Topic – Woman of the year in world of wrestling?
Chad: I will admit that I have watched close to zero indies women’s wrestling so AJ is the clear winner from my vantage point.
Brett: Stephanie.
Derrick: She would be a good candidate, but she hasn’t wrestled in 10 years, so that would hurt her chances.
Brett: Oh, the wrestling matters?
Derrick: I would think so, no?
Brett: Candice LeRae, then. Stephanie was far more important than any of the ones that wrestle, and I find her character to be totally hilarious most weeks.
Derrick: Stephanie had some fine moments this year for sure for a non-in ring woman personality in wrestling. I would go with her and AJ as my choices with Natalya as a dark horse pick.
Steven: I haven’t seen much but Kana from Japan gets a lot of praise.
Paige in NXT is pretty awesome as well. Does anybody keep up with Shimmer or Shine and have options from there?
Brett: I don’t remember any Divas match that I would call good all year. Total Divas is great and all, though. Nattie always gets love because she’s Bret Hart’s niece, but she’s pretty shitty in her own right.
Greg: AJ/Kaitlyn from one of those PPs was really good. Payback, I think. Plus AJ was a great character/performer all year-long.
Women’s match of the year has to be Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell. Gail’s amazing.
I’d go AJ, Gail, Mickie in my Woman of the Year voting.
Derrick: Carlson’s so critical, but he does have somewhat of a point. There weren’t many good Divas matches this year, but GP did say AJ/Kaitlyn which was good. And Natalya’s a helluva lot better than either of the Bella twins.
Steven: What about Emma?
Derrick: She’s got potential, breakout woman candidate for 2014.
Steven: She’s a great dancer. One of the highlights of the year was her entrance with Santino on NXT.
Derrick: Then there’s Paige who also has plenty of potential.
Ben: Gail Kim has to be in the discussion for Woman of the Year. She got Taryn Terrell to be the point where they were having classic matches that WWE was trying to replicate in AJ/Kaitlyn.
Topic – Feud of the year?
Steven: Mine would have to be the Rhodes family against the Shield/Authority.
Brett: I’d go with that or Lesnar/Punk.
Dave: Okada vs Tanahashi. Not really a feud but a continuation of a very awesome series.
Ben: CM Punk vs Paul Heyman. For the promos alone, but you also have Punk/Lesnar in as a great match. Great evolution, motivation and character work.
Brett: I’ll just say Punk/Lesnar, just because it had a really fun old school feel to it, even if it wasn’t a long-term feud. If it has to be reduced to Punk vs Heyman, then not so much, because of the Axel involvement.
Ben: Punk/Lesnar is just a subset of Punk/Heyman. The Axel and Ryback matches may not have been top notch, but Punk and Heyman kept the feud hot with their promos.
Brett: Though it did have the awesomeness of Ryback, and I absolutely loved that character. I think the only time it was hot was the Lesnar match. The HIAC was pretty lame.
Jeremy: I’ll say the Rhodes/Authority feud. Short and sweet, and they actually let the right guys win in the end.
Brett: “I’ll be your huckleberry all night long.” Greatest thing said on wrestling TV all year.
Jeremy: I still don’t get that.
Steve Rogers: Quote from Tombstone
Ben: I liked Cena/Bryan as well. A babyface feud done right with both guys having valid points of view and delivering good promos without needing to go heel. Also liked that it started friendly and got more intense organically. And of course a great match capped it.
Brett: Was great. Loved pretty much the whole summer.
Last Topic – One bold prediction for 2014.
Derrick: One of our PTB members makes a splash in the WWE
Jeremy: Kurt Angle re-signs with the WWE as a part-time performer.
Derrick: I would really like to see that, Nichols. Even at 45, Angle could probably still go and I can already see him in matches with Bryan, Punk, Ziggy, Cesaro, and a few others.
Ben: CM Punk will retire. Or at least leave WWE, get a reduced schedule–something.
Justin: WWE and ROH enter a working relationship.
Derrick: TNA gets bought out by Viacom or by somebody…
Ben: TNA does NOT get bought out and continues as an independent entity, surviving 2014. I think that’s the bolder prediction at this point.
Derrick: Cesaro wins the WWE World title.
Jordan: Chikara returns.
Derrick: Austin begins a program for one more match at WM 31.
Chad: I said ONE bold prediction Derrick!
Scott: Prince Devitt debuts in WWE
Steve Rogers: The WWE continues to ignore the failure of the WBF and XFL, and develops an MMA company under the WWE umbrella.
Not saying they’d transfer their own Superstars into it, well maybe Brock, but I can see that as an actual possiblity.
Derek: Shane McMahon returns.
This wraps up our 2013 wrestling retrospective. We look forward to what the year in 2014 will bring. Placetobenation.com will continue to bring our loyal readers coverage to document the integral going-ons in the world of wrestling.
