This is the first of a year by year retrospective from my viewpoint as a wrestling fan. What did I watch, what was good, what was bad, which men and women were the best and what matches and moments stood out.
So I rejoined the world of being a full time wrestling fan by watching WrestleMania 28. Like a lot of people I came back to see the Rock return to face John Cena, and like some of those people I stuck around to see what things looked like after being away for almost ten years. After watching Mania I stuck to TV for several months and then in August I ordered a WWE PPV for the first time in 10 years, that being Summerslam (I watched Mania at a friends house). I had a good time acquainting myself with the 2012 WWE roster. There were a few names still around from when I was last a regular fan – Kane, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, and Christian – while HHH and the Undertaker were now on part time duty. But most of the others I knew only by name like The Miz, Randy Orton and Sheamus. I knew a bit about CM Punk from 2011 when I started to dabble in watching again. The one guy I did know a lot about was Cena, and the weird relationship that the audience had with him that to this day I do not comprehend.
Let’s talk about that for a minute. From where I was sitting Cena was getting the same kind of push that every other top babyface would get – they won the World Title here and there and won most of their matches unless it was time for a dramatic turn in the story they were involved in. And from all accounts he consistently outsold, outrated anyone else there. He was the one guy who’d broken through to people outside the wrestling bubble. And yet the some of the so called smart wrestling fans seemed to have forgotten what that all meant and were booing him on TV and at PPVs. And I never was given a good explanation as to why other than he was being shoved down their throats and they hated his booking and that he needed to turn heel and he buried people. None of which made sense to me. You don’t turn a guy heel if he has the kids, and you don’t have your top guy out here losing to a bunch of people on the hope that one of them will get over by beating him. That’s just not how the business has ever worked so if you can’t deal with that then it’s time for you to move on. But these folks refused to move on, they just stuck around and complained. 12 years later I still think that’s just dumb to approach things that way as a fan.
But anyhow, back to the matter at hand. What was good? What was bad? Was anything great? Yes on all three.
The Good
Despite the weirdness of that part of the fanbase Cena put together a good year for himself. CM Punk’s title reign, albeit overshadowed by Cena, was excellent and saw many good to great matches along the way. Daniel Bryan would go through the steps of developing a persona and character to match his in ring abilities that would serve him well unto this day. While some people scoffed at someone like Bryan having to do goofy stuff with Kane every week, those skits with Dr Selby are what forged him as a sports entertainer and someone who would go on to main event WrestleMania 30. Sheamus put together a hell of a run as World Champion from WrestleMania through Hell in a Cell in October, where he and Big Show had one of the year’s best matches. Brock Lesnar returned and had a real barnburner with Cena at Extreme Rules. And 3 new guys showed up in November (see below).
The Bad
The women’s division was at a real low point. After a nice seven-ish year run that had some great moments things took a huge turn for the worse as the ladies were being relegated to three minute matches on TV and less than 10 minutes on PPVs (when they got to be on them at all). Several big names – Kelly Kelly, the Bella Twins, and Beth Phoenix – all moved on rather than stick around for to get not even table scraps. What was left of the division was held together by Eve Torres, Layla, and Kaitlyn who did the best they could but were handicapped by a lack of interest by the creative folks for anything more than token space.
At the other end of the creative effort spectrum was Alberto Del Rio, who despite never really catching on was given damn near every honor they could bestow on him. In 2011 he won the Royal Rumble AND Money in the Bank, cashed it in on CM Punk when Punk was at his peak, and worked a few PPV main events against Punk and Cena. In 2012 he didn’t win any of the prizes but he continued to be in feuds with main event/World Champion level guys like Sheamus and Orton, and even won the World Title at the end of the year in a ‘man, I guess’ face turn.
Lastly there was the ill executed CM Punk heel turn that no one wanted. With the Rock signed on to come back in January there was the question of how to manage the inevitable WrestleMania rematch with Cena, his kayfabe championship aspirations, Cena’s redemption story arc, and current champion Punk. The choice was made to turn Punk heel in August, and then set up the Rock to beat him for the title to take into the rematch with Cena. Which may have seemed like a good idea on paper was went over badly. We weren’t ready or willing to boo Punk and Cena was still dealing with ‘Let’s Go Cena, Cena sucks!’ whenever he was in front of a camera. Punk would later on play his part just fine but the switchup was BAD.
Anything special happen?
Cena vs Rock at Mania was everything as advertised; the match was very good and the spectacle of it all matched it’s significance. On the same show HHH and the Undertaker had an all time great Hell in a Cell match which was match of the night and arguably match of the year. But there was one moment that would go on to resonate more than any other and that was at Survivor Series when three guys from NXT would jump the barricade during the main event and take out both Cena and Ryback, enabling Punk to retain his WWE Championship. Those guys of course were the Shield. Looking back at the last 12 years I can say that I was happy to watch that live and witness the birth of the three guys who are still very much running the business today.
That wasn’t the only special thing that took place. Being there to see the seeds being planted that would lead to the Yes Movement and one of the biggest WrestleMania moments ever was huge. And hell, the very thing that brought me back was special. Pro Wrestling is unique in that you get a chance to see a big star from a previous decade come back to face a current star and it not be a total debacle. Rock vs Cena wasn’t the sad reality of the Muhammad Ali vs Larry Holmes fight in the early 80s, it was what boxing fans would have envisioned an Ali-Holmes fight to be had both men been able to still go at a high level.
Awards – Who was the best?
Top 5 (WWE) Wrestlers: 1. John Cena, 2. CM Punk, 3. Daniel Bryan, 4. Sheamus, 5. Dolph Ziggler
Cena even without holding either major title was the top dog, he main evented almost every show he was on and had a lot of great matches. Punk was WWE Champion wire to wire, main evented whenever Cena did not, and had a lot of great matches himself. Daniel Bryan had the best character arc of anyone on WWE TV while having some stellar ring work as usual. Sheamus had maybe the best in ring run of his career and was World Champion from WrestleMania through Hell in a Cell. He and Big Show had one of the last great matches of Show’s WWE career at Hell in a Cell. And Dolph Ziggler got really hot with the WWE audience, won Money in the Bank and was the guy everyone wanted to see win the World Title next.
Honorable Mentions: Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Kane, the Miz, Eve Torres.
Standout Matches
- Cena vs Rock, WrestleMania
- HHH vs Undertaker, WrestleMania
- Cena vs Brock Lesnar, Extreme Rules
- Sheamus vs Big Show, Hell in a Cell
- Cena vs CM Punk vs Ryback, Survivor Series
Others worth your time: Punk vs Jericho at WrestleMania and Extreme Rules, Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan at Extreme Rules, Punk vs Bryan at Over the Limit, The Shield vs Bryan, Kane, and Ryback at TLC
Match of the Year
Cena vs Rock, WrestleMania. The Cell match between Taker and HHH was better but this was match great in it’s own right and has greater historical significance.
Show of the Year
Wrestlemania 28
Final Verdict
I give 2012 a B-. WrestleMania delivered and there were several other great and important things that went on during the year. The ring work was solid to great throughout the year. We had the beginnings of what would be two of the biggest runs in the history of the company – Bryan’s and the Shield’s. But outside of Mania and Extreme Rules there weren’t any great PPVs, just some great matches scattered across so so shows. The TV wasn’t great as a whole; Smackdown was taped and was basically RAW’s leftovers every week, and this was the year that RAW went to 3 hours which meant there were points that just dragged every week, but there were some gems sprinkled in here and there, namely the Shield’s emergence and Bryan’s work with Kane.
I dropped out in 2002 because a lot of the people I’d gotten attached to were moving towards retirement or part time only work or were shifting into roles I didn’t care to see them in. 2012 gave me some new people to get attached to or interested in. The Sheild were my favorites but I also dug Cena, Punk, and Sheamus. I was a card carrying Jerichoholic back in the 90s so it was cool to see Jericho, and Rey Mysterio, still going well 10 years later. I gave Ryback a chance but we all knew he was discount Goldberg and having seen the original at his peak it was I just couldn’t buy in. I didn’t really appreciate Randy Orton at this point, and wouldn’t for a few more years. Looking at the whole picture I’d say I picked the right year to come back.
Stroke of Genius 