8.56 a.m 13.12.2010
Finally, another installment of Gustimania is written after months and months of not writing one. Although I was not able write one for a long time does not mean that the passion for wrestling has burned out in this man’s soul. The passion still burning as bright as it was before. Moving on, 2010 has been somewhat a lackluster for WWE in my opinion, with few and far between things, moments or matches that can be considered as memorable and unforgettable. However, there were some bright spots that I think is good enough to be featured here. There are my top 3 best thing that happened in WWE this year. What I considered as the best thing is the things that happened in WWE in 2010 that can be a starting point for major changes in WWE for the coming and following years. Considering that WWE is in a transition period of sort with many established superstars leaving the company (Shawn Michaels, Batista, Chris Jericho) and many more considering to do the same action by next year and beyond (Edge, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio), the things that I want to highlight signifies the rise of young and fresh superstars in the WWE that will be at the main event picture of the WWE for a very long time, replacing the aforementioned established superstars.
3) The rise and establishment of indy wrestlers in the WWE
With WWE boasting with their ability to develop their own talents from scratch for so many years through their own developmental promotions such as the OVW, it is very encouraging of them to give a chance to those wrestlers who perfected their crafts at the independent scene to shine in the WWE. Case and point for this argument is Daniel Bryan or Bryan Danielson to be more accurate. After the success that CM Punk has coming from the indy scene and eventually becoming one of the top guys in the WWE, Daniel Bryan has been given the opportunity to do the same. The current US Champion started out this year through WWE NXT. Although he was out or several months due to the ‘Tiegate’ incident, he came back strong as the mystery member in the Cena-led team at SummerSlam and the rest is history. He truly brought out the best of him in every match that he had. He is in a role that is similar to that of the late great Eddie Guerrero, the late Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle back in the days. Simply to emphasize the second ‘W’ in the WWE and only bigger and better things will come to him in the near future. I will not be surprised if he is given the shot for the major titles next year.
Another indy wrestler apart from Daniel Bryan that shone this year is Alberto Del Rio. He was one of the top luchadores in the lucha libre scene in Mexico and USA. Brought in by the WWE, he transformed himself from a masked luchadore into a Mexican royalty that is Alberto Del Rio. I was one of the skeptics during the airing of his vignettes, thinking that he was not worth all of the vignettes that were up for more than a month. Boy, I was wrong. He was worth every single vignette that he had. He has a persona and charisma that oozes confidence and makes me want to say that he can be in the main event picture of Smackdown for years to come. I am expecting big things to happen to him next year, perhaps a title run is in store for him.
It is really nice to see that WWE is offering the opportunity to established and seasoned indy wrestler to bring their talent to the big leagues. With Kaval (or Low-Ki as he was known in the independent scene) at Smackdown and Tyler Back (former ROH World Champion) at OVW, there will be more to come. I think the WWE finally understand that the talent that excels in the ring is the most important towards having a great overall product and not just depending heavily on characters alone.
2) New faces in the WWE/World Heavyweight Titles picture
Again, as I said before the WWE needs fresh faces to replace the outgoing main eventers. This year, although there are only one or two guys that were given the golden opportunity to win the WWE or World Heavyweight title, it is still something that is refreshing and can be the basis for a successful breakthrough to the main event picture. There are many wrestlers that were given a push this year. Some are not that successful due to lack of steam to their run or mistakes being made by the creative guys at the WWE. Thankfully, there is one guy that managed to breakthrough this year. After Sheamus managed to do it last year, 2010 belongs to the man of awesomeness, The Miz.
The Miz had a very awesome year for his standard. His push throughout the year is very typical of the WWE. His push was not at the very fast-paced, yet not as slow-paced either. He started the year as the U.S Champion and the co-holders of the Unified Tag Team Titles. Then, he went on to being a Pro at WWE NXT, having a feud with Daniel Bryan in the process. After that, he won the Money in the Bank match and went on to cash it in after the Survivor Series PPV, completing his push to the main event picture. One can tell that the WWE has a lot of faith on him by giving him this kind of push. He proved a lot of people who doubted his capability as a wrestler with solid performances in the ring. If you told me that The Miz will become the WWE Champion 3 or 4 years ago, I would laugh to that statement. How wrong I was. The Miz is one of the best example of a talent that always thrive to prove his doubters wrong and this year belongs to him, that is for sure. I would love to buy his DVD if there is one just to know about his hardship in rising to the upper echelons of the WWE.
Hopefully, by next year more and more wrestlers would be given a push like The Miz had, especially those who are in the upper mid-cards of both Raw and Smackdown. Guys like John Morrison, Kofi Kingston and such are long overdue of breaking through that glass ceiling, especially Morrison. He is the only guy within the same developmental period as The Miz and CM Punk who has not burst onto the main event scene. I sincerely hope that he will get that push next year because for me, he has the entire package to be a successful and significant main event guy for the WWE.
1) The Nexus Saga
It all started during a special Raw in the middle of the year. It was John Cena versus CM Punk when suddenly there was an ambush by a group of wrestlers from the first season of WWE’s newly established NXT. Led by the winner of the competition Wade Barrett, they started this long-lasting feud with John Cena throughout the summer period and even up until now. This angle is one of the best in 2010 simply because it is very refreshing and also proving a point that WWE would took a gamble by having fresh, green and inexperienced talents competing against Cena and the rest of the seasoned main event and mid card talents of the WWE. This particular feud ignited Raw to being back to the a show that is fuul of surprises and no one cannot foresee what is going to happen next, something that is very hard to do during this era of information technology, whereby so many things can be leaked and shared among pro wrestling fans throughout the entire world.
The best payoff from this Nexus angle is the establishment of Wade Barrett as a true blue heel main event talent at Raw. He has all the tools needed to have a very successful run as the main heel of Raw. Of all the new talents, he easily has the best mic skills and can make the feud seemed revitalized week in and week out by using that skill of his. A decent in-ring skills to boot, he is definitely one for the future along with the rest of the Nexus. In my opinion, he is the breakout star of the year in the WWE. With this feud far from over as we are heading towards the exciting period of the year for much of the wrestling fans, expect this guy to go from strength to strength and be an even bigger of a factor in the main event scene of the WWE in 2011.
Well, that is just about it from me in this edition of Gustimania. I really hope that I would still have the time to write more about the WWE and pro wrestling in general in the weeks to come.
Au Revoir!
