WWE: The 25 Most Valuable Players in the Company in 2011

Regardless of how much criticism the WWE deserves for some of its ridiculous booking this year, 2011 was a great year for the company overall.

We got a number of stellar pay-per-views (such as SummerSlam and Money in the Bank), CM Punk created a huge buzz in the wrestling world over the summer and now, three Internet favorites are carrying gold around their waists.

All in all, I definitely can't complain about 2011 because it was probably the best year of the PG era despite the fact that the WWE roster has less depth now than it did in the previous three years.

The success of the WWE in 2011 can mainly be attributed to the men and women who stepped up their game and made the most out of their matches and storylines.

And we're here to honor those people today.

Here are my rankings of the 25 Most Valuable Players in the WWE in 2011. 

Note: No Undertaker or Triple H, because their involvement in WWE this year was pretty limited.

25. Rey Mysterio

Rey Mysterio has been out of action since August after undergoing yet another knee surgery, but prior to his injury, he was having a very solid 2011.

He started the year off with a lengthy feud with Cody Rhodes that helped elevate Rhodes to arguably the highest point of his career and resulted in multiple memorable matches between the two.

Mysterio then got switched to Raw, where he had another good (albeit very short) feud with CM Punk before competing in a big six-man tag team match at SummerSlam.

The last real memory of Mysterio from this year was when he won his first WWE Championship back in July, even though he lost it later that same night.

It was a very unselfish year for a guy who has developed a reputation as somewhat of a selfish superstar. 

24. Kelly Kelly

No matter what you think of Kelly Kelly, there's no denying her importance to the Divas division this year.

Yeah, she's far from the greatest Diva we've ever seen. But she improved a lot in 2011 and carried the Divas Championship throughout the summer and into the fall.

Kelly Kelly is undoubtedly the biggest babyface in the Divas division, and even if she's no Trish Stratus, women's wrestling in the WWE probably would have been even worse without her in 2011.

23. John Laurinaitis

I can't believe I'm about to type this, but I actually think John Laurinaitis has done a better job running Monday Night Raw than Triple H did.

I thought Triple H working as the WWE C.O.O. was an easy storyline to make work, but it ended up flopping pretty badly.

Meanwhile, Laurinaitis has really come into his own as "the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the interim General Manager of Monday Night Raw."

He really lacks charisma and promo skills, but he's somehow used his faults to his advantage and made them a part of his character.

He is John Laurinaitis, he is doing an excellent job as the interim GM and most importantly, he is "Mr. Excitement."

22. Jack Swagger

I'm honestly not sure that any WWE superstar was more misused in 2011 than Jack Swagger.

He got stuck in that god-awful "personal trainer" role for Michael Cole around WrestleMania time, and then since moving to Raw in the WWE Draft, he has essentially been nothing more than a glorified jobber.

Though Swagger has been aligned with Vickie Guerrero and even challenged for the WWE Tag Team Championship on consecutive pay-per-views, he has also jobbed to the likes of Sheamus and even Santino Marella.

Swagger has been an absolute workhorse for the WWE this year, even if 90 percent of the storylines he's been involved in haven't been very good. 

21. Wade Barrett

This was actually a pretty bad year for Wade Barrett.

After shooting up to the main-event scene in 2010, he was moved to Smackdown early in 2011 and booked horribly as the leader of The Corre and the Intercontinental Champion.

Barrett had lost all the momentum he had built up on Raw until a couple of months ago, when he vowed to fly solo for good and started "The Barrett Barrage." 

Since then, he's become a huge player on Smackdown during his feud with Randy Orton and now looks poised to become a World champion in 2012.

Though the first nine months or so of 2011 were really rough for Barrett, he's gained a ton of steam as we head into the new year.

20. Ricardo Rodriguez and Santino Marella

I originally had this spot reserved just for Ricardo Rodriguez, but I had to include Santino Marella because these two were undoubtedly two of the funniest WWE performers in 2011.

Santino has always been great at making the WWE's campy PG comedy work, and Rodriguez proved this year that he could do the same.

I found Alberto Del Rio to be a little dry and bland, but Rodriguez's phenomenal comedic timing and excellent facial expressions made him a lot easier to watch.

Just watch this video, and I think you'll understand exactly why I find Rodriguez to be absolutely hilarious.

19. Josh Mathews and Booker T

As far as announcing goes, 2011 was an atrocious year for the WWE.

Jim Ross wasn't around enough, Jerry Lawler is completely out of touch with the WWE product and Michael Cole is the most obnoxiously aggravating announcer in the history of professional wrestling.

But the two saving graces from the announce team were Josh Mathews and Booker T.

Mathews doesn't try to be too cute or creative and just goes out there to do his job, and he does it well.

Meanwhile, Booker improved drastically throughout the year and brought some credibility to commentary as a former World champion, and of course, he was funny and entertaining with all of his wacky catchphrases.

If it wasn't for Mathews and Booker T on Smackdown, I probably would have muted all WWE programming this year.

18. Air Boom (Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne)

It was yet another bad year for tag team wrestling in the WWE, with very few legitimate tag teams and little to no emphasis on the division.

That being said, Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne have held the WWE Tag Team Championship for roughly four months now, and they are the one consistent tag team in the WWE.

They might not have "revolutionized" or "rejuvenated" tag team wrestling this year, but at least they are a legitimate tag team that can actually wrestle and at least theoretically should be able to breathe new life into the tag division.

There's no reason to split up Air Boom because without them, the tag team division is probably doomed.

17. Vickie Guerrero

There is no other way to put it: Vickie Guerrero is a heat magnet.

One could argue that Vickie, along with Michael Cole, is the single biggest heel in the WWE despite not being an actual wrestler.

Her "Excuse Me!" catchphrase generates massive heat, and that incredible heat that she gets has allowed her to help elevate Dolph Ziggler to the highest point of his WWE career.

I don't think Ziggler needs Vickie any more, but that doesn't mean she should go anywhere.

Vickie will likely have a spot in the WWE as long as she wants it, and assuming she sticks around for a while, she should be used as a manager for as many up-and-coming heels as possible.

16. Beth Phoenix and Natalya

Let's just imagine what the state of the Divas division would be without Beth Phoenix and Natalya.

Horrendous, huh?

Quite simply, Beth and Natalya are far and away the most talented Divas on the active roster, and without them, I'm honestly not sure I could sit through anything involving the Divas.

It's almost a shame that Beth and Natalya are currently working as a duo because a Beth vs. Natalya match is essentially the only bout we want to see out of the Divas until Kharma comes back.

Oh well. I'm just going to be thankful that Beth and Natalya are here to make sure the Divas division doesn't completely fall apart.

15. The Big Show

Most people aren't really a fan of what The Big Show does in the ring (and I'm not either) but I have to respect him for being able to fill in whatever role he's needed.

Despite missing several months with a storyline injury, Big Show was used in a number of different positions on the card in 2011.

He won the WWE Tag Team Championship with Kane, he feuded with Wade Barrett and The Corre, he had a short rivalry with Alberto Del Rio and then he had a lengthy feud with Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship on Smackdown.

Big Show isn't really my cup of tea, but he's a reliable veteran who can step up and do whatever the WWE asks him to do. 

14. Daniel Bryan

It was a whirlwind year for Daniel Bryan.

He didn't do anything all that memorable in the first half of 2011, but then he surprised the world by winning Smackdown's Money in the Bank match back in July.

Soon after that big win, Bryan went on a bit of a losing streak and was basically jobbing to upper mid-card and main-event talent before thrusting himself into the World Heavyweight Championship scene and actually winning that title at Sunday's WWE TLC pay-per-view.

Bryan is arguably the best wrestler in the world, and there are moments when the creative team books him like he is. But there are also times when his lack of size seems to make the WWE a little hesitant to give him a big push.

Regardless, Bryan consistently put on good to great matches on TV and pay-per-view and was a huge part of Smackdown's main-event scene throughout the latter part of 2011.

13. Zack Ryder

Wow. What a year for Zack Ryder.

After starting 2011 with little to no TV exposure, Ryder got himself noticed through YouTube and Twitter, and now, he can finish out the year by calling himself the United States Champion.

No one worked harder to get to their current spot in the company than Ryder, who has become one of the biggest babyfaces in all of the WWE.

Ryder's merchandise sales are up, his popularity is up and it looks like stock in the eyes of WWE officials is up as well.

Thanks to Ryder's own initiative, he is now one of the most beloved babyfaces on Raw and looks poised to be one of the company's top stars going forward. 

12. Alberto Del Rio

At least on paper, Alberto Del Rio had a monster year

He won the biggest Royal Rumble match in history, he won Raw's Money in the Bank match and he had two runs with the WWE Championship.

But I still felt like ADR's entire 2011 was one major disappointment after another. He got progressively worse (on the mic and as a character) as the year went on, and he completely flopped during both of his WWE title reigns.

I'm not sure if I can put Del Rio's struggles on the creative team or Del Rio himself, so I think both of them can share the blame.

ADR didn't take the ball and run with it, and even though he was a big part of the main event scene all year long, I don't think the WWE would have missed him all that much had he been gone.

11. The Miz

The Miz held the WWE Championship for the first three months of 2011, but do we remember him more for being a great champion or a weak one?

It's gotta be the latter.

The Miz's title run was far from great, and it included two absolute stinkers against John Cena at the biggest pay-per-view of the year, WrestleMania 27, and at Over the Limit.

While I wasn't too impressed with his WWE Championship reign, I did like the work he did with R-Truth, even if the creative team screwed that storyline up as well.

All in all, though, The Miz is one of the WWE's best heels, and he proved that this year despite the fact that he wasn't exactly booked all that well.

10. Cody Rhodes

In 2011, Cody Rhodes proved that he is a World champion just waiting to happen.

The character transformation he has gone through this year has been simply amazing, with him evolving from the "Dashing" pretty boy to the "Demented and Disfigured" masked character to his current unmasked gimmick.

Along the way, he's had two of the year's best feuds (against Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton) both of which resulted in some great matches, as well as a number of stellar TV bouts against guys like Daniel Bryan and Sin Cara.

Oh yeah, Rhodes also brought back the retro, all-white Intercontinental Championship and has held onto that title for more than four months now.

If Rhodes performs in 2012 like he did in 2011, then the sky is the limit for the second-generation star.

9. R-Truth

It's incredible to think that R-Truth started off 2011 as one of the WWE's most boring babyfaces but gradually turned into arguably its most entertaining heel.

He went from that lame rapper gimmick to that crazed "Little Jimmy"-hating heel who became a WWE Championship contender, and he then became a pure comedy genius as someone who hates spiders and ladders and also likes to dress up as a Confederate soldier.

Then, Truth formed the most memorable duo of the year when he teamed with The Miz as "Awesome Truth."

Who woulda thunk it? Surely not me.

But Truth became one of my favorite performers in all of the WWE, and his ability to be both a serious and comedic heel made him one of the company's top MVPs in 2011.

8. Christian

Speaking of great turns, how awesome was Christian's heel turn?

After being relegated to the upper mid-card for most of his WWE career, the sudden retirement of Edge allowed Christian to become a main eventer and Smackdown's top heel over the summer.

Captain Charisma had the best feud of the year with Randy Orton, one that involved the World Heavyweight Championship and featured five or more unbelievable matches between those two.

He also had a phenomenal Ladder match against Alberto Del Rio at Extreme Rules in which he captured his first World title in the WWE, as well as some very good bouts against Sheamus toward the end of the year.

There are very few stars who were as consistently good as Christian was in 2011. I mean, I don't really remember the guy even putting on a bad match or cutting a bad promo at all this year.

Christian has always been a very complete wrestler, but this year, he stepped up his game to the highest level of his career. 

7. The Rock

I know The Rock isn't a full-timer, and he wasn't around for the vast majority of 2011.

But his contributions to the WWE throughout the year can't be overlooked.

The fact that he hosted WrestleMania 27 helped the pay-per-view generate more than a million buys, and his first match in seven years was the main selling point of Survivor Series.

In between those two PPVs (and before WrestleMania), he also cut several unforgettable promos and created a huge buzz when he agreed to compete against John Cena at WrestleMania 28.

Regardless of whether The Rock was "bringing it via satellite" the majority of the time, one thing is for sure: He was definitely bringing it in 2011.

6. Sheamus

Sheamus may not have won a World title in 2011, but it was a big year for him nonetheless.

The Celtic Warrior really stepped up his overall game as a performer, improving in the ring and (as evidenced by feuds with Mark Henry, Christian and Daniel Bryan) showing that he doesn't always have to work at the top of the card.

Sheamus was a very good heel throughout the first half of the year, but it was his surprising babyface turn during the summer that really put him over the top.

I never really though Sheamus would work as a babyface, but he's exceeded all of my expectations, becoming arguably the No. 4 babyface in all of the WWE.

Sheamus will always be in that upper mid-card/main event scene because he's as good of a big man as there is in the business.

5. John Cena

Like him or not, 2011 was one of the most successful years of John Cena's career.

He had what I think are the two best matches of his career (against CM Punk at Money in the Bank and SummerSlam), he main-evented WrestleMania 27 and his tag team match with The Rock was the No. 1 reason why most fans bought Survivor Series.

Plus, Cena actually took a back seat at Sunday's WWE TLC pay-per-view to let guys like Zack Ryder and Daniel Bryan get the spotlight, and he is beginning to show a little bit of character development thanks to his feud with Kane and those "Cena Sucks" T-shirts.

I know a lot of people hate on Cena, but 2011 was the best year wrestling-wise he's ever had, and he's finally showing at least some human qualities now that he's feuding with Kane.

I rip on Cena a lot (and I still think he was involved in the title scene too often again this year) but overall, I can't complain about what he did in 2011.

4. Mark Henry

Never in a million years did I expect Mark Henry to be this high on this list, but he left me no choice.

Although the World's Strongest Man has always left a lot to be desired in the ring, he stepped up his game big-time as a character this year.

Henry started 2011 off as an outrageously boring babyface, but when he was drafted to Smackdown, he turned heel and had the greatest run of his WWE career.

His "Hall of Pain" storyline made him look like a legitimate bada**, and the havoc he wreaked on Smackdown established him as arguably the WWE's top heel.

Henry is never going to win any awards for being the WWE's best wrestler, but best heel? I'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who was better than him in that role in 2011. 

3. Dolph Ziggler

Dolph Ziggler was nothing short of a machine in 2011.

He started off the year competing against Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble in one of the more underrated bouts of the year, and though he had some ups and downs, he finished it off as arguably the hottest commodity in the WWE.

Ziggler has had a great feud with Zack Ryder, he pulled double duty on two straight pay-per-views, he worked both Raw and Smackdown a number of weeks and he put on some of the best TV matches of the year.

His match against CM Punk on Raw last month was phenomenal, he's had multiple stellar bouts against Randy Orton and he's been placed in high-profile matches throughout the latter part of 2011.

Ziggler is the best seller in the WWE, he's one of its best and most consistent workers and his new "Showoff" gimmick is really helping him get over as one of the company's top heels.

I can't say enough about how much Ziggler improved in 2011. He should be given an award for how hard he worked to get to where he is now.

2. Randy Orton

The argument that "Randy Orton never puts anyone over" is officially dead.

Orton was the most selfless superstar in all of the WWE in 2011, helping Christian, Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes and Mark Henry all reach the highest points of their WWE careers simply by feuding with them.

It was pretty clear that Orton's popularity helped all four of those guys get over as hated heels, just like it was obvious that Orton evolved into one of the top in-ring workers in the WWE this year.

In my book, he had two of the top three feuds of 2011 (against Christian and Rhodes), and he had arguably the best series of matches in the last decade or so with Christian.

Orton's in-ring psychology is the best in the business, and that really showed with what can only be described as an unbelievable 2011 for the Viper.

1. CM Punk

Was there ever any doubt that CM Punk would be the WWE's MVP in 2011?

This guy sparked a huge interest in the WWE over the summer with his epic worked shoot promo, the fact that he was blurring the lines between storyline and reality and with his two unforgettable matches with John Cena.

Punk revolutionized pro wrestling this summer like no one has in years, and he's become one of the most popular WWE stars because of it.

His ring work is top-notch, his mic skills are unmatched and his ability to connect with the crowd really is a sight to see.

You can't really put Punk's 2011 in words and do it any justice. Just go type in "CM Punk 2011" on YouTube, and relive what was a magical year for the Straight Edge Superstar.