The Rebooking Series - Part I (Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe)

Welcome to a series of blogs me and a friend of mine are starting. As the name suggests we are going back over old angles and rebooking them to make a more satisfactory end. We’re starting with TNA’s booking of the Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe feud from 2006 through 2008.

I don’t believe this angle was necessarily badly booked, I just thought it was a bit short sighted. Angle had only been with the company little over a month and not only had TNA done the big money match of Angle versus Joe already but they had actually ended Joe’s undefeated streak. By the time the first pay-per-view of 2007 was in the books there had already been three Angle versus Joe matches and Angle only made his in-ring TNA debut in November. It seemed TNA realised they had struck on something brilliant and just splurged it all away immediately.

Anyway here’s how me and Jonathon booked the angle (pardon the pun):

- Kurt Angle’s announcement from No Surrender 2006 remains the same with the addendum that he will make his TNA debut at Bound For Glory 2006.

  

- In the build up to Bound For Glory Christian Cage fresh off his feud with Rhino (which was fast-tracked in this booking) says that if Kurt thinks he can just waltz into Christian’s company he’s got another thing coming. He wants Angle at Bound For Glory. The match is made.

- Meanwhile Samoa Joe has begun feuding with Rhino over who is the toughest man in the company.

Bound For Glory 2006 (Important Matches):

- Samoa Joe d. Rhino

Joe defeats Rhino clean in a match that goes about eight minutes with the Muscle Buster

- Kurt Angle d. Christian Cage

Angle defeats Cage clean in a thrilling contest that pushes Angle to the limit and goes about sixteen minutes before Angle locks in the Anklelock and Cage is forced to tap.

- Sting d. Jeff Jarrett to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship

Sting defeats Jarrett in the exact same fashion as was actually booked at Bound For Glory 2006

Build to Turning Point 2006:

- Sting celebrates his World Championship win when Christian Cage comes out and says since Jeff Jarrett is taking some time away and won’t be able to invoke his rematch clause then Christian should get the next shot because he’s the best wrestler in the company. Angle comes out and reminds Christian that he beat him at Bound For Glory. Jim Cornette makes Christian versus Angle for the next PPV (which will be Turning Point rather than Genesis). There still needs to be a NWA World Heavyweight Championship match at the PPV though and Cornette announces that the winner of the ongoing Fight For The Right Tournament will get their shot at Turning Point (Result of the Fight For The Right Tournament remains the same with Abyss winning and earning a shot).

- In the same time period Samoa Joe (still a tweener) calls out AJ Styles and calls his character into question outwardly stating that he’s not as squeaky clean as some make out (which would then be proved right when AJ started a rivalry with Rhino and turned heel at the next pay-per-view). This leads to Joe versus AJ being booked for Turning Point.

Turning Point 2006 (instead of Genesis 2006) – Important Matches:

- Samoa Joe d. AJ Styles

Joe defeats Styles after a Muscle Buster. Styles does some questionable, but not outright heelish, things during the match but Joe eventually wins clean as a whistle after about sixteen minutes. 

Post-match Daniels, with the X-Division Championship, and Rhino come out to commiserate AJ but he pushes them both away and leaves the ring in disgust.

- Sting d. Abyss to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship

Sting constantly tries to reason with Abyss during the match to no avail and eventually wins the match after botched James Mitchell interference cost Abyss after about 11 minutes.

- Kurt Angle d. Christian Cage to become #1 Contender

Angle defeats Christian following an Olympic Slam. Clean win that comes at about the eighteenth minute of another tight match between these two.

Build to Final Resolution 2006 (rather than Turning Point ‘06):

- Jim Cornette comes out and announces that due to differing views on the professional wrestling landscape TNA is no longer a part of the NWA. He announces the creation of new Championship belts under the TNA name. And the lineage of all three (World, Tag Team and X-Division) will start at December’s Pay-Per-View Final Resolution 2006. And it changes nothing about the main event of that show Sting (who had been Champion) versus Kurt Angle (who had won the recent #1 Contenders Match).

- Samoa Joe pushes (metaphorically, not physically) Cornette and wants to be added to the title match at Final Resolution pointing out his credentials of never being pinned or submitted since he debuted in the company but Cornette will not relent and instead fobs Joe off with a match against Abyss.

Final Resolution 2006 (The Important Matches):

- Samoa Joe d. Abyss

Joe wins in about thirteen minutes after James Mitchell once again tries to interfere on Abyss’ behalf and once again ends up costing Abyss the match. Post-match Joe facewashes Mitchell for good measure.

- Kurt Angle d. Sting to become the first ever TNA World Heavyweight Champion

Angle defeats Sting clean, by submission after a roughly seventeen minute long contest. Post-match Sting raises Angle’s hand and wraps the brand new TNA World Heavyweight Championship around his waist.

Build to Genesis 2007:

- Sting comes out and announces he is cashing in his rematch clause at Genesis. Samoa Joe comes out and claims that was for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, nothing to do with the current belt. Cornette comes out and grants Sting his rematch which leaves Joe absolutely furious. Cornette says that he has also made another rematch for Genesis, a Monsters Ball match between Abyss and Joe.

Genesis 2007:

- Samoa Joe d. Abyss in a Monster’s Ball Match

Joe defeats Abyss following a Muscle Buster onto thumbtacks in a match that runs for about fifteen minutes.

- Kurt Angle d. Sting to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Angle defeats Sting after reversing the Scorpion Death Drop attempt from Sting into an Olympic Slam for the win, clean in about fifteen minutes. They once again shake hands after the match and Angle celebrates.

Build to Against All Odds 2007:

- Now that his rivalry with Sting has finished Angle wants some new blood. The reason he joined TNA was he had heard such good things about the young guys in TNA but for one reason or another he hasn’t had the chance to cross paths with many of them yet. He’d like that to change. Before he can make any challenges though Christian Cage interrupts with Tomko and Steiner in tow. Cage says that he wants another shot at Angle. He, like Angle, took TNA by storm when he first arrived and now he wants to prove that he is TNA’s best import. Angle has no interest stating he has already defeated Christian twice. However, Christian stoops to insulting Kurt’s family and Kurt grants him a match.

- Samoa Joe continues trying to get a match for the World Heavyweight Championship and Cornette continues fobbing him off. This time Joe is set up to face Robert Roode, an up and comer in the TNA ranks who Cornette thinks will be the next big thing in the company. Joe is such a talented guy that Cornette wants to see if Roode has what it takes to hang with Joe. Joe is far from impressed.

Against All Odds 2007 (The Important Matches):

- Samoa Joe d. Robert Roode

Despite repeated interference from Ms. Brooks Roode is unable to pick up the win and eventually submits to the Coquina Clutch. The match goes about thirteen minutes.

- Kurt Angle d. Christian Cage by DQ to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

A good even match that is about sixteen minutes deep comes to an abrupt end when Tomko and Steiner interfere. Post-match the heels are stomping down Angle before Samoa Joe comes out to make the save. The faces clear the ring and Joe picks up the World Heavyweight Championship, stares at it for a while before shoving it back to Angle and leaving the ring.

Victory Road 2007 build-up (Instead of Destination X):

- Kurt Angle comes out and wants Christian right here, right now. No titles, no referees, no match. Just a fight. Christian comes to the top of the stage with Tomko and Steiner accompanying him. He won’t fight Angle tonight but he will fight him at Victory Road providing Angle will put up the World Heavyweight Championship. Angle agrees.

- Joe again goes to Cornette and says he wants a title shot. Cornette says the title match is already fixed but he appreciates Joe trying to keep Christian and his coalition in order so at Victory Road it will be Samoa Joe vs. Scott Steiner. Joe is upset and tells Cornette “You can’t keep me away from that Championship forever”.

Victory Road 2007 (Important Matches)

- Samoa Joe vs. Scott Steiner goes to a No Contest

The match is just over ten minutes old when the referee throws the hard hitting contest out with both men repeatedly ignoring referee instructions. They continue to fight even after the bell rings and the referee calls other referees and security out but Joe and Steiner just destroy them before continuing to brawl. Eventually Joe gets the upper hand and chokes Steiner out before security recovers and finally pulls Joe off Steiner.

- Kurt Angle vs. Christian Cage goes to a thirty minute time limit draw

With no allies in the early goings Christian acts the coward in the early going and deliberately avoids Angle constantly. Eventually it evolves into a real match with lots of near falls. Midway through the match Tomko gets involved but Cornette sends security down to throw Tomko out. With less than thirty seconds left Angle locks in the anklelock but Christian gets to the ropes, Angle releases the hold after a five count but as he goes to attack again, Christian rolls out of the ring. The bell then rings revealing the time limit has expired. The crowd chants five more minutes and Angle suggests it. Christian gets back in the ring and looks ready to go but simply slaps Angle and then gets out of dodge.

Build to Lockdown 2007

- Christian comes out with his entourage and says he had Kurt Angle beat when the time limit expired and he wants another shot at the belt. Cornette comes out and says he saw things a little differently, it seemed to him that Angle was going in for the kill. Christian says that’s a lie he had Angle beat and he wants Angle again at Lockdown. Angle comes out and wants Christian right here, right now. Cornette says that’s not going to happen but at Lockdown there is a tradition, a tradition of two teams going into a Steel Cage. He says Christian likes using his friends to help him win matches well now he’ll get a chance to do it legally when at Lockdown it is Team Angle vs. Team Cage. Christian is apoplectic while Angle just smiles.

- Cornette approaches Samoa Joe backstage and says that if Joe really wants to prove himself to Cornette then he could do worse than making sure he’s a part of one of the teams in the main event at Lockdown. Joe nods.

- Joe calls out Kurt Angle next week and says he wants to be on Kurt’s team and he won’t take no for an answer. Kurt obliges and goes to leave the ring but Joe pulls him back “But once I prove how dominant I am at Lockdown, I’m coming straight for your title”.

- AJ Styles completes his slow burn heel turn by officially joining not only Team Cage but also Christian’s Coalition.

Lockdown 2007 (Important Matches)

- Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Chris Harris, Rhino, Samoa Joe and Sting) d. Team Cage (Christian Cage, AJ Styles, James Storm, Scott Steiner and Tomko) in Lethal Lockdown

The match comes down to Angle vs. Christian with everyone else brawling or laid out on the outside. AJ sneaks in the ring though and low blows Angle allowing Christian to hit the Unprettier. On the outside though, Joe is destroying everyone. He gets in the ring and hits a huge lariat on Styles before breaking up the pinfall attempt by Cage. One Muscle Buster on Christian later and Joe wins Lethal Lockdown for Team Angle. The rest of Team Angle celebrate whilst Joe and Angle simply stare a hole through one another.

Build to Sacrifice 2007:

- Kurt Angle comes out and calls out Samoa Joe wanting to discuss what Joe proved to the world last night. A camera shows what is happening backstage though as Scott Steiner has levelled Joe with a pipe backstage and continues to lay in the punishment. Angle watches on in horror from the ring when Tomko, AJ and Christian attack him from behind.

- Later in the show Angle goes to Cornette’s office and demands a match with Christian tonight. Cornette says that will not happen but he will allow Angle to defend his title one more time against Christian at Sacrifice. This time there will be no time limit and the entirety of Christian’s Coalition is banned from ringside, if they try and interfere they will be fired.

- Next week Joe trashes the arena looking for Scott Steiner. Cornette makes a match between the two for Sacrifice but suspends Joe until the PPV for his actions.

Sacrifice 2007 (Important Matches)

- Samoa Joe d. Scott Steiner in a No Disqualification Match

Joe and Steiner have a brutal No DQ match which comes to an end after about fourteen minutes when Joe hits the Muscle Buster on Steiner through four chairs. Post-match Joe continues the beating and hits several Muscle Buster’s on Steiner before leaving.

Steiner has to be removed from the arena via medical staff after suffering serious injuries during and post-match. He is out for an indefinite period.

- Kurt Angle d. Christian Cage to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Angle makes Christian submit to the Ankle Lock after twenty-three minutes or so of hard hitting action. The pair threw everything at each other and with all members of the Coalition either out of commission or not willing to risk their job Christian is forced to go it alone.

Build to Slammiversary 2007

- Jim Cornette announces that it is well established how much he loves tradition and that means at the next pay-per-view ‘Slammiversary’ Kurt Angle will defend his Championship in a Five-Man King of the Mountain Match. Now the challengers will be decided in four King of the Mountain Qualifying Matches. Before Cornette can say a word Samoa Joe storms to the ring. He demands to be put in a qualifier match. Cornette hesitates and states that he had something different in mind for Joe. He didn’t want to stick him in some qualifier match that he may or may not win on Impact. He wanted to guarantee him a big match at one of TNA’s biggest events. He wants the hottest rising star in pro wrestling to take on a legend of pro wrestling, an icon, if you will. He wants Samoa Joe vs. Sting at Slammiversary. Joe agrees to the match but tells Cornette that he won’t be denied a Championship match again. He will take Cornette out if that’s what it takes to get his Championship match.

- KotM Qualifiers: Christopher Daniels d. Robert Roode, Christian Cage d. Chris Harris (via James Storm distraction), Abyss d. James Storm (via Chris Harris distraction) and AJ Styles d. Frankie Kazarian (via Tomko distraction)

Slammiversary 2007 (Important Matches):

- Samoa Joe d. Sting

Joe defeats Sting clean in about sixteen minutes by making him pass out in the Coquina Clutch. After the match Joe gets on the microphone and tells whoever is coming out of tonight’s main event with the Championship that he is coming for him.

- Kurt Angle d. Abyss, AJ Styles, Christian Cage and Christopher Daniels to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a King of the Mountain Match

AJ and Christian work together throughout the match as per the agreement they had before the match. However, Christian has trouble getting legal to win the match. AJ becomes legal after pinning Daniels while Christian is in the penalty box following Abyss pinning him. AJ tries to win the Championship but is stopped by Angle. When Christian comes out of the penalty box he is furious with AJ and wants to know why AJ tried to win “his Championship”. He tells AJ to lie down so he can become legal. AJ does but then small packages Christian for the three (AJ turns face) sending Cage back to the penalty box. Christian is furious but can do nothing about it. AJ is halfway up the ladder when Angle pulls him down and Olympic Slams him. Angle grabs the belt off the floor where AJ dropped it, climbs the ladder and hangs it to win the match and retain his Championship.

Build to Destination X 2007:

- Jim Cornette comes out and wants to announce an exciting new concept... Joe comes out before Cornette can say another word. Joe says he is sick of not getting the Championship opportunities he deserves, he wants Kurt Angle at Destination X or else. Cornette says unfortunately that’s not going to happen. This infuriates Joe who grabs Cornette and threatens him. Cornette tries to calm Joe down and reveals the rest of the exciting new concept he discussed earlier “The Bound For Glory Series, it will consist of eight participants taking part in a total of thirty-one first round matches before the semi-finals and finals take place at No Surrender later this year. This will crown the Ultimate Number One Contender for Bound for Glory”. Joe is intrigued so Cornette carries on “Tonight there will be a Gauntlet Battle Royal worth ten points if you win, at Hard Justice there will be two four-way matches both worth ten points for a win. And the other matches will be each of the eight participants facing each other once: five points for a submission win, three for a pinfall victory, two for a count out or disqualification victory and one for a time limit draw. Each match will have a twenty minute time limit apart from the bonus matches and the subsequent finals of the tournament.” Cornette manages to convince Joe how good it would be to win the World Championship at Bound For Glory “if you truly believe you are capable of winning such a gruelling tournament that is. Joe accepts and is the first announced name in the inaugural Bound For Glory Series.

- In the main event Joe defeats the seven other men (AJ Styles, Abyss, Chris Harris, Christian Cage, Frankie Kazarian, James Storm and Robert Roode) to win ten points in the opening match.

- In his subsequent matches he wins all of them, most by submission. His match with AJ Styles in the Bound for Glory Series will take place at the Destination X pay-per-view.

- Meanwhile Cornette tells Angle of his plan to make Destination X a special event for the men who helped build this company, the X-Division stars. So he tells Angle he will defend his title against the longest reigning X-Division Champion in company history – Christopher Daniels.

Destination X 2007:

- Samoa Joe d. AJ Styles in 19:56 in a Bound For Glory Series Match

With the twenty minute time limit close to expiring Joe desperately locks in the Coquina Clutch seemingly out of nowhere when AJ was in a good position to make AJ tap and maintain his one hundred percent record in the tournament so far.

- Kurt Angle d. Christopher Daniels to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

The match goes twenty plus minutes but Angle eventually wins when he plays a little possum, Daniels goes Best Moonsault Ever but Angle rolls out of the way and when Daniels’ ankle gives way under his weight. Angle locks in the ankle lock and forces Daniels to tap.

Build to Hard Justice 2007:

- Joe continues to dominate the BFG Series winning all of his matches heading into the last of the bonus matches at Hard Justice. It is announced it will be Abyss vs. Christian vs. Kazarian vs. Roode in a Ladder match while Joe will face AJ, Harris and Storm in a Tables match at the PPV.

- Jim Cornette announces that after a brief spell out with injury Scott Steiner will be returning at Hard Justice ’07 and he will challenge Kurt Angle for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

Hard Justice 2007:

- Samoa Joe d. AJ Styles, Chris Harris and James Storm in a Tables Match to earn 10 points and increase his lead at the top of the BFG Series Leaderboard

Joe wins the match when he hits a Muscle Buster on AJ through the table. The match goes just over fifteen minutes.

- Kurt Angle d. Scott Steiner to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Angle wins the match clean by making Steiner submit to the ankle lock in roughly thirteen minutes.

Build to No Surrender 2007:

- Kurt Angle comes out and says he can’t wait to see who will win the BFG Series tournament to see who he will defend the Championship against at the biggest show of the year, exactly twelve months after he made his debut in TNA. He says he’s been a dominant World Champion and he will prove it once again on the biggest stage in TNA’s history. Sting makes his return after a hiatus following his defeat to Samoa Joe. He says that Kurt is overlooking the fact that there is one more pay-per-view before Bound For Glory and Sting would love to take the Championship into Bound For Glory himself. He suggests Angle vs. Sting one more time at No Surrender. Angle accepts and the two men shake hands.

- On the first Impact before No Surrender it is a special three hour edition of the show as the final four matches in the tournament take place to see who will move onto the semi-finals at No Surrender. 

- Samoa Joe defeats James Storm by submission to retain first place in the tournament and has done so with just shy of the maximum number of points. He won all bonus matches he was a part of and every single one-on-one match. He would have had maximum points but he only beat Kazarian by pinfall, everyone else he submitted.

- The rest of the matches take place and Kazarian gets a big submission win over Chris Harris which is enough for him to leapfrog Robert Roode by one point and into fourth position meaning he will face Joe in the first semi-final. That leaves AJ Styles, who finished a distant second to Joe, to take on Christian, who finished third after beating AJ by pinfall in his final match of the series.

- Christian talks trash over the next three weeks about how he beat AJ when they met in the league stage of the tournament and now it’s post season the ‘Instant Classic’ only gets more clutch.

- AJ cuts promos about how when he was in Christian’s Coalition he was treated as a joke, just someone Christian could throw to the wolves to protect his own skin, but at No Surrender AJ will prove he is the better man.

No Surrender 2007

- Samoa Joe d. Frankie Kazarian in the first Bound For Glory Series Semi-Final

Joe defeats Kazarian in a gruelling seventeen plus minute encounter in the opening match of the pay-per-view.

- Christian Cage d. AJ Styles in the second Bound For Glory Series Semi-Final

Christian defeats AJ in another gruelling encounter this time that clocks in at just under sixteen minutes. AJ Styles has the match in hand when his former partner Daniels comes and distracts him allowing Christian to hit the Unprettier for the win.

- Kurt Angle d. Sting to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Kurt beats Sting in about fourteen minutes after a second Olympic Slam puts The Icon down for three. Post-match the two men embrace and Sting says the BFG Series winner will have a tough challenge because Kurt Angle is the best pro wrestler alive today, and a damn fine person too. He thanks Kurt and leaves the ring.

- Samoa Joe d. Christian Cage to win the Bound For Glory Series

Joe beats Christian clean after a match that went over twenty minutes and saw both men throw everything at one another. Eventually Joe locks in the Coquina Clutch, Christian grabs the referee and uses his leg to low blow Joe out of sight of the referee. Joe “hulks up” though and merely locks the Coquina Clutch back on, synching it in fully this time and causing Christian to tap.

Post-match Angle comes out stares at Joe and then raises his World Championship. Joe looks at him and just smiles.

Build to Bound For Glory 2007

- Samoa Joe comes out and says despite everything that has been thrown at him, despite Jim Cornette denying him his rightful opportunity at the World Championship time after time there is no denying it now. Samoa Joe won the Bound For Glory series and tonight signs the contract for the match that everyone wants to see, Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe. The undefeated Samoan Submission Machine takes on the man that has dominated TNA since his arrival, and a man that also happens to be undefeated in TNA – Kurt Angle.

- Jim Cornette comes out and says Joe should thank him. He didn’t throw roadblocks in front of Joe, he just made sure he was ready to be World Champion, and now Joe has went through Sting, he went through Steiner, he helped Angle fight off Christian’s Coalition and he won the Bound For Glory Series. Now, thanks to Jim Cornette’s careful guidance, now Samoa Joe is ready to face Kurt Angle for the World Heavyweight Championship. Joe smirks and tells Jim not to try and take credit for Joe’s path of destruction, that was all me. He tells Jim he’ll see him for the contract signing later tonight.

- At the contract signing things get heated between the two but both sign the contract and Cornette reminds them that there is a clause in the contract that means if Joe touches Angle he will no longer be #1 contender and if Angle touches Joe he will no longer be World Champion. Cornette will not have his Bound For Glory main event ruined.

- Over the final few weeks before Bound For Glory, Angle and Joe continue to cut promos generally saying that they are better than the other and at Bound For Glory they will prove that they are the greatest wrestler walking the face of the earth today. Both men seem to believe it, but only one can be true.

Bound For Glory 2007:

- Kurt Angle d. Samoa Joe to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Joe and Angle have a hard hitting, fast paced match with neither man giving the other an inch. This continues in full flow until the nineteenth minute of the match when Angle reverse Joe’s enziuguri in the corner into the ankle lock. Jim Cornette comes out and all of a sudden the bell rings. The referee raises Angle’s hand and passes the World Heavyweight Championship to him. Joe is apoplectic and the pay-per-view goes off the air in utter confusion and turmoil. Cornette disappears almost as quickly as he appeared. Joe is tearing the ringside area up whilst a dazed and somewhat confused looking Kurt Angle makes his way backstage. Mike Tenay and Don West seemingly don’t know what to say but they manage to sign off with “Thanks for watching Bound For Glory folks, make sure to tune in to Spike TV on Thursday to see what will be an… interesting special live edition of Impact”.

Build to Turning Point 2007:

- Impact opens with a recap of the events of Bound For Glory. However, the recap is cut short as the camera quickly cuts to entranceway, with Samoa Joe storming to the ringside area. Joe is audibly heard saying ‘give me a damn mic’, staying outside of the ring. Joe says this isn’t what he wanted but he needed to do this in front of everyone, rather than have fans hear about it from TNA and Jim Cornette. Joe says he’s done. He’s been held down for too long and Bound For Glory was the final straw. Joe then goes on to say that if fans want to see him wrestle, they can go watch Ring of Honor, where he’ll continue to dominate professional wrestling, but TNA can go f**k themselves (which is bleeped out). Joe then hops over the barrier and leaves the arena through the back. The camera cuts back to Tenay and West, who look confused and stumble over their words before regaining their composure and promising a great night of wrestling on Impact.

- Sting comes out and says he like everyone else is in shock about what happened on Sunday. He says the roster is under strict instruction from the board not to speak about this and most people are too afraid to. But he will say this, he thinks what Jim Cornette and Kurt Angle did at Bound For Glory was disgusting. Before Sting can say another word Angle’s music hits. He comes out and says he thinks Sting is disgusting. Sting has been coasting along on his reputation ever since Dubya-See-Dubya folded back in 2001. Now he just sits back and takes TNA’s money while becoming a joke, a shadow of his once great self. Kurt Angle will never tarnish his legacy like that. He will do whatever it takes to stay on top and on Sunday whether management or the board of directors or whoever liked it or not he did what he had to do. This infuriates Sting who calls Angle scum and challenges him to a match at Turning Point and he will prove that he doesn’t rest on his laurels. Cornette comes out and says no, Sting has had enough shots at the World Championship. Sting interrupts and tells Cornette he can make any stipulation he wants. Just bring the contract next week and Sting will sign it.

- TNA announces through their website that Samoa Joe has been suspended indefinitely pending investigation into his actions on Thursday night. They also announce that Jim Cornette’s position as Management Director is under review following his actions at Bound For Glory.

- Sting signs the contract, as does Angle. Sting then demands to know what crazy stipulation Cornette has picked. Cornette reveals that Kurt Angle vs. Sting at Turning Point will be a submission match. This confuses Sting who was expecting much worse, but still he accepts, tells Angle he will see him at Turning Point and goes to leave the ring. Cornette says “Oh, and one more thing. The Scorpion Death Lock is banned for this match”. Sting’s temper gets the better of him and he charges at Cornette but Angle gets to Sting first and proceeds to beat the living daylights out of Sting.

- Cornette comes out and in the first on-air reference to Joe since his promo after Bound For Glory he officially re-instates Samoa Joe (Joe has been working ROH dates since then) and tells him that at Turning Point he has booked a two-on-one handicap match between Samoa Joe and two hungry young upstarts who have tagged together a couple of times recently: Robert Roode and James Storm. (ROH’s Glory By Honor VI: Night Two is scheduled to take place on the same night with Samoa Joe facing off against Naomichi Marufuji in an International Challenge match).

Turning Point 2007:

- Joe no shows so Roode and Storm are left with no-one to fight until the Motor City Machine Guns come out and challenge them to a match. Roode wins the match for his team when he pins Shelley. 

- The same night Joe defeats Marufuji at Glory By Honor VI: Night Two, after the match Joe leads the crowd in a chant of “F**k TNA!”

- Kurt Angle d. Sting to retain the World Heavyweight Championship by Referee Stoppage

The match is about sixteen minutes old when Sting reverses Angle’s attempt at an Ankle Lock into an Ankle Lock of his own. Angle looks like he could tap at any moment when Cornette comes out and distracts the referee, Angle taps but the referee doesn’t see it. Sting moves the referee out of the way and punches Cornette but turns around into an Olympic Slam. Angle then locks on the Ankle Lock but Sting won’t submit. Eventually Angle grapevines the leg and breaks Sting’s ankle. The referee stops the match for Sting’s own safety. But Angle won’t break the hold. Eventually security comes out to break up the hold and Angle celebrates with Cornette.

Build to Final Resolution 2007:

- Angle and Cornette come out to celebrate Angle’s “dominant” victory at Turning Point. Before they can really get to it though a representative from the board of directors comes out and announces that Cornette has failed his job review and has had his position as Management Director terminated with immediate effect. He can continue to manage Kurt Angle but as that completely conflicts with the non-bias need for a Management Director the Board had no choice but to remove him from power. A new position of Executive Director has been created and they will be responsible for running all things regarding the wrestling part of TNA, that person will be unveiled at Final Resolution. Angle and Cornette are furious.

- Later on in the night Mike Tenay informs us that the Board of Directors, impressed by his recent performances, have unanimously voted AJ Styles as the rightful number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Final Resolution 2007:

- Frankie Kazarian d. Christian Cage in a Ladder Match in the final of the Fight for the Right Tournament to earn a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship at Genesis

- Kurt Angle d. AJ Styles to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Twenty-three or so minutes into a thrilling encounter Styles rolls through an Olympic Slam attempt and picks Angle up for the Styles Clash. He hits it but Cornette comes out. Cornette spits in AJ’s face who chases him furiously around ringside. Eventually security gets between both men. The referee orders security to take Cornette away. AJ heads back to the ring as the referee is on the ramp instructing the security staff. All this has allowed Angle to recover though and when AJ rolls in the ring he is immediately Olympic Slammed onto a set up chair. Angle gets rid of the evidence and the referee comes back in to count to three.

Post-match Cornette returns, he and Angle roll AJ’s body out of the ring and celebrate. Cornette gets on the microphone and touts the outstanding achievement of Kurt Angle. He is the only man to ever hold the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, and he’s held it for an entire calendar year now. He won it in December of 2006 at Final Resolution and he has just retained it in December of 2007 at Final Resolution. Cornette says maybe they should rename this the Kurt Angle World Heavyweight Championship. All of a sudden the lights go out and Sting comes out minus face paint to reveal himself as the Executive Director.

Build to Genesis 2008:

- Angle and Cornette come out and continually run down Sting until Sting comes out. Sting is on crutches and says he doesn’t know when he’ll be returning to in-ring competition because Angle broke his ankle in two separate places. But for now he is ecstatic that the board had faith in him to run the show. He reminds Cornette that the rules have changed around here now and whilst – since Cornette has his official manager’s license – Sting cannot ban Cornette from managing Angle he can say if he gets involved in Angle’s match at Genesis with any kind of physical or mental distraction that Angle will be stripped of the World Heavyweight Championship

Genesis 2008:

- Kurt Angle d. Frankie Kazarian to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Cornette is at ringside but does not get involved. After nearly eighteen minutes Angle hits his third Olympic Slam of the match and it is enough to put Kazarian away. Angle and Cornette celebrate as the pay-per-view goes off the air

Build to Against All Odds 2008:

- Christian, who turned face when he shook Kazarian’s hand as a sign of respect after losing to him in the ladder match at Final Resolution, wins a Three-Way Dance between himself, Robert Roode and Christopher Daniels when he pinned Daniels after nailing him with the Unprettier to become #1 contender.

- Angle and Christian go back and forth on the microphone throughout the month with the main points being that Christian has never beaten Angle inside a TNA ring whilst Christian states that he is the only person on the roster that Angle cannot outfight, outwrestle and most importantly recently outcheat.

Against All Odds 2008:

- Kurt Angle d. Christian Cage to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

A gruelling match is over twenty-five minutes long when Angle locks on the Ankle Lock. Christian almost makes it to the ropes but Angle pulls him back to the centre of the ring and grapevines the leg. Christian taps but Angle refuses to relinquish the hold, eventually breaking Christian’s ankle.

Build to Victory Road 2008:

- Sting announces that Kurt Angle will once again fight AJ Styles, this time at Victory Road. AJ has fully recovered from the concussion he received at the hands of Angle and his steel chair in December and has demanded a rematch. Sting was only too happy to oblige. Angle and Cornette are fuming, shouting claims of bias, favouritism and a blatant disrespect of the “greatest frickin’ pro wrestler walking the earth today”.

- Ring of Honor announce that Samoa Joe will face Roderick Strong in a #1 Contenders Match for the ROH World Championship at Take No Prisoners in Philadelphia on Sunday the 9^th March. The same night that Victory Road is held in Norfolk, Virginia.

Victory Road 2008:

- At Take No Prisoners Samoa Joe defeats Roderick Strong to become the #1 Contender to Nigel McGuinness’ Ring of Honor World Championship.

- Kurt Angle d. AJ Styles to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Angle reverses an attempted pele kick from AJ into an ankle lock after about twenty-one minutes and AJ refuses to tap eventually passing out in the hold. Angle and Cornette celebrate another successful Championship defence. Angle then locks the hold back in on AJ who is still unconscious. Ragdolling his lifeless leg in an attempt to break his ankle. All of a sudden Angle is attacked by a man from the crowd, the man takes down his hood to reveal – SAMOA JOE! Joe attacks Angle and Cornette viciously. Eventually both men get out of dodge but Victory Road goes off the air with Joe hurling the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Angle and screaming “I’M GONNA KILL YOU!” at the Olympic Gold Medalist.

Build to Lockdown 2008:

- A recap airs showcasing the return of Samoa Joe at Sunday’s PPV and pondering what will happen on Thursday Night Impact with regards to Joe and Angle.

- Cornette and Angle come out and demand Sting’s presence. Sting obliges and Cornette berates him for allowing someone who is not a member of the roster to attack Kurt Angle, the World Champion, on Sunday’s PPV. Sting says that’s not quite true. Whilst Cornette did suspend Joe, and whilst the Board of Directors did re-suspend Joe following his refusal to show up at Turning Point, nobody actually fired Samoa Joe. Samoa Joe is still technically under TNA contract and after talking with Joe he has actually lifted the aforementioned suspension. Not only that but at Lockdown in the main event Sting has booked Kurt Angle defending his TNA Heavyweight Championship of the World inside a Steel Cage against… Samoa Joe!

- Angle and Cornette are beside themselves but before they can complain Joe comes out and tries to assault both men once again.

- The rest of the month long build is dominated by Angle and Cornette whining and complaining while Joe seemingly stops at nothing to get his hands on both men but is never quite able to do so.

Lockdown 2008:

- Samoa Joe d. Kurt Angle to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

The match is very similar to the actual match Angle and Joe had at Lockdown 2008 but this match ends with Joe locking in the Coquina Clutch and making Angle tap out.

So that concludes a rather long post. Eighteen months' worth of booking was there and me and Jonathon believe that this would have been a far more successful and lucrative way for TNA to book the Kurt Angle versus Samoa Joe feud. It still culminates in the same result with Joe winning his first World Championship in TNA over Angle at Lockdown 2008 but we believe the road we took to get there is one that would have benefitted TNA much more than the one they chose to take. The buyrates of Bound For Glory 2007 and Lockdown 2008 we believe would have been particularly high.

We plan on doing more, this is only part one of our rebooking series so if you enjoyed this please make sure to check out our forthcoming rebooking blogs. In the meantime please feel free to leave comments and you can follow me (@watadam20) and Jonathon (@JLAspey) on Twitter. Thanks for reading

Top 50 Matches - The 2013 Edition

So it's a little (okay a lot, thanks PWG!) late but we're into the new year now and it's time to take a look at my personal favourite matches of 2013. The match quality this year has been incredibly high, WWE in particular have upped their game whilst PWG and ROH have continued to excel themselves in terms of match quality. I've watched a lot of wrestling this year so this is probably my most comprehensive list to date. I'll be posting my 'End of the Year Awards' tomorrow so keep an eye out for that too. So with that said, lets have a look at the list:

1) CM Punk vs. John Cena – RAW (25th February)
2) Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk, No Disqualification – Summerslam
3) CM Punk vs. The Undertaker – WrestleMania XIX
4) The Inner City Machine Guns (AR Fox, Rich Swann and Ricochet) vs. The Mount Rushmore of Professional Wrestling (Kevin Steen and The Young Bucks [Matt and Nick Jackson]) – All Star Weekend X: Night One
5) Kevin Steen vs. Jay Lethal, ROH World Championship – 11th Anniversary Show
6) The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) vs. The Dojo Bros (Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong), PWG World Tag Team Championships – All Star Weekend 9, Night Two
7) John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan, WWE Championship - Summerslam
8) AR Fox and Samuray Del Sol vs. The Inner City Machine Guns (Rich Swann and Ricochet) – All Star Weekend 9, Night One
9) Adam Cole and The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) vs. AR Fox, Candice LeRae and Rich Swann – Battle of Los Angeles 2013, Night Two
10) Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries vs. Bobby Roode, TNA World Heavyweight Championship, Three-Way Elimination Match – Genesis
11) ACH vs. Kyle O’Reilly, Quarter-Final Match – Battle of Los Angeles 2013, Night Two
12) The Rhodes Family (Cody Rhodes and Goldust) vs. The Shield (Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins) – Battleground
13) Kevin Steen vs. Michael Bennett, Stretcher Match – Final Battle
14) The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) vs. The Dojo Bros (Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong) vs. The Inner-City Machine Guns (Rich Swann and Ricochet), PWG World Tag Team Championships, Three-Way Ladder Match – TEN
15) The Briscoe Brothers (Jay and Mark) vs. redDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly), ROH World Tag Team Championships – 11th Anniversary Show
16) AR Fox and Samuray Del Sol vs. The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) – Is Your Body Ready?
17) Bobby Roode vs. Kurt Angle – Bound For Glory
18) Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler, World Heavyweight Championship – Money in the Bank
19) Antonio Cesaro vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Damien Sandow vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Fandango vs. Jack Swagger vs. Wade Barrett, World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Contract, Ladder Match – Money in the Bank
20) The Rhodes Family (Cody Rhodes and Goldust) vs. The Shield (Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins) vs. The Uso’s (Jey and Jimmy), WWE Tag Team Championships – Hell In A Cell
21) Dolph Ziggler vs. John Cena – RAW (7th January)
22) Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton, WWE Championship, Hell in a Cell (Special Guest Referee: Shawn Michaels) – Hell In A Cell
23) Eddie Edwards vs. Taiji Ishimori – Border Wars
24) Jay Lethal vs. Michael Elgin – Supercard of Honor VII
25) Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton, WWE Championship - Battleground
26) AR Fox & The Inner City Machine Guns (Rich Swann and Ricochet) vs. The Unbreakable Fucking Steen Machines (Brian Cage, Kevin Steen & Michael Elgin) – All Star Weekend 9, Night Two
27) Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton, Street Fight – RAW (24th June)
28) Eddie Edwards vs. Kevin Steen vs. Michael Elgin vs. Roderick Strong, Defy or Deny Match – Defy or Deny II
29) Johnny Gargano vs. Kevin Steen, Quarter-Final Match – Battle of Los Angeles 2013, Night Two
30) Candice & Joey (Candice LeRae and Joey Ryan) and Drake Younger vs. The Mount Rushmore of Professional Wrestling (Kevin Steen and The Young Bucks [Matt and Nick Jackson]) – All Star Weekend X: Night Two
31) Michael Elgin vs. Tommaso Ciampa – Best In The World
32) The Dojo Bros (Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong) vs. The Inner City Machine Guns (AR Fox and Rich Swann) – All Star Weekend X: Night Two
33) The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) vs. Candice LeRae and Joey Ryan, PWG World Tag Team Championships – Matt Rushmore
34) Antonio Cesaro vs. Daniel Bryan, Match 2 of 3 in a Gauntlet Contest – RAW (22nd July)
35) Johnny Gargano vs. Roderick Strong – Matt Rushmore
36) Adrenaline Rush (ACH and Tadarius Thomas) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), Final Battle 2013
37) Adam Cole vs. Drake Younger vs. Kevin Steen, PWG World Championship, Three-Way Guerrilla Warfare Match – TEN
38) Adam Cole vs. Chris Hero, PWG World Championship – All Star Weekend X: Night One
39) The Real Americans (Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger) and The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins) vs. Rey Mysterio, The Rhodes Family (Cody Rhodes and Goldust) and The Usos (Jey and Jimmy), 5-on-5 Elimination Match – Survivor Series
40) Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio, World Heavyweight Championship – Payback
41) Daniel Bryan vs. Seth Rollins – RAW (10th June)
42) Adam Cole vs. Jay Briscoe vs. Michael Elgin, Final Battle 2013
43) Adam Cole and The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) vs. Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero) and TJ Perkins – Battle of Los Angeles 2013, Night One
44) Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton – RAW (16th December)
45) Johnny Gargano vs. Michael Elgin, Semi-Final Match – Battle of Los Angeles 2013, Night Two
46) Adam Cole vs. Michael Elgin, ROH World Championship, ROH World Championship Tournament Final Match – Death Before Dishonor XI
47) ACH vs. Michael Elgin – Dragon’s Reign
48) Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov & Rocky Romero) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) – Manhattan Mayhem V
49) Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler – RAW (15th July)
50) Adam Cole vs. Drake Younger, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship – All Star Weekend 9, Night Two

End of Year Awards - The 2013 Edition

Major End-Year Awards

Company of the Year:

This was easily the most difficult year to decide this category since I started doing these awards. We’ll start with last year’s winners: TNA. TNA could not in any way follow up what they managed in 2012. They had a very poor 2013, mainly due to Ace’s and Eight’s clogging up the television and the under-utilisation of stars such as Austin Aries and Bobby Roode. They had given themselves hope of rectifying their year somewhat when they starting pushing AJ Styles back towards the main event. Taking inspiration from 96/97 WCW the direction they took AJ’s character was an interesting one (down the ‘Crow’ Sting path for those who haven’t been watching) but they didn’t quite execute it right. Him facing Bully Ray at Bound For Glory felt a lot less like Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan than it should have because they got the details of the story wrong. At the end of the day it was all for nought anyway as they weirdly attempted to turn AJ into a poor man’s CM Punk (something that is not his forte) and then completely botched the whole thing by allowing the best thing they’ve ever produced to leave the company. I know wherever he goes he will be a massive success, whether he manages to get signed to WWE (I’m not sure he’d want to go to NXT), goes back to the likes of ROH or even maybe goes to Mexico or Japan. This was a dark year for TNA and I think it may be a while, if ever, before the promotion recovers. WWE haven’t had a great year but they have had a very good one. They started off poorly, I still believe ending CM Punk’s title reign at the Royal Rumble and doing John Cena vs. The Rock at WrestleMania for the second year running were mistakes. They did improve as the year went on though helped by the fantastic work done by the upper midcard desperate to insert themselves into the upper echelons of the division. The likes of Dolph Ziggler, whose cash in and subsequent feud with Alberto Del Rio was one of the highlights; The Shield, who have shown that all three will be massive stars (providing WWE don’t attempt to shove Reigns down the fans’ throats) and in particular, Daniel Bryan. I’m not sure what the line of thinking was by putting him in The Wyatt Family but thankfully that particular storyline has already come to an abrupt end and the moment he fights back against Bray could be a great contender for next year’s ‘Best Moment of the Year’ award. Scrolling back to 2013 though Bryan was fantastic, the weak link storyline is one of the best bits of subtle storytelling WWE have done in a while and it truly made Bryan a star. His victory at Summerslam was amazing and although it was cut short and he was soon after taken out of the title picture I have to think he will be headed back there soon. Actually, alongside Batista I think he’s one of the favourites for the Royal Rumble. I think WWE would be smart to go with Bryan because we’re getting to the point where he is so over that the fans may well reject anybody else winning, even if it is Batista. In terms of pure wrestling this was probably the best year WWE has had since 2000. Overall though it still wasn’t quite enough to claim promotion of the year. ROH had a very good year as they continue their recovery from the unfortunate Jim Cornette era. They delivered some great shows such as The Anniversary Show, Supercard of Honor VII and All Star Extravaganza V which we’ll come on to later. There were plenty of highs such as the culmination of Kevin Steen’s brilliant World Title reign, the evolution and eventual destruction of SCUM, the crowning of a new World Champion in Adam Cole and the beginning of his reign. We also saw the emergence of reDRagon as a real force in the tag team division I think they have a very bright future in Ring of Honor and O’Reilly is definitely a future world champion in both ROH and PWG. That brings me nicely on to PWG who had a landmark year. Apart from DDT4, which at least had the emotional send off for PWG legend El Generico, every show this year was fantastic. The Battle of Los Angeles was probably the best edition of the tournament yet and Night Two was absolutely phenomenal, but we’ll get to that later too. As well as Generico they also have had to deal with the departure of the uber popular Sami Callihan and the lucha sensation Samuray Del Sol but as they always do PWG merely adapted to the departures and carried on producing amazing shows. Adam Cole’s title reign has been fantastic and the formation of Mount Rushmore is one of the greatest things I’ve seen in a while. Overall, due to the quality of matches, great moments and stories such as the Mount Rushmore one, which could seriously go anywhere in 2014, PWG just gets the nod over some stiff competition.

The winner is: PWG

Superstar of the Year:

I would like to give a special mention to Adam Cole and The Shield here as I feel they have both had career years but they will both be discussed more in other categories later so I don’t want to take up all the material, but The Shield as a trio and Cole were the closest anyone got to the man who won this award. At the end of the day though there was no real competition this year for this award, it was always going to Daniel Bryan. His evolution from the start of the year in an, albeit successful, comedy team with Kane to the man who ended The Shield’s undefeated streak to the man who beat John Cena and won the biggest prize in the industry. He’s had a stellar year but he’s more than delivered on the entertainment front too. Even from the start with some of his comedy segments with Kane he’s always been one of the better parts of every RAW, SmackDown and PPV he’s been on. He really hit top form when the weak link storyline took hold. He became more aggressive and intense in the ring which led to some of his best matches since his ROH days, his mic work continues to improve and he’s just a well-rounded professional wrestler right now. I hope WWE realise what a star they have on their hands right now because this guy could and should main event WrestleMania, he’s that good and he’s that popular. The reaction to him everywhere they go whether it be when Cena announced Bryan was the man he was picking to face himself at Summerslam, or during the ascension ceremony supposedly about Cena and Randy Orton. I could go on and on, but he is so over right now that they would be fools not to capitalise on it. The way The Authority have continually screwed him is a perfect set up for him as well, the story is there, just use it!

The winner is: Daniel Bryan

Wrestler of the Year:

It’s hard to believe I am saying this but somehow, despite being in the three best matches of the year (spoiler alert for my Top 50 Matches which will be up once PWG releases All Star Weekend X and I can finish my list off), CM Punk didn’t quite do enough to win this award. The three matches in question against John Cena on RAW in February, The Undertaker at WrestleMania and Brock Lesnar at Summerslam were all amazing encounters but the rest of the year did not see many amazing matches from him. Post-Summerslam he was stuck in some awful feuds that didn’t really allow him good matches and he did miss part of the year through injury so despite those three incredible encounters he didn’t quite do enough to win ‘Wrestler of the Year’ this time round.  Kevin Steen also had a magnificent year. He somehow dragged an absolutely unbelievable match out of Michael Bennett at Final Battle, he had a – what stands as now with shows still to be watched – top 5 match of the year against Jay Lethal at The Anniversary Show and he’s had some incredible matches in PWG against the likes of Johnny Gargano at the Battle of Los Angeles and Adam Cole and Drake Younger in a three-way Guerrilla Warfare match at TEN. He didn’t do quite enough either though. I try to make a point whenever I am writing this award to distinguish between Superstar and Wrestler of the Year. The former is based on the whole package whereas the latter is purely based on in-ring performance. So it’s not a given that the same performer will win both, in fact, this year is the first year that it has ever happened. Yes, this year wrestler of the year goes to Daniel Bryan, his performances in numerous six man tags against The Shield, pretty much every PPV match he’s taken part in, specifically against Cena at Summerslam, his matches against Orton both on PPV and on RAW, his singles matches with separate members of The Shield, specifically one from June against Rollins, his incredible match with Cesaro – who was great in the ring in his own right this year – in the gauntlet on RAW. Everything he’s done in the ring this year has been nothing short of amazing.

The winner is: Daniel Bryan

Female Wrestler of the Year:

It wasn’t a banner year for women’s wrestling by any stretch of the imagination but it was far from the worst either. At the end of the year for me it came down to three women. 2011 winner Cheerleader Melissa, WWE’s most prominent diva AJ Lee and Candice LeRae. Candice only really entered the race towards the back end of the year and that’s maybe why she came up short. My obsessive watching of every WWE, TNA, ROH and PWG show and as many SHIMMER shows as I possibly can leaves little room for anything else so I didn’t catch anything Candice did outside of PWG. However, what she did do in the three shows (it will be five when they release All Star Weekend) of 2013 was mightily impressive. She’d been gone for quite a while before her return at TEN but she showed the entire audience what they’d been missing with some great performances the best of which was most definitely on Night Two of the Battle of Los Angeles when she teamed up with Rich Swann and AR Fox to take on the Mount Rushmore team of Adam Cole and The Young Bucks. This match was one of the best matches of the year and I would be surprised if it slipped out of my top ten (there would have to be a lot of good matches at All Star Weekend). I’d go so far to say as it’s one of the best six-man tag team matches in PWG history, just a tremendous match. But in reality Candice was never going to win, her performances on three shows are nowhere near enough for me to even consider her for this award but I have mentioned her because I feel her work deserved an honourable mention. Next up is the representative from WWE. I’ve had a big turnaround on this particular lady. I always quite liked AJ and thought she performed admirably at every role she was given, up until RAW1000 in 2012. She was appointed RAW General Manager and from then (July) until she was relieved of her duties for the purposes of the John Cena/Dolph Ziggler storyline (December) she was the most insufferable person on WWE television (quite the challenge in the latter half of 2012). However, how she performed in her on-screen relationship with Dolph and subsequent venture into the diva’s division full-time won back my favour. This year she participated in the first WWE produced female storyline I’ve cared about in years. The story, and match at Payback, she had with Kaitlyn was absolutely phenomenal. It was so well crafted and played to the strengths of both performers. In the ring her performances weren’t always great but the aforementioned match with Kaitlyn at Payback was very, very good and she had an equally good match – from a technical standpoint, it didn’t have the emotion or story behind it – with Natalya on Main Event in November. She has led the diva’s division to a position higher on the totem pole than it has been probably since the days of Trish and Lita. Although it hasn’t reached those heights and still isn’t taken seriously by the majority of people both within WWE and consuming it they are still in a far better position at the start of 2014 than they were at the start of 2013 and AJ deserves a lot of credit for that. The winner though, for the second time in three years, is Cheerleader Melissa. It astounds me that WWE don’t want to sign this girl. They’re threatening to create a half decent division in their developmental territory, NXT, with the likes of Emma and Paige at the forefront and the main roster has improved, as mentioned previously, Melissa would be perfect to lead either division. Alas, for whatever reason, they don’t seem to want to sign her but the only two-time SHIMMER Champion in history had a great year nonetheless with some great matches against the likes of Mercedes Martinez and Courtney Rush. The best match she had this year though took place over WrestleMania weekend in SHIMMER’s first ever iPPV where she defeated Saraya Knight inside of a steel cage to reclaim the SHIMMER Championship. The match was outstanding and showcased both women’s great skills. Melissa is a deserving two-time SHIMMER and now she’s a deserving two-time winner of my Female Wrestler of the Year award.

The winner is: Cheerleader Melissa

Match of the Year:

This year’s matches were among the highest quality I have ever seen, it was a fantastic year but as per usual with this award I don’t like to divulge too much about the other candidates as I will be releasing my Top 50 Matches of the Year in the not too distant future – hopefully. The match that won took place in Dallas in February on Monday Night RAW and it featured John Cena putting his Championship match against The Rock at WrestleMania he’d earned by winning the Royal Rumble on the line against the man who lost the WWE Championship to The Rock at the same pay-per-view, CM Punk. It was an encounter that in reality should have been quite dull, we’d see Cena and Punk face off multiple times in the last eighteen months and the result was a foregone conclusion, it was difficult so see how this match could be compelling. These two are so good though that they delivered a compelling match and then some. A back and forth encounter with great psychology showing how each man had learned from their mistakes in previous matches that even had the most ardent and jaded wrestling fan jumping out of their seats. At one point Punk hit Cena with a regular piledriver, a move that hasn’t been seen in a long, long time and I – despite being one hundred percent certain before the match that Cena was winning – was halfway through cheering a Punk victory when Cena kicked out. It was an awesome match, one that was perhaps even better than their encounter at Money in the Bank in July 2011. Truly phenomenal and an absolute cinch to win this award.

The winner is: CM Punk vs. John Cena – RAW (25^th February)

Angle/Feud of the Year:

There were several good candidates for angle of the year this year. We start with the company of the year, PWG, and their fantastically entertaining new faction Mount Rushmore who formed at the end of this year. The stable consisting of Young Bucks, Adam Cole and Kevin Steen came together at the end of this year’s Battle of Los Angeles and made an immediate impact. They’ve wreaked havoc since but as this angle is very much in its infancy I feel it’s likely one that will be considered for next year’s award rather than this one. Moving on to TNA, they didn’t do much right this year – and even this one had flaws were it could have been massively improved – but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t extremely hooked by the evolution of AJ Styles over 2013. He returned as a dark, silent heel and morphed into more of a lone wolf tweener character before he turned face by helping the Main Event Mafia defeat Ace’s and Eight’s in a heavily promoted tag match on Impact. Unfortunately, TNA didn’t even execute this right by having it occur on a taped show rather than the live(ish) one and by doing it in an arena from a part of a country with very little knowledge of the product. This meant the audience didn’t react the way that they would have done in more of a TNA stronghold lessening the impact of the moment. Over to WWE and the star of the year Daniel Bryan. In the latter part of the year, before the weird transition away from the main event and into the feud with the Wyatt’s, Bryan feuded with The Authority, Vince McMahon and their handpicked corporate champion Randy Orton. Bryan raging against the machine was fun to watch for a little while but seeing him beaten down at the end of what seemed like every RAW soured it a little bit. There’s making someone look like an underdog and then there’s making them look like a chump. Unfortunately they veered awfully close to the latter quite often. Nevertheless this angle had its moments and, hopefully, once he wraps up his feud with Bray Wyatt this angle can come back to the forefront and be an angle for WrestleMania? If it is, and they pull the trigger on Bryan on the grandest stage of them all, I could definitely see this being in contention for next year’s award. Onto the next candidate. The RAW after WrestleMania is becoming a staple as one of the best RAW’s of any given year and this year’s was no different. The best moment of a top to bottom great show, for me at least, was Dolph Ziggler cashing in his Money in the Bank contract and winning the World Heavyweight Championship from Alberto Del Rio. Ziggler, who was a heel, got a massive reaction upon winning the belt and for once WWE seemed to listen. Fast forward through a concussion for Dolph to the Payback PPV and he defended his Championship against Del Rio. WWE decided to execute the lesser seen double turn with Alberto going heel and Ziggler going babyface. Boy, did it work. It worked gangbusters. The fans were on board and WWE had one of their hottest angles of the year. Sadly, they couldn’t finish it off properly. They never gave Dolph the Championship back and all of the excitement faded. All of the above was amazing to watch, the Payback match in particular where the crowd actually turned during the match was phenomenal. But their inability to follow it up with any kind of meaningful push for Dolph – which was what the fans really wanted to see ruled it out of contention. And so we come to the winner. The winner was an absolute goldmine of an angle. Not only was it richly entertaining to watch unfold but it also produced some of the greatest matches of this year and it turned an upper midcarder to occasional main eventer into a bonafide star. The angle was, of course, Daniel Bryan’s “weak link” angle. The story started with Bryan partially believing he was the weak link, partially believing the fans saw him as the weak link and one hundred and ten percent Bryan trying everything to prove he wasn’t. Bryan, and his tag team partner Kane, were at odds with the trio known as The Shield (I’ll get to them later) for the majority of the spring and summer. They regularly wrestled six man tags against them with different partners and they almost always came up short. With Bryan’s inferiority complex getting the better of him at times. Particularly when Randy Orton was their tag team partner or, in one case, Bryan’s only partner in a Tag Team Championship match against Rollins and Reigns. Bryan’s character was a major point of conflict between himself and Orton in particular. People have different ideas of when this particular angle came to an end, some say it stretched as far as when Bryan finally “proved himself, to himself” by beating John Cena at Summerslam. Either way, despite its weird positioning on SmackDown I’d say the defining moment of the angle came when Bryan scored the first ever victory (not counting disqualifications) against The Shield in the almost seven months since they debuted. Bryan forced Rollins to tap out to hand himself, Kane and Orton the victory and it was a massive moment (although, again, why it was on SmackDown and not PPV or at least RAW was baffling). It really cemented Bryan as a major player. The whole journey watching Bryan evolve as a character and in the ring (he really upped his intensity during this time) was amazing and led to some great moments and some great matches. Overall it was a truly phenomenal angle with a wonderful outcome and was nothing but pure entertainment from start to finish. Plus, it got Daniel Bryan to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

The winner is: Daniel Bryan’s “Weak Link” Storyline

One-off Show of the Year:

This year saw some extremely good shows. Two stood above the rest of the pack but I do feel I have to give a special mention to two other shows which in any other year would have been majorly in the running for the show of the year but unfortunately could not compete with the two contenders here. First, we head to ROH and their fifth offering of All Star Extravaganza. This was just a really well paced show that flew over. It took part during the World Championship tournament ROH had running last year. There were no blow-away matches on the card but almost every match was a really fun offering. From the World Title tournament matches such as Michael Elgin vs. Paul London, Matt Taven vs. Roderick Strong and Silas Young vs. Tommaso Ciampa to the triple threat tag team match between The Young Bucks, C&C Wrestle Factory and Adrenaline Rush. The best match of the night was probably Adam Cole vs. Jay Lethal though. Cole is a revelation and was a deserving choice to be Champion at the end of the tournament and despite Lethal’s utter blandness he can’t half put on a good match. If he was able to showcase an ounce of charisma when he wasn’t impersonating someone he’d be amazing. Maybe he needs a heel turn? Who knows whether it would do any good but hell, it can’t hurt. What let down this show in the end though was the fact that although every match was good or even very good, no one match was amazing and the main event between The American Wolves and The Forever Hooligans was very average – one of the weakest matches on the show. Onto the next show that just missed the cut – Payback. WWE’s June offering looked extremely average on paper but it delivered more than I think anyone ever expected. The surprise of the Del Rio/Ziggler double turn added a little something to that, CM Punk and Chris Jericho had a very good match even the triple threat opener between The Miz, Wade Barrett and Curtis Axel was better than it had any right to be. AJ Lee and Kaitlyn had one of the best women’s matches in WWE in recent memory and The Shield vs. Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton was great too. Once again though, the main event let this show down with a very poor Three Stages of Hell match between John Cena and Ryback. That and a poorer than expected Kane vs. Dean Ambrose meant this show just didn’t quite do enough. So now, we come onto the two real contenders: PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles: Night Two and WWE’s Summerslam. Ironically both shows took place in Southern California and were separated by less than 25 miles and 13 days. PWG’s annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament got off to a great start on Night One but Night Two was where they truly blew everyone’s socks off. We opened up with the four quarter-final matches: Drake Younger and Brian Cage had a short but crazy opener to get us off to a hot start, Kevin Steen and Johnny Gargano put on an absolute classic, Michael Elgin and Roderick Strong had a nice match and then Kyle O’Reilly and ACH blew everyone away with a phenomenal, hard hitting, athletic, psychology heavy match. Truly a great four matches. A fun six man tag followed and then the Semi-Final’s with Elgin and Gargano having another terrific match before an good but somewhat underwhelming – compared to the rest of the show – match between Drake and O’Reilly. What followed was one of the best matches of the year as the new relationship between über heel’s Adam Cole and The Young Bucks continued as they took on AR Fox, Rich Swann and Candice LeRae. The match was absolutely insane and had the crowd on the edge of their seats every step of the way. Both teams worked so well in tandem and Candice was an absolute star in the match. There was a near fall near the end of the match which was among the best near fall’s I’ve ever seen when Candice hit a suicide dive DDT on Cole on the outside followed immediately by Rich Swann hitting a standing 450 splash on one Jackson brother while AR Fox hit a regular 450 on the other. It was truly amazing and the whole match was like that. It’s the most fun I’ve had watching wrestling in a long time, magnificent match. Then came the main event as Elgin took on O’Reilly in the main event. It struggled to follow the craziness that was the six person tag but they did well and had a good match all things considered. After the match though Adam Cole came back out and started taunting the winner O’Reilly, he received a kick to the head for his troubles but the Bucks came out and beat Kyle down. A clearly hurt Candice came out to try and make the save but was beat down herself. Next out was Joey Ryan, infamously Candice’s arch nemesis. He seemed happy with proceedings but then said “Guys, nobody beats this girl up but me” and superkicked Cole. He too was beat down though as was Drake when he tried to make the save. Then referee and professional Young Bucks hater Rick Knox got in the ring with a chair as did Kevin Steen. Steen shocked the world though by attacking Knox and hitting him with a package piledriver. He then hugged three men everyone thought he hated. He hit a package piledriver on Candice and snapped the Battle of Los Angeles trophy in half for good measure too (watch the video here). It was an amazing show from every viewpoint you could have: story wise, wrestling wise, this had everything. WWE’s Summerslam was their best offering of the annual show in eons. The show actually started off badly with a horrific match between Bray Wyatt and Kane but once that was done the show started to take off. Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow had a good outing and then Christian and Alberto Del Rio took it to another level in their World Heavyweight Championship match putting on a sublime performance that would have been match of the night on any other show. When CM Punk and Brock Lesnar came out for their No Disqualification match the intensity ramped up another notch and the match was almost perfect. This was definitely Punk’s best match since his return and one of the best of his career. Everything about this match was great and both men came out of it looking like machines, truly brilliant. The main event was a thing of beauty as well as Daniel Bryan finally won the biggest title in the wrestling world by unseating John Cena to win the WWE Championship. It was an amazing match with an amazing ending and a truly ‘feel good’ moment. The fact that Randy Orton cashed in to beat him for the Championship actually made the show even better because of the intrigue of where they were going to go with this story next. Of course we haven’t had a satisfactory ending… yet. After a lot of deliberation I decided to give the victory to the Night 2 offering of this year’s Battle of Los Angeles though, simply because it was a slightly more consistent show and the ending segment being among the best I’ve ever seen.

The winner is: Battle of Los Angeles: Night Two

Best Moment of the Year:

There were so many great moments this year it is unfair to make pick. Going in chronological order we start the day after WrestleMania with a moment we’ve already touched on when Dolph Ziggler cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Dolph’s cash-in was amazing to see and will go down in history as one of the all-time great moments. Next up was the moment when John Cena announced he was picking Daniel Bryan as his opponent for Summerslam. The moment was long and drawn out but the pure joy I, and the entire arena who were lucky enough to be in attendance, felt when we heard that name was immeasurable. The disbelief was pretty big too because although I hoped they would pick him I didn’t actually believe it could happen. Next up is a moment we’ve already discussed, the moment where Daniel Bryan beat John Cena in that subsequent match for the WWE Championship. I was out of town on holiday in the middle of nowhere when Summerslam aired so for a week I went without a phone and didn’t touch a computer to make sure I avoided spoilers. Coming back and watching it on the Friday night almost a week after Summerslam took place and seeing that moment made it worth everything. Amazing. Next up is AJ Styles returning to his ‘Phenomenal’ self. The moment where AJ turned back face by helping the Main Event Mafia defeat Ace’s and Eight’s. Now in true TNA fashion they made a bungle of what could have been a huge moment but nevertheless as an ardent AJ fan I thought it was brilliant. It gave me goosebumps when he was stood halfway down the ramp and Evil Ways stopped playing and Get Ready To Fly started. Then came the infamous Mount Rushmore of Wrestling formation. This moment is the one mentioned in detail when I was talking about Battle of Los Angeles: Night Two earlier. Steen, Cole and The Bucks refer to themselves as Mount Rushmore and I can’t say enough good things about that moment when the group came together. It was amazing. Finally, we come to December and Monday Night RAW in Seattle. The ascension ceremony for the unification of the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship was meant to be all about John Cena and Randy Orton but it turned into a Seattle loves Daniel Bryan segment – and it was brilliant. In the end though, nothing quite topped Daniel Bryan lifting that WWE Championship in August at Summerslam. I’ve been watching Bryan since 2004 and after nearly a decade of watching him claw and scrap, knowing he was one of the best in the world, it was amazing to see him finally win the Championship he so richly deserved. It may have only lasted for a few minutes but it filled me with so much pride to see him finally “make it” on the big stage. I can only hope it is not the last time we see Daniel Bryan holding the WWE Championship, hopefully we will see him win it back at WrestleMania this year – it would be too perfect.

The winner is: Daniel Bryan wins WWE Title

Breakout Star of the Year:

There have been plenty of people who have had good years and risen up the ranks in 2013 but there are three men, all of whom win tonight because this year’s breakout star had to go to a faction – The Shield. The Shield debuted late last year with a shocking and memorable attack on John Cena and Ryback at Survivor Series. They followed that up with a hellacious and fantastic first match on the roster, a six man tag TLC match. They only went from strength to strength in 2013 with great matches such as vs. John Cena and friends at Elimination Chamber, Team Hell No and Kofi Kingston on RAW (as well as numerous other matches against Hell No plus a partner) and played a great part in a very good 5-on-5 Elimination match at Survivor Series a year after their debut. The Shield also held gold this year as Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns held the Tag Team Championships from May to October whilst Dean Ambrose won the United States Championship in May and still holds it as of this writing. The Shield actually helped to form three distinct parts of the year. The first part of the year they seemed to be facing the all-star’s and giving them something to do in the lead up to WrestleMania. After that they started to feud with Team Hell No and played a pretty integral role in Daniel Bryan’s weak link storyline. And for the latter part of the year they feuded with The Rhodes Family which led to some memorable matches including a phenomenal match at an otherwise abysmal show called Battleground which saw the Rhodes Family win their jobs back. It was a truly amazing year for these three and I’d be very surprised if all three aren’t main eventers when The Shield goes their separate ways. It seems like they’re grooming Roman to be the star, I just hope they don’t force it. Ambrose is the one that will get over organically but they may be reluctant to push. Whereas Rollins is the one most likely to be lost in the shuffle but as a babyface – although his mic skills aren’t great – he has this innate Jeff Hardy like in ring charisma that will get him over. I can’t put over these guys any more than this: if we get to WrestleMania 33 and any one of these three haven't main evented the grandest show of them all I will be utterly shocked.

The winner is: The Shield

Minor End-Year Awards:

Face of the Year: Daniel Bryan

Heel of the Year: Adam Cole

Commentator of the Year: Todd Kenneley

Gimmick/Character of the Year: Daniel Bryan’s inferiority complex character (weak link storyline)

Tag Team of the Year: The Young Bucks

Promo of the Year: Mark Henry’s retirement speech

Finisher of the Year: Bryan’s Baisuku Knee

Spot/Bump of the Year: CM Punk piledrives John Cena

Worst Moment of the Year: John Cena’s performance on the 14^th January edition of Monday Night RAW in the Steel Cage match with Dolph Ziggler which made Pierce Brosnan laugh at its lack of realism

Televised Show of the Year (consistency-wise): RAW