericho - I was thinking about dropping this category, but I thought I might simply loosen the guidelines to qualify. I used to reserve this award for those wrestlers coming into WWE from another promotion, but there are very little of them nowadays. I suppose I could have awarded the win to Marcus Corvon, but I chose not to & instead widen the qualification criteria for the award. This has allowed the returning Chris Jericho to win the award for 2007. While his big return wasn’t exactly perfect, it was still pretty darn good & adds a main-eventer to the Raw brand that can be used well for hopefully many years to come. (2006 winner: Finlay. 2005 winner: Super Crazy. 2004 winner: Nick 'Eugene' Dinsmore. 2003 winner: Bill Goldberg. 2002 winner: Rey Mysterio)

MOST UNDER-USED WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: Super Crazy - I either go 2 ways with this award… Someone who is hardly mid-carding, yet should basically be main-eventing (see Benjamin & Benoit in previous years), or someone who should be in the midcard yet is mainly wrestling on Heat (see Tajiri & Basham in previous years). I think that we sometimes forget how useful Super Crazy can be for WWE. Whether it be through his entertaining & very good wrestling style or his comedic nature away from the ring, Super Crazy simply should be getting used a lot more than he is right now. Why he is on Raw at present bewilders me. His wrestling style would better fit SmackDown, while he could be around the title scene in ECW. I just hope he is used better in 2008 or else I can see him heading the same way as Tajiri & leaving WWE. (2006 winner: Shelton Benjamin. 2005 winner: Shelton Benjamin. 2004 winner: Doug Basham. 2003 winner: Chris Benoit. 2002 winner: Tajiri)

MOST OVER-USED WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: The Great Khali - I could have picked a number of the larger wrestlers here, but I’ve decided to go with Khali as when you look back at the full 12 months of 2007, he was involved in the main title scene of one of WWE’s brands for the majority of the year. I was actually quite surprised in fact, as I thought he spent a greater portion of the year away from the title scene, but when you look back at it that is not the case. I actually had no problem with him challenging for both main titles, but he was involved for far too long by my reckoning. Of course, this wasn’t helped when he tripped into a World HeavyWeight Title reign on SmackDown. (2006 winner: The Boogeyman. 2005 winner: Orlando Jordan. 2004 winner: John Heidenreich. 2003 winner: Kevin Nash. 2002 winner: Ric Flair)

WORST WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: Hornswoggle - I was tossing up whether to award this category to Khali, Big Daddy V or Mark Henry, when I noticed how often Hornswoggle (for want of a better word) wrestled in the latter half of the year. If I could award a female this award in 2002, then I suppose I could give the award to a midget in 2007! I don’t mind Hornswoggle entertaining us most weeks, but to have him wrestle over & over again as has been the case of late is simply wasting my time. (2006 winner: The Great Khali. 2005 winner: Viscera. 2004 winner: Kenzo Suzuki. 2003 winner: Rodney Mack. 2002 winner: Jackie Gayda)

MATCH OF THE YEAR: Batista vs The Undertaker (WrestleMania 23) - I tossed… I turned… I changed my mind… And then changed it again. This was probably the toughest category to award a winner in this year & I get the feeling my choice will not be a popular one as it could be reasonably argued that their WrestleMania bout was not even the best these 2 big men had during 2007. I went back & had a look at all my PPV ratings & I rated quite a few matches an 8.5 rating. This award could arguably go to any of those matches, as well as the fantastic Cena vs HBK television bout. But I’ve decided to go with Batista & ‘Taker from WrestleMania 23. Why? It may sound strange, but it may have been its efficiency that got it over the line. Maybe it was a godsend that it was not the main-event of the night & was therefore shorter than most other match of the year contenders. I really liked the match from an entertainment perspective, it had little filler, excellent & realistic false finishes, while the superb feud was very fresh at the time. (2006 winner: London/Kendrick vs Hardyz vs MnM vs Regal/Taylor – Armageddon. 2005 winner: Michaels vs Angle - Vengeance. 2004: Benoit vs Michaels vs Triple H - WM20. 2003: Angle vs Benoit - RRumble. 2002: Michaels vs Triple H - SSlam)

FEUD OF THE YEAR: Chris Benoit vs MVP - This feud has been forgotten by many people for a couple of reasons. The Benoit tragedy is the obvious one, but maybe more relevant is the fact that this feud came before the similar other contender for this category in Matt Hardy vs MVP. Unfortunately, that latter feud has yet to have its payoff bout. In fact, it has been booked in a way that the wrestling has almost not been the priority. Where-as the Benoit vs MVP feud had a good balance of wrestling matches (even if they all weren’t top-notch) as well as feud building. Amazingly, the combination of the veteran who has never been good on the mic with the rookie who was unproven on the mic worked better than anyone could have expected. Benoit helped raise MVP’s game & the rookie well & truly took the ball & ran with it… So much so, that he practically forced Benoit to re-raise his game towards the end of the feud. Under-rated & often forgotten, I have no problems whatsoever awarding Benoit vs MVP feud of 2007. (2006 winner: Cena vs Edge. 2005 winner: Eddie vs Rey. 2004 winner: Eddie vs Angle. 2003 winner: Lesnar vs Angle. 2002 winner: Vince vs Flair)

BEST STORYLINE OF THE YEAR: MVP & Matt Hardy’s Teaming - Is this a bit of a consolation prize for not winning ‘Feud of the Year’? Maybe a little. But in a way, I suppose it can be said that all or part of Matt & MVP’s teaming was technically not feuding! On paper, this storyline had been done many times before. It might have been good & worthwhile, but it would be short-term & predictable. But whoever was responsible for booking the storyline as the weeks progressed built it up perfectly. And then, of course, there was the contributions made by both men, which lent just the perfect weight of seriousness & old-school wrestling shenanigans to the mix. And even the predictable ending of MVP attacking Matt came at just the right time, meaning this storyline went on for just the perfect amount of time, yet longer than anyone could have imagined while still being successful. (2006 winner: Mickie stalking Trish. 2005 winner: Batista's face turn & WHT feud. 2004: SSeries Control Of Raw. 2003: Heels getting Stone Cold fired. 2002: Bischoff debuting as Raw's GM)

WORST STORYLINE OF THE YEAR: Who Is Vince’s Son? - While some may have this award going to the ‘Vince Is Dead’ storyline, I’m unsure it can actually be counted since it couldn’t reach its conclusion due to the Benoit tragedy. Even if it could have, that storyline had some potential. Where-as the Who Is Vince’s Son storyline just dragged out from week to week, leading to a conclusion that was totally silly, even if it was entertaining in a guilty pleasure sort of way. I think my main beef with this storyline was how it was stretched out for so long (presumably as plans changed as to who was going to be the son). It wasn’t exactly a storyline that had depth to it in the first place, so as the weeks went by, it just got sillier & sillier for mine. (2006 winner: The Boogeyman & his Worms. 2005 winner: Terrorists accompanying Muhammad Hassan. 2004: The Kane & Lita saga. 2003: What occurred following Kane's unmasking. 2002: Jericho's alliance with Stephanie against Triple H)

PAY-PER-VIEW OF THE YEAR: Backlash - While I’m certain that a lot of fans will have other choices here, I actually feel that Backlash was a clear choice for PPV of the year. I say that not just because it was my highest rated ppv of the year (which it was at 75), but because it was simply such a solid card from top to bottom. From the solid old-school tag-team opener involving The Hardyz all the way through to the excellent double main-event of Taker vs Batista & Cena vs HBK vs Edge vs Orton, there wasn’t a bit of filler involved in this ppv. On this night, WWE went for quality over quantity & I definitely feel that it was the ppv of 2007 because of that. (2006 winner: No Way Out. 2005 winner: One Night Stand. 2004 winner: Survivor Series. 2003 winner: WrestleMania 19. 2002 winner: SummerSlam)


DESSERT – 2007 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 has recently passed. This is actually the 4th year that I have written this topic & I always find it a good idea as when any of us fans break down a full 12 month period a little more in detail, you will often be surprised at how your concluding thoughts differ from your original thoughts. To a certain extent, 2007 is no exception!

Before I get into why my thoughts changed a little, for some I reason I prefer to state a conclusion of sorts before going into more detail. And my conclusion is purely derived from the following question that I base this topic on: Have the WWE progressed in 2007, or have they taken a step back...??? I will answer it right here & say that they have taken a step back. BUT I do want to footnote that conclusion by saying that I thought that the comparison year of 2006 was a fair bit better than a lot of people gave WWE credit for.

I must admit that my initial answer to the question was that WWE had taken a big step back. But upon further investigation, it wasn’t as big a step back as I thought it was. In fact, they actually improved on a few things. I suppose the reason for this false perception was that there were a couple of extraordinary negatives that occurred in 2007 & they easily were the 2 biggest news stories of the year. So much so, that they actually overshadowed most other things.

But before I get to the big 2 extraordinary items, let me take a look at what was surprisingly a positive in 2007. Of all things, it was the quality of pay-per-views! I can just hear it now; “What the hell are you on Davey? PPVs weren’t that good in 2007!”. Well, for the sake of proof to the contrary (although my ppv ratings are indeed MY opinion when all is said & done), I am going to list out my ppv ratings for each ppv from 2004 (listed first), 2005 (listed second), 2006 (listed third) & 2007 (listed last) side by side. Let's see how they compare, shall we.....

New Years Revolution: - (2004) / 52 (2005) / 57 (2006) / 69 (2007)
Royal Rumble: 58 (2004) / 74 (2005) / 54 / 73
No Way Out: 56 / 53 / 71 / 54
WrestleMania: 65 / 66 / 65 / 68
Backlash: 63 / 62.5 / 65 / 75
Judgment Day: 54 / 62 / 61 / 58
Bad Blood / One Night Stand: 63 / 76 / 65 / 60
Vengeance: 61 / 74 / 64 / 59
Great American Bash: 49 / 54 / 63 / 70
SummerSlam: 68 / 71 / 69 / 61
Unforgiven: 51 / 62 / 71 / 61
No Mercy: 66 / 64 / 63 / 62
Taboo Tuesday / Cyber Sunday: 51 / 60 / 58 / 67
Survivor Series: 69 / 67 / 67 / 66
December To Dismember: - / - / 54 / -
Armageddon: 48 / 64 / 66 / 68

AVERAGES: 2004 = 58.7 / 2005= 64.1 / 2006 = 63.3 / 2007 = 64.7

Holy Cow… I am not surprised by that average PPV Rating for 2007… I am shocked!!! Even if you believe I am getting a little soft in my match ratings of late, a 1.4 average rating increase over the previous year is very significant & cannot be ignored. To think that (my opinion of) the relative quality of ppv events in 2007 was the highest of any of the last 4 years is quite an accomplishment by WWE & one that shouldn’t be ignored. Without over-stating its importance, I do feel that WWE went out of their way to improve the quality of their events that are usually sub-par. New Years Revolution, Backlash, The Great American Bash, Cyber Sunday & Armageddon all posted good ratings despite traditionally not attracting high buyrates.

As I have already stated, maybe the predominant reason for all of us not realizing the positives that occurred during 2007 was because of the 2 big negatives that could not be ignored or forgotten by anyone. Of course, I am talking about the Benoit tragedy & the drug related suspensions that occurred mid-year. The Benoit tragedy is a pretty obvious one, but I wonder how many effects are still being felt from it… Whether they be direct or indirect effects. There is no doubt that at the very least the majority of the entire roster of wrestlers were (for want of a better word) distracted & not performing at their best.

The drug-related suspensions were also a major thorn in WWE’s side as not only did it mean that the depth of their rosters were not as strong as they could have been, but media attention (even it could be classified as favorable on rare occasions) meant there were even more distractions for employees. Of course, this had flow-on effects to the size of some wrestlers, with Chris Masters being the obvious example here. Who knows? If all of this did not occur in 2007, it’s probably likely that Masters would still be employed by WWE.

Actually, maybe I should add on a 3rd extraordinary item, although I am not sure that such a thing can exist in 2 successive years. That is, the amount of injuries that WWE wrestlers had during 2007. They were once more bitten by the curse as the likes of Edge, Cena, Michaels, Lashley & Helms amongst others were all out of action for extended periods of time.

While the quality of pay-per-views throughout 2007 somehow went up according to me, the above 3 factors did have a significant negative effect on the television product for mine. From memory, television ratings decreased during the year, while PPV buyrates held fairly steady. This doesn’t surprise me as there were often filler episodes of Raw, SmackDown & ECW where it often looked as if a 2 hour timeslot was too much for the promotion. WWE attempted to minimize the hit in this department by having the occasional bigger & better tv show that would hopefully keep fans interested until the next big show, but it didn’t always work as they could never piece together 2 quality shows in succession.

This will obviously be one target area for improvement in 2008 as I believe WWE will attempt to minimize the so-called viewership cycles throughout a year by having consistently better television shows. Of course, that is easier said than done. Other areas of improvement that WWE need to concentrate on are the ECW brand (which I wrote about prior to my break) as well as the usual diversification of their wrestlers with regards to the cruiserweights & tag-teams. But it almost seems that I go on about those things year after year nowadays!

The signs actually look good to me. Even though I have not watched WWE programming for the last couple of weeks, the next 2-3 months really appeals to me. The always fun Royal Rumble, will be followed by an Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out & then it’s on to what will hopefully be a huge WrestleMania to be held at an outdoor venue for the first time in 15 years. While this 3 month period is usually good anyway & attracts a large number of viewers, I see more potential of possibly holding a larger number of viewers in 2008 than is usually the case. This is especially the case since John Cena will be returning around the time of just after WrestleMania 24.

But back to 2007, in conclusion I thought WWE HAD A SLIGHTLY BELOW PAR YEAR DUE TO A NUMBER OF EXTRAORDINARY FACTORS SUCH AS INJURIES, DRUG-RELATED SUSPENSIONS & THE BENOIT TRAGEDY. WHILE THEIR PPV QUALITY WAS ABOVE EXPECTATIONS CONSIDERING THESE FACTORS, THEIR TELEVISION PRODUCT WAS NOT, THUS RESULTING IN WWE STRUGGLING TO HOLD VIEWERS ON A CONSISTENT BASIS. AN OVERALL MIXED YEAR, 2007 WILL UNFORTUNATELY BE REMEMBERED OVERLY NEGATIVELY DUE TO THE EXTRAORDINARY FACTORS MENTIONED.


Phew, that’s the first one done & dusted for 2008… It didn’t seem to roll out as easily as usual, but that’s always to be expected when coming back from some time off. I hope this column still came off as an entertaining read for all you good people out there. I am pretty flat chat at work & at home at the moment, but that won’t stop me from reading & replying to any feedback that I receive. So don’t be backwards in coming forwards…. Drop me a line & let me know what you thought of my ‘Year-End Awards and/or 2007 WWE Report Card. My e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com. The new & improved LOP Forums have been reset now, so if you are a member there, it would be appreciated if you could leave feedback at http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=159

Next Wednesday in 'The Wrestling Menu', I will most likely post the general consensus of feedback to my Year-End Awards. I get the feeling that may be more in-depth than I want it to be with some of my choices for award-winners this year. I may also post some of my non-wrestling 2007 awards. Elsewhere, I suppose I will have to think of something else to write about, but I’m certain as I watch all 3 brands of WWE this week, that should be easy enough to do. As per usual, my column will be posted at the same Wednesday time on the same LOP channel next week. Until then, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.


DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu. 2002-2008

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