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In 2011, both WWE and TNA realized they both had the same big problem: they lacked new stars. Their past creative mistakes put them both in similar situations in which they lacked young, fresh stars to carry them into the future.
So what did both of them do? Did they pull an Okada and put all of their money into a fresh, young star and build the company around him? No, of course not. That would’ve been the smart thing to do. But these are two companies in an industry mired in behind-the-scenes politics, nepotism and egomania.
So both companies put aging, established stars and former megastars as centerpieces instead.
In each one of these awful matches, at least one of the competitors was someone that simply should not have been placed in a main-event spot. These desperate attempts to make main-event matches all failed horribly because the creative figureheads failed spectacularly in making those wrestlers into believable (and therefore exciting) athletes.
As a result, here we have five of the worst matches of 2011.
5. John Cena vs. R-Truth - Capitol Punishment
For a wrestling match to be enjoyable, it needs to be dramatic. For a match to be dramatic, it needs to be believable that either man could win. And no matter how hard he tried, R-Truth could not make anyone expect he could beat John Cena, who was in his prime ‘Super-Cena’ presentation in 2011.
R-Truth came off as more of a comedy wrestler that was trying to be serious but came off as funny. His promos were wacky and outlandish, which did little to make him into a credible threat. In terms of in-ring action, his match with Cena was decidedly average, lacking in anything too special or exciting.
The most disappointing part of it, though, was Truth getting hit in the face with a fan’s drink, (intentionally), which allowed Cena to win. This felt more like ‘stupid WWE comedy’ than genuinely good wrestling, which is why few people have any fond memories of this match.
4. John Cena vs. The Miz – WrestleMania XXVII
There were a lot of problems with this match. First, the action felt disjointed and underwhelming. Miz tried to hit a lot of big moves, but his offense didn’t look convincing. Also keep in mind that Miz was an underhanded ‘chickens**t’ heel up to this point, so most people were expecting a one-sided slaughter on Cena’s part.
Second, the Miz suffered a real concussion after getting spiked head-first on the cement after Cena clotheslined him. Anytime a wrestler gets concussed in a match, it risks ruining the entirety of the remaining match (just ask the Undertaker).
Thirdly, and most importantly, whole match – and most of the entire show, for that matter – was all about The Rock returning. The count-out ‘ending’ did not lead to the surprise that WWE wanted; everyone knew the Rock was coming out. His involvement in the match did nothing for the Miz; in fact, his presence completely overshadowed the Miz as a wrestler.
The whole story became about the Rock and Cena, which made the Miz – who was the WWE Champion, mind you – a complete afterthought. This was a double whammy in that the in-ring match was bad and the story around it was equally bad.
3. Big Show, Kane, Kofi Kingston and Santino Marella vs.The Corre - WrestleMania XXVII
You know a match is bad when the entrances are longer than the match itself.
If this were a throwaway match on some random episode of RAW, it wouldn’t ever be mentioned again. But this was at WrestleMania, the biggest show of the year. And WWE didn’t have more than 95 seconds to give to these four wrestlers?
If I were on the losing team in this match, I’d take my paycheck and then leave the company. This sent as clear a message as any to the audience: none of these four wrestlers matter at all, yet we want to put everyone on the WrestleMania card, so here they are in a match that doesn’t matter at all.
There was very little action in this match, just a few random exchanges before all of them hit their finishers, before Big Show won with his Knockout Punch.
This doesn’t even deserve being called a ‘bathroom break’ match because it was over before anyone could’ve even gotten to the restrooms, much less gotten back to their seats.
2. Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler - WrestleMania XXVII
No matter how much WWE might try and change their name, branding, and language, the actual action involving their talent will always be called ‘wrestling’. It’s a form of athleticism which requires years of training to perfect and do safely, which is why untrained non-wrestlers should get in the ring as infrequently as possible.
Especially if their name is Michael Cole.
At this time, WWE was pushing Michael Cole as an obnoxious heel announcer that had clear bias against certain fan favorites while also being a total jerk to Jerry Lawler. Cole’s actions and words ticked Lawler off to no end, until Lawler couldn’t take it anymore and got himself a match at WrestleMania. Against Michael Cole. Who is a commentator. Who did not know how to wrestle.
This should’ve been at most a sixty-second squash with Lawler demolishing Cole so badly that Cole would have to ‘be hospitalized’ to write him off TV for a while. Instead, Cole and ally Jack Swagger lengthened this abysmal affair to almost fourteen minutes in length.
Worse, shenanigans continued with the ending, as the ‘Anonymous RAW General Manager’ appeared and reversed the initial decision that had Lawler victorious.
1. Sting vs. Jeff Hardy – Victory Road 2011
This is what happens when wrestlers’ personal demons aren’t kept in check. Jeff Hardy’s substance abuse history has long been known in wrestling, but it reached its nadir at Victory Road 2011.
It isn’t clear which ‘substance’ he was abusing, but what is clear was that he was barely capable of making it to the ring. Having any sort of wrestling match was out of the question.
This led to a completely unscripted change that caused the entire ‘match’ to last just over a minute. All Sting did was hit his Scorpion Death Drop and legitimately pinned Hardy to keep him from getting up.
It was an embarrassment of a match, and everyone knew it (well, perhaps not Jeff Hardy). Sting even yelled ‘I agree’ when a fan yelled ‘Bullsh*t’ after the match had ended. When a wrestler agrees with fan booing something, you know you’ve messed up royally.
How Jeff Hardy was even able to keep his job in TNA, much less keep wrestling in general after this fiasco, remains a mystery.
