WWE's 2011: A Year of Missed Opportunities but Also Some Great Wrestling

Looking back at 2011, it was probably the WWE’s best year of the PG era. 

Aside from the much-needed rise of some young stars like CM Punk, Dolph Ziggler, Zack Ryder and Cody Rhodes, the WWE thrived in 2011 because it featured the main ingredient that makes any wresting company successful: great in-ring action. 

We got two phenomenal pay-per-view matches between CM Punk and John Cena, a classic series of matches between Randy Orton and Christian and an epic WrestleMania bout between The Undertaker and Triple H. But those really just scratched the surface. 

Fellow B/R writer Eric Kanes did an excellent job ranking the top 10 WWE matches of the year, and whether you agree with this list or not, he does remind us of some of the fantastic matches we witnessed in 2011. 

WWE.com came out with a similar list ranking the top 25 matches of 2011, and though some matches are grossly overrated (or underrated), the rankings still are a nice reminder of just how great 2011 was for the WWE wrestling-wise. 

The year really came full circle, starting with a superb WWE Championship match between The Miz and John Morrison on the first Raw of 2011 and then ending with a classic TLC match between Miz, Punk and Alberto Del Rio at WWE TLC. 

I found it rather ironic that in a year where the word “wrestling” or “wrestler” was almost never used (unless you were CM Punk), we got arguably the best year of in-ring action of the last five years or so. It was highlighted by an exceptional year for Smackdown, which has become the WWE’s “wrestling” show for a reason. 

Almost every episode of Smackdown featured a very good TV match, and several bouts throughout the year—such as Orton vs. Rhodes in a Street Fight—borderlined on greatness. Raw definitely deserves some credit, too, though. 

Though it is often deemed as the WWE’s “entertainment” show, Raw had a number of memorable matches this year, including a great run of bouts featuring Dolph Ziggler near the end of 2011. 

As far as wrestling is concerned, I would give the WWE a 9 overall because there was almost no point in the year in which I didn’t enjoy watching went on in the ring. 

That being said, 2011 was still a year of missed opportunities. 

As much as I was entertained by what happened in the ring, the WWE creative team screwed up several storylines that could have been great. 

Punk was the hottest act in pro wrestling this summer, and the angle where he won the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank and then bolted the company with it could have been so much better had the creative team not rushed it by bringing Punk back so early. Similarly, the WWE had a potentially epic feud between Punk and Triple H set up perfectly, but once again, it was rushed and wound up being just another forgettable feud. 

I was also disappointed with the way the WWE booked its heel champions. 

The creative team has a bad habit of building a heel up in great fashion only to give him the World Heavyweight Championship and then book him like a complete coward. It happened with Alberto Del Rio, Christian and, to a lesser extent, Mark Henry this year, leaving me to question whether or not heel champions will ever be booked properly. 

That just frustrates me because it’s completely in the creative team’s control to make their heel champions look strong, but they consistently fail to do so. 

Speaking of failures, what has become of the WWE’s tag team and Divas divisions? I’m not going to elaborate on this too much, but the WWE had great opportunities to do something with the tag team division this year. 

With the formation of Air Boom and Awesome Truth, the combination of Ziggler and Jack Swagger, the vast improvement of the Usos and the pairing of Epico and Primo, the tag team division could matter. But it really doesn’t. 

The only thing in the WWE that might be a bigger waste of time than the tag division is the Divas division. It has—what?—maybe two women who can actually wrestle, while the rest are glorified models. 

WWE officials could have easily signed some top female indy talent or pushed girls who can actually wrestle—such as Natalya and AJ—but instead, those TV spots have been given to the likes of Kelly Kelly, Eve, Alicia Fox and the Bella Twins. 

Something needs to change there, because as awesome as 2011 was wrestling-wise, it was still marred by stagnant tag team and Divas divisions, rushed storylines and far too many title changes. 

I could honestly sit here all day and criticize the WWE for everything it did wrong in 2011, but let’s just leave it at that. All in all, 2011 had more of what I want to see as a wrestling fan than it did of what I don’t want to see. 

The WWE still has its problems, but 2011 was a giant step in the direction.